Pentax Full Frame Comment

I thought the grip was designed to hold a motor drive. I even bought one for that purpose but never used it. So if that's the case it would seem to be somewhat redundant to buy one for a DSLR as they don't need a motor drive and add unnecessarily to the bulk of the camera

Jon K

these days they're used for added battery power and vertical shutter release and control... and the added bulk is appreciated by some.
I think the grip is where they need to add things like gps, second active memory card, wi-fi and blue tooth, and xlr mic jacks, video raw output through hdmi, headphone jacks and mic jacks, thunderbolt or usb 3 ports.

be nice to have several models of grip from basic to advanced to pro video options.
after all if you use the existing pentax gps, you got no place for flash do you?

GPS should be in the camera - they can be found in cameras much smaller than a DSLR so it cannot be difficult to implement. It's worth remembering that the existing Pentax gps doubles up as an astrotracer so flash isn't much use for celestial bodies! The K-3 is purported to have a USB3 port in the body, which is where it needs to be, so that looks to be addressed from now on. The rest don't seem to be essential features to take still photographs with so a video adapter add on for these that want it might be a sensible bolt on solution which wouldn't hinder a stills only person.

John K

Indeed. I wouldn't buy a camera that has all the stuff that should be in the camera, in a grip.

Grips should stay for what they are. Extra battery power, vertical controls and for those like teh extra bulk and weight.


Even the K-5 has a USN port in the body. Although I don't use it as I remove the card and use a reader on the computer

I can see the point in a modular type of system. If its designed that way then you need many of the options to be in the 'extra bits', rather than in the main body. I'd be very pleased to choose a specific grip tailored to my needs.

For me a grip is a given - but there are many more who are put off by the extra bulk and want camera bodies as compact as possible. If there could be a kind of 'connections module' slotted in somewhere, with different configurations available as options, that would be versatile if it was part of the main camera design and shape.

The K7 has a mini HDMI connection - not used by me, as with a smart TV its easier just to copy files over to a USB drive and play them directly on the TV. So there's not universal need for these kind of things.

llive hdmi with raw video out matters for pro video applications....

Maybe pentax should release a K-3v with enhanced video features for those that do video. I'm not video expert but video lenses seem to be different, in that the barrels are marked differently and some have gearing on for focus pulling and what not.

[quote:3496ace15f="Don] llive hdmi with raw video out matters for pro video applications....[/quote]What is 'raw video'? I understood the DSLRs shot .avi, a compressed format with the custom image settings applied (so its edited in fact straight out the camera).

I'm no expert on video but I suspect raw video output means RGB separate signals rather than a composite signal.

the formats used by many cameras are compressed.... avi, mov, mjpeg, avchd etc.. some cinema cameras deliver a RAW format which is every bit of data as the sensor captured it.

it is EXACTLY the same thing as RAW (dng or pef in our case) VS Jpeg.....
I want RAW VIDEO for the same reasons I prefer RAW stills.

the reason for RAW video out would be external monitoring and recording.
The benefits, to me would be in post production and colour grading....
especially if the camera puts out 2.5 k or 4 k video....
it would be a film makers dream camera to have a Pentax Prime lens and pentax weathersealed bodies, shooting video that can match or exceed the black magic designs cameras or match the RED epic/RED one at least.

OK, so how would you play or edit this 'Raw' video? Would there need to be special decoding software? The .avi / mpeg etc are playable on a wide range of devices (such as my Smart TV directly from a USB stick). This RAW format you refer to surely would create additional complexities for viewing, and would the conversion not be very resource hungry? (I can't wait - PDCU Video Converter )

hardly a problem... those that'd want it most likely already have the hardware and NLE's capable of editing it..
the best option for a company the size of pentax would be to copy BMD's concept of using optional apple pro res container for the RAW, or a propriety video RAW converter and bundle with free Davinci resolve software..
in fact a deal with BMD might be a good match for Ricoh...

they could still record to sd cards in RAW or avchd or other formats so what'd be the loss to have RAW out option on the hdmi port?

This is all well beyond me, but I'm not a pro videographer! So clearly this is not for the average user. But I agree it would add to the attration of the brand and the DSLR to those serious film-makers that could gain from it.

If it didn't add much to the cost and the RAW video could be separated out (I guess by a menu item) for those that want it, then why not - great idea. So long as it was still possible by default to view and copy standard compressed video files like now for the more casual user.

Still image RAW and standard still image compressed files (JPG) are both available so why not the same for video?

the problem is the marketing roadmap.

There are many features which aren't held back by technological limitations but are held back by marketing limitations as they want to save a a better implementation for the next model.

An example is the number of time lapse images. Restricted to 99 in the K20D, 999 in the K-5 and it seems 2000 in the K-3.

Totally absurd. The limit on time lapse frames should be the capacity of the SD card, not some arbitrary number. This kind of hamstringing camera features annoys me greatly

I thought that time lapse photography requires an equal number of shutter actuations? If that is the case, could that be the reason for the limit?