Pentax mirrorless SLR

Personally, I have been tempted several times by mirrorless systems, and, if money were no object, I'm sure that I would probably have an Olympus u4/3 system, a Fuji x system and /or a full frame Sony system based on an A7 variant too!
The Olympus gives a definite advantage in weight, I am impressed by my X20 and the quality of JPEGS and would be intrigued by what an APS-C system could produce. For me the major advantage of a mirrorless system would be the availability of focus peaking in a viewfinder rather than just on the back screen (or in the case of my K5, not available at all!) Plus the other advantages of exposure simulation, blinkies etc, all available in the viewfinder.

For quite a lot of what I take, low light, after dark shots, sometimes on a tripod, an EVF would work well with all the above advantages

For the rest of my photography, moving trains being a big part of that, I'm not convinced of that a mirrorless gives me much of an advantage - although improved focus tracking would be useful....

The holy grail for me is the ability to take photos of moving trains in the dark.....incredible auto focus (or at least manual focus I can use in dark) low noise, high DR at silly ISO's are where I want to be.....but I don't have a lot of money to spend at the moment, so the K5 it is for the moment, although I nearly succumbed to a K3 at te weekend....then I had the offer of a loan of a Nikon D700 and a couple of primes, so will see how that pans out!

So much choice, having photographed since the age of 11 with a variety of film SLRs 35mm and 6x45, TLRs (6x6) compact 35mm, digital compacts and now digital SLRs, the opportunities and equipment we have now are amazing. Now to buy that Euromillions ticket!

For trains in the dark, rather than a new camera what's needed are alternative techniques to achieve focus. I've never yet found a situation where focus is not possible, sometimes by AF, sometimes by MF, but with any camera it can sometimes need working around so it locks on.

The K-3 is amazing in low light and can focus in darker situations than most eyes. If there's no light at all for focusing then presumably there's nothing to photograph anyway?

But we digress from the point, which started with a mythical Pentax mirrorless CSC (compact system camera) rather than mirrorless DSLR!

Hi, John,

The reason that I referred, perhaps clumsily, to a mirrorless SLR and not a CSC is that the latter tends to carry connotations of being "less serious" than a DSLR, i.e. offering less control, ruggedness etc. Micro four thirds would have likewise discounted a larger sensor.

Were it possible for me to edit my original post I would do so as this is clearly causing some confusion.

Change it to Pentax Mirrorless Nonsense

It doesn't exist.... Never will do and certainly isn't serious.

Pentax already have good cameras and lenses. Some are waterproof.

You can't have a waterproof camera that uses adapters which don't even stop the lenses from wobbling. Lenses designed for one system won't work properly on another.

At 15 fps you can only guess at what the camera actually sees.

Focus peaking isn't very accurate and it's slow.....

http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/10/30/finding-wrong-sony-a7-a7r-far/

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I may sound thick here but how can you have a mirror less dslr

slr stands for single lens reflex yes

I personally suspect that a mirrorless SLR probably is in in the offing, but I'm equally confident Pentax will continue to manufacture SLRs proper alongside any such system.

Unsure what you mean by "certainly isn't serious". If you mean that it isn't likely, then maybe you know more than I do. If you mean it isn't a serious camera, then I disagree and I think the likes of the Fuji T1 show that a mirrorless setup can rival an SLR.

You can have a weatherproof mirrorless SLR, certainly. Whether you can use adapters and still ensure weatherproofing, I have no idea about as I don't know enough about adapters to comment. I suspect it's possible, but it would be introducing one more seal into the equation and so the risks of water getting in would be increased. Relatively niche concern though, I think.

It's worth remembering that the A7 is the first of its type, namely a full frame mirrorless camera. A better example to look at would perhaps be the Fuji T1, whose autofocus and EVF have been met with acclaim. The EVF even on the T1, admittedly, is still not perfect and still lags when the camera is panned quickly, but such lag will gradually become less of an issue I feel as the technology progresses.

Excellent link you posted Algi ! .... http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/10/30/finding-wrong-sony-a7-a7r-far/.... very interesting and informative.

I have been hearing so much from other members recently about this technology that I took the chance to try it today in a Currys superstore - an A7 with 28-70 lens, total price £1199. If this is to be the template for Pentax's own work in this area then I am sure they can better many things about it ...

In particular I was disappointed with the EVF, which has been shouted about so much. I found myself wanting the K7 and its 100% OVF straight away. The image reassembled a cheap LCD TV screen ... sure, there was plenty of information displayed, but for too small to be much use in a dynamic shooting situation. Also, at every movement of the camera there was noticeable wobble, a kind of shimmer effect, very distracting, and I found the overly fussy focus indicators (green boxes that draw themselves around objects and flash at you ) pointless (literally!) and very slow. It was difficult to know if you had focus for quite a while each time. The EVF did not provide enough clarity visually, and this was a very bright shop interior, so I'd have to rely on these rather painful focus guide antics going on.

The main disappointment though was the quite serious 'Lag' after pushing the button ... that ruled it out for me as a serious and versatile camera really. Whether it was lag in the actual capture, or the later preview, it doesn't matter really as the effect is to slow things down.

I hope that Pentax are aware of these issues when developing their own larger sensor mirrorless solution. I myself am almost certain to stick with a DSLR, and I do look forward to a FF when it comes. However, I accept that Pentax will want to satisfy all demands, so I support their work on mirrorless if its happening, in the same way that I support the K-S1 in sweetie colours .... if it makes money for Pentax to use to develop a full range of cameras and the one I want, then that's fine !

Anyone putting Good Pentax lenses on a Sony A7R would be safer changing the cheap plastic lens mount for a metal one. Also thanks to Eric for showing how to fix a known light leak on the mount.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2PDpLDa2P0

Be careful not to scratch the sensor

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That is of interest to Pentax Users, in the sense that it just goes to show how poor some marques' design can be.

I've just been looking at the K mount, solid metal, solid metal flanges, more fixing screws than most of the other mount designs. Something that has no flexing whatsoever. Why would we buy anything else when high standards survive?

Worth noting the A7 was first of its kind.

The A7ii has just been announced and has addressed the larger deeper grip and metal mount, among other things, as well as adding inbuilt FF sensor stabilisation.

ILC is a better term, meaning interchangeable lens camera. CSC seems to have defined the class but I don't much care for it.

Your thoughts on the EVF match my own Nigel, but i can only see that improving over time.
I'm still keen on a hybrid option if possible, where an EVF is displayed via mirror lock up ( as live via does now) for situations where the optical viewfinder is less than ideal. Best of both worlds scenario.

Indeed. It's no small feat squeezing a full frame sensor into a body that size and hats off to Sony for even attempting it. Doesn't excuse what may be a flimsy mount, but these flaws will be addressed I'd think as the series evolves. I know the Fuji Pro 1 had a number of flaws when it was introduced at first, such as slow AF.

The new X100T has a neat feature whereby a tiny little electronic viewfinder can be displayed inside the optical viewfinder, which is kind of neat I think.

That would be useful - someone mentioned focus peaking being slow, but the times I have used it in the past (on a K30 which my son now uses) it has been for static subjects, so no need for great speed. I an sure EVF's have a way to go, but they will get better.

As mentioned earlier, I shoot a lot of railway pictures, when I attend organised photocharters (normally 20-30 'togs in attendance) the normal suspecs shoot with Canon Nikon and Pentax (5 put of 35 on the last one I went on, though one chap was from Germany) a mixture of ASP-C and FF, a few film users, and a couple of Leica users. Recent spots include a Fuji XT-1, a Sony A7 (not sure which particular type) wih native lenses, a Nex 6000, and an Olympus OMD EM-5 (with some rather nice, small fast lenses) I liked the EVF on the OM-5 but not on the XT-1 - which seemed rather dull and gloomy - but that might have been adjusted to suit the owner. Not really tempted at the moment to move to a mirrorless solution for my main camera, and certainly can't afford to buy one just for occasional use at this stage. I might just look for a second hand K-01 for night shoots though as I am unlikely to get my K30 back

I had to resort to focus by distance scale for this on. A torch came in handy to see the lens...pretty much total darkness until the train arrived!
https://flic.kr/p/pxmEUm

sorry, a bit off topic. I might have been able to increase the gain on an evf to enable some sort of manual focus I suppose.

I have two Sony cameras with EVF's, and I much prefer them to OVF's. They work in low-light, they have focus-peaking, magnification, all the settings visible without taking your eye from the viewfinder, plus everything an OVF has as well. I rarely use the screen.There are no problems whatsoever with them, I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to?

The only EVFs Pentax do are the rather poor ones in the bridge cameras. I would always use the back screen with these.

As for Sony, it's really off topic for us here, but in a generalised sense I wouldn't welcome them as a way forward. They lag and smear, and for the reasons Nigel mentioned at some point they change our relationship with the subject. We end up looking at a screen rather than looking through the viewfinder at the live scene. The screen brings its own interpretation between us and the subject.