Pentax 17 - An Olympus Pen after 60 Years?

The vertical 135 half frame, the purely-guessed manual zone focusing, manual winding and rewinding, automatic electric-eye metering, a slow fixed wide-angle lens, the very limited speed of shutter.. Now I believe that Pen stands for Pentax in 2024. ;-p And recently, I have been able to find two excellent condition Pens (of different models) each of which only costs me about 1/4th the cost of a brand-new Pentax 17, should I still need to go for the 17? :-D The Oly Pens could select the aperture which is impossible for the Pentax. In the mean time, it's time for me to pick my Canon 17 to shoot again shortly. Thank you, Pentax (Ricoh)! At the end of the day, the Canon 17 is a much more precise rangefinder anyway.

SDMs DO Require Preventive Maintenance!

Owing to the prolonged infamous failure of the SDMs in various Pentax AF lens models, I only bought my first SDM lens, the DA*55 F1.4, back to 2015, which is a SDM-only lens in KAF3 mount (on screw-drive). After that, I bought also another SDM only lens the DA17-70 and then later a DA*60-250 F4 hybrid-SDM/screw-driven lens (which supports also in 2022.

Here is my proven experiences with those SDM lenses and my tip to prevent them from malfunction before it would be too late, as follows:

I observe that all those lenses did require regular use of the motors. If they were left un-use for a period of time, the AF motors would first become difficult to move. In that case, first of all they were moving rather slowly and with some clicks of odd sound coming out when moving, rather not smoothly. So, more exercise with the lenses could improve thing. After they had (been) moved smoothly, then it would work flawlessly for a couple of months again. This first happened with my DA*55 of which the first SDM  problem appeared after about one year of purchase of the lens. (I bought that lens from the Biccamera in Japan brand new.)

Same thing happened with my DA*60-250 but the symptom exhibited, which was even worse. This lens was bought from the Amazon.jp brand new and was manufactured in 2021 as shown in the document in box, which was supposed to be of the rumoured "newly designed" SDM, but which IMHO has actually been non-existent. Eventually, I needed to bring out my old screw-driven AF Pentax DSLR to turn and smooth out the operation of the SDM, which is rather hilarious indeed. After that, the SDM turnsed flawlessly, i.e. quick and smooth, but only after my prevent maintenance work carried out for about ten minute, and turnings of both the SDM and the screw-drive mechanics were required.

Another observation of mine is that the SDMs would slow down in cold weather when the temperature was cold. Hence, despite the "cold-proof" specification and feature of those AW SDM lenses, those lenses equipped with SDMs are in fact vulnerable to cold weather and to work properly under low temperatures unless they do enough "exercises" from day to day.

So, if you have those evil Pentax SDM lenses, do remember to mark your calendar and carry out periodical PMs before they are to die, which will be too late to save by then. My humble advice and true experience shared.

Why Pentax Has Failed at Mirrorless?

See what PetaPixel says about the failure of Pentax in the mirrorless market, despite the efforts paid in the past two decades.

By the way, for what PP has listed out for the 37 interchangeable lens digital cameras wich Pentax has ever produced, I have bought more than one-third of all the models as follows:

From 2003 to 2021: My Pentax APS-C bodies acquired: *ist D/DS/DL2, K-100D, K-m, K-x, K-r, K-5, KP and K-3III, total 10 out of the 29 models produced.

From 2011 to 2014: I bought the original Q and the Q7, hence 2 out of 4.

From 2016 to 2021: I got the K-1, but I don't think Pentax has really produced 2 full-frame bodies as the K-1 II actually is just a mild variant of the original K-1.

From 2010 to 2014: I purchased the 645D, 1 out of 2 for the medium format bodies.

So, I acquired a total of 14 Pentax models out of the 37 that they have produced.

Besides what PP has mentioned about the causes the failure, which I generally agree with, I think from the user's perspective and practical point of view, the K-01 and the Q series failed in two major ways, which are the lack of EVF and fast Wi-Fi support. I consider that these are basic essential features nowadays, especially for mirrorless cameras and for easy social media sharing on-the-go. All in all, the external LCD monitor is really rather difficult to view under bright light environment outdoor. Without an EVF, it is indifferent to shoot blindly and composition and shooting have become rather difficult with such handicapped mirrorless cameras.

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

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.

Ultimate Savior for Pentaxians who Had been Hoping for a True K-mount Mirrorless (with Eye-AF etc.)

 A Chinese adaptor manufacturer has announced (Google translated English here) the world first full function K-mount to Sony E-mount adaptor, which will be made available by the end of this year 2020 (and is earlier than the launch date of the upcoming K-3 III)!

This adaptor will have screw-driving AF motor and aperture motor built-in and will support full auto functions of all K-mount lenses (possibly without any aperture block problem ;-P). The manufacturer states that the adaptor will first support A/F/FA/DA/DFA lenses which are screw-driven for the AF and will support SDM/DC/PLM AF function at a later stage via firmware upgrade.

They also mounted the three FA limited onto a Sony A7 III body via their adoptor, of which the combos look really tempting! :-D

And, their also shown a "video" to show the AF in action with the FA77 Limited, which the AF speed seems reasonably good enough, as long as the animated gif was not accelerated. ;-)

After all, I will almost certainly buy this adaptor (as I bought my A7 III two years ago) and still own more than three dozens of the Pentax or K-mount lenses (and most of them are AF ones). Possibly I shall skip and not buy the K-3 III as I found my KP is actually better for my use and shooting style. :-(

Related:  My Pentax Lenses are Given Completely New Lives!

Notice: Copy and Paste of Text and and Saving of Pictures within Blog are Disabled

In order to avoid possible copyrights infringement, which I could see from my Blog log from time to time, the copy and paste of text and saving of pictures and images within my Blog are disabled, with immediate effect.

Thank you for your continuous support and happy reading and viewing! :-D

What is the LCD Screen Size of the K-New?

Since Pentax (Ricoh) has yet not told us more specs of the K-new, in order to estimate the rear LCD screen size of the K-new, which they told us that it was "huge", I took a much similarly angled picture of my KP and then measured the dimensions of the same different parts.

In particular, I measured the dimensions of the rear wheel/dial openings, and then the diagonal lengths of the screens, calculated and got the ratio for each camera and then calculated again the ratio between the two ratios. :-)

It is found that the K-new's screen is about 1.13X diagonally larger than that of the KP. Hence, since the KP's screen is in 3 inches, it is estimated that the K-new's rear LCD screen should be in about 3.4", case closed.


Read Also:  100% Bingo! I Derived Exactly Correctly for the 645D Actual Sensor Size!

Top 26 Best Pentax Lenses 2017 (Selected by ePHOTOzine)

https://www.ephotozine.com/article/top-26-best-pentax-lenses-2017--25685

Over years, I have bought 13 of those, all brand new. However, I haven't bought the recent and newer "Pentax" lenses for quite a while. It is because they are not attractive enough and are not value for money in my eyes or being too bulky and heavy. Is it only me?

[Fanboyism] Pentax History and Cameras 1952-2017 (Official)

http://www.pentax.com/en/pentaxhistory/archives/

http://s1.media.ricoh-imaging.de/media/7542ab0e4610697f54bd87b2ce2c343e/poster_A1_slr_cameras1952_2017.pdf

Amongst the above, I bought 15 models over years.

So, for my 15 Pentax interchangeable-lens bodies, they can be further categorised as follows:

- 4 Film and 11 Digital
- 2 Medium Format, 4 135 Full Frame, 8 APS-C, 1 Tiny Sensor Format
- 14 Reflex and 1 Mirrorless
- 1 Silver, 1 Oliver, 1 Blue, 1 Gold and 1 White, all Others are Black in Colour
- 10 models can take AA batteries, 4 with adaptors or with grips (which were bought separately at high prices)
- Total cost of these cameras when bought new was huge, present value is minimal! :-(

After all, I must admit that I am a true Pentax fanboy, who bought and supported the brand blindly, over decades! :-((

Tuning the LCD Display of the K-1

The default LCD display settings produce too bright colours and it has a blue cast. I therefore corrected it with the following settings, after checking against my carefully calibrated professional monitor, which is calibrated internally with an external colourimeter.

I checked two units of the K-1 and found that they are more or less the same and the above settings work. See if it would work for you and produce better and more accurate results! :-)

Souvenir: Metal K-1 Hotshoe Cover

DA*55 F1.4 Vs Carl Zeiss Planar 50 F1.4 Vignetting Test

https://flic.kr/s/aHskARK2YN

My K-1 Impressions (Pure Text Quick Review)

The ergonomics of the K-1 is superb. It feels very comfortable to hold in hands and feels very solid and balanced. The overall build of the K-1 is very good, but the camera top feels a bit plasticky and hollow.

AF is really accurate, but hit rate is not 100%, sometime it missed, especially when focusing in a hurry or under low light. But when it hits, it is really accurate. Tried the three FA Limited wide opened, no problem. Tried several other A, FA, FA*, DA and DA* primes, they all focused accurately wide opened. The K-1 probably is the most accurate Pentax AFSLR ever made, since the MZ-S. I really like it! :-)

Focusing is faster and quieter than before. But the speed is not particularly fast when it is compared to other FF bodies of Canon and Nikon. Forget about focus tracking with multiple AF points for moving objects, the points are still not enough and are too much centred. There is still some room for improvement. 

Exposure accuracy is good, probably maybe a bit bright for its tendency, especially with film glass. Seems a bit more accurate with digital lenses. Nonetheless, the EV compensation is always there. It is quite easy to use with the quick function dial. I set it to +/- by default. Or, one can customise the e-dials to directly control the EV compensation.

Resolution of the images from K-1 is really superb. The per pixel sharpness is better than the Canon and Sony FF bodies that I have, even with the same lenses put on them. That's only my own subjective impression, though and no scientific measurbation has yet been made, because I am now busy with shooting with a good camera, instead of doing endless measurbation tests for faulty cameras.

Colour rendition is contemporary, which is now very Canon alike. It do taste very CMOS, the AWB is very white, maybe too white IMO than one would like to preserve the atmosphere even under the warm sunlight. But K-1 do really "catch up" with the game. ;-) I found it works best in the Natural mode, with the Saturation turned up one step.

Dynamic range is good, better than the Canon's. Noise is acceptable up to ISO 3200 and beyond that, use it unless it must be.

Lens correction now works very well. It is fast and there is no more delay as in older models, even with all the four corrected function enabled. Supported all DFA digital and FA* film lenses. DA lenses are supported in crop mode. Lens correction does not work in FF mode for DA lenses, even if they are actually FF compatible. On the other hand, for supported FF lenses, lens correction does work even when crop mode is selected.

Liveview operation is good, the liveview image will change according to the FF or crop mode selected (and of course). The LV AF is fast but unfortunate insensitive. It often missed focus with lower contrast, even under bright light situations outdoor.

There is nothing special for the video recording (movie) mode. And there is no live AF under movie mode. AF can be remeasured upon pressing of the AF button on demand by the user. It is not possible to capture any still photo during video recording.

The super articulated monitor is sturdy and easy to use, better than imagined before. Most importantly, the closed position is well aligned.

Mirror action is crisp but yet gentle, resemble the old feel of the MZ-S film flagship. The *ist D had similar feel in the mirror but however its movement is obvious too slow. Now the K-1's is quite good but I still hope that it could move faster anyway.

Viewfinder clarity is not as good as my Canon 5DIII which is brighter and clearer to see than the K-1, despite both have an overlaid LCD information display on the finder frame.

The electronic level indication is now very easy to see and follow. It is sensitive and accurate provided that you got a good copy. My first copy has good accuracy for the horizontal sensor but the vertical sensor is a little bit off.

GPS is sensitive and accurate and is very easy to turn on and off, with the dedicated button. WiFi is also easy to on and off with the special function dial. The red and blue LED indicators is a good design. However, the Ricoh Image Sync App is just a piece of junk, undoubtedly. It is difficult to use, with limited features and its operations are completely nonsense, even for the basic functions of browsing photos and for downloading.

My Wait is Over, Finally! :-D

After 15 years..! For the period my FA 43 Limited and I have been waiting for. :-(

FA31 F1.8 Limited on 36M a7R - Test Samples with 100% Crops

Tested at f/8 and ISO100, manual peaking focusing:

Last Tested: DA*55 F1.4 on 36M a7R: Part 1 and Part 2

How a DA* Prime would Perform on the Sony 36M FF Sensor? (Cont'd)

~ f/11, 1/250s @ ISO 100, a7R + DA*55 F1.4

How a DA* Prime would Perform on the Sony 36M FF Sensor?

Here we go, my test picture and crops tell it all:



Picture shot at around f/8, 1/320s and ISO 100 with my A7R and my DA*55 F1.4 lens put on it. MF focusing was done with focus peaking at 10X on the image centre.

100% crop of the picture centre:



100% crop of the picture corner:



More test samples would follow! :-P

New 645D Firmware V1.33

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/645d_s.html

My this old camera is yet supported, good! :-D