The Brother Group signed the deal to acquire Pentax Mobile Solutions Division (Golden, Colorado) from Hoya Group. Two Pentax product lines affected: Pocket-Jet ultra-portable printers and Pentax DSmobile 600 scanner. In the last fiscal year both product lines have generated $14 million.
DPReview forums user rArWebWorks has quoted the words of unnamed service manager at the Golden, Colorado service center, who said that there won’t be any further firmware upgrades for Pentax K10D DSLR.
Earlier, Pentax Europe product manager Wolfgang Baus has confirmed ‘no more firmware updates for K10D’ policy to the popular German Pentax community DigitalFotoNetz.
More in the news: OK1000 has reported Apple adds Pentax K200D and K20D RAW support to Aperture 2.0 and iPhoto ‘08.
Pentax has launched new rebate program. You can save up to $375 on the set of Pentax latest DSLR gear:
As usual, only US customers can apply.
Pentax Imaging has announced a major update to its popular waterproof digicam series - Pentax Optio W60. The most noticeable improvements in comparison with the previous models are:
W60 allows to take pictures 30% deeper than the previous model - 4 meters. In addition to the JIS Class 8 waterproofing standard, the camera is JIS Class 5 dustproof against dirt, sand and dust and operates in extreme temperatures as cold as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius). Furthermore, you can make 720p HDTV (1280 x 720 pixels) movies in such harsh conditions.
According to DPReview, Sigma has announced the availability date for K-mount versions of its new lenses. 70-200mm f/2.8 APO EX DG and 50-150mm f/2.8 APO EX DG will hit the shelves at the beginning of August, 2008.
Both lenses have constant F/2.8 aperture, 100cm closest focusing distance and nine diaphragm blades. Nothing new here but what makes these lenses unique is HSM motor which is compatible with the newest Pentax DSLRs. Unfortunately, AF will not work at all on the Pentax K100D and older Pentax cameras like *ist series.
Hoya Pentax Imaging Systems Division and Microsoft Corporation have signed the cross-licencing deal today. The agreement covers digital cameras made by PENTAX as well as a broad range of other consumer products each company manufactures and sells. Ko Torigoe of Hoya Pentax said that “We believe that this contract will further solidify the alliance between the two companies. We also expect that it will bring considerable benefits to consumers in the near future, as we should be able to shorten the time required for product development because of technological advancement by both companies, and therefore deliver higher-quality products to the market.”
So what exact benefits to consumers Ko Torigoe is talking about? Ars Technica contributor Emil Protalinski has speculated about it:
Camera functionality for the Zune is entirely possible. The current Zunes can all store and display both pictures and videos and, while phone capabilities are unlikely, that does not mean that the Zune cannot pick up features that almost every mobile phone has nowadays: photo and video capture.
He could be right. It’s not the new business for Pentax, which is pretty known for its camera modules for mobile phones.
DxO has updated Optics Pro v5 popular RAW manipulation software. Among the loads of Nikon lenses in the What’s New list there are Samsung GX-20 14.6 megapixel DSLR and some glass:
UK’s one of the most trusted photo magazine Amateur Photographer has raised the curtain on Samsung’s plans to join Canon and Nikon on the full frame battleground.
Samsung has hinted at plans to develop a full-frame CMOS imaging sensor for use in a ‘professional’ standard digital SLR.
So far, however, the sensor has only reached the design stage and it is far from clear whether it will become a reality.
We also understand that, late last year, Samsung Electronics set up a secret team within its HQ in Suwon to begin research on a professional DSLR.
Of cause, we will not see any full frame professional K-mount DSLR neither from Samsung nor from Pentax until 2010 but the knowledge that Samsung is working on the full frame CMOS sensor sweetens the pill of the recent 645D news.
Pentax K10D + Pentax DA 35mm F2.8 macro Limited. 100% crop of this image (1.6Mb)
Weblog Insomnia have published a load of full rez samples of soon to be available Pentax DA 35mm F2.8 Limited macro lens mounted on the Pentax K10D. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Another two of the new lenses - DA 55-300 F4-5.8 ED and DA* 300mm F4 ED - were shipped to the Japanese stores yesterday. In the U.S. Amazon promises to start shipping the first one on May 31 for $349.
Adobe has posted updates for its Lightroom 1.4 and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 4.4 RAW manipulation software. Now both packages are support Pentax newest K20D and K200D DSLRs’ RAW files as well as RAWs from the recent cameras from Nikon, Canon and Sony.
Here you can download update for Mac or Windows version of Adobe Lightroom. To upgrade you copy of ACR fallow the Mac or Windows links respectively.
Update: DNG troubles
The Lightroom 1.4 update for Mac and Windows has been temporarily removed from the Adobe.com web site. Those Lightroom users who have installed Lightroom 1.4 should uninstall the update and install Lightroom 1.3.1.(Mac, Win) until a further update can be provided. For those not in immediate need of the updated camera support available in Camera Raw 4.4 or the DNG 4.4 Converter, it’s recommended that you also continue working with the 4.3.1 versions. (Mac, Win)
Adobe has removed Lightroom and ACR updates from the website due to some issues including DNG conversion errors.
Updated updates (sorry for tautology) will be available later.
