The LA-KE1 Monster Adapter is now Put On Sale

The Chinese Taobao website has already had the Chinese made LA-KE1 adapter put on sale (click here for one of the product links).

B&H also accepts pre-orders for this product and I think it will be available in the US very soon.

However, it can be seen in the comment section of the above Taobao product link from the users who have already purchased the adapter about the various issues such as its power hungriness and overheating, not supporting quite some Pentax AF lenses including the film FA50/1.4 and the digital DA17-70 and DA*200, as well as some noticeable delay in AF with the FA Limited lenses (and the AF is not quite smooth, too) and etc.

I hope this adapter will be improved later for better performance and compatibility, by means of firmware update and/or hardware revision. Not until that I shall consider to buy one for playing and use of my existing Pentax glass with my Sony FF mirrorless body.

Comparison Test of Four Different Production Units of the FA 43 Limited

Found this interesting article (in Traditional Chinese, Google English translated page here) that's worth a read.

Side-by-side comparison tests were done with the MZ-S for film and the Fujifilm GFX50S digital cropped medium format body. To view the test pictures in their original size (which can be enlarged), just right click and select to view the pictures in a separate/new tab in browser.

Besides the comments made by the author of the article, you may find other differences by yourself. As for years, I blog, you decide. :-)

The First Pentax Camera in History (Prototype)

An interesting read: https://kosmofoto.com/2019/10/the-first-pentax-camera-was-east-german/

Credit (via): DPR forum post here

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.

Asahi Pentax Factory in 1964

Someone has scanned and uploaded at Flickr an old magazine article about the Asahi Pentax factory in 1964 which is quite interesting. Good job, guy! And, those were the days!

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.

New Firmwares for K-1/II, K-3/II, KP and K-70

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

To support better focusing operation for the three FA Limited lenses, include both the old and new versions. But it is unknown that if focusing speed and/or focusing accuracy is/are improved. I shall try it out anyway.

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?