Pentax Life

Sigma France announced K-mount version of its lightweight large aperture zoom lens 50-150mm F2.8 APO DC EX. This lens is specially designed for APS-C digital SLR cameras and consist of 18 elements in 14 groups with 9 diaphragm blades. Minimum focusing distance is 100cm and filter size is 67mm. Dimensions: Diameter 76.3mm X Length 135.1mm (3.0 inches x 5.3 inches), weight: 770g/27.2 oz.

Pentax version of Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 will be available on July 1, 2007 for about $650.

Peter Bernik has tested the Canon version of this lens (100% crops included):

The lens is not as good as one would think when looking at specifications. Sharpness is very good from f4 above, especially towards the long end (100mm and more). CA can be pretty bad at f2.8.

Pentax have released a Mac version of Remote Assistant for K10D. This software allows you to control your K10D digital SLR (one or several at once) from your computer, to set ISO, WB, flash mode settings, use interval mode, timer release or bulb timer mode. Two installers available - for OSX 10.3 and 10.4. Your K10D’s firmware must be version 1.20 or higher.

More on software, OK1000 Pentax Blog have a short review of the latest version of LightZone - powerful RAW conversion and workflow / postprocessing software:

The “edit” mode, which is akin to adjusting and developing in Lightroom and Aperture, is so nice to use, so well planned, and so simple that it begs the question why Lightcrafts hasn’t been purchased by Adobe or Apple yet. Its “styles” section is used to quickly apply settings, which is fun, but the power in the application is in the exposure adjustment tools that let you really get into the nitty gritty of the tone curve by defining regions with the zone system.

Megapixel.net have reviewed Pentax’ flagship point & shoot Optio A30 that was very popular among reviewers this year (see “Related Posts” section for more tests and reviews). A30 was found a good overall with a bit of barrel distortion, vignetting and conner softness at wide angle zoom position. Indoors test shots in the mixed light conditions looks nice. Chromatic aberrations is easily detectable at outdoor test - which is pretty common for point & shoots.

Megapixel.net marked it 9 out of 10 for functionality and 8 out of 10 for photographic qualities. In addition to issues mentioned above just two “negatives” were mentioned: only two aperture settings and underpowered built-in flash. Strong sides of the A30 includes good resolution, metering and color rendition, excellent built quality and effective Shake Reduction system.

CameraLabs editor Gordon Laing showing DA 40mm and DA 70mm Limited “pancake” lenses. If you can’t go to the nearby store to fiddle with this lenses by yourself before you buy them online watch this video and don’t forget to look at Gordon’s review.

Jeff Keller in his Samsung GX10 review merely described the differences between GX10 and K10D: the same conclusions you can find here. He wasn’t able to find any differences in image quality so his advice “is to buy the one you can get the best deal on. Right now, that’s the K10D, but since the GX-10 is just now hitting the market, that may change.“

TrustedReviews contributor Cliff Smith, however, did not have the opportunity to play with K10D before his GX10 test but it’s not affected the overall positive impression: “The Samsung GX-10, and presumably by extension the Pentax K10D as well, proves yet again that the digital SLR market isn’t a two-horse race… …Add the rugged durability of the weatherproof body and you have a photographic tool that any keen photographer will quickly learn to love.“

PhotographyBlog reviewer complains on K10D’s lack of dedicated ISO and WB buttons, noisy shutter and poor AF, but concludes that Pentax K10D “not only does it have an attractive price-tag, but it is also a solidly-built, intuitive and responsive digital SLR that will meet the needs of the serious photographer.“

In their very thorough review at German website Photozone Klaus Schroiff and Sebastian Milczanowski points their view at so called phantom pixels phenomenon. They have provided an explanation: “The Pentax K10D has an extremely weak vertical AA (Anti Aliasing) filter. An AA filter is a low-pass filter that smooths the discrete “steps” caused by the sensor pixels. A weak or non-existent AA filter results in Moire-effects - this is where the “false” colors come from. The reason for the phantom pixels is a bit more mysterious. It could originate in the pixel layout on the sensor or in the pre-processing by the camera in conjunction with the demosaic algorithm.” Despite this issue, their verdict is “Highly recommended” except for lack of telephoto lenses in the K system.

Chinese blogger and photo enthusiast Yellowapple has tested his Pentax K10D under “heavy rain” conditions (extremely heavy, I’d say).

Pentax K10D waterproof test. Photo courtesy by Yellowapple

You can find more photos and experiment description at the original page in Chinese or at DPReview forum in English.

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Last week was reach in different Optios reviews. DigitalCameraReview.com have tested A30 and E30. The first one was praised because of its color reproduction and overall image quality, shake reduction and manual controls in an easily portable compact body. And the second one is named a great choice for first time camera buyers.

Tech Digest take a look on T30: “The T30 is a great point and shoot camera that’s easy to use and creates great pictures. It’s reasonably priced at £189.99 for a 7.1 megapixel camera and it’s small enough to carry with you most places you go. The touch sensitive screen is very simple to operate, although it is prone to greasy marks after a little use.“

Steve reviewed M30 (he called it average) and the Pentax’s most popular point & shoot - waterproofed W30: “the Pentax Optio W30 is yet another “Cool” underwater model. It can produce nice photos along with good shooting performance, loads of exposure modes, and lets not forget the added versatility of being able to take pictures underwater! At about $US250 or less, I feel the Optio W30 offers a great value for a camera in this category, and is sure to be a very popular digicam this year.“

Photozone.de contributor Klaus Schroiff has tested five Pentax DA and FA lenses. DA 40mm Limited, FA 43mm Limited, FA 50mm F/1.4, DA 16-45mm F/4 and DA 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 are thoroughly reviewed including distortion, vignetting, resolution and chromatic aberrations charts as well as full size samples made with K10D. Another five primes and a couple of zooms are listed as “coming soon”. Thanks to Pavel Stanek for the link.

Camera Labs put their hands on DA 40mm and DA 70mm pancake limiteds. DA 40mm got the 81% score (recommended) and DA 70mm - 84% (highly recommended).

The Imaging Resource have posted Pentax K10D user report by Shawn Barnett. He named K10D the unique camera tuned for advanced photographer. Also he discovered an interesting thing with it - the phantom pixels phenomenon.

Camera Labs have tested K10D and compared it to Nikon D80, D200, Canon 30D and Sony A100. “…in our view, the D80 simply out-performed the K10D in day-to-day use.” Canon 30D found to be better than K10D becouse of “magnesium alloy body, 5fps continuous shooting, superior metering and again more consumer-friendly output using the default settings.” Even Sony outperformed K10D in their review: “In practice we found the Sony A100’s Super SteadyShot provided slightly more effective than the K10D’s Shake Reduction.“

DigitalCameraReview have published Optio W30 - latest Pentax waterproof point & shoot - user report. Japanese review of Pentax Optio A30 appeared in Impress Watch. And another new Optio - M30 - have been tested by TrustedReviews.

ePhotoZine have reviewed Pentax Optio T30 - pretty unique point-and-shoot camera with 3″ touch-screen LCD and just two buttons on its back. ePhotoZine contributor Duncan Evans liked T30’s operation simplicity, excellent build quality of stylish metal body and wide ISO range. Disliked high noise on ISO3200 sensitivity settings, unimpressive macro mode and 3x only optical zoom. Overall rating is 7 out of 10.

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Pentax K10D rated “Excellent” (81%) by LetsGoDigital. Camera praised for its all-weather sealing, built-in shake reduction and best on the market value for money. The only complain is not about soft JPEGs but:

I thought that several buttons had not been placed logically and some settings could not be found and operated intuitively. It’s probably a question of getting used to, but it’s still an important point. Maybe Pentax should take a sly look at competitors who are bringing out more ergonomic cameras.

Another K10D review (rather short but with the couple of nice samples) provided by Howard Creech at DigitalCameraReview.com. “The K10D was clearly designed by photographers, for photographers.“

The same person has reviewed Pentax DA 70mm f2.4 Limited pancake-style prime lens. Howard is very impressed by this lens: “this is one of the nicest prime lenses I’ve ever used.” By his words 70mm limited is the perfect fit for candid street photography and travel.

Japanese blog Digital1gan takes a closer look on FA 50mm F1.4 normal prime from the film era. One post is about the lens itself and the other full of real life samples.