Web Analytics RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: The State of Pentax (by Q1 2011)

Monday, March 07, 2011

The State of Pentax (by Q1 2011)

The photo industry super analyst Thom Hogan (a Nikonian in principle) has recently written a sum-up of the current states of Nikon's product lineups and families of DSLR and camera gear.. See:-

http://bythom.com/state2010.htm

I think it would be interesting to my readers if I write a similar article about Pentax. So, here we go! :-D


PENTAX HAS:


- A second highest resolution APS-C DSLR body with (relatively) "compact" size, i.e., the K-5 (Canon current APS-C DSLRs all have 18 MPs);

- A weather-sealed mid-grade APS-C body with optional weather-sealed lenses (DA* and WR models);

- Stylish entry DSLR bodies (K-r and the old K-x) with various choices of different colour combinations and special cartoon editions of those. There are always more fun with Pentax regarding this! (And they taught me for not liking black cameras anymore! ;->)

- Compact (but rather slow in speed) elegant DA pancake lenses (i.e., DA 15/21/40/70);

- Choice of other bulkier (but yet not really very fast) DA primes, e.g., DA 35 Macro, DA 35/2.4, DFA 100 and etc.;

- Good to better ergonomics for the body and operational interface/menu design, usually;

- SMC coating - superb flare control, excellent colour rendition;

- SP coating for front/rear glass elements - easy to clean and yet sturdy;

- Still the nearly cheapest entry level DSLR body by now (the price of K-r has been reduced significantly already);

- A higher grade 645D Cropped Medium Format (MF) DSLR body - unique in the market for an "entry level" "low-cost" MF DSLR body and system (but there are only two new lenses launched so far for the digital Pentax 645D "system" anyway);

- Some uniquely designed compact P&S DC with appealing appearance and attractive/useful specs, e.g., the latest Optio WG-1/GPS, which people think that it looks like a Casio G-shock watch.


DOESN'T HAVE:

- An upper grade and true professional APS-C camera;

- A 135 Full Frame K-mount body;

- Faster prime lenses with larger aperture values (they used to achieve this for the FA lineup in the old film days!);

- A complete lens lineup that supports full frame nor there is anything beyond 300mm on the super-tele side, neither;

- There is no Tele Convertor/Adaptor that just supports AF nor SDM, in addition;

- Any plan(s) on the future development of the Pentax systems - at least it is not as transparent as it should be, or, there is no useful for those;

- An updated P-TTL system that can perform better;

- Updated flash units with faster recycling time and more updated features and etc. - The two 360 and 540 models are just too aged and now many Pentax people who want better performance and/or value have already gone Metz;

- A true video compression codec and technology for effective video and motion compression for any of their DSLRs ever made.

- A mirrorless system (at least one body + two lens!).


(SUPER) NEGATIVES:

- SDM of those premium DA* to mid-range DA lenses could die at any time and people scare!

- The latest SAFOX IX/+ never focus properly except at outdoor and on bright days!

- The persistent K-5 sensor stain issue!

- Lack of proper QC for both bodies (made in Philippines) and lenses (made in Vietnam).

- Inferior after-sales support: Slow response to issues / Reluctance to admit problems / Inability to eliminate most technical issues for that those become persistent and infamous.

- Pentaxians on Internet still call the "P" of P-TTL stands for Pathetic, owing to its poor exposure accuracy and reliability! >:-(


Last Analytical Paper:-

Pentax' Performance Evaluation Against Forbes' Seven Secrets of (Successful) Companies

Comments (2)

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Luis Fonseca's avatar

Luis Fonseca · 729 weeks ago

Ricehigh, don't be so negative. It's bad for your liver.

All motors will die some day and the SDM motors seem to be stable now so, today, they are not an issue anymore. One negative less.

Latest firmware has solved most AF problems so one more negative down.

The sensor stain was a manufacutre problem that is now solved. If you are talking of the stupid PF statistic of 26% you lost all credibility on this issue unless you can convince us that Pentax only sold 26 K-5 worldwide in February. Another one down.

Lack of QC. I'm not sure of what you are saying here but my lenses work fine (and that includes one vietnamese DA*) All new factories have problems when they start.

About P for Pathetic I have doubts. K-5 seems to have trouble with over exposure when bounced so you are right here.

So Hoya/Pentax seem to be going in the right direction with 3 out of 5 problems solved.
2-3 years ago, before I bought my first Pentax dslr I believed that Pentax makes very good dslr, concentrates on customer needs more than to nice marketing features not usefull to users – like pixelcount competition. Now after almost 2 years of intensive use of K-x and after analysing cca 30 000 photos I must say I have very less trust to Pentax. Pentax has much better marketing than camera engineering. K-x had won TIPA award, but my long experience results in "never more Pentax". I compared it with my older Canon 450D and Canon 7d and all problem cases I had with Pentax was 2 classes better on Canons. I hate blured pictures from Pentax because of wrong focusing and shutter induced blur ( investigated by Falk Lumo for K-7 ). I use very often fast lenses 1.4 prime, 2.8 zooms with apertures 1.4 – 4.0. I have to say Pentax is really bad for shallow DOF/ small apertures because its unreliable focusing. I have calibrated all lenses and also the body but still cca 25% pictures are not good focused (It is surely not user or settings error ). Second problem is shutter induced blur. Before I discovered the reason for the blur I bought & tested 3 lenses Sigma 30/1.4 and all had significantly worse resolution & contrast than the same lens type on Canon 450D ( resolution chart tests & similar ). First I blamed Sigma for pure QC, but as found out later - problem was body, not lenses. Pentax Service was unable to solve these problems. Then I returned these lenses & decided no more to invest to Pentax system. I believed sooner that upgrade to K-5 could solve these problems, but followed its focusing and other pending problems in trustworthy tests I lost my rest believe in Pentax. Outdoors pictures, with apertures above 5.6 are really good with Pentax... but any dslr on the market and even small sensor P&S are similar good at such conditions... it means many K-x owners with kit lenses could be happy with k-x. But better lenses for k-x are waste of money...now I use Canons for such applications. Today I strongly prefer Canon/Nikon to Pentax, but not against Olympus ( maybe also Sony ). Still Olympus dslr users have much more reasons to be unhappy because Oly almost stopped dslr development. Future of Sony dslr system seems to me unsure/questionable because of dramatic technology changes – newest SLT cameras.

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