All Forum Comments
Amazing pictures, crazy man! I don't think I could stand to see worms under my skin!
Comment by Lance B posted on Photographer captures amazing images of lions after submerging himself in watering hole for three months at 14/05/2010 - 07:09
George Lazarette wrote:
All this chasing after high ISO is silly. As light levels drop, so do colour and contrast.
There may be times when it would be useful to have good 6400 ISO, but nobody is surely suggesting that more than a tiny minority of pictures will ever be taken at high ISO.
Most people are likely to take most pictures at between 100 ISO and 400 ISO. After that, the light gets dull and uninteresting. And close up, you can use flash.
I do take Lance's point that the cost of 135-format sensors will come down, but one has to look at the whole system, and factors other than price. Larger lenses are heavier and more expensive, and one of the delights of the Pentax system is that even a thoroughbred professional camera like the LX is both sturdy AND small and light.
If you have to hump a couple of bodies and a number of lenses around, which would you prefer to take - Pentax LX or Nikon F5?
I know my answer.
G
I looked at the Nikon D700 with the 24-70 f2.8 attached yesterday, a hugely impressive camera as far as build quality - A tad better than the K-7? but like you, the size has scared me off....for the moment. All this chasing after high ISO is silly. As light levels drop, so do colour and contrast.
There may be times when it would be useful to have good 6400 ISO, but nobody is surely suggesting that more than a tiny minority of pictures will ever be taken at high ISO.
Most people are likely to take most pictures at between 100 ISO and 400 ISO. After that, the light gets dull and uninteresting. And close up, you can use flash.
I do take Lance's point that the cost of 135-format sensors will come down, but one has to look at the whole system, and factors other than price. Larger lenses are heavier and more expensive, and one of the delights of the Pentax system is that even a thoroughbred professional camera like the LX is both sturdy AND small and light.
If you have to hump a couple of bodies and a number of lenses around, which would you prefer to take - Pentax LX or Nikon F5?
I know my answer.
G
I would like FF for the larger, brghter VF, but even the VF wasn't that imnpressive on the D700. Yes, it was bigger, but not by that much. The 24-70 f2.8 is a sensational lens. Man, what build quality. I would gladly pay for a lens of this quality from Pentax.
I definitely do not want a D700 FF camera from Pentax. My belief in a FF camera from Pentax hinges on the desire and belief that they can make one as small as the K-7 and at worst the K20D. I was even a little scared off the D300s's size.
The other factor that turns me off the D700 is lack of in camera SR. The 24-70 f2.8 is not VR!!
Comment by Lance B posted on Interview with Hiroshi Onoda, manager of Pentax Europe. at 07/05/2010 - 02:35
johnriley wrote:
I'm not so sure, because it is related to the quality needed by the market. FF sensors may well become cheaper, but so will APS-C.
Yes, you are correct, John, but my point is, at the price point at which advanced amateurs and semi pros work at is at a level where the best IQ they can get at the hotly contested area at about US$1,500. At the moment, we have the Nikon D300 and the Canon 7D at about this level. Advanced amateurs are prepared to pay this amount, so if Nikon and Canon and Sony have a FF camera at this price level when FF sensor cost reduces sufficiently. Then even if APS C sensored camera are then half that price, you will still find that the advanced amateurs and semi pros will purchase at this level because they can get FF IQ which is better than APS C no matter how much you improve APS C because those same improvements can be made to FF.I'm not so sure, because it is related to the quality needed by the market. FF sensors may well become cheaper, but so will APS-C.
Quote:
They may well become better, but so will APS-C.
So when the noise level is irrelevant, the pixel count as high as anyone needs for any purpose and all this can be packed into an APS-C (or smaller!) sensor, why would we want a bigger camera using FF?
But my point is, you can only make a DSLR small enough to make it useable. I don't think too many want it smaller than the K-7 as it gets too small to use efficiently. As I see it, a FF camera can be made as small as the K7 or at least the K20D. I also do not think that APS C will ever be as good as FF as far as high ISO is concerned as there will always be that 1 stop advantage.They may well become better, but so will APS-C.
So when the noise level is irrelevant, the pixel count as high as anyone needs for any purpose and all this can be packed into an APS-C (or smaller!) sensor, why would we want a bigger camera using FF?
Quote:
This is why most film cameras were 35mm and not medium format. The 35mm format is capable of outresolving what the eye can see on a 16" x 12" print (The lens book, Schultz and Hicks) and that's all most people need and want.
I think that high ISO will be one of the driving factors for FF over APS C. There will always be at minimum a 1 stop advantage over APS C. Coupled with that the other advantages of larger, brighter, easy to focus and compose VF, and DOF control. then I think that FF will take off.This is why most film cameras were 35mm and not medium format. The 35mm format is capable of outresolving what the eye can see on a 16" x 12" print (The lens book, Schultz and Hicks) and that's all most people need and want.
Quote:
The limit on film was that formats smaller than 35mm did not fulfill this simple quality requirement. On this basis, as things stand now, I would expect 4/3 cameras to have a hard time.
The difference with film FF and MF is that a MF camera is always going to be big due to registration distances of the lens to film and this is still true. A FF DSLR can be as small as the K7 (possibly) or at worst the K20D and I doubt if people want it to be smaller due to what I said above.The limit on film was that formats smaller than 35mm did not fulfill this simple quality requirement. On this basis, as things stand now, I would expect 4/3 cameras to have a hard time.
Comment by Lance B posted on Interview with Hiroshi Onoda, manager of Pentax Europe. at 06/05/2010 - 10:40
I think the most damning thing for Pentax is that regardless of what Pentax want, FF sensors will reduce in price over time and then they will impact on high end APS C cameras. There will be a time when Canon, Nikon & Sony will produce a FF camera that is at the $1,500 mark of todays high end APS C cameras and this will impact on advanced amateurs and semi pro types who will then jump to theese FF offerings.
It is the price point which is the issue, not the fact that an APS C sensor will always be cheaper. Yes, price is impotant at the low end of the market, but at the high end of the market where the advanced amateur and the semi pro lurk and currently purchase top spec APS C DSLR's, then there is a price point at which these people spend their money at and that seems to be about the US$1,500 mark. This is where the D300s and 7D are at the moment.
The only other limiting issue is size, and really, the only reason most of the FF cameras are so big these days is that they are designed for pros and therefore are pro use robust tough, are designed like tanks simply because you are paying huge $ for them and expect this type of build quality, and they are large for the large and heavy lenses that most pros use. Pros don't generally treat their cameras like advanced amateurs from what I have seen. They throw them around with gay abandon where as advanced amateurs polish and clean and cherish them with kid gloves.
These cameras are large because they are for pros, not necessarily because they need to be big. They will reduce in size once the sensors are cheap enough. In other words, they will become small when they the sensors are cheap enough to attract the advanced amateurs and not the other way round.
I shall add this for those that think I am a FF apologist. I am not. I do not need FF as APS C fits the bill nicely for me, but I have put forward my beliefs of what will transpire once FF sensors become cheap enough "for the masses". It is inevitable that they will and it is inevitable that C, N & S will jump at the opportunity to amortise FF costs of lenses and development of their FF cameras that they already have in order to profit from the advanced amateur and semi pro sector. If Pentax fail to also go the FF route, then there is a very strong possibility that they will lose most of their advanced amateur user base and those users will never come back once they have invested into another system.
There is only one thing that I really would like that FF offers and that is the large bright VF. There rest is just icing on the cake.
It is the price point which is the issue, not the fact that an APS C sensor will always be cheaper. Yes, price is impotant at the low end of the market, but at the high end of the market where the advanced amateur and the semi pro lurk and currently purchase top spec APS C DSLR's, then there is a price point at which these people spend their money at and that seems to be about the US$1,500 mark. This is where the D300s and 7D are at the moment.
The only other limiting issue is size, and really, the only reason most of the FF cameras are so big these days is that they are designed for pros and therefore are pro use robust tough, are designed like tanks simply because you are paying huge $ for them and expect this type of build quality, and they are large for the large and heavy lenses that most pros use. Pros don't generally treat their cameras like advanced amateurs from what I have seen. They throw them around with gay abandon where as advanced amateurs polish and clean and cherish them with kid gloves.
These cameras are large because they are for pros, not necessarily because they need to be big. They will reduce in size once the sensors are cheap enough. In other words, they will become small when they the sensors are cheap enough to attract the advanced amateurs and not the other way round.
I shall add this for those that think I am a FF apologist. I am not. I do not need FF as APS C fits the bill nicely for me, but I have put forward my beliefs of what will transpire once FF sensors become cheap enough "for the masses". It is inevitable that they will and it is inevitable that C, N & S will jump at the opportunity to amortise FF costs of lenses and development of their FF cameras that they already have in order to profit from the advanced amateur and semi pro sector. If Pentax fail to also go the FF route, then there is a very strong possibility that they will lose most of their advanced amateur user base and those users will never come back once they have invested into another system.
There is only one thing that I really would like that FF offers and that is the large bright VF. There rest is just icing on the cake.
Comment by Lance B posted on Interview with Hiroshi Onoda, manager of Pentax Europe. at 06/05/2010 - 07:27
As posted over at the "other forums":
I hope this hasn't been posted previously, but I saw this over at the "other forum".
Translated interview.
http://es.babelfish.yahoo.com/...ide%3D135&lp=es_en&btnTrUrl=Traducir
As indicated by the orignal poster over at the "other forum", I have copied and pasted the main points:
To summarize:
The priority for Pentax right now is to complete the existing DSRL range as soon as possible.
This year there will be updates of existing cameras, and some completely new models.
There will be a professional camera above the K-7, but he cannot say when will be announced.
When asked about when will be distributed the 645D worlwide, he says that they want to gather some experience in Japan before taking further steps./
This all looks quite exciting. Hopefully, the professional camera above the K-7 will be FF. I would like FF more so for the big bright easy to use VF, the other IQ beneifts would be great as well. Let's hope that if it is FF, that it is small like the K-7 or at most the K20D. If I wanted a large FF camera, I would have already migrated to Nikon, like *isteve.
This would of course mean that Pentax would need to introduce FF lenses, but there are a few of the current lenses that would work anyway. The DFR macros, The FA Limiteds, the DA*60-250(?), the DA*200 and possibly the DA*300, the DA*55(?) would/could work on FF. In the short term, this would mean that Pentax would need to be developing lenses like: a 20mm f2.8, possibly a 24mm f2.8, a 24-75 f2.8 zoom and a 70-200 f2.8 zoom and then fill in other lenses as they go. In other words, if the long DA* lenses - 200mm and 300mm, did work on FF, then we would have a ready FF system if the new lenses were developed short term.
Of course, this is all pure speculation, but one that I think Pentax probably needs to go into if the FF sensor cost is low enough. Pentax are not going to get any, or many if at all, converts from Canon, Nikon and Sony, so, any FF users will be current Pentax APSC users wishing to upgrade and maybe some new to DSLR users wanting a top spec camera, ie advanced amateurs, and have not yet bought into a system or those that are not entrenched into another makers system. So, to entice 'advanced amateur new to DSR users', the price needs to compete at the same level as top spec APS C cameras, otherwise, they will more than likey go APS C and end up with a Canon, Nikon or Sony.
I hope this hasn't been posted previously, but I saw this over at the "other forum".
Translated interview.
http://es.babelfish.yahoo.com/...ide%3D135&lp=es_en&btnTrUrl=Traducir
As indicated by the orignal poster over at the "other forum", I have copied and pasted the main points:
To summarize:
The priority for Pentax right now is to complete the existing DSRL range as soon as possible.
This year there will be updates of existing cameras, and some completely new models.
There will be a professional camera above the K-7, but he cannot say when will be announced.
When asked about when will be distributed the 645D worlwide, he says that they want to gather some experience in Japan before taking further steps./
This all looks quite exciting. Hopefully, the professional camera above the K-7 will be FF. I would like FF more so for the big bright easy to use VF, the other IQ beneifts would be great as well. Let's hope that if it is FF, that it is small like the K-7 or at most the K20D. If I wanted a large FF camera, I would have already migrated to Nikon, like *isteve.
This would of course mean that Pentax would need to introduce FF lenses, but there are a few of the current lenses that would work anyway. The DFR macros, The FA Limiteds, the DA*60-250(?), the DA*200 and possibly the DA*300, the DA*55(?) would/could work on FF. In the short term, this would mean that Pentax would need to be developing lenses like: a 20mm f2.8, possibly a 24mm f2.8, a 24-75 f2.8 zoom and a 70-200 f2.8 zoom and then fill in other lenses as they go. In other words, if the long DA* lenses - 200mm and 300mm, did work on FF, then we would have a ready FF system if the new lenses were developed short term.
Of course, this is all pure speculation, but one that I think Pentax probably needs to go into if the FF sensor cost is low enough. Pentax are not going to get any, or many if at all, converts from Canon, Nikon and Sony, so, any FF users will be current Pentax APSC users wishing to upgrade and maybe some new to DSLR users wanting a top spec camera, ie advanced amateurs, and have not yet bought into a system or those that are not entrenched into another makers system. So, to entice 'advanced amateur new to DSR users', the price needs to compete at the same level as top spec APS C cameras, otherwise, they will more than likey go APS C and end up with a Canon, Nikon or Sony.
Comment by Lance B posted on Interview with Hiroshi Onoda, manager of Pentax Europe. at 04/05/2010 - 04:35
With the K20D and the AF360 FGZ, I would set the flash compensation (on the flash itself) to +1 stop and sometimes even the camera to +.3EV or may be even +.7EV. This usually gave me the best results.
Comment by Lance B posted on My Camera is Giving me Fits at 19/04/2010 - 06:28
Mannesty wrote:
Other than that I can't offer any explanation for your problem. Do you have other lenses you can try at infinity?
There is a shim that adjusts the focus screen accuracy, covered here in this thread:edumad wrote:
I know I have front focusing issues, allways have had.
As far as I am aware, the FF/BF issue only affects AF lenses when using AF-S/AF-C focussing, not manual.I know I have front focusing issues, allways have had.
Other than that I can't offer any explanation for your problem. Do you have other lenses you can try at infinity?
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/k-7-shims-18721
It is one thing to be able to get AF accuracy via the AF adjustment feature, but another to have the actual focus screen reliably and accurately focus when manually focusing (and for that matter have accurate AF confirmation via the focus screen) and hence the shim adjustments between the focus screen and the pentaprism.
I removed the .40mm factory shim and put in a .20mm shim and this corrected my slight manual focus error.
Comment by Lance B posted on Strange focusing at 08/04/2010 - 02:05
You may be experiencing this:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/k-7-shims-18721
I replaced my .40mm shim in my K-7 with a .20mm shim and the manual focus is spot on, now.
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/k-7-shims-18721
I replaced my .40mm shim in my K-7 with a .20mm shim and the manual focus is spot on, now.
Comment by Lance B posted on Strange focusing at 07/04/2010 - 07:03
Hi all.
For those that followed my thread regarding the Katz Eye focus screen and the issue of the shim, I have received my set of shims and am happy to report that the shim replacement seems to have worked correctly. I have only done preliminary testing, but a .20mm shim seems to be about right.
Here is my original thread on this site:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/k-7-shims-18721
As those who read my original thread may remember, the factory fitted shim of .40mm caused front focus compared to what appears in the VF. In otherwords, my focused point in the VF would be behind what was actually recorded on the sensor. When I removed the .40mm factory fitted shim, the recorded image onto the sensor moved to behind the correctly focused image in the VF when I composed the image - to about the same amount as when the shim was installed. So, I figured that the factory fitted shim of .40mm needed to be about .20mm and this seems to be correct by my preliminary testing.
For those that followed my thread regarding the Katz Eye focus screen and the issue of the shim, I have received my set of shims and am happy to report that the shim replacement seems to have worked correctly. I have only done preliminary testing, but a .20mm shim seems to be about right.
Here is my original thread on this site:
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/k-7-shims-18721
As those who read my original thread may remember, the factory fitted shim of .40mm caused front focus compared to what appears in the VF. In otherwords, my focused point in the VF would be behind what was actually recorded on the sensor. When I removed the .40mm factory fitted shim, the recorded image onto the sensor moved to behind the correctly focused image in the VF when I composed the image - to about the same amount as when the shim was installed. So, I figured that the factory fitted shim of .40mm needed to be about .20mm and this seems to be correct by my preliminary testing.
Comment by Lance B posted on Shim replacement works on K-7! at 29/03/2010 - 08:37
golfdiesel wrote:
Good to see that Pentax charges a sensible price for the shims... I was scared that they would overprice them just like simple plastic things like lens caps, hotshoe covers and such.
You and me both. When I enquired about the price and they told me AU$2.20 each I thought he must have been quoting me just for the packaging!! Good to see that Pentax charges a sensible price for the shims... I was scared that they would overprice them just like simple plastic things like lens caps, hotshoe covers and such.
Comment by Lance B posted on K-7 shims at 22/03/2010 - 03:47
