Pentax Life

One of our fellow readers suggested that Pentax could roll out fixed lens entry level DSLR in the nearest future. Something very compact with built-in DA 40mm Limited pancake.

Well, ultra-compact DSLR undoubtedly will face a warm welcome at the market, and one of the upcoming Pentax cameras will be pretty compact (not “ultra” though), but:

1. Even if it will be fixed prime lens digital SLR, it more likely will be built on 21mm lens rather than closer to short telephoto on the 1.5x sensor 40mm.

2. Back to the 80’s, Pentax released world’s first fully automatic zoom compact camera - Pentax IQ Zoom. Since that time, almost all Pentax point & shoots were equipped with zoom lenses. So, if Pentax will decide to make fixed lens SLR, it will be equipped with zoom lens too.

3. Not so long ago Pentax have showing interchangeable lens point & shoots prototypes. Also, DA and DFA lenses line-up is growing fast. So, it’s not likely that Pentax will make digital SLRs with fixed lenses, even if it will help to built something really small.

American Photo (PopPhoto) magazine has named K10D the camera of the year in the Advanced DSLRs section:

Pentax’s top D-SLR delivers pro-grade weatherproofing for hundreds, even thousands, of dollars less than other models with similar cladding. And none of those D-SLRs offers the K10D’s combination of image stabilization, automatic dust removal, and in-camera RAW “developing” made possible by a powerful new imaging engine.

The New York Times has reviewed $700 to $800 digital SLRs “that let you shoot like a pro”. David Pogue was very impressed by K10D’s capabilities, but noted that

…the photos are soft and slightly washed-out — at least at first. You can extract the brilliant shots the Pentax really takes by shooting in RAW mode, an unprocessed format, and then tweaking the results in a program like Photoshop. In other words, the fault lies in the Pentax’s post-shot processing circuitry, not the lens or the shooter’s ability.

Cliff Smith at TrustedReviews has put his hands on Pentax Optio A30 digicam:

The Optio A30 is Pentax’s best ultra-compact camera to date, combining stylish design, excellent build quality, easy handling and much improved performance, with outstanding picture quality and a comprehensive set of features including many unusual and useful options.

• Pentax K100D’s successor is on the way.
• Camera above K10D is planned.
• All the announced DA* lenses (60-250mm, 200mm, 300mm) are in development now.
• In the nearest future K10D firmware version 1.30 will be available for download.

Pentax launched today a special limited edition of Pentax K10D digital SLR package commemorating the winning of the Camera Grand Prix 2007 Award in Japan. K10D GP package includes Pentax K10D camera itself finished in a dark-brown rubber, D-BG2 battery grip and a special leather camera strap. All the logos on camera, battery grip and strap are in gold color signifying the limited-edition status. The latest firmware (Ver.1.30), corresponding to SDM system, has been installed in the camera. All other features are the same as in the serial model. There will be just 5,000 packages available worldwide - everyone with the unique serial number.

The rumors about upcoming Nikon D3 with a Sony’s 1.13x crop 18.7 Megapixels sensor are spreading over the Internet. Rumors says that some D3 engineering samples are already exists, Nikon have the exclusive rights to use this sensor for a one year and there is another 1.5x 12 Megapixels CMOS sensor from Sony soon to be announced. To prove that these rumors are not groundless there is publication at C|NET Newsblog. Also Benjamin Kanarek has confirmed that Pentax France guys knows about it.

What does it means for Pentax? First of all, no 18 Mpix 1.1x K-next-D till the end of 2008 at least. Second, two upcoming Pentax DSLRs could be built on 12 Mpix 1.5x CMOS sensor. Nikon D3 was promised to be released in the end of this June, so it’s not much time to wait for the mystery to be revealed.

What do you think about it? Share your thoughts on our forum.

Everyone who’s buying such expensive device like digital SLR camera asking a question: how long will it work? One of the most fallible part of the DSLR is a shutter mechanism. How long is your camera’s shutter life span?

Oleg Kikin gathering shutter life span statistics on the hundreds digital cameras. His page is continually updating with the help of camera users, so check it from time to time and don’t forget to submit your own data.

At this time there is information about five Pentax’s digital SLRs (number of clicks so far):

• Pentax *istD - avg. 48,097.6 / highest 130,000 / no faults
• Pentax *istDL - avg. 12,833.3 / highest 24,000 / no faults
• Pentax *istDS - avg. 25,484.8 / highest 35,000 / 2 faults at 9,959 and 10,510
• Pentax K100D - avg. 14,300.0 / highest 28,700 / no faults
• Pentax K10D - avg. 6,956.0 / highest 25,000 / no faults

Japanese blogger Digital1gan.com has made two shots - one with Pentax K10D + DA 16-45mm F4, and one with Canon 1D mark3 + EF 24-70mm F2.8L. As clearly seen on the 100% cropped images above, 1.5x CCD sensor of Pentax K10D gives a way better details and overall resolution than Canon’s 1.3x CMOS. While Canon’s picture is more contrasty, grass and thin branches of the tree at the forefront are significantly blurred.

If you wish to compare this pictures by yourself, try to download 1Dmark3’s .CR2 RAW and K10D’s .PEF files.

Last week we had two reviews of Samsung GX-10. One from DCViews - very positive: “…built like a tank with solid well-placed buttons and dials and handy weatherproofing. It provides fast performance with excellent results and comfortable handling.” And another from ThinkCamera - mostly positive but with a more critical attitude: “…there are some control buttons and dials that are awkward and not as positive as might be desired. It’s also noisy (actually camera noise rather than image noise)” ThinkCamera’s overall verdict is 9 out of 10 with 8 for design and picture quality and the only 10 for battery life.

In the June 2007 issue of British magazine What Digital Camera two newest Optios were reviewed. E30 called good budget option with a score 79%, and T30 prised for its useful features but the average image quality stopped T30’s score on the 84% mark.

Malaysian Star recommends Pentax Optio M30 for those “who just wants to take snaps of the family and other general shooting without having to bother with lots of modes and technical stuff… …ISO1600 and 3200 are a joke“, concludes Star’s contributor Tan Kit Hoong.

Pentax celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Asahi Pentax brand. In 1957 the first pentaprism SLR camera (which was called Pentax) was announced.

Fifty years later Pentax Japan announced AP50 - a design study model based on K10D. This concept camera will never hit the shelves - it was built just to check the demand for vintage design digital SLRs, so may be we will see the digital K1000 soon? (Thanks to Marq Riley for info)

Pentax K10D was selected as the winner of the Camera Grand Prix 2007 award by the Camera Journal Press Club (CJPC), a group of photography writers from Japan’s 11 leading photo and camera magazines.

The selection was made because of the K10D’s exceptional image quality and array of advanced features, including the PENTAX-original Shake Reduction system.