Pentax Life

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:

• $100 on Pentax K200D and K20D bodies
• $100 on PENTAX DA 16-45mm F4.0 ED/AL lens
• $100 on PENTAX DA*50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM lens
• $100 smc PENTAX DA*16-50mm F2.8 ED AL(IF) SDM lens
• $50 on AF-360FGZ flash
• $50 on AF-540FGZ flash
• $25 on D-BG2 battery grip
• $25 on D-BG3 battery grip

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:

• 5x zoom lens with the real 28mm wide angle (28-140mm). A Digital Wide function merges two shots into one image for ultra-wide-angle image capture (equivalent to a focal length of 21mm in 35mm format).
• New 10 Megapixel 1/2.3″ sensor. Sensitivity could be set up to ISO1600 in full resolution and up to ISO6400 in 5 Megapixel mode.

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.

Chasseur D’images, French photography magazine that is very popular in Europe, has tested two latest Pentax DSLRs and 20 (yep, twenty) lenses mounted on the Pentax K20D.

Lots of optics tested here: from FA* 27-70/2.8, FA*85/1.4 to all
Limiteds, DA*, the new DA17-70 SDM etc…

Most lenses are quite good and a couple numbers simply excellent !!

Talking about recent lenses:

• DA 17-70 SDM: it is good, vingettes a lot at 17 but it very nice upgrade over the kit lens. They say there’s no focus touch up (!! to be confirmed) but there’s indeed weather sealing. They do not say if it is SDM-only but I think so.
• DA*200/2.8: excellent !!
• DA*300/4: excellent !!
• DA35/2.8 macro: excellent !
• DA* 50-135 and DA* 16-50/2.8: centering defects but otherwise very good.

Great thanks to Thibouille for sharing such a good news.

For those who can’t read French or live outside of Europe there is DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited review from the DigitalCameraReview:

In short, the new 35mm Limited is an amazing lens with fabulous edge-to-edge sharpness, amazingly close focus, great bokeh, and exceptional build quality common to the Limited series lenses. Once again, Pentax has delivered a fantastic professional-quality prime lens at a reasonable price.

Chinese Engadget (quite trustworthy resource) has reported the rumors that Chinese manufacturer Patriot Aigo in cooperation with Carl Zeiss planning to roll out first China DSLR with Leica-M mount. What’s most interesting is that Engadget has illustrated this rumor with something looking just like Pentax MZ-D 2001 6Mp full-frame DSLR prototype with Patriot Aigo logo on it:

Here is how the MZ-D looks like:

Yes, the first image is undoubtedly poorly photoshopped MZ-D. But it’s nice to see that its memory still lives in people’s hearts.

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.

Have you ever wonder how Pentax DA Limited lenses working on the film SLR cameras? Boris Liberman has collected a bunch of photos made with three DA Limited lenses mounted on the 35mm film SLR.

Pentax DA 21mm Limited shows a strong vignetting at every apperture up to F/22 while DA 40mm Limited and DA 70mm Limited are quite good even wide open.

The new Pentax entry level DSLR K200D got a lot of attention last month. Most of the popular consumer electronics and photo equipment reviewers have put their curious hands on it. And most of them have been pretty excited.

CNET has rated Pentax K200D 7.7 out of 10 which is “Very Good” in their classification:

Pentax’s K200D entry-level SLR gives a lot of bang for the buck and has better performance than last year’s model. Despite low noise and pleasingly detailed images, technically inaccurate colors keep it from capturing the gold medal for image quality.

Read the rest of this entry »

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:

• Samsung GX20 Samsung 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 (and Tamron branded analogue too)
• Samsung GX20 Samsung D-XENON 12-24mm