lots of people in lots of places are loudly proclaiming that because Pentax, and other makers, are currently making lenses with image circles only suitable for the APS sensor that this is some kind of 'sure sign' that sensor size will not change.

What seems to me to be massively overlooked is;

1) All of these makers used to make full inventories of lenses to cover the much larger image circle of 35mm. Some of these were very high quality lenses indeed and the technology could hardly have been lost. Various plant and manufacturing facility for these lens ranges almost certainly still exist.

2) The lens ranges for APS sensors have, by and large, only included the relatively simple lenses so far,...why? There have been a remarkable lack of specific APS, or 'D' lenses in either wide-angle or specialist computations.

3) The market 'leader' is Canon and they offer 'full-frame' sensor cameras with more to follow. If other makers want to chase the leader, and at least two have publically made announcements to do so, then they have to follow.

4) At least 2 makers other than Canon (Sony and Nikon) have hinted or been attached to very strong rumours of full-frame / larger sensors.

"...... perhaps the [K1D] would use a 645 lens mount to cover the area of the larger sensor? ...."

Well no, it would hardly need to as the pentax K mount is itself a throw back to 'full-frame' cameras in the shape of previous Pentax 35mm models.

When the first APS sesor cameras appeared there was much talk about how lenses could be much smaller physically,....bye and large, this has not happened and apart from the 'four thirds' people there have been no new, smaller lens mounts that I am aware of.

If you 'scale-down' an APS DSLR to the same proportions as a 35mm model, using the sensor dimensions as the criteria, then it results in a vey small camera indeed,.....However, the lens mount would have to be quite different and smaller than anything which currently exists.

It's probably only a matter of time, perhaps short time, until one or other maker brings out such a camera as the oriental mind loves ever smaller and complex 'jewels'.....

Photo pundit and tech blog keeper Ken Rockwell has famously been a Nikon enthusiast but has recently ratted to Canon by being seduced by the 5D...

However, this interesting little observation appeared in his finalised round up of the 'PMA' show;

Competitive Philosophy

Pentax' ads were cute, but very sad. Pentax has been one of the driving forces in Japanese photo gear for many decades. Want to know what light meter Ansel Adams used? He used the Pentax spotmeters.

It's sad that Pentax has to grovel to Canon and Nikon like this. Neither Canon nor Nikon ever made anything used by serious photographers, like Ansel's light meters or the extraordinary Pentax 67 medium-format SLR system which still creates images far better technically than anything from Nikon or Canon. Canon and Nikon have only made piddly 35mm cameras or digital SLRs used by amateurs and newsguys, not large format gear for serious artists (Nikon does make view camera lenses.)

Pentax shouldn't have to supplicate itself to Canon and Nikon.

DSLR Bodies

The K10D is $999 with lens ($899 body only) and is 10 MP with real IS-VR in the body. It works with just about every Pentax lens ever made, however since SLRs are all about the lens line to me, I prefer Nikon and Canon since I actually buy and use a lot of weird lenses that don't happen in Pentax or Sony. Most people buying these cameras couldn't care less about availability of $10,000 400mm f/2.8 AF lenses.

A pilot friend pointed out that with Pentax he could use fast manual-focus primes with body-stabilization for aerial shots in dim light, which is something that can't be done with Canon or Nikon. Canon and Nikon's faster IS or VR lenses are f/2.8 tele zooms, and with Pentax you could pop on a 50mm f/1.4. Interesting.

I want to try the K10D; everyone who has one loves it.


Actually, I'm not too sure about the accuracy of some of his 'historic' details,...Ansel Adams was a commited user of the British made SEI spot photometer long before the pentax, or any other, spot meters were even thought of.....

I have used that equipment, not for architectural use, but it is about 30 years ago. The endoscope is about 12 inches long and is detachable from whatever fittings one uses on either end. As I remember the particular instrument that I used was made by Olympus and fitted to camera via adaptors in the paarticular lens mount fitting,...the adaptor fitted to a conical prism which effectively enlarged the image to fill the frame. You could use the endoscope without this prism but with an eye-piece fitted in it's place. On the business end of the tube is the tiny lens that gives the 'view' in varying degrees of perspective / wideness according to which you use,...the mirror is mounted inside a collar which fits over this.

18 months or so back i remember seeing some of these instruments for sale at bargain prices and did think about aquireing one, however, I am racking my brains to remember where,....it wa a 'Proops' type of technical surplus outfit......

Something that comes to mind is one of those security door viewers with mirror.....there used to be lots of items in mags and on the web about using those viewrs to make uktra wide-angle lenses and fisheyes,....it would'nt cost a whole lot to have a try....provided you have room to get the camera between the 'buildings'....

......Gunsmiths use a viewer something like this to examine the inside of breeches where the rifling starts,...a very important area for gunsmiths...

What about one of those little conical viewers that vets and doctors use to look down ears,....i had a look thru the vets viewer once at the inside of my bull-terriers ear and the wideness and scale of the view was amazing....there are government suplus places at the moment with large stocks of ex-military surgical instruments going for a song.....just bought some very high tech tweezers.

Are we talking about a rigid endoscope with 45 degree bottom mirror?.....I know that item used to be used for 'ground level' architectural model views.

A really, REALLY interesting and valuable topic,...thanks to Ben for this which is the secret into many types of serious work actually. The vital support team is a truth that inhabits several other photo genres, notably 'glamour' and 'food' spreads.

".......stop buying photographic magazines.."

Good advice! I was only thinking the same thing a few days ago when perusing the photo mags in W.H.Smith looking for reviews of K10......one is left with the feeling of looking at utter crap !!

A much better tip is to go to the stalls at street markets which have magazine back issues,..they usually sell 3 mags for a couple of quid, or 80p each. 3 weeks back I bought 3 mags (total cover price £15) from the stall at Chelmsford market,...I got issue 2 of 'The New Nude', which as it happens IS a photo mag but quite a different one,...I bought it for the large Helmut Newton article but there is some other stunning work in it as well,..I especially like the underwater nudes with dolphins by a photographer called Todd Essick.

I also bought a thick fashion mag called simply '10'. This is about 1/2 inch thick and filled with loads of superbly 'pro' shots to analyse late at night over a nightcap. Although I have no interest in fashion per'se, I find that i keep thumbing thru the mag to find the fashion 'portraits' of a Swedish photographer called Andreas Larsson, because they are so beautifully lit.

Well, Pentax may be a small company but what about the big makers?...their prime ranges for DSLR's are even less impressive than pentax.

You do get the feeling that the current makers are not really trying when it comes to serious lenses for APS-C.....

I think there may be two possible reasons;...firstly, makers actually have been expecting sensors to go 'full-size' so have not been willing to spend time money on what they think is going to be obsolete quite soon....secondly, it may just be that we are passing thru a period where still camera makers are simply becoming more trivialised and, as with the cameras themselves, they are unwilling to be adventurous and just want to stick to what everyone else can make and sell,...namely, zooms.

Only Oly/Panny/Leica seem to be interested in the more serious prime lenses,..but then they MUST make the 'four-thirds' system work because there will be no 'Full-frame' for them.

I think that the K20D will have the same shape as K10D but will be covered in soft, tactile polyvynyl coating which moulds itself to the users hand. This will be avialable in a range of colours, the pink will be particularly popular.

The camera will have vastly more modes than the simple k10,.....the picture modes will include 'snappy mode', 'sparkle mode' 'golden glow mode', 'moonlight mode', 'bling mode', 'rose tint mode', 'iced highlights mode'.....

Photoshop Elements will be built in and the camera will have unique 'plug-ins' which will include 'sun tan' to modify any human faces to a deep tan,...'eye enhance' to place highlights into any eyes,..the shapes of highlight will be selecatable from a list of 10,.....'smiley' will automatically morph any face which is straight into a full smile,....'rainbow' will add a broad band of colours to any landscapes shot with the camera and there will be the facilty to make all skys a deeper blue and any grass much greener,...cloud files in the on board memory will supply 'fluffy' or 'billowy' additions to any landscape shots and a selection of farm animals will be there to add foreground interest as needed.

'Lifestyle' improvements will be available such as a selection of cartoon characters to add to any family groups,...all of the worlds tourist landmarks will be available in the cameras memory to superimpose a full length portrait onto,....so, you will be able to stand your wifes sister in front of the Eifel Tower without having to go anywhere near paris.

The 'Slimming filter' will be developed to add 'youthful', 'taller' and 'full-bosom' facilities.

There will be full 'print and publish' facilities including a selection of borders including holly leaves, veteran cars, sailing boats, bloodhounds with droopy faces, musical notes, sea shell selection.......

There will be several quick captions available in two dozen fonts to add in corners of shots, with messages such as "Happy Birthday"..."Yo Ho Ho from Santa" and of course, "congrats"....

The camera will have a completely plastic lens mount and a plastic viewfinder prism but shutter speeds will be extended to 1 / 250,000 of a sec. and there will also be provision to hold up to 150 Mp3's....web browsing will be possible using the 5 inch LCD.

Matt,

".........I'd rather have lower priced 3:2 than higher priced 1:1.."

Yes, but the prices of all this stuff is steadily dropping anyway....as indeed it must with everybody making more or less the same camera.

Matt,

".........would make the camera physically much larger..."

I do concede that it would have to be alittle larger but I don't believe it would have to effectively change the size of the camera,.....the Canon 5D has a 'full-frame' sensor but is only the same size as the APS-C model it copies (D30..?)...what I'm proposing here is a lot smaller sensor than that.

Matt,

I quite like the K10 too, otherwise I would not be watching this forum,....however, it's a bit of a 'curate's egg' like all the other DSLR models.

"....And just how, exactly, would you acheive that 90 degree rotation in camera?.."

Well, if they can make a 23mm x 15mm sensor then they can make one which is 23mm square,...sensors are about to get much larger anyway so why not just a bit bigger??? Then, its relatively simple to offer multi format choices selected by finger pressure and withour taking the camera from the eye......23mm x 15mm for 2:3 as now, but in horiz. or vert.,...4:5 'ideal' format horiz. or vert.,...square RAW files for later editing and cropping or complete use.

Im noe suggesting anything that would push the technology...this is all perfectly feasible to a good design team.

Incidentally, I have been involved with industrial design and product development.