Pentax compared to other brands

[McGregNi]

The 'focussing issues' you refer to are nothing like the sort of problems you have reported having. Its difficult to square the problems you showed on the other thread with focussing at all ..... as I said there it seems more like a lens decentring issue. Have you got a good quality Pentax autofocus lens to try on your cameras?

[Steve.Ledger]

I love Pentax cameras but I find their digital SLR cameras to be a hit and miss thing with regards to focus issues, i've had two Pentax cameras now both the K30 and now the K70 and both had focusing issues and had to be repaired. I've had two Nikon cameras as well the D3100 and D5100, i've had three Olympus cameras the E500, E520 and E620 and none of those cameras had focusing issues. But i've also heard from a few other people too that Pentax digital SLR cameras have a bad reputation for focusing problems. So overally i'd say Pentax make excellent cameras but they really need to get off their backsides and get these focus issues a thing of the past, i'm sending my K70 back to the shop to be looked at and repaired or possibly exchanged for a Canon Eos 750D and will leave Pentax alone from now on. We'll see if Pentax get off their backsides and help me out, if they don't it's goodbye Pentax.

I've had PENTAX DSLRs since 2004 and not one had focusing issues, heck the K-50 I had could focus in near darkness.
I did however had one lens that needed focus adjustment.
"A few other people" with focusing issues (out of hundreds of thousands of cameras) does not make for an overall bad brand. Personally I've never heard it.
But I wish you good luck.

[Chris]

I love Pentax cameras but I find their digital SLR cameras to be a hit and miss thing with regards to focus issues, i've had two Pentax cameras now both the K30 and now the K70 and both had focusing issues and had to be repaired. I've had two Nikon cameras as well the D3100 and D5100, i've had three Olympus cameras the E500, E520 and E620 and none of those cameras had focusing issues. But i've also heard from a few other people too that Pentax digital SLR cameras have a bad reputation for focusing problems. So overally i'd say Pentax make excellent cameras but they really need to get off their backsides and get these focus issues a thing of the past, i'm sending my K70 back to the shop to be looked at and repaired or possibly exchanged for a Canon Eos 750D and will leave Pentax alone from now on. We'll see if Pentax get off their backsides and help me out, if they don't it's goodbye Pentax.

I've had PENTAX DSLRs since 2004 and not one had focusing issues, heck the K-50 I had could focus in near darkness.
I did however had one lens that needed focus adjustment.
"A few other people" with focusing issues (out of hundreds of thousands of cameras) does not make for an overall bad brand. Personally I've never heard it.
But I wish you good luck.

^^ This.

Maybe do a little Googling for Nikon and Canon focus problems before assuming the grass is greener.

I have a friend who does weddings professionally (with a 5D Mk II IIRC) and quite frequently moans about Canon AF.

Other than a known issue with low-artificial-light AF (which I never had any particular issue with) with the original K-5 (which was fixed with the K-5 II), Pentax is not known for focus inaccuracy.

Its AF speed and tracking are considered still to be behind the high-end Nikons and Canons, but even Pentax focus speed is very lens dependent.

Also, having compared a D3100's AF with my own Pentax myself, it is not obviously faster. So I wouldn't personally expect low-end Nikons and Canons to be any better than Pentax at all. And I'm no Pentax fanboy - I have plenty of moans about Pentax, but focus inaccuracy (or even speed since the K-3, although I'd always want faster) isn't one of them.

[Chris]

"A few other people" with focusing issues (out of hundreds of thousands of cameras) does not make for an overall bad brand.

Actually, it was a few other people reporting an alleged bad reputation for focusing problems.

Not the same thing at all

[LongTimeLurker]

Whilst in town today I took the opportunity to check my local camera shop, Bass and Bligh in Harrogate.

Not many of this type of shop left these days: a tiny emporium fully stocked with a wide range of bodies and lenses, staffed by people who know more than just one end of a lens to the other.

They usually have a number of second hand lenses on display and what caught my eye on this occasion was the window display of new Pentax gear. A K3II, K1, DA*300, DA*60-250, D-FA 24-70, D-FA* 70-200 (what a monster lens!), D-FA 150-450 etc. Being able to properly gauge the difference in size between my K5 (by using the K3II on display) and the K1 was useful to see how compact the K1 really is - a pleasant surprise.

It is lovely to see an independent retailer trading well, and one who has a decent amount of Pentax products on prime display.

[richandfleur]

CES 2017 and Ricoh/Pentax reveal another version of it's theta 360degree camera line. This time it has a power adaptor input, so it can run for 24hours and live stream, in 2k resolution...
https://www.dpreview.com/news/319159403 ... -streaming

Is this the only reveal from CES by Ricoh/Pentax?

I'd love a K-80, with video that has a bit rate 3 or more times better than the current offering, and where real sensor stabilisation, digital zooming and focus peaking all work DURING recording.

I'd get excited about that...

[Steve.Ledger]

............. video that has a bit rate 3 or more times better than the current offering, and where real sensor stabilisation, digital zooming and focus peaking all work DURING recording.

Unfortunately the average human life span is an insufficient time in which to hope'n'wait for such niceties from Pentax/Ricoh..

[richandfleur]

............. video that has a bit rate 3 or more times better than the current offering, and where real sensor stabilisation, digital zooming and focus peaking all work DURING recording.

Unfortunately the average human life span is an insufficient time in which to hope'n'wait for such niceties from Pentax/Ricoh..

Pentax K-5 Oct 2012
Large Motion JPEG-compressed .AVI files, 1080p at 25fps, good bit rate of up to 100 Mbps, real mechanical stabilisation.

Pentax K-01 Feb 2012 video specs:
Smaller H.264 files, 1080P 24fps approx. 20 Mbps bitrate, focus peaking stops during recording. No mechanical stabilisation and instead 'Movie SR' stabilisation attempt introduced

4 years later, the K-70 and K-1 spec sheet still reads the same as the K-01 above , with the addition of a continuous AF attempt on the K-70:

[Steve.Ledger]

Yes, that was then this is now. We all know the history well enough by now. During Hoya's [short] custodianship things were better for video.

[Wizhunter]

Just reading this fascinating post and found it very interesting, what i have learned as a Canon user for many moons is that it's not the Camera that takes great photo's it's the glass, with Canon the "L" lenses are the best, but very expensive, i have seen some awesome images with the 7D MkII and the Canon 70-200 f4 L lens and used to think i will save up for the 7D it takes great photo's, anyway i ended up getting the L lens first and put it on my old 400D 10mp Canon. No lie the images i took with that combination were as good or even better than the 7D. Not even got my K-S2 yet but i bet the lenses are a lot cheaper and as good as the Canon "L" lenses, well i hope so.

Tim

[richandfleur]

This artical was pretty cool. Olympus are openly stills focused, but as they have video capabilities these needed to be sufficient for 2017.

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews/683 ... to-be-bold

Olympus and Fuji, the two previously stated don't care about video type companies, have made huge progress in their video offerings lately. They're both offering really good video packages now, whilst retaining their stills capabilities and focus.

[richandfleur]

Damn, Sony just released a new camera called the A9 with higher specs than the A7 series, and with a professional sports focus.
It's super expensive, but takes on the likes of Canon and Nikon. Features a ton of stuff, but inbuilt sensor stabilisation is there, as is a massive burst and buffer, a whopping nearly 700 phase detection AF points covering approximately 93% of the frame and tracking to make use of those. This genuinely feels like the future, and having a mirror flapping up and down in a DSLR between shots is starting to seem a bit old fashioned and unnecessary.

http://pmrphoto.blogspot.co.nz/2017/04/ ... racey.html

https://petapixel.com/2017/04/19/sony-u ... ots-20fps/

[Grarea]

It seems to me that getting rid of the mirror would always happen.
The Northrups seem pretty excited by it as well.
Nice to know the sort of thing I will be picking up second hand in 10 or 20 years.

[aliengrove]

I see there are already some complaints that the weather sealing on the A9 doesn't appear to have been improved over the A7II/A7SIIA7rII......

The A9 doesn't appeal to me as I never shoot in bursts. The next version of the A7s could be a game-changer for me though.

[richandfleur]

Had an interesting shopping period this week.
My Brother is heading off on a holiday shortly and wanted recommendations for a tough/rugged camera he could take with him.
He's into climbing and will be on boats/beaches where he's headed.
Googled the heck out of it and one camera kept leading the recommendations constantly, the Olympus TG-4 Tough camera.

Looked closer and Ricoh/Pentax had another on of those shared components deals on this one, like the MX-1 and the Olympus XZ-2?
The Pentax/Ricoh WG-4 is pretty much the same camera, only a bit cheaper if you buy it without the GPS.
Looks like Pentax have walked away from this line of cameras now, as it hasn't been updated, where as the Olympus has come out a few years later.
The Olympus now offers RAW, faster burst rate, wifi/GPS etc.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/cameras/ricoh/wg-4-gps/vs/olympus/tg-4/

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, no one had the Pentax/Ricoh version in stock, in a shop.
The Olympus by contrast was available at several local big retailers.
My Brother now owns the more expensive Olympus.
Something's really quite wrong with the Pentax distribution/support model here.