More "Harubeni" Samples

https://pentaxofficial.com/18197/

(in Japanese)

"Harubeni" Samples

See:  https://twitter.com/ricohimaging_jp/status/1633634970702061568?s=20

for the newly released firmwares of K-1/II, K-3 III and KF.

Btw, "Harubeni" means the red colours of Spring.

Seasonal Firmware Updates for K-1 bodies and K-3 III

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/k1.html

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/k-1-2.html

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/k-3-3.html

And, according to Pentax Rumors, further updates with new custom images by theme will be delivered quarterly.

But what I really can't understand why any Pentax user needs to have particularly lenses in order to use those new Custom Images. It doesn't make sense at all unless Pentax wanted to promote their stocked lenses with such an inferior means.

K-3 III and GR T-shirts (by UNIQLO)

by UNIQLO..

Interesting Comparison of Different Pentax Custom Images

At the Malificent Images..

The new Custom Image "Satobi" is compared side-by-side against "Flat" or "Vibrant" which is also known as "Miyabi" as mentioned in the above blog post.  The camera body used is a K-3 III.

It seems that Satobi is a colour tone that one would not use normally, but only for creating an aged and nostalgic mood and feel.

The K-3 III Variants

 

Accordingly to this "confidential" diagram, there are six variants of the K-3 III to come. The first one is a deep-black coloured body, the second one is with a modified shutter release button for a different touch, the third one is a monochrome model, the fourth one is a MF model (maybe with a MF focusing screen?), the fifth one is a gun-metal coloured body, and the last one is an astro-model with a modified sensor filter for astro-photography.

Btw, it was also told by Ricoh officially in their recent local marketing event that there will be no new Pentax full frame body in the near future and the K-1 II will still be the current model for the time being.

Pentax Online Event on November 27 (at Japan)

The event will be held tomorrow at Tokyo (in Japanese):

https://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/event/2021/pentax_meeting_online2021/

(in Japanese)

Here is the tentative programme and rundown for the event:

- Development stories of the D-FA 21mm F2.4 Limited including interview with the developers who will talk more about the design and application of the lens.

- The evolution of K-3 Mark III will continue. New features are to come, via new firmware and other - But what does "other" means? What's the mean to do it?

- About future PENTAX products. The person in charge of product planning will reveal something.

- Q&As - Questions are to be submitted to Pentax in advance via form.

Let's see what will be told by then.

The K-3 III Image Corner Blur Issue Strikes Again

Camera-gear YouTuber Kobie M-C tested the K-3 and K-3 III side by side and here is his report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH2eQD6fpA0

And, his quick textual comment follows, quoted:

"Some interesting things occurred during the shooting for this test. It seems the K-3 Mark III sensor out resolves some lenses including the DA 50 1.8 which surprised me. It's a good lens, nice and sharp, but just not on the K-3 Mark III. I tried live view, electronic shutter, Focus fine adjustments from -10 to +10 and it was still soft. F/1.8, 2.8, 4 (when the lens is sharpest) and still the same result. This might be what some professional reviewers are experiencing when they mention soft images."

The below quick snapshot refers for easy reference:

(Click to Enlarge)

In fact, Kobie's finding is exactly the same as what I found last time with my new K-3 III when it was tested against my KP side by side.

As the increase in the total number of pixels of the K-3 III against the K-3 and KP is really marginal, I think there exists another factor to cause the decrease in resolution in image corners for images produced by the K-3 III, even for the same old lenses, which used to be optically good. 

I suspect the (different) design of the micro-lenses and (different) assumed incident angle of light should come into play. Indeed, the new 26MP Sony sensor was first used in the Fujifilm X-T4 which has a much short back focal distance. Later on, Ricoh got this sensor and put it into the K-3 III. However, the new sensor is not that highly compatible with many of the old glass in optical sense, especially at the image corners and edges, and that wide angle lenses suffer more than standard and tele ones.

I have verified this with the latest glass marketed by Pentax, in particular, like the D-FA* 16-50 PLM, which shows a much lesser problem for the aforesaid issue and phenomenon. 

Related Article:

When the Sensor Outresolves the Lens

More Sample Photos of the DFA 21 Limited (by Yaotomi)

https://www.yaotomi.co.jp/blog/walk/2021/10/hdpentaxd,fa21mmf24,limited.html

(in Japanese)

Both K-1 Mark II and K-3 Mark III were used to take the samples, but the posted pictures are just too small to tell about the resolution. The colour and 3d rendition as well as bokeh of the lens look nice this time. This lens seems very suitable to be used on both Full Frame and APS-C bodies.

Size Comparison and Body Matching with the D-FA 21 Limited

 

Credit: Map Camera (in Japanese)

K-3 III Firmware V1.20

Latest new version of the firmware is available for download at the following official web page:

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/k-3-3.html

New version of the Image Transmitter 2 is supported, which could be downloaded here.

And, the bug for being unable to focus adjust when using the HD-DA tele-converter 1.4X is rectified.

Three New Pentax/Ricoh Cameras in the Pipeline?

Source: e-Sertifikasi Portal (in Indonesia) via Nokishita @Twitter (in Japanese)

The models R02020, R03030 and R05010 are new, which should be under development. Whether they are in the Ricoh or Pentax brand is yet unknown, though. Furthermore, I list below the recent registered R-numbered camera models by Ricoh for your better wild guessing. ;-p

R01010: Pentax K-1 Mark II

R02010: Ricoh GR III

R03010: Pentax K-3 Mark IIIkey

Image Corner Blur Issue with K-3 III (Head-to-head Comparison with KP)

Have had my K-3 III for over one month now and tested it with my various DA/FA/DFA lenses (mostly primes) but there is a strange issue discovered.

It is all about the unexplainable corner (or simple off-centre) softness in the images taken with the K-3 III. To illustrate the problem, here we go with the sample set below, with a pair of images taken using my K-3 III and KP with the same lens (which is a HD-DA 40mm Limited), at almost the same time and with the same exposure parameters.

Let's see the 100% centre crops of the pair of images, which are perfect in focus. I captured also the EXIF data on screen for our easy reference (Click pictures to Enlarge):

Then, here are the left side of the images in 100% crops:

And then, here are the right side of the images in 100% crops:

This problem really drives me nuts. I really didn't expect the new flagship camera would produce much lower resolution at off-centre in images than its predecessor model of 2017. It's really much frustrating after all.

It seems that the new sensor of the K-3 III has some kinds of incompatibility with the existing Pentax lens lineup optically, which is a hardware issue but not a software one, I believe. Note that I had already turned off all the lens correction functions as well as the AA filter simulator to rule out the possibility of the issue is being caused by software or other factors.

Checking the DPR Claimed K-3 III "Shutter Shock" Issue

With DPR claiming that the "shutter shock" of their K-3 III under test was unavoidable by whatever means at low ISO speeds of 100 and 200 with a lower shutter speed, I have tried to resemble their test using the same ISO, time value, lens model and focal to verify the case. Here we go:

 

So, any shake and "shutter shock" that you can see? I don't, do you? :-D And, I took my shots handheld through the finder, without any tripod but with SR turned on.

K-3 III to be Released Shortly?

Mr Nokishita has just twitted that three new Pentax accessories have been added to the list of goods for domestic dealers, namely, "Battery Grip D-BG8", "Hot Shoe Cover O-HC177" and "Eye Cup FU" which are the exclusive accessories for the upcoming K-3 III.

In view of this, should the K-3 III be released and launched into the market very soon?

K-3 III Has Eye AF, Firmware is Finalised

Two Chinese Pentax users posted at the Xitek Pentax Forum that they received an early production K-3 III which is confirmed to have the Eye AF function and the firmware has already been updated to V1.0 production version since 1st of March. One tester even posted the below viewfinder snapshot to illustrate the Eye AF does work, even with a flat displayed picture like this: 

It seems that the design is ready for the new body but yet Ricoh have faced difficulties for mass production so that they could not sell the new product, since they have not yet announced the revised launch date of the K-3 III.

Besides, two screen captures of the K-3III's Info screen and its AF options are also posted:

KP Discontinued

 http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/#digital-slr

Whilst the K-3 III hasn't arrived yet and there is no expected delivery date of any, the KP is now discontinued. What's Ricoh doing in the meantime? They really do not want to sell other APS-C DSLR bodies but only the dated and low-end plastic-built K-70, which also had the infamous aperture-blocked problem for long?  :-(

Official: More Technical Information about the K-3 III

 

Claimed new improvements or new features include: 

- New viewfinder optics with a higher magnification factor of which the displayed image is also brighter, with the addition of a new condenser lens and with an overlaid LCD information display, too 

- New metering system with 307k colour pixels which has better metering accuracy and also helps the tracking of moving objects

- New high-speed mirror and shutter driving mechanism 

- New PRIME V processor and high ISO performance which is better than that of the K-1 II in terms of noise/details as well as reproduced colours (but that the ISO performance of the K-1 II is really rather outdated by today's standard, nonetheless). New Fine Sharpness II setting option is also made available for in-camera JPEG sharpening.

- New SAFOX 13 AF module of which the layout is shown in the below diagram

Legend: Red squares = Crossed AF sensors (25 nos.), Red and Blue squares = Selectable AF points (41 nos.), Deep Blue "circled" sensors = -EV4 low light capable and F2.8 lens aperture compatible (9 nos.)

:

The K-3 III is Delayed and Here Comes the Re-packaged 3 FA Limiteds in HD

We all knew that the K-3 III was delayed without a new release or market launch date announced. :-(

Hence, Ricoh is "kind" enough to let us have something else "new", right before the CP+. ;-P

Here we go:

(Source: Japanese Nokishita Twitter via Cameota. In short, the new features of the re-packaged FA Limited lenses are HD plus SP coatings, round aperture and blades and guaranteed -10 deg.C temperature operation, there is no Weather Resistance, nonetheless. Anyway, my old FA Limiteds have never had any problem working in cold and snowing conditions under -10 to -20 deg.C in the past, so did my other film FA lenses, but getting the lenses wet might cause real problems. As for the aperture ring and aluminium casted lens bodies, these are indeed good old features but nothing new.

Update (Feb 25): The HD FA Limited Special Site is now online (in Japanese only). Online pre-ordering from the Ricoh web store is also made available. The offered prices are not cheap, though.

Confirmed SAFOX 13 Layout (in K-3 III)

13 x 9 AF point matrix with 16 points omitted near centre, 41 selectable points

Source: Chinese Pentax Quick News

(with also some dissection photos of the new body in article)