D FA 24-70mm on K-5

Source: http://pentaxfans.net/thread-154168-1-1.html (in Chinese)

The "DFA" badge looks cheap IMHO, though.

Flickr Camera Brand Share and Ranking

https://www.flickr.com/cameras/

Pentax is ranked #12, the model ranking is as follows:

https://www.flickr.com/cameras/pentax/

Where K-5 is ranked no. 1, K-3 follows. But the strange thing is that the number of items made with K-3 is zero, but it still ranks no. 2!? :-o

K-3 IR Review

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/pentax-k3/pentax-k3A.HTM

Same as what DPR said, colour inaccuracy is below average and is yet a problem.

Performance wise, the K-3 is slow in shutter lag, which is close to 1/10 second fastest, and is actually worse than that of the original K-7/K-5.

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.

DxOMark of K-3 is Out

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Pentax-K-3-versus-Pentax-K-5-IIs-versus-Pentax-K5___914_830_676

Despite the high pixel count multiplying factor, the K-3 still loses the game against the old K-5, and the other K-5II variants as well.

Update (11-30): Shouldn't we compare the K-3 to the recent hottest FF like A7R and D610, and see what happens?! :-o

http://www.dxomark.com/Cameras/Compare/Side-by-side/Sony-A7R-versus-Pentax-K-3-versus-Nikon-D610___917_914_915

Pentax -> Pentax Ricoh -> Ricoh Pentax -> What's Next?

A Taiwan Pentaxian unboxed his new Ricoh K-3 has taken a shot together with his old K-5 and K-5IIs for the boxes and bodies, as follows:

http://www.pentaxfans.net/thread-141437-1-1.html
(in Traditional Chinese)



So, as clearly seen in the above, the path of brand naming goes down like that: Pentax -> Pentax Ricoh -> Ricoh Pentax -> What's NEXT?? :-o

I bet most primary pupils will guess the answer should be RICOH Only, which is much sensible enough. Yes, that's my bet too! The trend is really too obvious but again, it is SO SAD! Not even to mention it is rather disgusting afterall! >:-[


Last Related:

That's Really Disgusting! New RICOH>>Pentax Branded Stuff! >:-(

Let's Not Forget the Prominent History of Asahi Pentax (Re: Pentax 67 and 645)

While Ricoh continues to ricohize the Pentax camera and lenses (recent examples here, here and here) and dwarf the name of "Pentax" (instead of strengthening it further!), I am glad to see someone still remember Pentax the brand and is yet making a product with the old genuine brand name of Asahi "Pentax" and here it is!

http://www.dodgeandburn.com/collections/shop/products/six-by-seven

I have got one and found that the textile quality is good and it looks cool. Below are two snapshots with my 645N SLR camera (taken with my *Pentax* K-5 + DA35):



Btw, the original Pentax 6x7, together with the original Pentax 645, are recognised as one of the milestone cameras of Pentax by AOHC whilst my 645N is recognised as a masterpiece. So, why not a 645 T-shirt also? Besides, I would want more colours of the T-shirt instead of only that light cyan colour for the background to "select" from, nonetheless.


Related:

True Fanboyism!

20 Millions of Pentax Cameras in 2013

The 645D Kit (Lens) Got Delivered to an End-User, Finally!

New Product Images of the "Ricoh" K-3 and A "New" Red Ring DA HD 55-300 WR Lens

Source: Digicame Info Here and Here.

So, it once again proves that my first leaked specs of the K-3 dated back to Sept 22nd is correct and there is a new phone jack but not only the mic jack against the previous K-5 series.

Nonetheless, I am disappointed with an once-again refurbished lens by Ricoh and the new red ring and colour is indeed awful and just makes the lens looks ugly and worse! >:-(

K-5II/s New "Urgent" Firmware V1.06

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/k-5_2_s.html

It seems that there was a major bug in the last firmware, so an urgent update is needed. The bug is not told, though. I have also seen quite some users of other Pentax models reported about strange phenomenon since the last recent updates for their bodies. So, it would be wise not to do the update if you have other newer model(s) but not yet, until the actual problem is told clearer, my humble advice!

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.

My Best Optimal Custom Image (Colour) Setting Combination for the Later Pentax Digital Bodies

Well, here it is:



The above was first tested out with my K-5, of which the hue output was always not correct for most of my Pentax digital lenses for all of the built-in custom image profiles, even for the Natural profile, which was supposed to be colour accurate. So, I sat down to think what's wrong and observed quite some of my old photos made with the K-5..

My conclusion was that green colours are lacking yellow. Skin tones are lacking red, orange colours could contain more red. Thus and therefore I made the above hue shift. Btw, the most unfortunate thing is that no official documentation could ever tell the user what are the actual effect and meaning for changing this setting! >:-o Nonetheless, one drawback of the above is Blue colours now contain more green, thus they could be more cyanish. But the factory defaults are too blueish for many things anyway!

Still, two obvious problems with the Natural mode is the lower contrast and saturation for most lenses and shooting situations and thus I bumped up both for 1 step. As for the sharpness, I found that the standard Sharpening method (parameter set) is yet the best and 1 step up will make the JPEG directly out of camera to be more usable, while balancing well with both sharpening artifacts and noise.

On the other hand, I noticed that some Pentax users said that the K-5 series bodies are a bit cool for the AWB. But actually I don't find the same. The AWB is accurate but the problem primitively lies with the wrong hue shift. In order to verify this, just set the camera in preset white balance in particular the daylight WB and then shoot under sunlight, this can be proven and confirmed, example test here. For instance, that is something like what they set:



So, the ABOVE is NOT recommended! The incorrect hue shift will not be completed corrected but yet new yellow cast will be introduced for quite some situations. After all, my recommendation is to leave the AWB at default settings, ONLY changing the colour profile is needed and will work.

With the same optimal colour profile used with my K-5, I put it into my Q and it still works like a charm! :-D





After all, I would not post any of my sample images this time. Just try it out yourself to see if it is better or much better and things have actually improved! :-) And, I am always happy to share even everything could just be "useless as usual", as what my haters and fanboys said! ;-p

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!?

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

Colour Rendition Shootout: 6M CCD Vs 16M CMOS - *ist DL2 Vs K-5

It has been almost ten years since Pentax launched their first DSLR, the *ist D, almost ten years ago. I did buy my *ist D very shortly after it hit the streets and it may be interesting to read back my old textural review of it which was first published back to fall 2003.

Okay, nine years something has elapsed and now the new Pentax cameras have climbed up to 16 megapixels in pixel count and resolution. Yet, as we all know, they are all equipped with an APS-C sized cropped (still!) sensor in 16M. The noise level of the new CMOS sensor is undoubtedly lower and they are video capable. But how about the image quality besides resolution? What have we gained, or, actually lost?

So, I decided to do a shootout test myself, side-by-side and head-to-head for my two old and newer Pentax DSLRs, namely, the *ist DL2, which is the last *ist body actually, and the K-5, which is the first Pentax DSLR using the same never-upgraded but ever recycled Sony 16M CMOS sensor or its variant in all the newer Pentax DSLRs up till now! :-o

Test Conditions:

Both cameras set in RAW mode, manual white balance in daylight, fixed at ISO 200, the same lens of DA21/3.2 was used in Av mode, the same scene was then shot consecutively in pairs;

Custom image mode was set to "Natural" with all centre/zero/default settings except sharpness was set at +1. Pictures were then all converted from RAW to 6M Jpegs without any adjustment (using camera settings) with original Pentax Digital Camera Utility (Laboratory) Version 4.3, for both the *ist DL2 and K-5 pictures. The results are posted in the following album of mine:

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RiceHigh/library/K-5/Colour_Test_Vs_DL2?sort=9&page=1

Full size original images are available for downloading per popped-up picture page in the above.

What I can tell is that the *ist DL2 images are far more natural and faithful to the actual scene in real world than all those made with the K-5! The K-5 images are yet whiter than the DL2's, though, despite that both cameras were actually set to daylight preset manual white balance already.

If you look at the leaves of the trees, the green colours of the K-5 pics are actually looking rather fake and odd. Ditto for the brown colours of the trunks of the trees. In fact, the flower I shot is in orange red, but not that red colour that K-5 has produced and rendered!

Besides, to my surprise, the dynamic range of the *ist DL2 pics is shown to be yet better than that of the K-5 despite that the DR mark measured by DxO is far higher for the K-5 and its 16M CMOS sensor! Just observe the shadow details.. :-o

In fact, the favourable colour rendition was top one big reason why I still stayed with Pentax system regardless of the low performance of the Pentax bodies plus all the various technical and quality issues that were associated with the Pentax system and Pentax themselves. Now, it seems that this main point and reason has also gone with the later and latest Pentax bodies! >:-[

At the end of the day, I am afraid that now putting those excellent Pentax glass on a Canon body do produce much more favourable results even in term of colour rendition, see my this set of recent examples here.

After all, you may have a different opinion than me, but I think my pictures have clearly spoken for themselves! And, this test should be scientific enough as I have already tried to keep all the possible variables and affecting factors to minimal, FWIW.

Canon 70D is Here! Leaving Pentax K-5II/s in the Dark!

http://www.canonrumors.com/2013/07/early-eos-70d-images-surface/

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/02/canon-70d-hands-on/

http://www.canonrumors.com/2013/07/canon-dual-pixel-liveview-autofocus/

For a more detailed preview, read the DPR's:-

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/canon-eos-70d

Pentax? K-5/K-5II/K-5IIs "flagship"?? 3-year old technologies for both the body design and the sensor, against the up-to-date techs in 2013?! How Pentax could compete!? In fact, the mid-grade Canon is already more than enough to knock out the flagship "top-of-the-line" Pentax! Sad!! >:-(

A Set of K-5 Vs 6D Real-life Direct Comparisons

http://forum.xitek.com/thread-1138503-3-1-1.html
(in Simplified Chinese)

Two cameras were used at almost the same time to shoot almost the same thing. The Pentax lenses used were DA*16-50 and the FA77LE. Canon lens used was only the "cheap" EF24-105L kit zoom.

There are many sets of comparisons. As direct linking is not allowed by the Xitek server, please click on the small sample pictures in the above thread and open into a new tab/window one by one to compare them yourself! Simple EXIF data is provided underneath each picture.

So, after inspecting a few sets. My conclusion is easy, as the difference is obvious. The K-5 is helpless in IQ when it is compared to a Canon FF, even the Pentax glasses used are more expensive! That's also the simple conclusion that can be drawn from my own practical experience, too, which is for quite long now!

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

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!!

Italian Navy Officer Uses Pentax Gear

Source: Navy.81.cn (in Simplified Chinese, Goggle-translated English page here.)

The body and lens combo seems to be a FA*24/2 on a K-5.


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