Partial Workaround for Body Aperture Block Problem with Lens Aperture Ring

First, you need to enable this in the Custom Function:

 

Second, you need to set the aperture ring of your K-mount lens out of the A position, provided that your lens has it:



Now, your semi-dead Pentax camera will work in the Av and M modes with correct exposure, as long as a non-A aperture position is selected. The credit of this clever method belongs to Mr M R Padmaraju of the DPR Pentax forum, the thread of his original post can be found here.

New Firmwares for Pentax Cameras

http://news.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/rim_info2/support/

To support the new 1.4X Tele Converter.. But as I said before, this method of updating firmwares to support every new lens is actually plain stupid. They should consider to do it in the Canon's way, i.e., to update the software utility that can be used to load the new lens' data into different bodies, of various models.

DPR K-3 Studio Test Shot Comparison has been Out

For instance, this is K-3 Vs D7100 Vs K-500 Vs A7 at ISO 1600 in RAW for the centre of the test shot image:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison?attr18=daylight&attr13_0=pentax_k3&attr13_1=nikon_d7100&attr13_2=pentax_k500&attr13_3=sony_a7&attr15_0=raw&attr15_1=raw&attr15_2=raw&attr15_3=raw&attr16_0=1600&attr16_1=1600&attr16_2=1600&attr16_3=1600&normalization=full&widget=1&x=0&y=0

So, measurebate endlessly yourself to go figure all the differences for all other combinations of different camera models and at different ISO and etc. I blog, you decide!

AF Fine Adjustment: "Apply All" and "Apply One" Fully Explained

Quite some time ago, I explained how to focus adjust a K-5 camera using Live View. However, there are some confusions amongst Pentax users over time for the meanings and effects of the "Apply All" and "Apply One" settings. So, I opt to explain more this time. Well, the user manual tells nothing useful about these once again, just see page 126 of the K-5 user manual! >:-(

For a camera like the K-5 and K-30/50/500 which lacks a f/2.8 sensors, this "AF Fine Adjustment" is crucial so as to compensate the spherical aberration that exists on all lenses when stopped down against wide opened, which causes the camera to mis-focus depending on the amount of differences. It is because the AF system actually measures the more central part of the lenses optically for those f/5.6 AF sensors.

So, here we go, we have four scenarios:

1. Nothing is Set:



This is essentially the same as to set in the Custom Function that the "AF Fine Adjustment" is Turned Off / Disabled.

2. "Apply All" is Set but "Apply One" Not:



So, All lenses will use the "+5" setting as shown in the above example which is obvious. Do note that a +ve setting is meant to instruct the camera to focus fronter (to compensate back focusing) and vice versa for a "-ve" value to instruct the camera to focus backwards (to compensate front focusing).

3."Apply All" is Not Set and "Apply One" is Set (for Individual Lenses):



This is also obvious, the "Apply One" setting will take effect when individual lens is mounted of which the lens identity number is detected (for a Pentax F AF lens or later). So, I now know why the official user manual just tells you "Apply All" means apply all, "Apply One" means apply one or something like that but no more! ;-p

Choose this only if your camera does not contain any AF error primitively by itself, like my own K-5 unit which is a perfect copy already! :-D

4. Both "Apply All" and "Apply One" are Set:



Well, what does it mean under this case? Is it actually +2, +5 or +7?? What do you think? :-o For what I checked, it is actually +2, that means that the "Apply One" setting overrides the "Apply All". Whilst this does make sense somehow but however, the "Apply One" is not applied on top of the "Apply All" as many Pentax users wished!

Btw, if you have a copy of your Pentax camera which needs some slight adjustment by itself for *all* lenses, i.e. sample variations with some system errors, set both and remember to individually calibrate all your lenses unless the "Apply All" already works for all your lenses, i.e. scenario #2! Frankly, if you have more prime lenses like me, calibrating each lens is inevitably unavoidable!

Last but not least, some people would be puzzled for what to do with a cheap DAL or even "DA" lenses which does not have a focusing mark (namely, the DA35/2.4, DA50/1.8 and the DA40/2.8XS lens). Well, what you need to do is to put on a sticker and make the mark yourself before doing any further calibration! See the following example. :-)



Besides, some people would still wonder, do the K-5II/s need such "AF Fine Adjustment"? My answer is Yes, if you are using really Fast Prime like the DA*55/1.4 or just an old FA50/1.4 and etc., of which spherical aberration still occurs in between the widest aperture of f/1.4 down right to the f/2.8 aperture where the AF is detected and measured. So, the above techniques do still always apply! And also don't forget that not every copy of the K-5II/s is perfectly quality controlled when it was produced from the Pentax' (and now Ricoh's) factory.

New Firmwares for Pentax DSLRs Released Today

@ Ricoh.jp (In Japanese Only.)

Support to the "new" HD Limited lenses and the "new" model 360 and 540 II flash units are added. Released firmwares are for K-r, K-5, K-5II/s, 645D, K-01, K-30 and K-50. There is no new firmware to the K-500, though.

Five Reasons Why Choose Pentax? (Official, and then for Five Reasons NOT!)

Read: http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/whypentax/index.html

But as the top "Pentax hatred site" on Earth, I have to write five of the most updated reasons for why not Pentax now so as to make the balance, namely as follows! ;-p

1. Pentax is not Pentax anymore, its name disappeared from web and on lens (the name plate and marking was removed)! And, there is no SMC anymore! >:-o Now comes the HD, yes, it is 720p only, not even 1080p! ;->

2. There is no Full Frame Pentax which never comes true even after twelve years since the old MR52 prototype in K-mount was first created! Non, there is never any concrete plan of a FF that is official!

3. There is no REAL new Pentax DSLR body nor REAL new lenses for more than two years now! For instance, the K-50 is identical to the old K-30 of the last year. The K-500 and K-50 "are" also essentially the same camera body! K-5II is just a K-5 of 2010 with no significant improvements. Yes, they changed the LCD monitor, add one and only one f/2.8 AF sensor. But so what? Could the development of two years only give those?! As for the lenses, there are only repackaged ones with new colours. Yes, colour variations, their strongest point for long!

4. Pentax colour rendition is no more Pentax by now and indeed, worse than the current Canons', IMHO!

5. There are more problems with Pentax and actually Ricoh for their camera business and strategy (if any). But since I have to be concise and confine points to five, the last point is that the Ricoh named Pentax will probably soon to be doomed and has no future. So, should you buy and invest into such a dying and eventually dead system? Don't blame me on my this point but which is 100% valid. What Ricoh has shown us for their plan(s) and give us faith on the future of the brand?? Name changing!?

More K-50 and K-500 Reviews

1. A detailed mesurbation review of the K-50 with bunch of full samples:

http://www.optyczne.pl/231.1-Test_aparatu-Pentax_K-50_Wst%C4%99p.html
(in Polish)

2. Another K-500 review after the K-50 review by PF:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-k-500-review/features-and-highlights.html

But as the K-500 is just almost the same camera as the K-50, why did the review again? I really don't understand. I think most parts are meaningless as long as the K-50 has already been tested, IMHO.

Tidbits Today

1. Ephotozine has completed the full review of the K-50, conclusions and comments are quite favourable:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-k-50-digital-slr-review-22468#Verdict

2. The once discontinued K-01 Yellow Edition (which "was discontinued owing to the too high market demand"!?) is reborn and can be purchased via the following! ;-p



http://e-young.en.alibaba.com/product/572978874-210820225/Klarus_font_b_K_b_font_01_18650_2200mAH_Protected_font_b_battery_b_font_yellow.html

3. Benjamin Kanarek has left Pentax:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3522589#forum-post-51869814

Via: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3523000

Now, Ben is in love his new D600!

4. An unsubstantiated rumour of new Pentax cameras coming by this Christmas:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/232560-new-camera-s-christmas.html

Okay, will these be Ricoh models actually?! >:-o

When Did Pentax Forget about a Compact DSLR Body?!

First look at my old *ist DL2:



Do note that the above is already loaded with batteries and memory card and is ready to shoot.

And then a K-5 with the same compact DA pancake lens of mine, also loaded and ready:



In fact, the K-5 body alone is just heavier than the DL2 with the 21mm pancake lens! :-(



Yet I bet Pentax fanboys will again defend that the K-5 is not a low-end body and thus it should be larger and heavier. But let's compare further the following:

1. K-5IIs Vs Canon 6D Full Frame:

http://camerasize.com/compare/#373,380

Well, it is measured that "Pentax K-5 IIs [760 g] weights 1% (10 grams) less than Canon EOS 6D [770 g] (*inc. batteries and memory card)."! I can't believe that a FF body is lower end than the cropped APS-C K-5 by all means! And also:

2. K-50 Vs K-5:

http://camerasize.com/compare/#462,372

The K-50 also weighs 650g loaded and ready, which is just 20g lighter than my *ist DL2 with the DA21 pancake lens mounted with the metal lens hood attached as shown above! For what I have also measured, the lens hood weighs 12g. So, the weight of the K-50 body alone is just about equal to that of the DL2 together with the DA21 lens without the lens hood!

After all, I think Ricoh has completely lost direction for what to make and market and the brains of their heads were and are yet non-functioning, completely! When the new entry level cameras created by them is so big and heavy, what's the point? Have they also forgot about their really compact and lightweight line of the DA pancake lenses? Do they still really want to sell more of these?! >:-(

At the end of the day, I bet over 90% of the potential entry-level DSLR buyers would want a compact plus lightweight body like the Canon's EOS100D rather than a bulky and heavy K-50/K-500 with a so-marketed 100% coverage viewfinder, which they really don't care much about or just even don't know what it is! :-o

New K-50/500 Review at C|Net

Read here:

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/pentax-k-50-with/4505-6501_7-35792160.html

Some performance and timing measurements were done and sample photos are posted. In short, whilst the reviewer thinks that the K-50 is feature-rich, the Image Quality of it does fall behind the competition, below are some comments that he writes, for instance:

"Image quality
Overall, the image and video quality disappoint, especially on the default color settings. Following a long Pentax consumer tradition, Custom Image still defaults to Bright, a setting that indiscriminately pumps up color saturation and increases contrast, resulting in serious hue shifts and clipped shadow detail. Switching to the Natural setting or shooting raw helps somewhat. If you're not worried about color accuracy, the occasionally surreal colors might appeal."

"For JPEGs I wouldn't recommend going higher than ISO 800. The K-50's images generally look pretty soft, and that gets worse as the noise reduction really kicks in. It also looks like the camera adds some sharpening at ISO 400, as there's a noticeable jump in sharpness at that point."

"It renders a respectable tonal range, with a reasonable amount of recoverable shadow detail, though like the rest of its class it doesn't retain a lot of highlight detail."

In fact, I felt much the same as the CNet reviewer does, when some of the very first K-50 samples were posted.

More K-50 Full Samples (Unofficial)

Here, at the Digital Camera Review:-

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=5346&news=pentax+k+50+image+quality

Click on the images and download the full original images, which were produced directly out of the K-50 without any modification.

As before, I don't like the colour response by the way. All Prime M bodies, including the K-01, K-30 and now the K-50/500 do have a strong magenta cast like that, making images look unnatural and skin tones look especially awful, which is just awkward enough after all! >:-(

Besides, all the images were underexposed somehow and they look a bit dark, which is not normal for those kinds of subjects that are already with a mid-tone reflectance, IMHO.

N.B. The official sample images of the K-50 are NOT yet available at Pentax.jp.


Last Related:- 

K-50 Samples

New Metz Firmware to Support HSS on K-30 and K-5II/s

After more than one year, the solution finally comes! :-o

http://www.metz.de/en/flash-units/firmware-download-flash-units/mecablitz-50-af-1-digital/pentax.html

This is for the Mecablitz model 50 AF-1 for instance. New firmwares for other current major metz models are also available, which is the solution to enable the High Speed Sync when using their flashes on the K-30 or a later Pentax DSLR body.

Update (6-23): Taiwan Pentax K-5 users have reported that after upgrading to the latest version 4.0 of the Metz firmware, their flashes (model 58 AF-2) have started not to fire in both A and M modes! So, if you are a K-5 user, do note the issue and should not upgrade! This story once has reminded us one thing, i.e., if you do not *really need* an upgrade of any firmware, just do not do that, as the latest is not always better. For instance, it is just a matter of compatibility after all! :-o

First Looks of the Q7 and K-500 at EPhotoZine

Q7: http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-q7-hands-on-preview-22178



K-500: http://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-k-500-dslr-hands-on-preview-22177



The K-500 preview reminds me of how Pentax could make "two" new camera"s" by just: One bundled with a lithium battery and then the other with an AA battery holder plus without the installation of the weather sealed rubbers at the factory, that's it! >:-o

Yet Another Rumour: More Pentax DSLRs to Come This Fall

Roland Mabo, the long-time Pentax Internet supporter, has recently posted this rumour at the PF:-

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/227880-swedish-distributor-hints-new-products.html

This is the key statement that told: "In fall 2010 Ricoh bought the camera division of Pentax, and with this came big resources for development of new products. Now we can see the first fruits of this. Two new DSLR's at the same time, and this fall there's more on the way."

But then I really don't feel excited even what is told will happen! It is because that "two new" cameras could mean nothing at all, as we have just seen with the K-50 and K-500, which is actually the same old K-30 but split and repackaged! >:-( Maybe Pentax Ricoh finally took my little advice about the coffin looks of their DSLRs and finally decided to repack them soonest as a result! Thank you, PR!! ;-D

Btw, do you really want a K-5III with only a different outlook but 99% same things inside?! :-o

Where are all those new Pentax K-mount lenses? Do they exist? They have all disappeared! Just check against their last lens roadmap which has not been updated for quite some time now and you will soon discover that the listed new lenses on the roadmap are simply paperware! The WR editions of the "new" DAL lenses are not really anything new, neither are the newly coloured DAL kit zooms and the Q 01 02 lenses. The only new lens in this recent product announcement is only the Q 07 body cap lens!!

K-50 Samples

1. @ DPR (Full Size Available):-

http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/reviewsamples/albums/pentax-k-50-preview-samples

2. @ Pop Photo (Full Size *Original*):-

http://www.popphoto.com/gallery/sample-images-pentax-k50-k500-dslrs-and-q7-ilc

Well, it seems that Popphoto and DPR went to the same press conference and shot the same targets.. Nevertheless, the Pop Photo samples indicate that the Firmware of the K-50 camera is in Version 1.0.

3. @ Pentax Japan (Small Size):-

http://www.pentax.jp/japan/products/k-50/gallery/index.html

Go inspect if you're interested. But my bet is that those samples will give you no excitement and surprise of any, as the same sensor and image processor have been used over and over again for long by Pentax. So, for most of us, we actually knew that what would happen! >:-(

K-50/K-500 and Q7 are Now Official

Read the news/press releases/preview over DPR:-

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/06/12/Pentax-launches-k-50-k-500-16MP-mid-and-entry-level-16MP-DSLRs

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7885360476/first-impressions-of-the-pentax-k50-and-k500

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/06/12/Pentax-announces-Q7-with-larger-1-over-1-point-seven-inch-12MP-BSI-CMOS-sensor

As DPR has commented, the suggested prices seem more reasonable this time (they called it "realistic"). In fact, the prices will soon come down after they are first marketed, which is July 5th as planned now. So, just wait if you're interested but not too eager to get any of those immediately. :-)