Pentax Speaking of Pentax

Armanius

Bring Jack back!
Location
Houston, Texas
Name
Jack
Does it seem like the Pentax K5iis flew under most people's and gear review's radar? I was spending way too much time on DPR's studio comparison tool looking at RAW comparisons. K5iis files are cleaner AND more detailed than all other APS-C cameras in the market, including any Fuji X's and the new Nikons 5200/7100. Arguably, K5iis RAWs are even comparable to a full frame D4. I'm hoping that Pentax will give it another go with mirrorless cameras with a K02 that looks more like an Oly Pen instead of the K01. A fixed lens camera with OVF/EVF competitor to the X100 would be awesome too!
 
Pentax reviews don't draw as many hits to a web site as some other brands.

The K5ii also supposedly has a revised and faster AF.

The issue with a K-01 successor is the K-mount. If you want to use K-mount lenses, you can't make the body any slimmer.
 
^ hence my suggestion to include a Speedbooster-like lens in the K-02. It would make the body slightly slimmer, and it would make the K-mount lenses roughly 35mm-equivalent FOV and DOF, which would give it an advantage no slimmer system camera could match.
 
Pentax reviews don't draw as many hits to a web site as some other brands.

The K5ii also supposedly has a revised and faster AF.

The issue with a K-01 successor is the K-mount. If you want to use K-mount lenses, you can't make the body any slimmer.

Pentax should just make some new lenses. And provide an adapter with the body to use with the K lenses. Pentax would be the first maker to take care of its loyal customers by providing an adapter with all of its cameras (notwithstanding the Oly rebates).
 
I figure that with Pentax you've always got to keep in mind that the raw files have smoothing applied at ISO 3200 and above. To look at them alongside other cameras without raw smoothing you're comparing a partially processed file with an unprocessed (or less processed) one.
 
I figure that with Pentax you've always got to keep in mind that the raw files have smoothing applied at ISO 3200 and above. To look at them alongside other cameras without raw smoothing you're comparing a partially processed file with an unprocessed (or less processed) one.

What struck me about the comparisons, was the Pentax having more detail at all ISO. So the smoothing above 3200 wouldn't change my mind. The only thing that really bothered me in the comparison tool about the PENTAX was some pretty blotchy reds, but some noise reduction would take care of that. That they have more detail than the Fujis was quite a surprise to me.
 
Smoothing might involve more than just noise reduction. For instance, the camera may also be applying some judicious sharpening to the files as well. It is becoming harder to make direct comparisons using unprocessed raw data because it's hard to know what has already been done to the file before we see it. Pentax smooths their high ISO raws, Olympus pushes their raw exposures, various brands automatically apply lens correction, and likely many more examples that I am unaware of. The only really fair comparison is to compare two files that have been fully processed to your liking and then see which one looks best.
 
Thanks Nic......that's good to know. I heard the word smoothing and took it to mean just noise reduction type smearing/smoothing. So the RAW files aren't truly RAW.....they're pre-cooking them.
 
More and more cameramakers are applying some small amount of processing to so-called RAW files. And some are more successful than others. Me, I've never had a problem with Pentax's RAW files. meanwhile, the K-5IIs was introduced at $1299 - some $500 less than the original K-5's price when it was introduced. It won't be all that long before the K-5IIs drops below $1000. Even if it's another year, I can wait. My K-5 and K-01 will do just fine until then.
 
Don't quote me on EXACTLY what Pentax might be doing to their raw files; I'm just speculating in this case. I know that when I apply a small amount of noise reduction to an image I usually do a little sharpening as well to give me a better end result, with the end result being what counts at the end of the day. Maybe even those wonderfully clean looking high ISO Fuji X-Trans raw files are partly due to some form of additional processing occurring within the raw conversion. Who knows?

If we're talking about cooked raw files, just think of how significant some lens correction profiles are on wide angle lenses. If a "raw" file can include correction for ~5% barrel distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting, a few other tweaks here and there to the file would seem to be mild by comparison. If it's done well then I'm all for it, but any form of raw manipulation does take away the ability to use raw files as a base level for comparison.
 
Smoothing or cooking, I don't mind it at all if the results are as good as the ones I'm seeing on those studio photos for the K5iis. It does make me think if RAW will become the new JPG in the near future ...
 
If I didn't already have the K-5, I would be sorely tempted by the K5IIs (not by the K5II). I don't think there's going to be a K-02, but there might be something more elegant, with a different name. They needed a box in order to take the lenses, but they didnt need a brick.
 
Pentax should just make some new lenses. And provide an adapter with the body to use with the K lenses. Pentax would be the first maker to take care of its loyal customers by providing an adapter with all of its cameras (notwithstanding the Oly rebates).

I wonder how easy that is? Could Pentax, for instance, use the DA 40mm's optical formula and re-work the mount so it fits on a slimmer body?
 
I wonder how easy that is? Could Pentax, for instance, use the DA 40mm's optical formula and re-work the mount so it fits on a slimmer body?

Pancake lenses tend to be roughly equal to the flange distance of a camera or a bit wider, so a Pentax pancake for a purpose designed mirrorless body would likely be in the order of about 16-30mm in focal length
 
^ hence my suggestion to include a Speedbooster-like lens in the K-02. It would make the body slightly slimmer, and it would make the K-mount lenses roughly 35mm-equivalent FOV and DOF, which would give it an advantage no slimmer system camera could match.

That would be a cool idea, but not necessarily an advantage over slimmer systems on which you could mount a speed booster adapter to get the same effect yet still be able to remove it and mount smaller mirrorless lenses. The K-mount is unfortunately limited by its SLR heritage.
 
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