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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-17-2017, 08:16 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
I think one of the problems is that Pentax got way too far behind in the Hoya years; Canon and Nikon (the former especially) have a zillion lenses from el cheapos to super duper pro ones. One of the reasons Pentax was able to compete so well in medium format is that the competitors didn't have a super deep lens lineup, so Pentax was able to get in easily with an equivalent modest offering. A super expansive set is not what users of MF need or want and so their offering was more than sufficient to be attractive.

I think Pentax trying to be anything and everything is destined for failure, in part because of the lagging AF performance and/or FPS compared to Nikon and Canon (so things like sports are not going to be a Pentax specialty). More than anything, Pentax doesn't have the 3rd party support to make it a serious contender in event photography, especially when it comes to flash support. As a result, developing a lens lineup that plays to your camera's strengths is the best strategy. I think that means portraits and landscapes, mostly things that don't move. Studio strobes can work with anything and all that stuff gets set manually anyway, so x-TTL support is just unnecessary, greatly expanding the 3rd party offerings to be sufficient.

Things like consumer-grade zooms just aren't really going to do much for the K-1. Sure, they sell well with the crowd that just wants an FF to have it, but this crowd doesn't make much money because they buy the body and one or two lenses and that's it. Canon can have that guy and it's not a terribly big loss.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-17-2017, 07:24 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
All the reviews of the FA limiteds are from like 5+ years ago. To the newcomer, they look old and all the reviews indicate they ARE old. There's a certain level of charm to them, for sure, but I can't imagine the average camera buyer looks at them and says "THAT MAKES ME BUY IN." If anything, I think a "That's all you got? Meh, I'll pass" is more common.

I do love my FA77 but the other two just feel really out of date and not really up to snuff for modern sensors. In particular, the weak contrast wide-open greatly affects the lenses' autofocus capabilities, which is pretty obvious on the 36MP K-1; on things like the K10 and other <10MP cameras, it wasn't so obvious.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-18-2017, 06:32 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
To be fair, you do know what Facebook does to images, right? It's utterly brutal. Everything is soft there and it totally destroys color gradients and kicks contrast in the face. Here's a comparison of my own shots. These are uncompressed PNGs so that recompression isn't an issue. I made these side-by-sides by using my original 2048px JPEG from my harddrive and then the same image downloaded from FB after I uploaded it.

Marissa.png - Google Drive

Sherry.png - Google Drive

The results on Marissa aren't so bad but you can see blockiness in her face and a significant loss of detail in her bodysuit. The image looks flat because it's overly soft. The sharpest parts are cut down significantly and the bokeh region is largely unaffected, so the result is a flat image that looks dull. But Sherry's shots...yikes. Her face is completely void of detail in her skin and the textures are just gone. In the original, you can differentiate her individual hairs and in the FB version, it's smoothed over and blobby.

TBH, posting them on FB makes me want to cry sometimes. It's sooooo bad! I have these beautiful, sharp images with wonderful contrast and FB is like "Vaseline filter, go!" <:(


The contrast, I believe, is 100% deliberate as well. Cosplayer and cosplay photographers don't seem to care for strong, bold images. The washed out look is incredibly popular. People fall over themselves for it. TBH, I think my refusal to adopt this style really limits my popularity. Here's another friend of mine: https://www.facebook.com/CerberusFotos/

His images are wildly popular. He posts something and people just go "OMG THIS IS THE BEST EVER." I post something...quiet. Very little attention. I don't think it's the poses or even the subject matter. I'm pretty sure it's entirely the editing. This is what the cosplay community wants. To say the least, it's really shaken my confidence in my photography...I've been growing less confidence as of late, actually....
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-18-2017, 05:18 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
The Canon's bokeh is otherworldly. The Nikon is a really nice lens too, but the Canon has a look to it that's immediately recognizable. A friend of mine shoots everything with it:
Mineralblu Photography - Photos | Facebook

He does almost no processing on his images (Lightroom only). The way the Canon renders images is just...unique. It has a power and clarity that is really alone.

Sigma's popularity, IMHO, is that they provide really sharp lenses at price points quite a bit under OEM lenses. I find them to be flat and kinda clinical in their image reproduction but a lot of people get all giddy about them.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-18-2017, 03:33 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
This is what I do. After every trip, I make a count of every lens I used for each shot and calculate percentages. I do this for all my photoshoots too. I compile stats for each shoot, each convention, and then aggregate at the end of the year.

I've owned a bunch of lenses--I've sold 14 of the buggers. And I don't mean "Oh, I bought another Legacy 50mm lens so now I have 10 of the things." Renting lenses and such is nice and all but the only real way to determine whether something will work long-term is to buy it and work with it. If it doesn't meet my needs, I sell it and look elsewhere.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-18-2017, 03:13 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
Do you really use all that stuff? I keep extensive statistics on what I use for every kind of shoot and vacation so that I only take stuff I really need. I've also been trying to get rid of stuff and keep only the equipment I really use often.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-18-2017, 02:51 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
I think about $1400. North of $1500 is too much; Canon's f/1.2 is $1800-1900 and that's always going to be the pinnacle. You don't want someone saying "I can get the world's best 85mm for $300 more." $500 more, though, and that starts to get tough.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-13-2017, 04:35 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
For sure. I just think it's going to be hard to sell a $1000 FA31 with questionable wide-open contrast that's not sealed next to a $1300 modern lens that doesn't have those issues. The FA43 might be priced perfectly already between the DA50 and upcoming DFA*50; the FA77...not sure. The DFA*85 is going to be really expensive, so the price point of the FA77 might be perfect.

But Pentax does need a cheaper 70-85mm FF lens. The DA70 works ok but it's a bit slow and the DA line is "crop lens that kinda work on FF, with a few exceptions we're willing to say are 100% good (but not put that on the box)." Both Canon and Nikon have something 85mm f/1.8 lenses that are not pricey. Pentax needs one as well. A refresh of the FA77 might be the ticket there.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-13-2017, 04:10 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
There's no reason why they can't offer both. While not sealed, the FA limited are small and have a certain appeal. They can be sold in conjunction with modern lenses, perhaps with reduced prices since the development cost has been more than recovered at this point.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-13-2017, 12:59 PM  
D-FA* 85mm f1.4 also coming
Posted By MadMathMind
Replies: 1,820
Views: 202,702
This is the point. I love my FA77 but it doesn't resolve what those Nikon 85mm monsters do. Or focus as well (and no, a $1800 lens is not $1000 of snake oil and as good as an $800 with half the corrective optics). At some point, if you're making a $2000 camera, people who want small aren't buying it. People who want quality and high resolution are. That's the audience that needs to be sold to. Otherwise, what Pentax is going to find is that people will upgrade from their APS-C line to FF and be satisfied for a while until they decide they need MOAR MOAR MOAR. If Pentax can't deliver that, the next camera will be a Nikon or Canon.
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