Re: Firmware update for *istD on the end of january
Same Info came from also from Pentax Germany. At that time the Pentax Browser 2.0 and Lab 2.0 will be made available for the *istD users. At that time the update for the *istD will also be avaible. I do not know if the update will make more than the compability for the *istD to the new Browser and Lab. Go to know that there is still support for the *istD. regards Rüdiger - Original Message - From: Sam Jost Hi folks, a representative of Pentax wrote me a mail saying there will be a firmware update for the *istD sometime at the end of january. It will be announced in the news of Pentax homepage when in is available. I don't know what stuff they will adress in the firmware other then the writing speed on CF cards (that went abysmally down in the 1.10 update - yes, the 1.00 firmware did write way faster then the new ones). And some general thing: a firmware update is never 'a simple thing' - changing software embedded in hardware must be made very careful and be tested a lot, you won't want a software update to damage everybodys *istD on some strange setting, do you? Happy Christmas! Sam
Re: *istD + Grip + DA 16-45 + FA* 80-200/2.8... Worth 1700 euro?
Hallo that is a super price. The value of the 80-200 is alone 900 Euro. The 16-45 is new 450, the grip 150 Euro. The used *istD is 800-900 Euro. I have both, the Sigma 2.8/70-200 and the Pentax 2.8/80-200. The Sigma weight is 500 g less and a bit faster with the AF. But the picture quality is far better from the FA*. There is nearly no difference between the FA open and stopped down to 8 at the *istD. The Sigma has the same qualtity a 4 as the Pentax at 2.8. Go for it, sell the sigma for 400 Euro on Ebay and you have the perfect kit. Regards Rüdiger - Original Message - From: Gianfranco Irlanda [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 8:32 PM Subject: *istD + Grip + DA 16-45 + FA* 80-200/2.8... Worth 1700 euro? Hi everybody, The usual dilemma... I've been thinking to buy another digital body for the last couple of months. Suddenly this deal appears: a *istD body with 4000 shots done, the grip and a mint DA 16-45, all with cases and still under warranty. There is also this bonus added: a well used but not abused FA* 80-200/2.8 (that I don't really need, having the Sigma EX already, but...). The prices for the single pieces are not really interesting (if not a bit high), but the whole would make for a possible bargain at EURO 1700. Any thoughts? Ciao, Gianfranco = _ __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
Re: Coming soon: Two Sreens for *istD (grid, scale)
Frorm Fits Wüthrich He, this is good news, as I have a grid screen on my PZ-1 and like it a lot. Is the screen of the *ist D as easy to replace as the one on the PZ-1? Yes, I had my screen allready out of the *istD. There was a hair between screen and viewfinder. It has the same mechamismus as the z1-p and MZ-S. regards Rüdiger On Saturday 04 September 2004 12:40, Rüdiger Neumann wrote: FJW Hallo, FJW here on this German web side, you can already order a grid screen and a FJW screen with scale (like the LX sreen SI-20). FJW The screen will will fitt in the *istD and in the coming new baby-istD. FJW FJW http://forum.digitalfotonetz.de/viewtopic.php?t=8770highlight= FJW FJW direkt to the web shop for the grid screen. FJW http://www.tekade.de/Angebot/angebot.html?0+k05-01+699 FJW FJW FJW The screens will ship at the end of october and will cost 50 Euro (the FJW normal price for pentax screens in Germany) FJW You can already preorder them (what I have done), to get one from the first FJW batch. FJW FJW The web shop is selling in Europa, for the USA the shipping will be very FJW high, 32 Euro. FJW FJW FJW What else can we seen out of this preorder: FJW FJW The baby-*istD will have the same changeable screens as the *istD and FJW perhabs the same viewfinder. FJW The baby-*istD will ship in Germany end of October (normal the accessoire is FJW shiping with the camera) FJW The name of the baby *istD will be *istD-S (look at the web side) FJW The *istD-S and the *istD have the same accessoire (maybe the grip will also FJW fit) FJW Pentax is building up a DSLR System FJW FJW That are good news FJW FJW Regards Rüdiger FJW FJW FJW FJW FJW FJW -- Frits Wüthrich
Quick Shift Focus, was New lenses from Pentax
Hallo, I have just testet the DA 16-45 on the MZ-S. The Quick Focus Shift does not work. So it neats a clutch in the camera (which only the *istD has) and a signal from the lens. Yes, the new D-FAs are looking very promising, small and fully compatible. regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Sylwester Pietrzyk [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Sonntag, 8. August 2004 22:14 Betreff: Re: New lenses from Pentax On Aug 8, 2004, at 9:04 PM, Alan Chan wrote: Looks like Pentax will continue the tradition to keep things compact. It is also good to see the FA style aperture ring is gone eventually. But it says Quick-Shift Focus System works when mounted on *istD, what about other cameras? There's no reason for QSF not to work on other than *istD cameras. This is just mechanical coupling inside the lens to allow you moving focussing ring regardless of camera's AF state. And after all you can go to any shop and try DA's QSF mechanism with your Z1P today :-) BTW - design of new lenses is very similar to AF lenses for 645. Does it mean anything? Perhaps rumoured 645D is near? -- Best regards Sylwek
Re: Using the 500ftz flash with *ist d...
Hallo that is a know buck if you are using the older TTL flashes (not for the AF360) But there is a work around. Only with ISO 400 the flash exposere is correct. With 200 it is to dark. So use 200 as -1 compensation. 400 is ok and if you want overexpose use +1, +2 Or put in 200 and +1 than is correct, 0 is -1, +2 is +1 and so on. Hope that helps Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Josh Goodman [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: Pentax Discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Donnerstag, 18. März 2004 20:58 Betreff: Using the 500ftz flash with *ist d... Bruce, I was testing this indoors. There was almost no ambient light (it was at night with all of the lights off). I set the shutter speed to 1/125, aperture was f/8. I did it like this b/c I just wanted to test the flash exposure compensation. When I was in Manual mode and I used the internal pop-up flash, the flash compensation worked great (the image was over or under exposed by whatever amount of flash compensation that I set). When I tried the exact same thing with the 500ftz, it would work as it should if I was setting flash over compensation (the image would be brighter than correct exposure) but when I tried under compensation (-1, -3, etc), it would do absolutely nothing. In other words, an image taken with no flash compensation had the exact same exposure (looked exactly the same) as an image taken with -3 dialed in on the camera. Could you provide a little more detail, such as in manual mode, what is your shutter speed and aperture set to. And what do you mean by looks the same? Once you subtract too much the ambient light takes over. How bright is it outside where you are trying this? -- Best regards, Bruce Thursday, March 18, 2004, 10:35:30 AM, you wrote: JG I'm having a problem getting flash compensation to work properly. I read JG that if I put the camera on M that I could use the exposure compensation JG function to act as flash compensation. This works fine with the pop-up JG flash, but when I try it with the 500ftz, it only works if I am adding JG compensation (+1, +1.5, +2, etc). When I subtract it (-1, -2 -3, etc), the JG shots look exactly the same as they do with no compensation. Any ideas on JG why this is happening? BTW, I'm using firmware 1.11 JG Thanks. JG Josh
Re: remote assistant
Please post the address regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: David Madsen [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: Pentax Discuss List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Mittwoch, 17. März 2004 20:47 Betreff: remote assistant OK, I have been to the web address where this download is supposed to be, but I don't read Japanese. How do we access this program? David Madsen mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.davidmadsen.com
Re: Pentax *ist D Remote Assistant: Digital Photography Review
The best think: It is for free regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Paul Stenquist [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Sonntag, 14. März 2004 19:11 Betreff: Re: Pentax *ist D Remote Assistant: Digital Photography Review Great news. I'm looking forward to shooting with camera and laptop, particularly in the studio. Sometimes my camera position makes it very difficult to look through the viewfinder or to see the histogram. This should make things much simpler. Paul On Mar 14, 2004, at 12:36 PM, Michel Carrère-Gée wrote: Now on DpReview http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04031401pentaxistdremote.asp
Re: PAW: First test of my own RAW converter
Hallo John, what are you going to do with it. Will you sell it ore will you make a freeware version. It would be a good alternativ to the Pentax Lab Regards Rüdiger jpc This is the first image from my *ist-D that I've shot in RAW mode jpc and converted to RGB using my own RAW converter (rather than using jpc Pentax Photo Laboratory, PhotoShow CS, or any other package). jpc As you can see, spring has (finally) come to northern California. jpc http://panix.com/~johnf/temp/peftest.jpg
Re: Noise Reduction on *istD
Hallo, NR is only used for speeds longer as 1/4 sec. If NR is off you can shoot 6 frames continueslly, with NR only 5. One space in the buffer is for the subtractive mask Von: Rob Studdert [EMAIL PROTECTED] NR is ISO independent and will cause no image degradation, it uses a real time subtractive mask to alleviate hot/stuck pixels at lower shutter speeds hence the doubling+ of exposure time. Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
Re: when 16-45 ?
Hallo, open the link with the right mouse bottom, click on safe target under and add jpg at the filename. Than it should work regards Rüdiger Von: Joseph Tainter [EMAIL PROTECTED] here is a comparsion between the 2/24, Tokina 2.8/20-35 and DA 16-45. http://forum.digitalfotonetz.de/viewtopic.php?t=5123; All I get when I click on the links is gibberish characters. Joe
Re: when 16-45 ?
Hallo, in Germany, a lot of people allready got the 16-45 and are very pleased with the performance. regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Freitag, 16. Januar 2004 17:03 Betreff: Re: when 16-45 ? alex posted, among other things: Announcement at PMA doesn't mean that it will be for sale anytime soon. or even ever. MZ-D, anyone?
Re: when 16-45 ?
Von: Cotty [EMAIL PROTECTED] Apparently the lens can be used on Pentax film- based SLRs, but will not cover the full 35mm frame (so what point there?). In Germany, it was testet on a film slr, and it can be used as a 20-45 mm Zoom. Below 20mm it has vignetting. regards Rüdiger
Re: *ist D finder magnification
Hallo here are the viewfinder magnification. The size of the ccd has to be taken in accound. The *ist D has the highest magnification of the APS size cameras. FULL FRAME: Kodak DCS-14n___0,80 Canon 1Ds___0,72 APS-SIZE: Pentax *istD_0,62 Canon 1D___0,57 Canon 10D__0,55 Nikon D2h___0,55 Nikon D1x/D1h___0,52 Nikon D100_0,52 Fuji S2 Pro__0,51 Canon 300D_0,50 Olympus E-1_0,46 Sigma SD9__0,44 And now the surprise: apart from the full-frame DSLR's, the smallest camera, the Pentax *istD has the biggest viewfinder magnification. It is not far away from anolog cameras magnifications. Canons are 10% smaller, Nikons are 15% smaller and the Oly and Sigma are more than 25% smaller. Rüdiger Von: keller.schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] I had a discussion with a friend the other day, who is much concerned about finder quality. He basically says that the way an image is displayed in the viewfinder has a lot to do with how good the photographer can assess it and how good eventually the final picture will be. I think this is a bit stretched, but at least we both agree that the LX has a very, very good finder image and that things have deteriorated since then... What is also clear is that AF cameras can somehow 'live' with smaller finder images. As the size of the finder image depends on its magnification we were comparing the magnifications of various cameras. Some values, taken from 'Dimitrov' or from owner literature: MX 0,97 LX 0,95 Z1P 0,8 MZ-S 0,75 *ist 0,7 (there is a trend, n'est ce pas?) Now comes the *ist D with a stated finder magnification of 0,95 (!) which sounds pretty good and while its finder image is said to be larger than the competition it still is much smaller than that of any of the analogue bodies. This of course comes from the fact that it magnifies the smaller sensor. I still think that Pentax is cheating with the 0,95 figure as they base it on a 50mm lens. If stating finder magnifications is to serve a purpose (other than to fill the data sheet), then this figure should be given for a 'standard' lens focal length that relates to the sensor size. This way, a direct comparison of finder image size could be done. Pentax themselves vary the focal length, as for the 67 they state 0,75 for a 105mm lens - and they should have done so for the *ist D as well. Based on a 35mm lens, the *ist D finder magnification figure would look like 0,62 - and would illustrate how small the finder image really is. Sven
Flash AF360FGZ works in TTL-mode on the LX and 645
Hallo, on the www.photozone.de Alexander gave a link to the german pentax side with a flash overview: http://www.pentax.de/mediapool/attachments/photo/100/106/97229/Blitzuebersic ht.pdf There it was shown, that the AF360FGZ will work in TTL-mode with the LX, Super A and 645 I tested it and now the surprise. The AF360 works on the LX in TTL mode. The flash confirmation after the flash is also working. But no word in the AF360 manual about it. The display is showing P-TTL mode and the flash correction can be adjusted, but I'm not I think it is not working, as the flash loading time is the same with and without flash exposer correction. And now a funny thing: If I use the AF360 on the Z-1p it switches to TTL in the display. If I turn the flash off and put it on the LX and turn it on again, the display shows also TTL. It keeps showing TTL, even if you switch it off and on. If I put the batteries out and in again, the display show P-TTL. If I have used it on the MZ-S it shows later on the LX the P-TTL display. I have never tested it because it is not mentioned in the manual of the AF360. I have bought specialy the AF280T for my LX, I think I will sell it now. Is it no funny? Pentax has build a flash which is more compatible than older flashes like the AF500. It works with 30 year old cameras like the K2, MX (Automatik mode) oder LX(TTL). That was at the time the MZ-S and MZ-SDigi was developed. And than was a paradigma change of the design goals at Pentax. They builded a camera like the *ist and *istD where the exposere measurement is incompatibel by purpose. There is no technical reason, why the exposer measurement is not working on stop down mode (DOF) with K-lenses. Therefore write complaining mails to Pentax. regards Rüdiger
Re: *ist-D IR and other ramblings
From: Mark Cassino [EMAIL PROTECTED] My Sigma 14mm f3.5 works fine, but by it's nature (front element is a semi-sphere) it picks up all sorts of flare. The 17-28 fisheye loses too much of the fisheye effect - at 17mm it seems to have the AOV of a 20mm (judging by the finder) but has too much distortion to look good, and not enough distortion to look like a cool fisheye. So it just looks like a wide angle lens with bad distortion. Ug. Hallo Mark, as I read you have the Fisheye-Zoom an also a 14mm lens. Therefore it will be interessting for you to see that there is a easy way to correct the distortion of the fisheye lens I have writen a little report about: Using the F 3.5-4.5/17-28 Fisheye-Zoom plus the freeware program PTLens gives a lens of about 15-26/3.5-4.5 A detailed explaination with pictures (sorry, up to now only in German, but look at the pictures or use Altavista translator) http://www.mycroft.de/dptlens.htm An animation of the result and the link for the installation of the free program: http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/index.html It would be interessted to see a comparision between a real super wide angle of 14mm and the fisheye zoom with correction. Could you do such a test? Regards Rüdiger
New Pentax SMC-DA 3.5-4.5/15-26
Hallo and now the good use, the lens is already there. How to get a Wide Angle Zoom Pentax smc-DA 3.5-4.5/15-26 out of the F 3.5-4.5/17-28 Fisheye-Zoom with PTLens Here a detailled explaination with pictures (sorry, up to now only in German, but you can look at the pictures) http://www.mycroft.de/dptlens.htm An here you can see the result http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1028message=6639063 Now the links for the installation: Install PTLens from http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/index.html Expand PTLens with the following files: Copy the Lens-Data from http://www.mycroft.de/dptlens.htm into pentax_profile.txt Here are pictures, done with the Fisheye-Zoom on the *ist D with EFIX-Data: http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/~sight2/photo/lenz/fisheyezoom.html Now, get PTLens and the pictures and test it. regards Rüdiger
Re: New Pentax SMC-DA 3.5-4.5/15-26
Hallo infos on the coming DA16-45 are on http://www.aohc.it/pressrelease/lns0308e.htm regards Rüdiger - Von: Joseph Tainter [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you, Rüdiger. It appears that you have more information than the rest of us about the forthcoming DA 16-45 (such as dimensions, filter size). Is there a web link for this information? Joe
Re: Pentax *ist D vs. Fujifilm S2 Pro: final update
--Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] But I don't want to have to do a lot of post processing. I.E. Have to sharpen every image I shoot. Some I'd just like, bang, shoot, open in Elements and print. I often do that now from scanning slides. I mean, sometimes I sharpen or edit, but not always. It is pretty easy, just set the sharpening level on +1 and you get sharper images right out of the camera. regards Rüdiger
Re: Pentax *ist D vs. Fujifilm S2 Pro: same pictures in same conditions
Hallo Dario, you have done a good job on *istD to S2 comparision. It is not obvious on your home page, what camera gives the more natural colors as the colors are very different, you should at that. It would be also nice, if you can inform about the sharpness, contrast and color setings on the *istD. If you look at the flowerpicture on the balcony, the S2 show sharpening artefacts around the black metal, the *istD has less sharpening. Was the sharpening of the *istD to +1 or was it zero? You complain at the results with the RAW files. At a german user forum somebody has done a test with the Pentax Photo Lab and GENZO, a free RAW format converter. Here you can see the results in form ot two different pictures: http://forum.digitalfotonetz.de/viewtopic.php?p=39108#39108 The gonzo is far better. Here you can dounload genzo: http://members2.tsukaeru.net/rawdeco/genzo/genzo_download.htm Maybe the bad Pentax Photo Lab is the reason, that the raw pictures did not give better results. regards Rüdiger Von: Dario Bonazza 2 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear folks, As I promised some time ago, here are comparison pictures taken with the *ist D and the S2 Pro. Original pictures, untouched, are available, so that you can download and try to improve them (adjusting color balance and adding proper sharpening) according to your taste. After using both cameras and comparing more than 100 pictures, taken with many different lenses, my opinion is as follows: 1) The Pentax beatens the Fuji (by far!) about handling, viewfinder and color accuracy. 2) The Fuji beatens (by far!) the Pentax about image resolution, sharpness and plasticity. 3) With some PC processing, it is rather easy to improve above difference, further increasing the S2 Pro advantage. Believe it or not, despite images taken with the S2 already feature more unsharp mask than those taken with the *ist, they usually accept more additional sharpening before showing excessive sawteeth (like having more pixels!). 4) Shooting in RAW mode is only useful with buildings and the like, adding some visible sharpness. Should you save in RAW format images with plenty of leaves and branches, then you'll get excessive sawteeth and leaves look fake (unless you set low contrast and sharpening during conversion to tiff/jpeg, but then there's no good reason to use RAW). 5) The Fuji features better dynamic range (look at the curch front in the shade) and marginally better graininess (lower noise) at higher ISO settings (look at the enlargements of studio shots at different sensitivity settings). OK, at long last, here is the link: http://www.dariobonazza.com/t04p1e.htm Bye, Dario Bonazza
Re: Comparing lenses on *ist D
Hallo, nice test. It seems, that the 24-90 is overall a very good performer, far better than the 18-35 at 24. The color is a bit blueish, at 24 it is the sharpest lens, even better than than the FA2/24. Also at 90 it give very good results compared to the others. I think the reason is, that the 24-90 is already developed as a digital lens. It was developed as a standard lens for the MZ-S-Digital which was canceled. regards Rüdiger - Von: Dario Bonazza 2 [EMAIL PROTECTED] So I ended up trying several old and new lenses on the *ist D. A wide selection of results is visible here: http://www.dariobonazza.com/t04p7e.htm http://www.dariobonazza.com/t04p8e.htm http://www.dariobonazza.com/t04p9e.htm http://www.dariobonazza.com/t04p10e.htm I won't comment here, as any comment can be misunderstood, brought off topic and so on. Just see the pictures and then decide by yourself which lenses are good or bad, which are up to your expectations and if the *ist D is worth such lenses (or the other way round). It took me almost all the day to shoot, select and compare images, then crop details and put everything together for publishing. I do hope someone will appreciate that stuff. Thanks for your attention. Dario Bonazza
Viewfinder magnification of DSLRs: *istD best, E-1 und SD9 last
Reading the popphoto review of the Oly E-1, I was suprised, that it was stated, that the E-1 should have the lowest viewfinder magnification they ever testet. Looking at the good overview about the D-SLR's at http://www.photozone.de/2Equipment/digitalSLR.htm a very good magnification for the E-1 of 0.96 was stated. The average magnification of analog SLR's is between 0.7 and 0.8. The viewfinder magnifications which are on the photozone side give a wrong impression, they can not be compared among each other. The croping factor has to be taken into account. Now I have calculated the comparable magnification in a way that I multiplied the magnification bei the CCD width divided bei 36. Example: Oly E-1 0.96*17.3/36=0.46 This is far smaller than for analog SLR's. I have done that with all cameras and have listed them below: FULL FRAME: Kodak DCS-14n___0,80 Canon 1Ds___0,72 APS-SIZE: Pentax *istD_0,62 Canon 1D___0,57 Canon 10D__0,55 Nikon D2h___0,55 Nikon D1x/D1h___0,52 Nikon D100_0,52 Fuji S2 Pro__0,51 Canon 300D_0,50 Olympus E-1_0,46 Sigma SD9__0,44 And now the surprise: apart from the full-frame DSLR's, the smallest camera, the Pentax *istD has the biggest viewfinder magnification. It is not far away from anolog cameras magnifications. Canons are 10% smaller, Nikons are 15% smaller and the Oly and Sigma are more than 25% smaller. It seems that the Pentax is realy designed from scratch as a DSLR. The Nikon D100 comes from the F80, the Sigma SD9 from the SA9, that is the reason for the the low viewfinder magnification. Olympus, which stated that the E-1 is specifically developed as a DSLR gives only a dissapointing result.
Discontinue of the FA* 2.8/80-200
Hallo on http://www.pentax.de/pentaxeurope/pentaxeurope_prod/pentaxeurope/v2/de/photo /pricelist.html is a new Pentax Preislist (starting from 15.9.2003) In the list is a footnote that the FA*2.8/80-200 will not be available for long anymore. This is the same with the FA 35-80, which has already a replacement with the FAJ 28-80. Will there be a replacement of the 2.8/80-200 ??? hopefully a FA* 4/70-200 which is not so heavy and cheeper. The MZ-3 is not in the list anymore. The list has also the S4, 555 and 33WR and the *istD The official price of the *istD is 1800 und mit FA18-35 2100 The 18-35 alone is 499 Euro, far to expensive. regards Rüdiger
Re: Ist D software (WAS: someone to host *ist D images)
Hallo there three Programm for the *istD, two are free. free (included) Pentax Photo Laboratory with RAW converter and adjustment of color, sharpness, ... Pentax Photo Browser not free: S-RA10 Pentax REMOTE Assistant for remote release the *istD from a PC. Control of the *ist with also interval shooting and a direkt upload of the image to the PC. regards Rüdiger Von: Bojidar Dimitrov [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Rob, Does the istD come with RAW software? If I were to buy a jap import, would I get an english version of the software? Is this kind of stuff downloadable normally? All Canon cameras come with RAW software. The 10D comes with a driver for most Windows systems, download/view software, RAW-converter, panorama stitching software, etc. I assume that Pentax will too. English will probably always be incuded. Canon ships 2 or three languages on a given CD but not ALL languages. I have a Canon CD with English and German and another with Spanish, French and English. Pentax might do the same. I thought everything is available for download, but based on some other answers, I am not sure any more. Cheers, Boz
Re: ist D noise reduction (WAS: someone to host *ist D images)
Hallo Boz, with PF-Function 3 you can set the NR to off. 0 is on (default) 1 is off. NR works for long exposer times regards Rüdiger Von: Bojidar Dimitrov [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Alin, Boz, try to get best quality jpegs, without noise-reduction if possible. The settings are RAW, TIFF L, TIFF M, TIFF S, ***L, **L, *L, ***M, **M, *M, ***S, **S, *S. I have found out how to turn off noise reduction, so I will do it that way. I guess the best was to compare quality is TIFF L vs. TIFF created from a RAW Canon file (Canon does not write TIFF files). BUt such files would be huge, so I guess we will have to stay with large/fine JPGs. Cheers, Boz
Re: NEEDED: someone to host *ist D images
Hallo Boz, is a preproduction camera or is it already the final version. It will be interessting to get a report from you, as you have allready a lot of experence with your 10D. Looking forward to your review! regards Rüdiger Von: Bojidar Dimitrov [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello PDML-ers! Thanks to PDML-er Arnold Stark, I should have an *ist D to test out tonight and tomorrow. I will not have software for the camera, but I should be able to mount the CF card on my computer and transfer the JPGs that way. I am sure many of you would like to see full-resolution images from the camera, but I am unable to handle the bandwidth. So: I am looking for someone who is willing to host 5-10 MB and who can manage the traffic. Obviously, without Pentax software I will not be able to convert any RAW images, but I will make at least full-res JPGs. That's it for now. I will try to have a mini-review by Sunday on the KMP. Cheers, Boz
Re: FAJ 18-35 in stock
Hallo Peter, so the 18-35 is already on delivery. How much will it cost? Have you also a date, when the *istD will be shiped? regards Rüdiger -From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] First impressions: The lens feels nicely put together although appearance does resemble a lot of the budget eos lenses. The hood has the polarizer cut-out. At first I thought the hood would just drop off but then realised there is a detente at which point it clicks into place. The manual focus ring is not fantastically useable being only 9mm or so deep, however the feel is good with imho just the right degree of stiction. There is no dof scale. Later today I will post a couple of pix. Kind regards Peter CAMERA DIRECT 8 DORSET STREET BRIGHTON EAST SUSSEX BN2 1WA UK http://www.camera-direct.com TEL 44 1273 681129 FAX 44 1273 681135
FAJ 18-15 has a Partial Crippled Mount (was Re: FAJ 18-35 in Stock)
Hallo Peter, thanks for the information about the FAJ 18-35 that is the same as in Dario picture at http://digilander.libero.it/aohc/pshw2003/monte.htm (last picture on the page). It is a surprise that is has a diaphragm simular which is additional to the FAJ 28-80 and 70-300. Have you testet if the diaphragm simulator will move a bit if you zoom from 18 to 35. If yes, than the 18-35 will be partial compatible to MF Kameras with K-mount (ME, LX, ..) The new *ist and *istD have no counterpart to the diaphragm simulator. Therefore it is useless with for the new *ist cameras. The others FAJ lenses do not have the simulator. So, the 18-35 is a FAJ+ lens, because the diaphragm change from the change of the focal length from 4 to 5.6 is transmited to the body by this mechanical coupling. This is important for the old cameras. With it, you can use the lens wide open with the aperture correction from 4 to 5.6 on K-mount cameras and perhaps this is also important for the MZ-5n and MZ-S. But only wide open. Is there something said in the FA-lens handout which comes with the lens? So, we have now four type of FA-lenses: the FAJ lenses, FAJ +, normal FA lenses and FA lenses with power zoom contacts. It is getting confusing. Pentax should have made a silver FAJ version without simulator and a black FA version which is 50 euro more expensive and had the aperature ring and not only the diaphragm simulator. regards Rüdiger From : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dario's pic is accurate. The lens appears identical. A couple of other points. When you open the box, you are confronted with a carefully placed flyer for the 'National Organ Donor' scheme. Wht? Are they trying to tell us something? The lens is assembled in Vietnam. I knew they had moved production for a lot of the bulk consumer products out of Japan but this one was news to me. The price on the site is GBP199 - I will let you guys have as many as you like at GBP180 apiece inc the VAT. Outside EEC divide by 1.175 to get the ex-VAT price. Toodle pip! Peter
New Nikon D2H works with old MF-lenses
Hallo, Pentax has copied the Nikon F80 with MF-lenses non compatiblity. But now Nikon is one step futher, read this: A surprising feature of the D2H is its improoved backwards compatibility: A basic matrix meter when it is used with non CPU-lenses. Of all AF-cameras only the F4 had this feature. The D1/D1H/D1X series and F5/F100 didn't have it. I find this move to increase backwards compatibility quite astounding... I hope, Pentax is also copying this kind of compability. So, for Nikon backwards compatibility is a selling argument. Why not for Pentax? Regards Rüdiger
Re: New Nikon D2H has same AF-patern than *istD
The Nikon F90/F90s and the Z-1/Z-1p have the same shutter from Seiko. regards Rüdiger From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] I think you need a Nikon on the Inside sticker on your camera. No current Nikon shares shutters with a Pentax. BR Pål Jensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Maybe they use the same AF system (I do believe these patterns are patented)? Pentax and Nikon share shutter units and sensor used in DSLR. __ McAfee VirusScan Online from the Netscape Network. Comprehensive protection for your entire computer. Get your free trial today! http://channels.netscape.com/ns/computing/mcafee/index.jsp?promo=393397 Get AOL Instant Messenger 5.1 free of charge. Download Now! http://aim.aol.com/aimnew/Aim/register.adp?promo=380455
Re: New Nikon D2H has same AF-patern than *istD
Hallo Pal, if you look at dpreview, you will see a lot of complains about the sharpness of the 24-120 VR. Here is an example, which is realy bad http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030message=5631460 regards Rüdiger From Pål Jensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Now if an F6 or an F200 turns up soon, I might be tempted along with the 24-120 VR + the 200-400 VR lenses.
New Nikon D2H has same AF-patern than *istD
Hallo Nikon is just annoncing a new digital body D2H with three new lenses: http://www.photim.net/Nikon-D2/Nikon-D2H.htm It is interesting, that the the new D2h uses the same AF patern than the *ist/*istD. There are also three new DX lenses, a 10.5 fisheye, a 2.8/17-55 and a VR 4/200-400 all for a faktor of 1.5. So Nikon combines the advantages of the 4/3 system (smaller CCD -- smaller lenses) with there old F-moúnt standard. Well done, the E-1 will be even more in trouble. regards Rüdiger
Re: Will Digital SLRs improve consumer 35mm zoom lenses?
Rüdiger wrote: So, you think that the entry level lenses like the FAJ 18-35, FAJ 28-80 and the FAJ 70-300 which are specialy made for the entry level *istD are better then good the old lenses like the K 2/35, K 1.8/85 or K 2.5/135. REPLY from Pal No I don't. Fisrtly, they don't appeal to the same customers. Why, entry level lenses for a entry level *ist and *istD. I have heard several times the *istD is entry level therefore it do not need a aperture simulator. The FAJ lenses are also entry level without aperture ring. So the fit perfectly to the *ist and *istD. A FA* 2.8/80-200 do not fit to the *istD as the powerzoom and the aperture ring is meaningless. regards Rüdiger
Re: Lens compatibility in perspective (WAS: Re: D-ist blurb in AmericanPhotomagazine)
Hallo Pal, I'm wondering that this group of k-mount user shall be that small. When I read in dpreview, there are a lot of people who are writing, I will wait for the great Pentax *istD, because than I can use my k-mount lenses. If this group is that small why does Pentax make a software to prevent compability. I would be easy without any effort to allow stopdown metering in Av mode or metering in M-mode. I should work, like it is writen in the *ist manual, but it doesn't. It is the gred of Pentax from preventing using K-mount lenses, but it will not pay, the people will go to Canon or Nikon. regards Rüdiger Von: Pål Jensen Rüdiger wrote: With the K-mount incompabilty Pentax is loosing their strongest marketing argument. REPLY: This is a complete misunderstanding. The number of Pentax customers (as opposed to users) who buy an slr with compatibility of more than 20 year old lenses are so few that percentage is not a useful way to measure it. Just ask any Pentax rep. 90% of all slr sales, and this include Nikon and Canon, are in the Rebel/*ist class and they are sold with kit lenses. For Pentax the number is probably closer to 98%. Calling an advantage that only benefit less than 1% of the buyers as strongest marketing argument is simply misguided. Only a tiny fraction of the tiny percentage use older than 20 year old lenses. Only a tiny fraction of those again are in the market for a DSLR. Still, 20 year backwards compatibility with lenses is the best of any DSLR. The 90% slr market segment is what all manufacturer now will chase for DSLR. This is where the volume is. Another volume segment are those upgrading from digital PS. More than 20 years backward compatibilty doesn't mean anything to these customers. Nor does it mean much to anyone else. I can't recollect any manufacturer of modern camerras who cater for customers with more than 20 year old equipment. If such a move had any advantages in business term I'm sure it would have been common. Pål
Re: Lens compatibility in perspective (WAS: Re: D-ist blurb in AmericanPhotomagazine)
Hallo Arnold, every word is absolutly right from you. I have the impression, Pentax has a software to prevent compability and switch of the metering in M-mode (like on the Nikon F80). I will cost no money at all to allow stop down metering in Av mode with Dof or in M-mode. Funny, in the manual of the *ist is write that the time is changing if you are turning the aperture ring on k-mount lenses, but that does not work. I myself have no problems with k-mount lenses, because I have only F/FA/A lenses but I fear they are ruin the Pentax company regards Rüdiger Von: Arnold Stark Pål Jensen schrieb: A screw mount lens will be stopped down when mounted. A K/M lens will be wide open regardless of aperture set on the lens. Hence, the camera need to stop down (with a motor) when metering with the latter. How does it know it is a K/M lens and not a screw mount lens? REPLY: The camera need not know whether the lens is screw mount or k-mount. If the lens is screw mount, then it is already stopped down and the camera trying to close the aperture has no effect. If the lens is k-mount DOF preview stops down the lens. This will be an awful solution both technically and in use only to please extremely few users. REPLY: This is what is already is implemented in *ist and *ist D (unfortunately without metering when DOF preview is activated). It is not an awful solution but straightforward. What if you forget to active DOF preview when metering? REPLY: With a lens not in A position, metering should only be ON when DOF preview is activated. Actually, this would probably save battery power. What if you accidentally use the same procedure with an FA lens out of habit? REPLY: With an FA lens in A position, the meter should be OFF when DOF previewing. With the same lens not in A position, the meter should only be ON when DOF previewing. Quite simple, isn't it? How can you confuse the meter being ON or OFF? Is the exposure value remembered by the camera or are stucked in manual mode only? If it use exposure lock then the camera must be designed so that it locks the metered value when activating DOF preview only with K/M lenses. REPLY: See above: With a lens in A position, there is (and should be) no metering when DOF previewing. With any lens (FA, F, A, K, M, screw) not being in A position, metering should only be active when DOF previewing, and the measured value could be locked when DOF preview is ended. The idea is probbaly to make a camera thats easy to use. The above make it truly crippled not to mention confusing. REPLY: I hope your confusion is cured by now. Pentax really had three choices. 1) Stick to the old KAF2 mount. 2) KAF2 with electronic metering . 3) Two separate metering systems 1)+2). 1) would probably make the *ist D incompatible with future lenses hence doing the customers no favour. 2) is what they did. 3) would be both awkward in engineering and expensive. REPLY: It would only cost a few hours of programming and rewriting instrucion manuals. Stop-down metering as described by me would neither require any changes in the hardware nor would it complicate the use of the camera. On the contrary: The camera would be much easier to use with the built-in meter than without it. Customers won't pay for it. REPLY: Customers would not need to pay for it as it wouldn't have costed anything extra if Pentax had thought of it in the first place, and to update the camera software now would be payed for a lot of times by the extra cameras that would be sold, even if it were just a few. Arnold
D-SLR poll on dpreview
Hallo on dpreview there ist the following question: Imagine you had $2800 to spend, which D-SLR would you buy (leaving some money for lenses)? Canon EOS-10D Nikon D100 Olympus E-1 Fujifilm S2 Pro Pentax *ist D Sigma SD9 Go to dpreview and vote (ist on the news page) regards Rüdiger
Re: FA 24-90 focal length
Hallo, I just put my FA 1.4/85 and my 24-90 on my camera and compared the field of view on 85 and 90 at infinity. The zoom has a longer focal lenght than the 85, maybe 88? I think that the FA* 85 has a focal lenght of about 85. I compared it also to the FA 2/24. There it looked the same. I think the zoom is longer as 80. Ones I have measured my SMC-F 28-80 and it was 77 at the long end. I do not know how you did your measurement, but I think the 24-90 is not far from the specs. regards Rüdiger Von: keller.schaefer [EMAIL PROTECTED] Some weeks ago I inquired here about the FA 24-90 lens quality. Subsequently I bought the lens and shot some film with it. I would rate the optical quality as very reasonable and the mechanical quality as not-so-good. What puzzled me was the fact that when looking through the viewfinder the lens in the longest '90' mm position still had a shorter (!) focal lenth than my M 2,0/85. I tried to verify this by mounting the remnants of an old ME Super K-mount to the lens standard of a view camera and attaching the lens to it. As the difference in distance between lens and film (when moving the lens from infinity to 1:1 magnification) equals the focal length, I was able to measure this with some precision. The longest focal length turned out to be 81 mm (I'd say plus or minus 1 mm). I have also tested some other Pentax lenses: M 2,0/35: 34,8 mm M 1,4/50: 49,2 mm M 2,0/85: 83,9 mm M 2,8-4/40-80 at 80 mm: 78,9 mm and found these are quite close to what the lens designation says. Pentax Germany did not dispute my measurements but admitted that the 90 mm designation is an exaggeration for competitive reasons (...everybody does it like that). So, effectively, this lens is an 24-80. I thought you might be interested. Sven
Re: *ist-D 'reviewed' on AP website
Hallo there is a new think, it will work with the 330 Flash. So, it will also work in TTL mode and no only in P-TTL mode. You can use the not only the 360, it will also work wiht the 550 flash. The Nikon D100 had to buy new flashes. Regards Rüdiger From: Sylwester Pietrzyk [EMAIL PROTECTED] on 01.07.03 11:53, Rob Brigham at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.amateurphotographer.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/showpost.pl?Board= PentaxNumber=954page=0view=collapsedsb=5 Jack is also quite active on dpreview, but I havent seen this posted there. Hope the link works without logging in... It worked. Thanks Rob! Unforutnately after reading this, I know no more than before about *ist D... -- Best Regards Sylwek
Re: *ist D was not production type :-(
Hallo Dario, is there something new about the K-mount. Will it work in the same way as the analog *ist with all the restrictions? regards Rüdiger From: Dario Bonazza Hi friends, I forgot to tell you that the *ist D on show at Pentax Day last June 22 was not production type :-( To be more precise, the hardware was production type for sure (including a standard serial number), nice finished and working well (as opposed to that on show at PhotoShow last March), but the firmware was still incomplete and not fully working (heavy underexposure when taking pictures, exposure compensation not working, etc.). For that reason I was not allowed to shoot and get picture files on my compactflash card for close inspection at home, like I was hoping before the Pentax Day (or Pentax D-Day, as Caveman suggested). So, in order to know how well the *ist D will work, we still have to wait some more time :-( Despite that, I'm rather confident that the production *ist D will be on sale very soon, as promised. Bye, Dario Bonazza www.aohc.it www.dariobonazza.com
Re: Z1-p with 360FTZ
If you are using the 360FGZ at the Z-1p, only the TTL will work on the flash. An in this mode, there is no exposure compansation at the flash. The exposure compensation at the flash will only work together with the MZ-S, MZ-6 and *ist. regards Rüdiger Von: Alan Chan I have the same question. I guess it should be the body controls the flash output. regards, Alan Chan Correction: 360FGZ On Sunday, June 29, 2003, at 04:51 PM, Joshua Hakin wrote: I am using these two pieces of equipment together and want to underexpose the flash by one stop (TTL). This flash unit allows you to adjust the exposure from the back, but the Z1-p adjusts the output too. Where should the adjustment be made? Flash - Body? _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
*ist is TIPA camera of the Year, 450 now in the shops
Hallo there is a text from Pentax Swiss (use altavista translator) http://digitalfotonetz.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1680 regards Rüdiger
Re: Canon 50s compared at photo.net
Hallo and interesting comparision, but the flare is bad on the Conon lenses. Would be a Pentax 50mm better? It would be interesting to have comparsion to a Pentax 50mm lens. regards Rüdiger Von: Evan Hanson Over at photo.net they have a comparison of the EF 50 1.8 vs. EF 50 1.4. IMHO both exhibit what I would call ugh bokeh. http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/ef50/ Evan
Re: Canon 50s compared at photo.net
Hallo, I had only flare problems with my Pentax FA 28-200 (which is a Tamron) and that will be a surprice with my 1.9/43. regards Rüdiger Von: Caveman and interesting comparision, but the flare is bad on the Conon lenses. Would be a Pentax 50mm better? This is the worst I ever took out of the Pentax M 50/1.4: http://www3.sympatico.ca/vdonisa/Scan9a.jpg http://www3.sympatico.ca/vdonisa/Scan13a.jpg No filter or hood. cheers!
Re: You can order the *istD in France
Hallo the *ist D with price is in France in a list of an internet shop. http://www.digital-shopping.fr/ID=469f825786ffbf781e8d8cf53e 4/photo5.html Is this place reputable? I don't no, I found it interesting to see the price of the *istD is comparision to the 10D. With the cheep FAJ 18-35 lens, Pentax offer a body plus a lens for the price of the 10D body. It will be interesting, to see how much the 4/3 Olydak will cost. They will announce it at the 24. june. regards Rüdiger
New Pentax Price list (End of MZ-3)
Hallo on the German Pentax home page is a new price list (1.7.2003) http://www.pentax.de/pentaxeurope/pentaxeurope_prod/pentaxeurope/v2/de/image s/Preisliste_endverbraucher.pdf In this price list are also the Optio 450, *ist and the FAJ lenses. The following products are gone: MZ-7, 330GS, FA 4-5.6/28-105 (from Tamron) The following products will be stoped soon: MZ-3, FA 28-200, FA 85-Soft, A2.8 16 Fisheye, A3.5 15, K2.8 28 Shift SMCA 645 2.8/55 There a still a lot of LX products in the list (viewfinder, gribs, screens, ..) The FAJ lenses are very cheep in comparision to the former cheapest lenses FAJ 28-8099 Euro (FA 28-80 179 Euro) FAJ 75-300...149 Euro (FA 80-200 239 Euro) regards Rüdiger
The Myth of the *ist is entry level
Some people on the list always state, that the *ist/*istD is a entry level camera because the Pentax marketing has said that. They also said the MZ-S it a pro camera. So let us use our own heads and look at the Pentax line up and also at other companies where the *ist fit in. There are five levels of cameras. Level 1, (beginner, entry level) Z-10, Z-70, MZ-M, MZ-50, MZ-30, MZ-60 (200 Euro) (Nikon F55, EOS300, Dynax 3) Level 2, (amateur, low midclass) Z-50p, MZ-7, MZ-6 (300 Euro) (Nikon F75, EOS 300v, Dynax 4) Level 3, (advanced amateur, upper midclass) Z-20, MZ-5, MZ-5n, MZ-3 (400 Euro) (Nikon F80, EOS 30, Dynax 5) Level 4, (semipro, lower high class) Z-1, Z-1p, MZ-S (900 Euro), (Nikon F100, Dynax 7, EOS 3) Level 5, (pro) Pentax none (Nikon F5, Dynax 9, EOS 1) Now look at the features of the *ist and in which level the fit in the Pentax body line (in brackets other manufactures) Build quatility (metal mount): 2 (2) Mount compatiblity to manual lenses 1 (Nikon 4, others none) Viewfinder 2 (2) Shutter time, sync speed 3 (2-3) FPS 3-4 (2-3) Auto picture mode 2 (picture mode 2) AF system (cross sensor, on screen display) 4 (2-3) AF modes (Single, continous) 4 (2-3) Grip (vertical release) 4 (3) DOF 3 (3) MLU 2-3, (Nikon 5, 3) Flash system 2 (2-3) Special Funktions (film leader out, PF) 3 If you see the features, you see that only the mount compatibilty is entry level, all others are mid class and some are on the level of the MZ-S. IF you are saying the *ist is entry level, then your are taking only the lens mount in account. Will a beginner will use MLU or DOF or exposer bracketing? The *ist is a very good featured camera for the money, better than the compititors in that price range. We have to face it, Pentax do not support K-mount in the midclass anymore. Nobody else does it. And that is also right for the *istD, which is level 3+ (compare it to D100 (from F80), D60 (from EOS30) , Sigma D9 ), that is also a midclass camera to semi pro camera. There are no entry level or low midclass cameras as D-SLR cameras.
Re: The Myth of the *ist is entry level
From Matt Don't forget the user interface - this is one clear strike against the *ist, having only one dial to control shutter, aperture and exposure compensation. Now, I haven't used a single dial camera for the requisite 6 months, but I have used my brother's Rebel 2000 a fair amount, and the single dial drove me nuts. Without being able to use the aperture ring, that single dial is all you have on the *ist. Yes a single dail is not so good also the Z-20 had it. But you can choose with it between Av, Tv and also M-mode. The orginal message was Some people on the list always state, that the *ist/*istD is a entry level camera because the Pentax marketing has said that. They also said the MZ-S it a pro camera. So let us use our own heads and look at the Pentax line up and also at other companies where the *ist fit in. There are five levels of cameras. Level 1, (beginner, entry level) Z-10, Z-70, MZ-M, MZ-50, MZ-30, MZ-60 (200 Euro) (Nikon F55, EOS300, Dynax 3) Level 2, (amateur, low midclass) Z-50p, MZ-7, MZ-6 (300 Euro) (Nikon F75, EOS 300v, Dynax 4) Level 3, (advanced amateur, upper midclass) Z-20, MZ-5, MZ-5n, MZ-3 (400 Euro) (Nikon F80, EOS 30, Dynax 5) Level 4, (semipro, lower high class) Z-1, Z-1p, MZ-S (900 Euro), (Nikon F100, Dynax 7, EOS 3) Level 5, (pro) Pentax none (Nikon F5, Dynax 9, EOS 1) Now look at the features of the *ist and in which level the fit in the Pentax body line (in brackets other manufactures) Build quatility (metal mount): 2 (2) Mount compatiblity to manual lenses 1 (Nikon 4, others none) Viewfinder 2 (2) Shutter time, sync speed 3 (2-3) FPS 3-4 (2-3) Auto picture mode 2 (picture mode 2) AF system (cross sensor, on screen display) 4 (2-3) AF modes (Single, continous) 4 (2-3) Grip (vertical release) 4 (3) DOF 3 (3) MLU 2-3, (Nikon 5, 3) Flash system 2 (2-3) Special Funktions (film leader out, PF) 3 If you see the features, you see that only the mount compatibilty is entry level, all others are mid class and some are on the level of the MZ-S. IF you are saying the *ist is entry level, then your are taking only the lens mount in account. Will a beginner will use MLU or DOF or exposer bracketing? The *ist is a very good featured camera for the money, better than the compititors in that price range. We have to face it, Pentax do not support K-mount in the midclass anymore. Nobody else does it. And that is also right for the *istD, which is level 3+ (compare it to D100 (from F80), D60 (from EOS30) , Sigma D9 ), that is also a midclass camera to semi pro camera. There are no entry level or low midclass cameras as D-SLR cameras.
Re: Cost of cameras (WAS Re: Lens Mount Progress)
From Von: Caveman The LX had a unique feature that no other camera (on the shelves at that time) had. The MZ-S doesn't. The MZ-S has data inprintig, which has no other camera, which I like very much. regards Rüdiger
Re: Cost of cameras (WAS Re: Lens Mount Progress)
From: Caveman For 35mm, there are backs for Nikon and Minolta that do that. Also Contax has this feature. Many 645 cameras also do it. It's not unique. Yes, but no other camera has it between the holes. The others have it between the pictures and you have to cut it off, if you put the slides in frames. The MZ-S has the best inprinting solution. Regards Rüdiger
Re: Lens Mount Progress
From Robert Leigh Then, I waited for the next body...the MZ-S. Damn! What an overpriced, overall disappointment. I know it has several great features but not freakin' $750-900 worth. Sorry, it just doesn't add up for me. I keep reding this list hoping that Pentax will come out with a body like the PZ1p only with 2003 features similar in capability or superior to the Nikon N90 and F100(veritable bargains as far as I'm concerned). You see, I've been on nature photography safaris, etc. and have had the opportunity to look through some wonderful viewfinders and fast glass on F100s and EOS1vs(?) while I am continually disappointed with the viewfinder on my PZ1p. I also remain unimpressed with with the viewfinder of the MZ-S. Hallo Robert, I think the price for the MZ-S is not to high, if you compare it to the F100. It has also a metal body and something, that the F100 not has. It has data inprinting, leaving the film end out, an internal flash and MLU and it if far smaller. Last year I was on a safari with a friend who had a F100. I was glad that I bought a MZ-S, because of the above features. The fill-in flash was good to use. Not to say, that the F100 is a bad camera, but I liked my Pentax more. regards Rüdiger
Re: non-A lenses and the *ist (D)
From Arnold I insist that a software update should easily cure the problem. The way the *ist and the *ist D are programmed now, in aperture priority mode (which really is an open aperture mode when there is a K or M lens attached) the light meter and the viewfinder information are switched OFF while DOF preview is activated and ON while DOF preview is not activated. It should be quite quite easy to have it just the other way around in aperture priority mode or manual mode: Light meter OFF when DOF preview is not activated and ON when DOF preview is activated. I think also, if Pentax want to do it, it would be easy. The DOF botton with PF 17 on 2 will work like the AE-L botton doing a measure when stopping down and put it in AE-L memory. That would be a nice work around for K/M users. That would also have an advantage for Pentax. Pentax could wright, that the *istD IS compabible to K/M lenses. That would be a very good selling argument for some old K1000, ME-Super users. They will later see, that it is very unconvinient, so they will replace the lenses they use very often to new FA lenses. But they can still use there russian fisheye lens, which they are using ones a year with their new *istD.
Re: Paradigm change of Pentax and the consequences (long)
Pal wroten On the list was the argument, that the with the use of the aperture ring only at the MZ-S, the aperture is more accurate. With the thumb wheel at the Z-1p, the aperture is not exact. Will the aperture with the thumb wheel of the *ist, *istD be correct? I've heard they have changed the protocol... If the have change the protocol, that will work with new FAJ lenses, but not with the existing FA lenses. Here the original message: The new FAJ of objectives and the missing compatibility show new a thinking direction of Pentax. 1. So far the design objective was to reach as much compatibility as technically possible But now is the goal: as few compatibility as still straight necessarily. 2. Change in the camera operation, so far operation by the aperture ring (MZ-5n, Mz-s), or by aperture ring and thumb wheel (Z-1p), now only by the thumb wheel, since then no aperture ring lenses is anymore necessary. To 1: From *ist and *istD we see, that we have in the future no more compatibility to older lenses, even if this is technically feasible, since it is not not wished from Pentax. Only he current reduced compatibility to K and M objectives is, in order to use also the F/FA soft lenses. The aperture simulator is not a matter of price, a Mz-6 for 300 euro has it in. Even an exposure measurement with work stop down aperture with * ist would be technically without additional expenditure possible, is however missing. Further example: With * ist/*istD power zoom shot is not any longer supported, I cannot use my FA* 2.8/80-200 on *istD in a way I'm used to. By the missing power zoom contacts it will not give USM or IS, because in the patents these power zoom contacts are always needed. To 2. Since the operation was changed over, *ist and *istD by thumb wheel to be only adjusted. The aperture can not be adjusted by the aperture ring. During a parallel operation of my MZ-S and *istD I have always to change the way of operation reorientation. Originally I did want to buy a *ist as a back-up for the MZ-S, but now not anymore. Also all *ists (* istM for 600 euro, * istS for 900 euro) future cameras will only have the thumb wheel operation, as a *istD for 1600 Euro also only have the thumb wheel. Therefore also all new lenses will be only FAJ lenses (see already 18-35), because an aperture ring disturbs only the *ist cameras operation. It is intended, that these lenses should no longer work to the MX, LX or Mz-s (see 1), because it is supposed that new cameras should to be bought. Pentax loses thereby the only selling arguement in relation to the competition, the k-mount compatibility. Why should I buy a *istD with the pertinent lenses, if I can not use these lenses with my LX and MZ-S?
Re: Paradigm change of Pentax and the consequences (long)
Alexander wrote: Still I think expensive stuff will support the aperture ring, similar as the expensive Nikon gear does. I've been told that Pentax have no plans of removing the aperture ring from the more expensive lenses. As usual, I might have been told bullshit... Why should the keep the aperture ring, now on three last cameras (MZ.-60, *ist, *istD) this ring will case problems and is of no help. See the original message: The new FAJ of objectives and the missing compatibility show new a thinking direction of Pentax. 1. So far the design objective was to reach as much compatibility as technically possible But now is the goal: as few compatibility as still straight necessarily. 2. Change in the camera operation, so far operation by the aperture ring (MZ-5n, Mz-s), or by aperture ring and thumb wheel (Z-1p), now only by the thumb wheel, since then no aperture ring lenses is anymore necessary. To 1: From *ist and *istD we see, that we have in the future no more compatibility to older lenses, even if this is technically feasible, since it is not not wished from Pentax. Only he current reduced compatibility to K and M objectives is, in order to use also the F/FA soft lenses. The aperture simulator is not a matter of price, a Mz-6 for 300 euro has it in. Even an exposure measurement with work stop down aperture with * ist would be technically without additional expenditure possible, is however missing. Further example: With * ist/*istD power zoom shot is not any longer supported, I cannot use my FA* 2.8/80-200 on *istD in a way I'm used to. By the missing power zoom contacts it will not give USM or IS, because in the patents these power zoom contacts are always needed. To 2. Since the operation was changed over, *ist and *istD by thumb wheel to be only adjusted. The aperture can not be adjusted by the aperture ring. During a parallel operation of my MZ-S and *istD I have always to change the way of operation reorientation. Originally I did want to buy a *ist as a back-up for the MZ-S, but now not anymore. Also all *ists (* istM for 600 euro, * istS for 900 euro) future cameras will only have the thumb wheel operation, as a *istD for 1600 Euro also only have the thumb wheel. Therefore also all new lenses will be only FAJ lenses (see already 18-35), because an aperture ring disturbs only the *ist cameras operation. It is intended, that these lenses should no longer work to the MX, LX or Mz-s (see 1), because it is supposed that new cameras should to be bought. Pentax loses thereby the only selling arguement in relation to the competition, the k-mount compatibility. Why should I buy a *istD with the pertinent lenses, if I can not use these lenses with my LX and MZ-S?
Re: Paradigm change of Pentax and the consequences (long)
Hallo Alexander some replies to your reply my problem is not the one K-lens I have. But I like to use the aperture ring like on the MZ-S, but that is not possible on the *ist, *istD and I fear on all coming *ists. I like to use power zoom on my FA* 2.8/80-200, not possible on the new *ists. I guess the power zoom has only few followers. Yes, but three very expensive actuall lenses use it, so the *ist/*istD is incompatible to existing lenses. I like to buy the new FAJ 18-35, but that will not work on my LX at all and only reduced on my MZ-S. I also fear that the coming lenses in autum will be also only FAJ lenses, since lenses with aperture ring will not make sense at all on the *ist/*istD. Look at the BH web page. They already stock two of the FAJ lenses. They are really cheap. They are obviously targeted to the entry level market. They are about offering cheap camera kits. You are right, for the 28-80 and 70-300, but the 18-35 is also attractive to MZ-5n and MZ-S user, who will miss the ring. With the new Pentax attidute, all new lenses in autum lack the aperture ring. On the list was the argument, that the with the use of the aperture ring only at the MZ-S, the aperture is more accurate. With the thumb wheel at the Z-1p, the aperture is not exact. Will the aperture with the thumb wheel of the *ist, *istD be correct? We will find it out. The *ists are a different camera generation compared to the PZ-1, so I would expect higher accuracy. Why should it, the build quality is reported as bad. Pentax is just sacrifing its best argument for buying Pentax without any technical advantage, the compabiltity. I think this is irrelevant for new users. They would have to pay for something they won't ever use. Still I think expensive stuff will support the aperture ring, similar as the expensive Nikon gear does. Why then has the very expensive *istD got rid of? Here the original message: The new FAJ of objectives and the missing compatibility show new a thinking direction of Pentax. 1. So far the design objective was to reach as much compatibility as technically possible But now is the goal: as few compatibility as still straight necessarily. 2. Change in the camera operation, so far operation by the aperture ring (MZ-5n, Mz-s), or by aperture ring and thumb wheel (Z-1p), now only by the thumb wheel, since then no aperture ring lenses is anymore necessary. To 1: From *ist and *istD we see, that we have in the future no more compatibility to older lenses, even if this is technically feasible, since it is not not wished from Pentax. Only he current reduced compatibility to K and M objectives is, in order to use also the F/FA soft lenses. The aperture simulator is not a matter of price, a Mz-6 for 300 euro has it in. Even an exposure measurement with work stop down aperture with * ist would be technically without additional expenditure possible, is however missing. Further example: With * ist/*istD power zoom shot is not any longer supported, I cannot use my FA* 2.8/80-200 on *istD in a way I'm used to. By the missing power zoom contacts it will not give USM or IS, because in the patents these power zoom contacts are always needed. To 2. Since the operation was changed over, *ist and *istD by thumb wheel to be only adjusted. The aperture can not be adjusted by the aperture ring. During a parallel operation of my MZ-S and *istD I have always to change the way of operation reorientation. Originally I did want to buy a *ist as a back-up for the MZ-S, but now not anymore. Also all *ists (* istM for 600 euro, * istS for 900 euro) future cameras will only have the thumb wheel operation, as a *istD for 1600 Euro also only have the thumb wheel. Therefore also all new lenses will be only FAJ lenses (see already 18-35), because an aperture ring disturbs only the *ist cameras operation. It is intended, that these lenses should no longer work to the MX, LX or Mz-s (see 1), because it is supposed that new cameras should to be bought. Pentax loses thereby the only selling arguement in relation to the competition, the k-mount compatibility. Why should I buy a *istD with the pertinent lenses, if I can not use these lenses with my LX and MZ-S?
Re: Pentax proudly presents a new lens mount, the KAF3
Hallo Heiko, I hope you are right, but I fear, that I'm right. But now I just put my MZ-S and my limited lenses in a suit case and I start to a short holyday to dresden. Best regards Rüdiger Hi Rüdiger, on 09 Jun 03 you wrote in pentax.list: wait some more time to see the rest of the *ist lineup. I'm quite sure that we will see some positive surprises, too. From what is your hope. If they will save 5 Euro on their most expensive body and make the software in a way to prevent using K and M lenses and make the userinterface incompatibly to the MZ-S, why should the work in different way on a coming mid class SLR or high end D-SLR? The *ist is an entry level camera. The entry level models of the MZ- lineup had always a crippled mount (MZ-30/50/60) and nobody cared about that. We now have a special situation because the entry level model is the first one of the *ist series that has been released. And in addition the first DSLR will be released soon - based on similar technology as the *ist. The *istD is a special camera as it is the first DSLR of Pentax. The most important aims of this camera will be that it works competitive and that it can be released soon. I'm quite sure that Pentax has borrowed the crippled mount from the *ist as that was necessary to realize the release date in late summer. So the crippled mount of the *ist/*istD allows neither the conclusion that the future models will not nor that they will have a fully compatible mount. We just cannot say! In addition - there may be more options that we actually don't see. What about a whole new strategy with a crippled mount for the entry and maybe mid level and a new KAF3 mount with full compatibility and new features (IS/USM)? I could imaginge something like that, but keep in mind that Pentax is a small company in comparison to Canon. They have made a huge development effort this year: Optio 33L, Optio S, Optio 450, Optio 550 (still some more Optios to come ;-), *ist, *istD, three new lenses and maybe more to come. I really wonder how they do that. If you like Pentax and want to kep Pentax, then you have to be patient. If you want a complete IS/USM/DSLR system _now_, then just sell all Pentax stuff (I'll give some of your equipment a good home ;-)) and take a Canon 10D, a EOS30 and a pile of new AF lenses (no manual lenses at all...). I have decided to be patient (especially as this will result in a cheaper DSLR) and bought an Optio 550 which offers me lots of features to bridge the time... Cheers, Heiko
Paradigm change of Pentax and the consequences (long)
The new FAJ of objectives and the missing compatibility show new a thinking direction of Pentax. 1. So far the design objective was to reach as much compatibility as technically possible But now is the goal: as few compatibility as still straight necessarily. 2. Change in the camera operation, so far operation by the aperture ring (MZ-5n, Mz-s), or by aperture ring and thumb wheel (Z-1p), now only by the thumb wheel, since then no aperture ring lenses is anymore necessary. To 1: From *ist and *istD we see, that we have in the future no more compatibility to older lenses, even if this is technically feasible, since it is not not wished from Pentax. Only he current reduced compatibility to K and M objectives is, in order to use also the F/FA soft lenses. The aperture simulator is not a matter of price, a Mz-6 for 300 euro has it in. Even an exposure measurement with work stop down aperture with * ist would be technically without additional expenditure possible, is however missing. Further example: With * ist/*istD power zoom shot is not any longer supported, I cannot use my FA* 2.8/80-200 on *istD in a way I'm used to. By the missing power zoom contacts it will not give USM or IS, because in the patents these power zoom contacts are always needed. To 2. Since the operation was changed over, *ist and *istD by thumb wheel to be only adjusted. The aperture can not be adjusted by the aperture ring. During a parallel operation of my MZ-S and *istD I have always to change the way of operation reorientation. Originally I did want to buy a *ist as a back-up for the MZ-S, but now not anymore. Also all *ists (* istM for 600 euro, * istS for 900 euro) future cameras will only have the thumb wheel operation, as a *istD for 1600 Euro also only have the thumb wheel. Therefore also all new lenses will be only FAJ lenses (see already 18-35), because an aperture ring disturbs only the *ist cameras operation. It is intended, that these lenses should no longer work to the MX, LX or Mz-s (see 1), because it is supposed that new cameras should to be bought. Pentax loses thereby the only selling arguement in relation to the competition, the k-mount compatibility. Why should I buy a *istD with the pertinent lenses, if I can not use these lenses with my LX and MZ-S? If I transfer to a digital camera, I can equaly buy a 10D and the suitable lenses equal, since lens compatibility is not any more with Pentax design objectives and I cannot trust Pentax when I investment in it. I have now 20 F/FA (4 FA*, 2 Limited) lenses and only one A* and one K lens, as well as a LX, a Z-1p and a Mz-s. I will not buy anymore lenses, I will start to sell a part of my equipment to have the money for buying a 10D and with 3 lenses. Now, I can understand Boz (K-Mount page) very well, who changed to Canon.
Re: Paradigm change of Pentax and the consequences (long)
From Pal Hallo my problem is not the one K-lens I have. But I like to use the aperture ring like on the MZ-S, but that is not possible on the *ist, *istD and I fear on all coming *ists. Isn't it possible to use the aperture ring on the *ist D? That really sucks! I like to use power zoom on my FA* 2.8/80-200, not posible on the new *ists. Are you sure you really want an *ist? Yes I want to use my 2.8/80-200 on the coming *istD, and I had bought a *ist as a back-up for my MZ-S, but the aperture ring will not work in a way like it works on the MZ-S. You will have the same problem, as you are used to the aperture ring of the 645 lenses. regards Rüdiger
Re: The *ist camera
Hallo Cotty, Yery true, and I was extremely sad to have to let go my A*85mm f/1.4 - the best lens of all time in my very humble opinion. However, I am beginning to see that it may have been of limited value when attached to the *ist D. The A lenses will work, only the K and M lenses will not work
Question to *ist owners
Hallo, what happend if you are using a A lens on the *ist and the aperture ring is not in A-position. Is there any difference to a K-mount lens. Will the aperture stop down? Or do behave the A or K mount lens then in the same way? Thanks Rüdiger
Re: My new *ist
Hallo Jon, Congratulation, Have you also some other Pentax cameras like the MZ-6 or MZ-5n? It would be nice, if you could compare them to your new *ist. How is the viewfinder, the noise of the film transport, the AF speed and so on. Thanks in advance. Rüdiger Hi all I picked up my new *ist today. I'm going to run a roll of film through it this afternoon and see what happens. Cheers -- Jon Relax! Take life as it comes, you can't chase the sun, you can't race the wind.
Re: My new *ist
Hallo Jon, it seem that you are the first one on the PDML who bought a *ist. It is not out in German yet. Thanks to your little report. On AF-C the camera fires even it is not in focus. Try it with your Z-1p, it is the same. How is the viewfinder, is darker than on the MZ-3? You can compare that to your MZ-3 in a nearly dark room or with a slow lens or a lens with a teleconverter. How is the AF in dark or low light enviroment. Best regards Rüdiger Hi Rudiger I was wondering if I am the first person to buy an *ist. It'd be nice to think so. vbg I've still got a Z-1p, MZ-3, I've had MZ-50, MZ-5n, played with friend's MZ-7 etc. That's just the AF cameras. My first thoughts of the *ist are a little mixed. The ergonomics of the camera, for me, are good. Better than any of the MZ series (excepting the MZ-S). It is deeper, more like the Z-1p, which feels much better in my hands. The AF is interesting. Using a F50 1.7, the AF was very quick to find focus automatically. When it hunted from one extreme to the other, however, it seems incredibly slow. It isn't any slower than the MZ-3, the pitch of the AF motor is lower on the *ist. One thing that surprised me a tad was using the AF-C setting, the camera will fire without focus confirmation. I don't know if this is a feature or a bug. I pointed the camera at a blank wall, a sure fire way to get AF cameras to hunt, and in AF-C mode the camera would fire as soon as the shutter release button is pushed all the way in. I'm still to completely run a roll of film through the camera, so I can't tell what the metering system is like. The film transport noise isn't much different to the MZ-3, the shutter sounds totally different to anything I've had previously, but I am not about to try to describe it. :-) Anyway, I've got a bit of playing to do before I build up a full picture. I'll finish this roll off and see what the photos look like. Cheers -- Jon Relax! Take life as it comes. You can't chase the sun, you can't race the wind. On Wed, 28 May 2003 18:29:30 +0200, Rüdiger Neumann wrote: Hallo Jon, Congratulation, Have you also some other Pentax cameras like the MZ- 6 or MZ-5n? It would be nice, if you could compare them to your new *ist. How is the viewfinder, the noise of the film transport, the AF speed and so on. Thanks in advance. Rüdiger Hi all I picked up my new *ist today. I'm going to run a roll of film through it this afternoon and see what happens. Cheers -- Jon Relax! Take life as it comes, you can't chase the sun, you can't race the wind.
Re: 18-35 FAJ
The UK list price for the 18-35 FAJ lens is just GBP199 inc VAT. Hallo, that seems not much, as normaly 1 GBP = 1 Euro for photo equitment. How is the price for the 4/20-35, for the 4/28-70, or 3.2-4.5/28-105 in GB. So, we can compare how the price will be in our contry. When will the 18-35 available? regards Rüdiger
Re: Pentax Stereo Adapter
Hallo, I have both the adapter and the viewer. They are together ca. 100 Euro in the german ebay. It is very interessting and I'm realy hooked. I even bougth a Rollei twin projektor to look 3D slides at a big screen with polfilter glasses. I realy can recommend it. Rüdiger I may have a chance to buy one of these things real cheap, and even though I'll never use it, I may just pick it up as another addition to my useless crap collection (like I don't already have enough of those! g) Anyone know what these things are worth? This one's in the original box, and appears to have all the parts (including the viewer). I'm guessing that the idea is to shoot slides, and view the slides in the viewer? thanks, frank -- Hell is others -Jean Paul Sartre
Re: Pentax -- Canon
Hi Boz, I'm sad to hear your decision but I'm glad that you will stay at the PDML and that you will keep the wonderful the K-mount page. You wrote: -- the second-hand market is VERY small: the good stuff is difficult to find, there are lots of people who want it, and it is expensive That is not right for me, I'm using Pentax because of the cheap and very good second hand market. I have bought in Germany in the last year the following exellent stuff second hand (ebay, dealers, newspaper) . Near all lenses were in perfect condition with orginal catonage. FA* 2/24 200 Euro FA* 1.4/85 400 Euro FA* 2.8/80-200 550 Euro (in the last three month there were three for ca. 1000 Euro on Ebay) FA* 4.5/300 450 Euro FA 1.9/43 300 Euro (there is every month for 300 Euro one in Ebay) FA 1.8/77 500 Euro FA 2/35 160 Euro (a very good lens) F 17-28 Fisheye zoom 300 Euro FA 3.5-4.5 24-85 350 Euro FA 2.8/100 300 Euro I find it very easy to buy very good Pentax stuff second hand at a low price, as you can see from the above list (that is not all), but now I have to stop it, otherwise I'm in trouble with my wife. regards Rüdiger
Re: Cebit: Some pictures of the *ist and me (you can see the new lens mount
Hallo Heiko, thanks for the informativ pics. The pic of the body shows, that the *ist could have interchangeable screens. The pic of the lens mount shows, that the have change the purpose of the contact. The golden contacts are not just for the aperture information anymore, it seems that that are powercontacs now. regards Rüdiger Hi, here: www.mycroft.de/cebit/cebit.html you can find four pictures of me and the *ist. I've tried to shoot the SMC-FAJ 28-80 lens mount and the *ist mount. On the picture with me and the *ist you can also see my SMC-M 50/1.7. Please note that the expression on my face is not the usual condition but caused by the things in front of me ;-) Cheers, Heiko
Re: DSLR market trends (WAS: Re: How about a 600/2.8 or a100-400/2.8-3,5?)
Let me just ask, does ANYONE else on this list feel as negative about the *ist D as Pål is? Stand up and be counted. --Mike Pentax has showed with their *ist and *istD the most advanced cameras (for the price). It was for Pentax the most exicting PMA (1 film SLR, 1 digital SLR, 4 digis, 3 lowcost lenses, 645 zoom) . It seems that they are really willing to catch up. Go on, on that way, Pentax. Rüdiger
It's not smaller, was: Minolta Dynaxx 3 smaller than the *ist?
They claim to have smallest 35mm slr with the Dynaxx 3. However, this is per 1. february. Is it to avoid the *ist? Pål The Dynaxx 3 is 127x87x60 The *ist is 122x84x63.5 Regards Rüdiger
Re: Semi OT: huge lenses for Olydak
Hallo, the 2.8/300 has a filter size of 112 mm and it is longer as 250 mm. So, it has the same size as a 2.8/300 for 35mm systems. So, where is the advantage, in size or price? This system will flop, because you cannot use slide film with the lenses (there is no camera for it) and Sigma or Tokina will not build lenses for it, because the costomer base is far to small. Regards Rüdiger on 03.03.03 17:42, Bruce Rubenstein at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sure, go compare slow, consumer grade lenses to fast pro grade ones. If those Olympus lenses were scaled to 35mm applications they would have 72 - 77mm filters. I do agree that the Olympus will not be successful with typical Pentax buyers. This is not to say that they won't sell a lot of cameras. So even if such a lenses for 35 mm would have 72mm filters (let's say, relatively cheap Sigma 28-105/2.8-4), there is little, so little difference to 67 mm in Olympus. I do not deny, that this lenses are created with professionals in mind, but I only wanted to show, that these lenses are not as small as they were supposed to be, that's it. -- Best Regards Sylwek
Re: Olydak
On 03.3.2 5:07 PM, Pål Jensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It is the new lenses, their size and speed thats interesting. Lets hope Pentax release something similar in the fall. Hi Pål, look at the 2.8/300. It has a filter size of 112mm like the a 35mm 2.8/300 and it is no smaller. The lenses should have the size of the Pentax 110 Pocket system, as this has also a factor of 2. So the diameter should be only 56 mm. So what is the advantage of 4/3? A big ugly looking nonsexy camera Lenses which are not smaller. Lenses which cannot be used at a film body to make slides? For me the 4/3 is not convincing. regards Rüdiger
Can the LCD of the *istD be used as a viewfinder
From CNET.com: Unlike competitors, however, this camera has a 1.8-inch LCD that can be used as a viewfinder instead of just for playback and menus. How can that be. How can you see the picture on the LCD screen when the mirror is down. Has the *istD an additional CCD in the optical viewfinder path ? If yes, that would be a real novum. regards Rüdiger
Re: Position: *ist-D D10
Pål Jensen wrote: Pentax need to grab some attention. The only attention the *ist D will get is the one immediately after the news about it breaks. Oh, Pentax has release a DSLR. Nice! Then its forgotten completely and people buy the Nikon or Canon DSLR. The *ist D is forgettable. It doesn't stand out. Hi Pål, i'm glad that is looks like a Nikon or Canon. I think one reason, that the MZ-S is selling so bad, is that it looks different. I think a MZ-S like the *istD would be a better seller. I did not like the MZ-S, but I bought it. It is a nice camera, but I still do not like the view. I think the appearance is not that importent. Be glad that Pentax has an D-SLR. Many Minolta user would be glad. regards Rüdiger
Re: FAJ 18-35
-Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Joseph Tainter [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: pdml [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Freitag, 28. Februar 2003 17:13 Betreff: FAJ 18-35 From the photos, this lens apparently has a distance scale (but, as we know, no aperture ring). The presence of the distance scale makes me think that perhaps some of the FAJ lenses are intended for semi-serious to serious users. I had thought it inane that Pentax would introduce a camera aimed at serious users -- the *ist D -- and bundle it with a lens designed only for point-and-shooters. Still trying to understand Pentax's strategy. Is it possible that there isn't a coherent strategy, and that's why we can't discern it? Joe
Price of the Canon 17-40, was : The lens that Pentax SHOULD have made...
The price of the Canon 4/17-40 in Frace of about 1350 Euro which means a street price of 800-1000 /$ I hope the Pentax 18.-35 will be around 300 Euro. As the Canon has a 1.6 factor the resulting focal length will be 27 to 64 The Pentax will be a 27 to 53 Maybe the Pentax offer is not so bad as it looked on the first hand Regards Rüdiger Mark Roberts wrote: I'm probably not alone in my disappointment that Pentax's new 18-35 zoom is a cheesy J lens with an aperture of 4.0-5.6, but it makes it even worse to see something like this: 17-40mm zoom Constant f/4.0 aperture Canon mount :( http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03022709canonef1740.asp
Re: What's the FL conv factor of *ist D?
Hallo, the factor is 1.53 and the aspect ratio is 2:3 like on 35mm That is different from the Optio's. The have a ratio of 3:4 like a computer monitor. regards Rüdiger If it's a truly APS size sensor, wouldn't the FL conversion factor be the same as on an APS camera? Bill - Original Message - From: Albano Garcia [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: PDML [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 4:36 PM Subject: What's the FL conv factor of *ist D? What's the focal lenght conversion factor of the ccd for using 35mm lenses? Thanks = Albano Garcia El Pibe Asahi __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
No complains on the *istD, whats wrong?
Hallo, there were a lot of posts about the new *istD, nearly no complains. Just on the name, the color and the USB 1.1. Whats wrong with you folks, normaly complains are the first reaction on new products. So, what are the drawback? What can be make better? regards Rüdiger
Re: First views of the new Canon D60 replacement
Hallo Mike is the 10D the upscale or the basement one? Regards Rüdiger Von: Mike Johnston As many people know, Canon is going to replace the D60 DSLR with two models, one more upscale and a bargain-basement one. Here are the first views of what appears to be called the 10D: http://www.pbase.com/geonahta10d/canon_10d --Mike
Re: *IST Incongruencies
Butch wrote: Is it me or do others find it a bit incongruent that Pentax is launching a middle range body with 2 entry level no aperture ring zoom lenses if they don't plan on offering more j lenses in the near future. From Pål Well, I don't think it is middle level but entry level. Entry level can be defined in several ways: it doesn't necesarily mean the cheapest body on offer. The J lenses are obviously entry level and there might of course be a few more of them. After all, the lenses are in line with what the competition offers. Pal, to call the *ist entry is nonsens, it replace the the MZ-6 which is not entry. It has even better spec's than the F75, Dynax 5, or Canon 300V which are not entry level. It has a faster winder and shorter sync speed and better AF as the MZ-5n (and C-AF which only the top cameras had up to now) It has an AF system including the on screen indication and AF-selection, which I would like to see at the MZ-S , It has 17 PF-functions ( the MZ-5n has none) It has high speed sync, P-TTL and so on and on ... The FAJ lenses are entry level, look at the price. They are replacing the price wise the 35-80 and the 4.5-5.6 80-200. The new 3.2-4.5 28-105 is ideal lens to the *ist. Have you looked at he diameter of the new FAJ lenses, the are even smaller than the small fish-eye zoom. regards Rüdiger
Re: Wicked Fujifilm Finepix F700!
Hallo Mike, the pictures show how bad the 601 is. Look at the distortion of the third picture. All the left pictures are overexposed. Why? So the right pictures are looking better. Look at the third picture of the F700 at the door frame. There is a awfull blue color between frame and the outside sky. I'm not impressed. Regards Rüdiger Well doggone, I know what my next digicam is gonna be: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0302/03022101finepixf700compare.asp If that ain't just the slickest thing since sliced bread. Don't talk at me, I cain't hear ye, --Mike, from out where the Digest doesn't reach
Re: *ist Custom Functions list (no cross sensor)
#6 Superimposition of the AF focal point [ 1 ] Enable [ 2 ] Disable Hallo it seams that the *ist has no cross sensors. The function #6 looks like the same as the #8 on the MZ-S where the focusing with the neigthbour sensor is allowed. Or has somebody else a different idea what #6 means? regards Rüdiger
Picture of the *ist and new 645 lens
Hallo is somewhere another picture of the *ist on the apart from dpreview ore pentax usa. A view from above? Here is the official news of the new 150-300 for the 645 system http://www.pentax.com/news/news_display.cfm?pressid=151 regards Rüdiger
Two versions of 1.9/43? was Re: FAJ lenses what the heck????
The information is here: http://www.pentax.com/docstore/index.cfm?show=6 Goto --Lenses--SMC FA Interchangeable Lenses (download the manual). The quote is on page 36 (I think). In the new FA Lenses manual is written, that all limited lenses have this green point to find the right lens position for the bayonet in low light. I have a 1.9/43 without the green point, my 1.8/77 has the green point. Have newer 1.9/43 the green point? Regards Rüdiger
Digital Market Share was (Re: ChDImage about Pentax and PMA)
From Pål Jensen But this not a correct interpretation. Canon being No.1 in film cameras is only No. 4 in digital (they may have reached 3rd place in some markets recently). This cannot be satisfactory for the company. Nikon isn't even in the ballpark. I think you are not right with the market share of Canon and Nikon in the digital camera market. If you look at (it will be a indication of market share) http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/stats.asp on Top brands of the last five days you will see that Canon has by far the most interest, Nikon is second together with Oly, Fuji and Sony, the third group is Minolta and Kodak. Than in the fourth group is Casio, Pentax and HP. It was said, that Pentax has 2% market share, so that fits good to this data. Since Pentax has come out with the Optio series, they are catching up. I have a Optio 330GS and I'm very pleased with it. It is further interesting that there is no interest in Sigma anymore, even they have a D-SLR
Re: Digital Market Share was (Re: ChDImage about Pentax and PMA)
From Pål I don't know what this statistics is based on and its only the five last days. Last time I saw statistics of digital camera sales, Sony, Sanyo (I believe) and Olympus where ahead of the pack and just before christmas it was reported that Canon had reached No. 3 in the US. Hi Pål, you are right, this is not a sales statistics but it shows the interest in certain brands from all over the world and not only from US. I looked at this statistics a month ago and the distribution was the same and the number of samples of 10 is quite broad for the statistic. For me, it shows that Canon is by far the leader in the digital market, even more than it is in the film market. Nikon has to be careful, otherwise they will be overtaken by Sony or Fuji. Regards Rüdiger
Re: DSLR's (WAS: Digital Market Share)
From Pål Jensen Odd? Lets hope neither Pentax or Minolta make a camera nobody buys like the Sigma (or the Contax). And can anyone actually remember what the Sigma looks like? It looks like an anonymous piece of shit that only didicated Sigma fans (to the extent they exist at all) will even think about buying. Pal, why are you so rude against Sigma. The camera sells at a price lower than 2000 Euro and a german test says that the quality is simular to a 6 Mpix D-SLR. So this camera has the best cost/performance ratio. The main problem is that Sigma has not much costomers with sigma lenses. And sigma buyers are in the sigma brand because the sigma lenses and SLRs are not expensive. So sigma buyers are poor buyers and even the low sigma dslr price is far to high. I hope Pentax is not in a simular situation. Also the Pentax buyer are cost-conscious. Hopefully Pentax has a broader basis of lens owners. regards Rüdiger
Re: SMC PENTAX-F AF Adapter 1,7x
From Jostein After also using it with many other lenses, I have found that AF with the TC is very accurate with f/2.8 (or better) lenses. Precision with eg. M-200/4 is ok, but no more than that. Lenses of apertures darker than f/4.5 will make the AF hunt in low light. AF is quite fast. Comparable to eg. FA50/1.4. The converter works even when using a f/4.5 like the FA 4.5/300 if you are using it with a MZ-S. The MZ-S AF has a far better low light abiltiy than the Z1-p or MZ-5n, this cameras have a problem with this lens. Regards Rüdiger
Re: 31 and 35mm lenses tested in German magazine
on 27.01.03 17:39, Bruce Rubenstein at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I suppose I should also point out that Nikon fires a pre flash prior to the actual flash exposure so it can meter the reflected light of the flash from the subject. The metering is also tied to the active AF sensor. In my experience with slide film, it deals very well with an off center subject that is against a very dark background. Hi Bruce, the AF sensor cannot be coupled to the 5 segment flash sensor (e.g. for the F100). The AF sensors are always on the borders which are between the segments. To be coupled to the AF sensors, the 5 AF sensors must be distributed like the Contax N1 sensors. The MZ-S has a preflash measurement with the normal 6 segment metering which is also coupled to the AF sensor (coupling can be switch off). It calculated the amount of over oder underexposer for this special situation . During the flash one intergal sensor which is measures from the film plain?? is switching the flash off in dependence of the preflash. regards Rüdiger
Re: What is better? Digital Full Frame against 67
Hallo Boz, but than your real world digital camera cannot be more expensive than 1000 and not 1 regards Rüdiger Pål Jensen wrote: So putting the image through a scanner that cannot do justice to the film is considered real world. With such test procedures you can prove anything by simply putting up test procedures that fits your preconceived ideas on how things should be. If the only possibility to do justice to the film is to scan it at $300 a frame, then I do not consider that real world. FOR ME and MY WALLET, real world is: a) 35 mm slide film, projected b) 35 mm slide film, scanned on a $1000 scanner, printed on a $300 ink jet c) digital image, printed on the $300 ink jet So, no, a drum scan is not real-world for me. Neither is chemical processing of medium format film. YOUR reality may differ... Cheers, Boz
Re: opto 430
Hallo, I bought the 330GS two weeks ago. It is a realy nice camera. The results are better than a tought. regards Rüdiger - Original Message - From: CBWaters [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 3:42 AM Subject: opto 430 I played with an Opto 430 today for a short time. I can't speak to the quality of the pictures as I didn't get to extract them and only got to see them for a second before the display switched back to live but the camera was very cool. It's *SMALL* It seems like a very well featured digi-PS and I would liked to have pocketed it (it would have been easy) but I think my Sister-in-law might have had a problem with that as it belongs to her employer... Cory Waters got lots of picture frames for Christmas but no lenses ;)
Is 645 dead?
At http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/1ds/1700-frames.shtml is a review about the EOS 1Ds from Michael Reichmann. Here I quote his summary: Because I've been asked the question several times recently, let me answer it straightforwardly here. I am moving away from medium format and film in general, and expect that I will be doing 90% of my photography with the Canon 1Ds and D60 from now on. I have recently sold my Pentax 645 equipment and while I'm hanging on to the Pentax 67 outfit, I really am not sure when I'll use it next. It too might get sold soon. My XPan and Leica M equipment stays in the mix because they both offer unique capabilities, but frankly, working digitally has become like a drug; image quality is so superior to film and workflow so much more convenient that it's hard to look back. Film? Oh ya, I remember film.
Re: thoughts on the 77mm limited lens
Hallo here is a nice article about the limeted lenses. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-05-02.shtml regards Rüdiger
Re: Some personal thoughts and speculations over my Pentax future...
The MZ-S screens and the Z-1p screens have the same size. You can use Z-1p screens in the MZ-S body and visa versa. The LX, MX screen are bigger and do not fit Regards Rüdiger Heiko wrote: BTW - are the MZ-S screens compatible to any other camera (Z1?) or are they only for the MZ-S? As far as I know they are only for the MZ-S. Pål
Nice articel in Luminous Landscape about Pentax lenses and cameras
Hallo don't argue anymore about a Av wheel at the body or not, just enjoy the following artikel about Pentax lenses and cameras. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-02-11-24.shtml Regards Rüdiger
Re: 28-105 vs 24-90 vs 35-105
Hallo Heiko I have an offer to get an MZ-S incl. 24-90 for 1150,- Euro. Much money, but it seems to be a good price for camera and lens, doesn't it? Regards, Heiko The price is very good, the normal price would be 1550 Euro. Get it, for this price you will not regred it. The grip and the flash AF360 is also very nice and fits perfect to the camera. Is it from a privat person or from a shop? Regards Rüdiger
Re: 28-105 vs 24-90 vs 35-105
Hallo, I have both the MZ-S and the MZ-5n. The MZ-S is the far better camera, the viewfinder is a bit better. (I were glasses) Í like the data-inprinting very much. I have also both lenses. The new 3.2-4.5 28-105 is smaller and it cost only about 300 Euro. The 24-90 is overpriced for it's build quality. I think it specialy expensive in Germany, in Japan it cost the same as the 28-200 or the old powerzoom 28-105 which mean 400 Euro. That would be a fair price. I got a used one for 350 Euro, so a bought it. Up to now I could see any differences in the pictures between this two lenses. at http://www.popphoto.com/Camera/ArticleDisplay.asp?ArticleID=190#Pentax is a test of both. Regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Heiko Hamann [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Mittwoch, 20. November 2002 20:31 Betreff: Re: 28-105 vs 24-90 vs 35-105 Hi Bojidar, on 20 Nov 02 you wrote in pentax.list: Well, my opinion is that bodies matter little. I would turn the question around and ask if any given lens requires a new body. For example, in order to use features of the lens that an older body does not suppert. You're absolutely right: first, the photographer makes the picture, second the lens and after that the camera itself. The AF of the 5n has always been sufficient to me, and I· see no reason at all to upgrade to the MZ-S. I am not much of a flash· user, however, and the other extra or better features are more or· less irrelevant. To me having an LX in addition to the 5n is more· important than having an MZ-S.· I have both a MZ-5n and an LX. But I'm a little bit unhappy as I'm wearing glasses and don't like the MZ-5n's viewfinder for manual focissing. In dim light its AF is quite poor. OTOH I want to concentrate on one camera to use on vacations etc. And as my girlfriend doesn't want to use an MF LX, I need a better AF than that of the MZ-5n. Maybe you could review my posting Some personal thoughts and speculations over my Pentax future..., where I've made an extensive explanation of my intentions...;-) I would really be interested in your opinion I have never used the oldest 28-105, so I cannot comment on it. I read a long commentary from Dario in a recent Spotmatic where he concluded that the 24-90 is very close to or equal to the 24/2, 35/2, 50/? and the FA85/1,4. Interesting - it seems that the 24-90 is worth its price. I'm eager to read your comment on your first 24-90 results. Regards, Heiko
Re: MZ-S can you ...
Hallo, in manual mode of the MZ-S, the you can do flash bracketing with older TTL flashes like the AF500. regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Sylwester Pietrzyk [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Sonntag, 10. November 2002 00:43 Betreff: Re: MZ-S can you ... On Sun, 10 Nov 2002, Leon Altoff wrote: Brad, White hankerchiefs have no effect when using TTL. I know that on the Z1, MZ-3 and MZ-5n you can set the camera to manual and use the exposure compensation on the camera to affect the TTL flash output. On the MZ-S this does not appear to be the case. I have a custom built flash with 2 heads, that used to be an AF240FT which I use for macro work. It's far lighter and easier to carry than 2 of any sort of flash and I'd like to use it with the MZ-S. Without the capability to do flash compensation and auto bracketing it makes it a lot less useful. I have tried to do nowhere mentioned (with exception of Canadian MZ-S PDF-brochure) flash bracketing and it certainly works with MZ-S and AF360. Unfortunately I don't know if this is the case with other flashes... -- Regards Sylwek
Re: New Pentax SLR platform (and Pentax at Photo Expo)
Hallo this mail is from Brendan of the Photozone Pentax discussion forum: http://www.photozone.de/bindex5.html There it is stated, that the DSLR looks like the MZ-S. Regards Rüdiger From Brendan H: Ok im back from the New York photo show, and heres my findings: The pentax DSLR is real, it will be on show at PMA in the spring (certified specs just before expected to be released) UN CERTIFIED specs are as follows: -1.5X magnification ratio -6MP chip size (may be Flovon acording to hints from the Flovon rep!!!) but pentax gave no hints on chip manifacture -Body is a modifyed MZ-S pre-production body appears to be slightly smaller than the MZ-S in horzontal size but may have been a optical oulsion (a rep said he held a mock up frame) -Production should be finilized by PMA so hitting the shelves maby right after -The body will be of simular shape to a MZ-S with a battery grip on the bottom, but no conformation on a vertical shutter (bad move in no one is their!!!my 2cents) -Price is $1600-1700 -Lenses were un confermed in exact specs, but they will be of a wide angle type Please note all specs here are un-official and should not be considered fact yet. some was stated by the reps, others where implied (is it? i cant conferm that (that kind of stuff)) No names are given for the reps for info as is to not get anyone in trouble. Well all this is all i could sweat out of all the reps their. For all of us Pentax users please pray for this to happen We need the support of our Co. (film fans, i love it too, but digital is just faster/cheeper for some things and its time for pentax) Brendan H
Re: New Pentax SLR platform (and Pentax at Photo Expo)
Here are some question to Brendan with the answers: Have you seen a picture of the DSLR, or are this discription from reps. Are the reps infos from Japan or just from the internet? The one rep held a mock body frame in his hands. He was in the meating when Jappan showed it to the US pentax Its based on the MZ-S body work but with an extended bottom regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Pål Jensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Sonntag, 3. November 2002 13:56 Betreff: Re: New Pentax SLR platform (and Pentax at Photo Expo) Rüdiger wrote: There it is stated, that the DSLR looks like the MZ-S. Well, whats stated is that someone held a mock-up frame that looked like the MD-S. Pål
Re: Price of used equipment?
Hallo, the german Fotomagazin has a so called Fomag list with price for used foto articles. The price are in Euro = Dollar and the articles must in good condition otherwise you have to reduce the price. http://www.fotomagazin.de/Frames_Fomag02.htm Type Pentax and press on suchen = search regards Rüdiger -Ursprüngliche Nachricht- Von: Paul Eriksson [EMAIL PROTECTED] An: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Datum: Freitag, 1. November 2002 04:54 Betreff: Price of used equipment? Is there a good and reliable site for price info on used equipment, pentax of course. Paul _ Get a speedy connection with MSN Broadband. Join now! http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/freeactivation.asp
Re: New Pentax SLR platform
Hi Pål could the new 35mm/digital sibling be a replacement of the MZ-5n/MZ-3. The MZ-S/MD-S siblings were cameras on the high end (7000 $) the new digital will be a 1500 $ camera and therefore a mid class model. Therefore I think, the new film SLR will be a replacement of the MZ-5n, the midclass model, which is the oldest camera in the line. regards Rüdiger Not everybody have been convinced about a new platform for Pentax 35mm slr and digital slr. However, I gotten the basic fact as stated by Pentax UK confirmed today from other inside sources. What I cannot get confirmed is that all future cameras will be built on this chassis as Pentax UK claim. My source simply didn't know. It makes sense though. The story is that a new film SLR, which is supposedly superb and extremely good looking, has been shown under the table. The specification of this camera is unknown but it apparently isn't entry level as it is described as fabulous. The new digital slr is based on this camera. Hence, this is a new 35mm/digital sibling pair just like the MZ-S/MD-S. Note that this camera is built on a completely new chassis; it is not based on the MZ-S or the lesser MZ models. Nor does it looks like the MZ-S or the other MZ- models. Pål
D-SLR from Contax
Hallo, I have just seen the full frame Contax D-SLR in the shopping window with a 2.8/17-35. It is a huge camera with a huge lens and it is costing with lens 11500 (= $) !!! I am wondering, in Germany there was up to now no test of this camera. Normaly there are tests at once if somebody comes out with a new camera technologie. Are there still problems? Is it worth the price? Noboby would have bought a full frame Pentax in this price range, If Pentax makes a D-SLR for 1500 , they are in the price range of the Oly E-20 or the Minoltay 7 Hi. Than the will have a very attractiv product. regards Rüdiger --
Re: Pentax annonces digital SLR
Why did Pentax not do the anouncement a the Photokina where all the journalist were? They would have a lot of PR without paying for it. What would be the factor (1.6??), if the sensor has APS size? Regards Rüdiger
