RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Bits and Pieces Today (11-6)

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Bits and Pieces Today (11-6)

1. Supports Only Original Pentax Lenses!

I always suggest Pentax users buy only original Pentax lenses. It is because if you want to use Sigma or Tamron or even Tokina, there is no reason to stay with Pentax, as those 3rd party lenses are rather limited in K-mount in both models and availability. So, why to do so, to get the worst of both worlds?!

Now, more and more compatibility issues have been reported with the latest Pentax bodies and/or firmware with those 3rd party lenses, here is a latest user report about (in Traditional Chinese) that the K-01 V1.01 firmware doesn't work well with his Sigma (17-50/2.8 OS HSM).

2. Reliability of the DA Limited Lenses

It is reported by a DA 40 Limited user that (in Simplified Chinese) the aperture blade of his new lens that has only been used for two months have had its whole mechanism self-disintegrated without any good reason one-day suddenly!

3. The Relation of Rolling Shutter and SR for Video Recording with the K-01

See what this Pentax user reports at the DPR. If it is really true, it is possibly that the processing power of the Prime M processor is insufficient to do both things well at the same time!

4. I am a Pentaxian!

Via DC Home Pentax Forum (in Traditional Chinese)

Wow! I have nothing more to say!! :-o

Comments (22)

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-2 Vote up Vote down

maksa · 644 weeks ago

I have moved from Canon EF system to the Pentax K-5 due to its image quality, form factor and price. EOS 7D is too large and expensive, EOS 60D is not a good choice anyway, and 18 Mp sensor of Canon is not excellent at least. Pentax has no convenient zooms at the moment, so I have purchased Sigmas 10-20, 17-50 F2.8 OS and 70-200 Macro HSM (for only 650 USD), and I think it’s the best choice for this price.

K-5 has slow autofocus, non-reliable WB and AE some interface issues (image jump in playback mode is awful), no AF zones in a viewfinder, battery charge leaking, and performs somewhat slow, but I see no better camera in Canon world for my needs.

4 replies · active 643 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 644 weeks ago

I think K-5's AWB is quite reliable.

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banana · 644 weeks ago

Second to that, Canon's AWB is rather bad in indoor lighting...

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Michael A. · 644 weeks ago

What the heck are you talking about? Charge leaking? And 3rd party lenses slow? .. duh try Pentax lenses on Pentax body for a change. They have a nice (cheap) zoom DA16-45 and HQ DA*50-135mm or the awesome DA*60-250mm. It's a bad idea to be cheap on glass if expecting some great results.
Sigma is not even licensed to make a Pentax anything, hence some compatibility issues. It's a hack because Sigma is too cheap to pay a PK license as Tamron does. BTW, the only 3rd party Sigma 10-20 4-5.6 WA I use on K-5 & K-5 IIs works fine as designed. Again, what the heck are you talking about Mr maksa.....

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maksa · 643 weeks ago

During focusing, K-5 rotates lenses in the wrong way if the focus distance is greater than ~150mm and the distance itself is large enough, I tried for Pentax 55-300 and Sigma 70-200. I doubt this is a lens issue.

About charge leaking: I can leave my Canon EOS 30D turned off for weeks, and it keeps a charge, but every time I leave K-5 in the 'On' position, three days later a battery is empty! I really need to turn K-5 off each time after taking a couple of photos if I want to save charge until the end of the day! I have no such headache with Canon, I just put it in a bag and don’t care about energy saving.

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Arn · 644 weeks ago

One DA40 user have a faulty lens, then you write a paragraph about "reliability of DA lenses"..
Funny.

5 replies · active 644 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 644 weeks ago

There are more cases. Of course all those are isolated ones, e.g.:-

http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2009/10/self-disasse...

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aurèle · 644 weeks ago

still, it's two case on the whole Pentax sales...

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RiceHigh 110p · 644 weeks ago

Of course.

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Michael A. · 644 weeks ago

As always, 1 year warranty is in place to take care of few bad apples in today's mass production..hello!?!... :o)

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frank · 644 weeks ago

5 years in spain and canada

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Sevak Ram · 644 weeks ago

You forgetting about SR, so even with third party lens, Pentax is better than same lenses on Canikon. agreed about AF though.

1 reply · active 644 weeks ago

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frank · 644 weeks ago

i second that

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daedbird · 644 weeks ago

Wow, how meta - I read Rice and he points to a post I placed on DPReview - the circle of life?

Seriously though, I was not bashing the K-01, I was praising it. Look, in most reviews, Pentax gets low marks for the rolling shutter reviewers see in shooting video. That additional rolling shutter issue appears to be an affect caused by the SR. If you turn SR off, you get very fluid video, but every bump can be seen. With SR on, rolling shutter shows, but any shake in my hand disappears.
I think this is one area where all camera reviews really miss out . Most people will use the video in brief moments, handheld, and we do not show how a camera shoots video handheld, meaning we are not really testing out stabilization.

2 replies · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 644 weeks ago

Oh, I have not been aware that that reporting Pentax user is YOU! The World is really small. My fault anyway! :-)

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kadajawi · 641 weeks ago

I was considering the K-5 and the K-30, but I quickly dismissed the K-30, which is quite close to the K-01 I presume. The SR only works using the sensor. It is software only. The result is quiet SR, but also a narrower field of view AND exaggerated rolling shutter effects. Because, well, the shake is still there, the rolling shutter effect still occurs, but it is magnified and not masked by camera shake anymore. Also the video can at times get blurry or even get streaks (like in Star Trek when ships go to warp), because you are still capturing a shaking video.

On the other hand the K-5 SR works during video. You can probably hear it (though I haven't so far, but I have mostly captured video in noisy environments), but it does work. There is no blurring, because that is the point of SR. It moves the sensor to avoid this. The rolling shutter effect is reduced, as again, the sensor movement smooths out every camera movement. You of course also get to use the whole sensor area. And the SR is pretty good at reducing camera shake. Better than any video camera I have ever used, better than my Canon SX130 (which I really like for video). I can, with some care, almost get smooth video while walking. Some additional practice and I might get a steadicam like look (it is already somewhat there...).

Unfortunately after a while I do get hot pixels on the video, and later a warning appears that it's getting hot in there. (Haven't had an emergency shutdown though.)

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Ying · 644 weeks ago

That "I am a Pentaxian" banner, it's curious, because Yellow is traditionally Nikon's colour,
Does this indicate that guy is a Nikon -> Pentax migrator, or is it the other case (but then it should read "I WAS a Pentaxian'

2 replies · active 641 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 644 weeks ago

You are so clever and your guess is exactly correct!

Btw, "I am Nikon" is a marketing campaign for Nikon cameras worldwide.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=I+am+Nikon

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kadajawi · 641 weeks ago

Interestingly in a camera shop I was recently most of the employees were Pentaxians. Wearing I am Nikon shirts. That shop also mostly sold Pentax, Nikon and Olympus gear. No Canon.