Pentax for Video

You can always switch it off!

Obviously, I said as much several posts back. Thanks! Anyhow its OK to be wise after the event.
It is however enabled by default so a casual test of Pentax video by a prospective purchaser at SRS or Jessops or somewhere will highlight the weakness of it when that wasn't the case with the K-5. The OOC video by default looks worse than that from the budget video cameras sold a decade ago for £30 from supermarkets. It's not what you'd expect from a high end camera. They'd be better off without it, only as I said, the marketing bods would not like that.

Turning it off is an option, in fact it's the only option if you want to avoid warping of your footage. You can then reapply some stabilisation in post production, which at least you get a lot of fine tuning control over, rather than no control via Movie SR. Obviously the more proactive you are at preventing shaking in the first place, the better, so tripods, stabilising mounts etc are all important also.

Reality check time though:
There are very few stabilised lens options for Pentax, as it's rightly assumed that stabilisation will be done in camera.
Nearly all Pentax cameras have real sensor shift stabilisation, dating all the way back to my first Pentax DSLR, the K-100d, released in 2006
This was used for Video stabilisation on the K-x (?) K-7 and K-5 models in 2009
These guys led the field. Now you have to go elsewhere to find sensor stabilisation during video, with Panasonic, Olympus and Sony all successfully making this work.
Since 2012, no Pentax camera has used the real mechanical sensor stabilisation SR system for video. This includes their big ticket items like the K-1 and KP cameras.

On the "other forum" their report on CP+ has this sentence:
"According to Ricoh Imaging representatives, video improvements have been made to the KP, and soon both the KP and K-1 will have access to sensor-shift stabilization in video via a firmware update."

I read that too and I have to say it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Seems Pentax must have read my comment as they hadn't bothered up to now to even mention it! It seems they've indirectly contributed to this thread. Well let's hope.

Might be SR II related. Maybe they can get it working satisfactorily with that version.

I'd love to see it back dated to earlier models if possible, but Pentax aren't strong with doing that like others are.

Sounds good for the future though, and will believe it when I see it.

+1

This is the quote that stood out for me, taken from the PF homepage report on their CP+ interview with the four Ricoh people ......

"In response to our users requests, we are planning to supply a firmware update that enables mechanical shake reduction (SR) while recording video for the K1 and KP"

https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/cpplus-2017/cp-2017-pentax-interview-part-...

Wow! That is fantastic , isn't it ... ? And if they've accepted the need to enable via firmware, then by logic future models will have it built-in from the start again ...... ?

I note they say, "So far the sensor shift is disabled in movie mode in order not to record mechanical noise."
So presumably the capability has simply been turned off, so should be simple to flick the firmware bit to turn it back on. It leads to the question though as to why they did this and not keep it as a menu option with a warning that it might record mechanical noise, I can accept it might with a built in mic but that doesn't always matter. Hopefully it can be re-instated pretty pronto. And if Pentax read this, don't forget the K-3 variants too (please!)

It's worth noting that Sensorshift SR is active during live view, just not after pressing 'record' for video.
This strongly suggests to me at least, that all Pentax bodies since the K-5II could in fact be 'patched' to re-enable IBIS for video.
That they are [apparently] caving to customer feedback/requests now kind of confirms that they were just being stubborn and ignorant all that time.

It is interesting how if you wait long enough and then change, people celebrate it as listening rather than caving.

Regardless, lets see if it eventuates, what it's like, and then if they push this out to other models both old and/or new.

Ricoh execs and designers have still got a long way to go in gaining a reputation for 'listening' .... It's been improving, and this latest 'admission' is a further sign.

What's worth celebrating is this break with that stubborn approach, and more specifically that Video mechanical SR will be restored. I agree with Steve in that the physical functionality is clearly always there, born out by the fact that they can solve it with firmware.

I've got a K-5.... the video is rubbish..... the SR in video is also rubbish. Why anyone would want it in another body is beyond belief.

Canon and Nikon only have in lens SR and the ones that do video like it. They also like it on Sigma lenses.

Canon 60D + Sigma 17-50mm Test (Tenerife 2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcJ25Ri3PNo
That video could have been shot on a Pentax with the same lens.

Pentax users have no interest in video. When the US forum did a test on the Sigma 18-50mm they didn't even mention that the in lens SR was handy for video even though it came out better than the inbody SR.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-16-50-vs-sigma-tamron-17-50mm/sigma-...

I have never seen any Pentax user recommend a Sigma lens for Video because it has SR. I doubt if richandfleur has tried one he's just a troll and moaner

If there was a market for SR in video for Pentax. Sigma could have cashed in. Instead they removed it from the lenses so little was the demand.

The in body SR (OS) on the Sigma 150-500mm is amazing even on a tripod. That's the only Sigma lens I have with OS.



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What a load of garbage, I think you sir are the troll.
I had a sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4 dc macro os hsm which I bought to use on the K-01. It was brilliant and I often spoke about it.
Just because you think the IBIS in the K-5 is rubbish doesn't make you right. Perhaps you just don't know how to use it.