Pentax PMA rumors

Manfr3d · December 29, 2007

This is clearly a rumor, but
fun to read. I'm very curious
what Penax will bring out next.
The istDs and the K10D are
great cameras, and so far
only the high iso noise was
annoying (about 1.x stop
behind canon).

http://www.photographybay.com/2007/11/21/pentax-k20d-and-k200d/

K20D, 14Bit, 14MP, 3" LCD, Lens Adjustment, Improved Antishake.

This will be one heck of a
camera if its priced like the K10D.
What do you think?

Arvan · December 29, 2007

What i think..Well to bad i have a K10d and will not be able to uppgrade

but anyways the K10 takes you very far indeed. For my personal use its the human factor that is the problem. Not the camera

BikePilot · December 29, 2007

I'd be very happy if they just upped the burst rate and AF speed a bit on the K10D. My hope is that they do something like a K10D Mk II with just those improvements and then make the 14mp camera something more like a 5d/d3, perhaps call it a k1d. Anyway, the k10d is high on my list as I need to buy a dslr for myself (rather than stealing my wife's all the time), but I'm trying to hold off till after the 24th.

Sprout Crumble · December 29, 2007

Putting a 14mp sensor in it would be a mistake. Also unlikely. Apart from the obvious noise issues, who'd manufacture it? Not Samsung surely.

Manfr3d · December 29, 2007

Sprout Crumble wrote:

Putting a 14mp sensor in it would be a mistake. Also unlikely. Apart from the obvious noise issues, who'd manufacture it? Not Samsung surely.

The rumor says the K200D will use a 10MP Sony sensor (the Nikon
D300 also has a Sony sensor btw.). And the K20D a propriatary cmos
sensor. Whatever will come, I'm sure they will put the better chip in
the K20D. Personaly I find the idea of such a small 14MP camera
paired with a 50mm/1.4 SMC lens very attractive. Streetphotography
heaven - I'd say!

I would also imagine that owners of the discontinued
ED lenses will be very happy to be able to produce sellable (hires, lownoise) images.

Miguel Delinquento · December 30, 2007

It will be positively different

Manfr3d wrote:

[deleted]
What do you think?

I'm looking forward to seeing it and playing with it. Right now the K10D more than meets my needs, but having a more sophisticated body is something my credit card seems to like aiming for.
To add to the rumors, it may be that Samsung has added some serious video capturing capability to the 14mp chip as well. Live view stuff too. This will probably be the first real collaboration between Pentax and Samsung and I have high expectations. What we will see is the typical Pentax third-way approach. Some true innovations and some catchup with the other companies. I bet the color rendering will be true to the film-like Pentax "look" (that I love, much like Oly folks love their colors) as well.

What I would really love to see is a pocketable DSLR a la the Auto 110 (or even the ME) that uses a P&S-sized sensor. I still believe the heart of Pentax is in small form factors.

Also, more DA* and FF lenses would be sweet. I've had the DA* 50-135 f2.8 for a month now and am just getting a sense of it. That model, along with the remarkable 12-24mm is yanking my greying prime lens mindset into the zoom world without much resistance. I have heard that the new 200mm will be announced in a FF. It will be interesting to see how this compares with my fabled A* 200mm ED f2.8.

Nice seeing a Pentax thread around here.

M

Manfr3d · January 10, 2008

Looks like Samsung is the first one to accidentaly
confirm the rumored specs of the anticipated Pentax K20d.
(Samsung codevelops DSLR's with Pentax)

http://www.photographybay.com/2008/01/09/samsung-gx-20/

The rumored specs are:

14.6 MP (CMOS) Sensor
Sensor-based Image Stabilization
Resistant to rain, sand and dust
Double dust removal on image sensor
2.7″ LCD
Live view
One-press RAW
ISO 3200

BikePilot · January 22, 2008

I'm not crazy about the live view stuff, but the rest sounds nice. Doesn't the k10d already have a button for raw?

Miguel Delinquento · January 23, 2008

Yes, the K10D does have a dedicated RAW button. As I shoot RAW 96% of the time, I rarely use it. That said, my jpeg shooting friends just go nuts with near-envy over that feature.

I think Live View will be incredibly valuable in the right context. Once I worked through the mental imagery of my mother-in-law peering at the LCD of her little Casio during family shots, I realized that it would be perfect for near-ground macros and portraiture. Some of us cannot bend our knees and backs like we used to. Olympus has implemented some great LiveView functions. I'm sure LiveView will be a standard function of all DSLRs within a year.

M

Manfr3d · January 23, 2008

Official Pentax K20D images are available now:

http://www.photographybay.com/2008/01/23/pentax-k20d-and-k200d-official-images/

Along with some new Pentax lenses:

200mm/2.8 DFA
300mm/4.0 DFA
35mm/2.8 DFA Macro
and more

BikePilot · January 24, 2008

Miguel Delinquento wrote:

Yes, the K10D does have a dedicated RAW button. As I shoot RAW 96% of the time, I rarely use it. That said, my jpeg shooting friends just go nuts with near-envy over that feature.

I think Live View will be incredibly valuable in the right context. Once I worked through the mental imagery of my mother-in-law peering at the LCD of her little Casio during family shots, I realized that it would be perfect for near-ground macros and portraiture. Some of us cannot bend our knees and backs like we used to. Olympus has implemented some great LiveView functions. I'm sure LiveView will be a standard function of all DSLRs within a year.

M

Fair enough, I guess I'm so upset over the lack of a small P&S with a decent optical view finder that I take my frustration out on live view. I can't say I ever really missed live view when using my wife's XT, but I sure miss a view finder a lot when using my otherwise excelent LX1 (p&s, but pretty cool still). Almost all my shooting is outside though.

have fun

Miguel Delinquento · January 25, 2008

Agreed
I totally understand. The LCD viewfinder on P&S cameras has pretty much taken over. I still use my almost ancient Canon A70 as the optical viewfinder is pretty accurate and comfortable.
My fantasy small camera would be Pentax re-releasing an Auto 110 SLR-sized camera with a P&S-sized sensor and tru SLR capability.
I recently purchased and quickly sold (flipping it was irresistable) a mint Auto 110 kit. The design was truly amazing and functional.

M

BikePilot · January 25, 2008

I still use my Sony S85 P&S for the same reason. Its got a decent view finder and a great lens. If only it weren't so slow to record its pics. If I get get the LX1 electronics inside the sony body I'd be pretty happy. I almost wonder if it would be possible for a company to make an optical view finder that would attach to the camera via the tripod mount..... perhaps I should apply for a patent then sell the idea

Back to the pentax, on pentax's site it shows the K20D's burst rate as 3fps, with 20fps on burst mode, but for the 20fps it only shows the number you can take at that rate for a 1.6mp setting - so is that it, 3fps at full size or 20fps at 1.6mp? Seems sorta weird, imho a 6-10fps setting would be really handy. I don't mind reduced size so much, but 1.6mp is getting pretty tiny, perhaps a 6fbs setting at 8mp would make more sense. I was really looking forward to this cam, but it seems the improved the things I didn't care about (mp and live view) and didn't do much for the stuff that matters to me (frame rate, autofocus speed, high iso performance - ok that might be better but I'm not sure yet). Worst of all K10d prices went up.... I'll wait a bit longer but a 40d or even used 30d is looking better all the time.

ziggy53 · January 25, 2008

BikePilot wrote:

... Back to the pentax, on pentax's site it shows the K20D's burst rate as 3fps, with 20fps on burst mode, but for the 20fps it only shows the number you can take at that rate for a 1.6mp setting - so is that it, 3fps at full size or 20fps at 1.6mp? Seems sorta weird, imho a 6-10fps setting would be really handy. I don't mind reduced size so much, but 1.6mp is getting pretty tiny, perhaps a 6fbs setting at 8mp would make more sense. I was really looking forward to this cam, but it seems the improved the things I didn't care about (mp and live view) and didn't do much for the stuff that matters to me (frame rate, autofocus speed, high iso performance - ok that might be better but I'm not sure yet). Worst of all K10d prices went up.... I'll wait a bit longer but a 40d or even used 30d is looking better all the time.

The Pentax K20D has a "Continuous" shooting rate of 3 fps (at full resolution) and a buffer depth of 38 JPGs images. Interestingly, it looks like you can continue to shoot at around 2.3 fps after the shot buffer is full, apparently the rate that the camera writes to the card.

Burst mode appears to be something unique and is rated at 21 fps at the "greatly" reduced resolution of 1.6 megapixels. Since this is not a resolution that you can select in standard shooting modes, it probably uses a "binning" method of sub-sampling the full-resolution image. I suspect that the mirror does not return in this mode (you might be shooting blind) and autofocus probably won't engage. I honestly don't know what the mode is intended for, but formal reviews and Pentax advertising will probably tell us more.

BikePilot · January 26, 2008

Interesting. The standard burst rate seems really slow for a $1300, but perhaps it makes up for it in other areas. I guess you could assymble the high speed bust mode pics into something like an hd quality movie mode (although a bit choppy)....

BTW my little olympus point and shoot has a high speed burst where it fires much more quickly at smaller image size settings.

wkrider · January 27, 2008

New guy here....I am still getting used to my K100D and now this...decisions, decisions, decisions....

Pentax PMA rumors

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