Latest Interview with the CEO of Pentax Ricoh

(Noboru Akabane, President/CEO of Pentax Ricoh Imaging; Photo Credit: Fuji Sankei Business Eye)

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20120516-00000008-fsi-bus_all
(in Japanese)

The Key Points:-

1. Company is studying on how to explore new emerging markets like Russia and India;

2. The brand of "Pentax" and "Ricoh" will co-exist and the "GR" series will continue (So, AP's "insider source" was wrong);

3. Plan to expand the sales of the whole camera business to 700 billion* Japanese Yens and double the total sales in 2011 by 100% by 2013;

4. Will continue to put more focus in Asia markets in particular Thailand and Malaysia. It is believed that the markets in developed countries like North America and Europe are well established before the merge;

5. Pentax' net total sales in the fiscal year of 2011 is about 300 billion* Japanese Yens whilst Ricoh's net sales was in tens of billions. However, the exact figure for Ricoh's sales was not disclosed.

*N.B. One Billion means 100 Millions, i.e., 100,000,000, in Japanese, for direct translation of the original news article.

Pentax K 30 is Coming

Via: Photo Rumors

The K 30 information was first leaked via French forum Pentax One and also Amazon UK has shown the price and three colours of it at about the same time as discovered by some Pentaxians. Update: The K 30 items have already been removed at Amazon UK but I captured the screen before and here it is:-



It is clearly stated that the product is to be released on June 25.

After all, that's what we have about the K 30:-

- The same K-5/K-01 16.2MP Sony CMOS sensor up to ISO 25600;

- Full HD video recording (possibly with the same specs of K-01's);

- 3" LCD monitor;

- 4 frames per second continuous shooting rate (which is slower than both K-r and K-x);

- Dual e-Dial and full weather sealing (like the K-5);

- 100% viewfinder coverage;

- 11-point AF (as usual);

- Suggested maximum selling price of 799 Euros with 18-55 WR (699 Pounds at the above Amazon link with DAL 18-55)(and maybe also at US$800 at the States);

- Use both proprietary Li-ion rechargeable battery and AAs.


Well, as an existing K-5 user, the K 30 has no attraction to me anyway. But yet it's good to hear see some new Pentax products in the meantime, finally. And, I hope more to come!

Ricoh Cameras are to Disappear in 2013, Ricoh Denies

See what AP has reported lately:-

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/photo-news/538731/ricoh-issues-camera-brand-statement

iPhone in the Q

Via Instagram

10,000 IntenseDebate Comments at This Blog

Since the launch of the new "intelligent" and advanced commenting system of IntenseDebate on August 1st, 2009 at my Blog, the total number of IntenseDebate comments has reached 10,000 earlier today and more than three thousands of readers have posted their comments.

So, thank you for visiting and posting and I hope we can continue to share information and learn from each others and hopefully find out more truths throughout our discussions and debates. Nevertheless, please be friendly reminded that we should always be human and be respectful to each other no matter how and when. In this connection, the posting rules are included here, once again.

Pentax Q T-shirt

Available at Uniqlo HK (a Japanese Clothing Company)

Source: Facebook

My 5D3 Vs K-5 Realworld Shootout

Test Conditions:-

5D3 with EF35/2, K-5 with DA21/3.2; Shoot at f/8 at nearly the same time (just note the positions of the moving objects like the clouds); ISO 100; Evaluative metering for both and exposure results are really close; Auto white balance; Colour profiles: 5D3: Standard 2, 0, 0, 0, K-5: Natural +1, 0, 0, +1, +1(FS) - both are my own preferred defaults chosen for the most accurate colour rendition/tone response and good but yet natural per-pixel sharpness after extensive testing.

Click any of the thumbnails below to enlarge new image in about 4,000 pixels in width. So, the comparison is in the same large size for both cameras' images.

Okay, let's go!

Scene 1:-

5D3	K-5

Scene 2:-

5D3	K-5

I won't give my own comments about the image quality differences this time. It would be better for you to measurbate and decide! Do feel free to say what you've discovered in the comments section below. Don't be shy and you maybe the one who has found something unique but yet very true! :-D


Related:-

Pathetic Canon's External Auto Saves the Pathetic TTL of Pentax!

5D3 Vs K-5 ISO Shootout (100 to 25600)

New 5D3 Release Suspends My Pentax Purchasing Plans

K-m Olive Vs 5D Pixel Peeping

Pathetic Canon's External Auto Saves the Pathetic TTL of Pentax!

Put my 580EXII Canon Speedlite onto the hotshoe of my K-5, the Pathetic TTL issue of the Pentax and K-5 has been resolved immediately and forever!

The trick is to set the Canon flash to External Auto mode (Custom Function No. 5 Selection 3) and the flash will remember every setting including this and the Av and ISO as well as the manual zoom angle for the flash coverage, even after it is powered off. This is different from Pentax' own dedicated flashguns of the current models of 360 and 540 which will never remember the External Auto mode, i.e., they will be reset to Pathetic-TTL mode once the unit is turned off or power saved! :-(

Nonetheless, there is one thing really pathetic about this Speedlite and Canon. That is its External Auto metering is *always* about 2EV darker and I really don't know why. A quick web search reveals that it is just a known infamous problem. But no problem, after a +2EV compensation (either deliberately creating a +2 stop deviation between the body and the flash, either with the ISO or Av, an example set of working parameters as shown in the above), the flash exposures are usually dead accurate, direct, diffused or bounced. So, that never-ending Pathetic TTL flash problem with an external flash on Pentax DSLRs has been solved completely, simply with the use of a Canon flash! And there is also no need for the irritative pre-flash anymore! ;-D

Last but not least, there is yet another advantage for using the 580EXII on K-5, for what some Pentax fans have been emphasizing about(!), that is, the 580 flash is weather-sealed, whilst no original Pentax flashgun of any is and has such capability! :-)


Related:-

P-TTL Vs TTL: Is Newer Better? (How Auto Flashes Work?)

Pentax Q-10!

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAUO6pQGBKQ

What a hacking! Funny that the serial numbers of these two new units were assigned to be Q-01 and Q-02!

N.B. It is just an I-10 modded to add a Q-mount.

K-5 DR Re-visited (Vs 5D3 and D800 @ DPR)

DPR's DR results for both 5D3 and D800 have been out. So, now we can compare against the K-5:-

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk5/14
(Select the cameras and the settings in the second comparison tool boxes)



Note that the DPR DR measurement is a real-life approach to shoot a greyscale target in EV steps and check what the cameras can deliver all by themselves, with different in-camera settings.

So, the above results are self-explanatory by themselves. At the end of the day, the DR of 5D3 and D800 are still wider and they are better, no matter what and how it is compared.