"Given the D700's (ie, the D3) & it's price, that shouldn't be a surprise"
Should read: Given the D700's pedigree (ie, the D3) & it's price, that shouldn't be a surprise On 24 February 2010 21:58, David Savage <[email protected]> wrote: > As someone who is obviously compensating for a small pee pee, I think > I should add my thoughts on the whole FF question. > > Yes I own a D700. Yes it's full frame. Did I buy it because it's full > frame. No, not really. > > I bought it for several reasons. The main one being it's much > publicised low noise characteristics & high ISO performance. One of > the contributing factors to low noise is sensor temperature. In all of > the Pentax DSLRs I've used ( *istD, K10D & K20D) heat build up in the > sensor has been a problem. Now this isn't an issue for most shooters, > but at the time I was initially looking at the D700 I was fighting the > K10/20D and spending lots of time in Photoshop cleaning up long > exposure night shots that had huge magenta smears on them. > > Also for some time I had been dissatisfied with the AF & exposure > performance of the K10/20D & until the announcement & release of the > D700 I had been considering the D300. But while the D300's AF was > excellent & very accurate exposure wise, I knew it had the same sensor > amp glow issues with long exposure as my Pentax's. So while I was > tempted to jump ship, I wasn't gaining the one thing I wanted most. > > At this point I'll admit that when the 5D first came out, I was very > tempted & almost bought one on a couple of occasions, just because it > was full frame. But at that time I was still the limiting factor when > it came to picture making. Not the hardware. Practicality and common > sense overruled my initial FF desires. > > I attended the official Perth launch for the D700 in '08 and I spent a > solid 2 hours wandering around with the camera putting it through it's > paces. I was bloody impressed (and I still am). AF, exposure & > handling are all top notch. People around me kept commenting on the > size of the viewfinder, but that wasn't something I wasn't paying > attention to. > > I spent the next 4 weeks um'ing & ah'ing before I finally pulled the > trigger. I don't for one second regret the decision. The technology & > handling of that camera is several magnitudes above anything from > Pentax. Given the D700's (ie, the D3) & it's price, that shouldn't be > a surprise. > > Ultimately I bought the camera, because it was better spec'ed & the > better tool for the kind of photography I'm interested in. Not because > it was FF. > > And this is what any future Pentax FF DSLR has to live up too. It > wouldn't be enough to just put a FF sensor in a camera with the K20D > or K7 level of technology. Pentax would have to, IMHO, raise their > technical standards much higher than they have previously. > > As I've said in the past, it doesn't matter how sharp a lens is, or > how beautiful the bokeh, or how well the lens handles flare if the > fucking photo is out of focus because the AF couldn't keep up or there > is so much noise it looks like the shot was taken during a sand storm. > > Pentax has got away for a lot of years on the reputation of it's > lenses (and it's a well deserved reputation. I know, I have some of > their best glass). And back in the film days that wasn't such an > issue, but the DSLR is such a pivotal part of image capture & > ultimately image quality, that the Penatx faithful should be demanding > much better. Not shrugging their shoulders and saying "thats the > Pentax way" > > Now I hope they do release a 35mm FF camera some day. But I don't > think it likely. They just aren't a big enough company to manufacture > APS, digi MF & 35mm FF systems. > > Cheers, > > Dave > > On 23 February 2010 06:42, Boris Liberman <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hey there. >> >> Just my opinion, really. I've spent good day and a half with my Minoltian >> friend just recently. He's got Sony A850 and assortment of Minolta FF >> lenses, such as 50/1.7, beercan, and some more. Well, I admit - I am >> envious. The look and the technical qualities of the pics are pretty darn >> amazing. Well, whatever you say about the full or fool format - I say it is >> full and not fool. >> >> Let's hope Pentax does what I would like them to do ;-). >> >> Boris > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
