Comparing the Optics of the Contemporary Giant 85mm Lenses

1. Pentax DFA 85/1.4: 12 elements in 10 groups, 1255g (without hood), 82mm filter thread

2. Canon RF 85/1.2: 12 elements in 10 groups, 1195g, 82mm thread

3. Sigma Art 85/1.4: 14 elements in 12 groups, 1130g, 86mm thread

4. Zeiss Otus 85/1..4: 11 elements in 9 groups, 1200g, 86mm thread 

Well, whilst the new Pentax is similar to the Zeiss in design (but with one additional element), it wins in weight amongst the four, which is actually the heaviest 85mm prime ever made on Earth. Good! ;-P

D FA* 85 Official Special Site

Development Story: http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/star_lens/special/sp_dfa85-14/interview/

Practical examples by three Japanese professional photographers:

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/star_lens/special/sp_dfa85-14/impression/

Enjoy!

Trick: Installing Pentax Digital Camera Utility Without the Software CD

Step 1: Find an USB drive;

Step 2: Download the Digital Camera Utility "software updater" from the below official link:

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/dc_utility5_win.html

Step 3: Copy and save the file to the root of the USB drive;

Step 4: Rename the Label of the USB drive to S-SW140;

Step 5: Click and open the Zip file, choose the 32-bit or 64-bit folder and execute the Setup;

Step 6: Install the program as if it is just a normal Setup ad complete the installation in a moment.

I hope this trick helps and could be useful to any Pentax user just in case.

D FA* 85 Weight and Price

According to the latest post by Nokishita @ Twitter, the new lens weighs 1255g and will be sold at a price of 248,000 Japanese Yens including 10% tax. Hence, it would be at around US$2,075 without tax.

Furthermore, it is stated that the official launch (marketing) date of the new lens will be on June 26.

D FA 21 Limited Dimensions and Derived Speed

Credit: DPR Pentax Forum OP zakaria

From this roughly to-scale drawing, putting aside the small perspective and other scaling errors, I do agree that the estimated filter thread is in 67mm. When compared to the FA 20 F2.8 lens which also had a 67mm front thread, the sensible guess of the maximum aperture of the new lens would be F2.8, too. It should not be a re-packaged FA 20 as the new lens is much longer, nonetheless. Good. ;-)

D FA* 85 F1.4 1st Samples

https://pentaxofficial.com/en/5548/

Looks good for the downsized pics, with EXIF for photos in the original link.

K-New Development Video Will be Put Online This Friday

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/event/2020/cp_ref/
(in Japanese)

In short, the video was originally planned to be played at the CP+2020 which was cancelled and now it will be put online, at Tokyo time 1200 hours on 13 May. So, let's see what happens and will be told.

A Closer Look at the Focus Screen Etchings of the K-New

A careful-minded Pentaxian at the DPR Pentax DSLR forum spotted that there were interesting etchings and marks on the focusing screen of the exhibit of the K-new prototype displayed back to September last year, here we go:

First we look at the center of the screen, there is an inner set of brackets of four, in addition to the central spot circle. Note that I have increased the contrast of the above and below pictures for the sake of easier viewing of the marks.

And then at the outer, there is yet another pair brackets of two which covers almost the whole picture frame horizontally. Hence, the AF area of this K-new as a DSLR, i.e. the TTL phase-matching AF, is really very wide. Good! :-D

Furthermore, at the upper right corner there is a mark of a letter "O" which is supposed to mean "Optical". This coincides my guess in the new year for the likehood of a new hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder in the K-new.  Really nice! :-))

I am happy this time, and so do many Pentaxians and fans, I suppose. Good news from Pentax (Ricoh) should come soon!

Replacing the Defective Rechargeable Battery for Pentax DSLR's Date/Time/Settings Memory

The below captions are self-explanatory and can be followed step-by-step:

Credits: https://polonai.se/scrapbook/pentax-k-r-date-time-forget-fix/index.html

Via post in the Cinese Xitek Pentax forum, with additional illustrating photos.

D FA 70-210 Had a Different Focusing Mechanism than the Original Tamron?

A Chinese full review on the lens reveals that the Pentax had a different focusing mechanism/method than the original Tamron SP lens, although the optical formula of the both lenses are the same. See the following official diagrams for the difference:

The Red Japanese words on the highlighted part just mean "focusing elements". The reviewer also writes that he tested the AF speed of the two lenses on the same objects and found that the AF of the Pentax lens was actually a tad faster. He hence suspected that it is owing to the less lens elements being moved for the AF with the Pentax lens. Note that the bodies used for the comparison test were a K-1 II and a Canon 5D III.

However, maybe owing to this change, it is also found that the Pentax lens however is less sharp when wide opened at both the wide and tele ends, which is not a good sign anyway, as image quality is affected. But it is also mentioned that the Pentax could be sharper when stopped down, on the other hand.

Nonetheless, the Pentax lens has much better coating than the Tamron, see this side-by-side comparison:

For the rest of his findings, just go read yourself. Note that Google translation is not working well as all the linked test pictures will become broken, anyway.