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Pentax K1 ii vs Sony a7iii?

Spider-Man
Posted 02/05/2018 - 20:21 Link
Has anybody thought about how little the Pentax K1 ii update is offering beyond the original K1 capabilities? In comparison just look what Sony are offering on the a7 III update compared to the mk2 version. In all things business & technology if you don't make progress at the same rate as your competitors you are effectively going backwards!
We Pentaxians are being left behind, discuss!
It's not the strongest species that survive, nor is it the most intelligent. It is those most adaptable to change.
spinno
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:05 Link
Of the improvements to either camera,what,if any, changes to your photography will they make?
David
pschlute
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:16 Link
What are Sony offering ?
Pentaxophile
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:22 Link
Sony and Canon users are also wringing their hands over the new tech. (Especially Nikon). One thing the K1 has that the A7riii never will is an OVF, and no matter how good the Sony EVF becomes, there'll always be photographers who prefer one. Maybe Nikon and Canon will move away from the OVF (in low-midrange bodies) as they scramble to compete with Sony. That might leave Pentax - who've recently been generous with 100% pentaprism viewfinders in their lower end bodies - in a niche by themselves.
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Pentaxophile
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:26 Link
The EVF has a lot of upsides (especially for legacy glass), and the Sony system has a lot going for it. Doubtful that Pentax has the resources to compete head to head in mirrorless full frame; but we can mount any Pentax lens to E-mount cameras so you could have one foot in both systems if you wanted.
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Spider-Man
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:40 Link
pschlute wrote:
What are Sony offering ?

Well for 'one thing' or should I say 693 things! A massive array of 693 focus points covering 98% of the field of view, vs 33 in the Pentax.
Very good & rapid AF performance + eye detect AF which by all YouTube reviewers seems pretty amazing.

For a reasonable comparison check out http://cameradecision.com/compare/Sony-Alpha-A7-III-vs-Pentax-K-1-Mark-II

I'm not saying the K1 is anything other than a good camera, what I'm getting at is the slower rate of improvement Ricoh are achieving compared to their competition, both cameras being priced within a couple of hundred pounds of each other.
It's not the strongest species that survive, nor is it the most intelligent. It is those most adaptable to change.
JAK
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:42 Link
It all boils down to whether you prefer an electronic viewfinder or an optical one and what system you've already bought into unless you're prepared to change.
The Pentax has a much higher resolution sensor (and that's before pixel shift is taken into account) but this and a flapping mirror for TTL enables the Sony to manage a higher frame rate if you like that sort of thing.
Then there's the element that is quite personal, the handling and feel of the cameras and the look of the images.
I'm not sure why anyone would change from one system to the other. Sony are basically an electronics company whereas Pentax an optical one. Given Sony supply sensors to Pentax isn't it likely they share knowledge?
Do I presume the OP thinks Sony are catching up?
John K
Edited by JAK: 02/05/2018 - 21:46
JAK
Posted 02/05/2018 - 21:53 Link
Spider-Man wrote:
pschlute wrote:
What are Sony offering ?

Well for 'one thing' or should I say 693 things! A massive array of 693 focus points covering 98% of the field of view, vs 33 in the Pentax.

Who chooses which point is used. It would take quite a while to cycle through 693 focus points manually!
If its the camera choosing the focus point your photos have the potential not be focussed to one's satisfaction, it isn't psychic!
The only way to achieve focus on the desired point is to use centre spot metering and recompose (or fiddle around selecting a focus point and miss the subject altogether.)
So my view of hundreds of focus points? it's a headline grabber, not a useful function. Just one focus point is sufficient!
Other things like eye detect etc are fallible gimmicks and do nothing to improve one's photography.
John K
Edited by JAK: 02/05/2018 - 21:59
Spider-Man
Posted 02/05/2018 - 22:01 Link
JAK wrote:

So I presume the OP thinks Sony are catching up?

I don't think Sony are catching up with Pentax, they've overtaken every other full frame camera manufacturer out there!
Just look at the capabilities of the various a7 variants & the a9

On the camera company perspective, Sony is a massive consumer electronics company but, they did start their camera exploits by buying Minolta, whereas Pentax is now owned by Ricoh, predominantly a photcopier company!
It's not the strongest species that survive, nor is it the most intelligent. It is those most adaptable to change.
LennyBloke
Posted 02/05/2018 - 22:02 Link
I'm well embedded in Pentax but I can honestly say that if I was starting from scratch again tomorrow I would still go for the K1 mkii over any other camera.

The cropping I can get from the larger sensor is superb - I can crop heavily and still get a high resolution image at large print or viewing size.

The optical viewfinder is so much better for me than an EVF, although I do have the option of LiveView as well.

The tilting rear screen was something I thought of as a gimmick before I had a K1 - I have used mine far more than I expected I would, allowing me to take photos from angles that I would otherwise struggle from (I can get down onto the floor quite quickly, getting back up is another matter ).

Autofocus has improved to a point that I am happy with - my "keeper" rate has improved recently, I'm now happy to use multi-point, and I've even been using AF-C (that's adventurous for me ).

The K1 feels rugged, I'm confident in its weather resistance, the shutter has a high-rated life, the variety of lenses from the last 50 years is incredible, it suits me just right

I'm in
LennyBloke
Spider-Man
Posted 02/05/2018 - 22:20 Link
[/quote]
If its the camera choosing the focus point your photos have the potential not be focussed to one's satisfaction, it isn't psychic!.[/quote]

No the camera isn't psychic but, it does have a touchscreen which you can select the desired subject to focus on in Live View and when looking through the EVF you can select the appropriate AF point using a little joystick.
It's not the strongest species that survive, nor is it the most intelligent. It is those most adaptable to change.
JAK
Posted 02/05/2018 - 22:25 Link
Spider-Man wrote:

If its the camera choosing the focus point your photos have the potential not be focussed to one's satisfaction, it isn't psychic!.[/quote]

No the camera isn't psychic but, it does have a touchscreen which you can select the desired subject to focus on in Live View and when looking through the EVF you can select the appropriate AF point using a little joystick.[/quote]
John K
pschlute
Posted 02/05/2018 - 22:52 Link
Spider-Man wrote:
pschlute wrote:
What are Sony offering ?

Well for 'one thing' or should I say 693 things! A massive array of 693 focus points covering 98% of the field of view, vs 33 in the Pentax.

First thing I did with the K1 was reduce the default focus points to 9. I often switch to single when out shooting. i want to be in control of what the camera focuses on, not the other way around.

I am sure it is a great camera, but I have become heavily involved in the Pentax system over many years and cannot see a reason to switch.
michaelblue
Posted 02/05/2018 - 23:12 Link
'693 af points and 10 frames per second' So what, a friend of mine has a canon shooting at 12 frames per second.......and he's always telling me he spends hours deleting images and wondering why he took so many of the same subject ('machine gunning' in canon speak ). 8.5 frames per second is more than enough on my K3ii.
Apart from their 'apparently' excellent high ISO capabilities, sony cameras are (to me) ugly, clunky and badly designed........and yes I have used them. .
.......and those horrendous electronic viewfinders!
Regards,
Michael
Edited by michaelblue: 02/05/2018 - 23:17
Pentaxophile
Posted 02/05/2018 - 23:25 Link
The Sony's now have eye focus, which seems to work pretty well.

And although the camera isn't 'psychic', the focus system actually does seem to do a good job of keeping track of moving subjects across the frame.

Pentax aren't going to go full mirrorless but there's a lot of tech that Pentax could be adding. They've already added sensor based AF (hybrid AF) on the K70, and integrated wifi with a smartphone app - beating Nikon in that regard. The camera users I see freaking out most about the A7iii are Nikon users! And they also all complain about the lack of recent innovation in Nikon cameras... Pentax have probably put more innovation into their cameras in recent years (it's just a shame they still seem unable to get the normal autofocus quite up to par).
[link=https://500px.com/will_brealey/[/link]

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