On Apr 17, 2011, at 9:50 AM, Tim Bray wrote: > I'm awfully happy with the K-5. (I was out last night trying to take > flash-free pictures in the light of the full moon using my old Sigma > 30mm f1.4; it didn't come off for one reason or another, but I haven't > given up). Anyhow, it can shoot in as little light as I'll ever need, > and as many frames-per-second as I'll ever need, with as many pixels > as I'll ever need, and has a battery as big as I'll ever need, and so > on and so on.
I can nearly shoot in as little light as I'll need, but it would be nice to do so at higher shutter speed, with slower glass and less light. When you can shoot without a tripod by moonlight, with a kit lens, and the noise looks like base ISO, then we can discuss not needing more sensitivity. There is also always dynamic range. I was pushing the K-5s dynamic range last night, metering for stage lights, letting the exposure on the musician fall where it will, and was able to bring things back in post processing. It is, however, a bit noisier than I'd like. > > I'm thinking if I were a Pentax product manager trying to figure out > what to put in the K-3 or K-1... I just wouldn't know where to start. They're going to go to an APS mirrorless. Most of the people on this list don't care about live view, but it's what the majority of the population want, and are used to. In the mean time they can put a swing out display on the entry level bodies. Going mirrorless, with the ability to use legacy glass with an adapter means that they'll be able to get around the registration distance issues. That means that you can get fast glass that is shorter than 30mm. > > Smaller would be nice but you can only take that so far before the > K-glass gets way out of balance with the body; the K-5 looks > deliciously butch with the short extra-fat Sigma on. Look at the NEX. Or for that matter the X100. You can get a lot smaller, and people will love it. > > Once again, what should Pentax be working on? -T External flashes that don't suck. It's possible that not all AF540s suck as badly as mine. The last time I was flailing with using it wireless mode, John handed me his, and I didn't get any misfires. First of all, cost. How about a ruggedized camera with DSLR performance. One that'll not only handle an occasional splash, but maybe a full on dunking to at least a few feet. How about one that'll survive a drop of four feet onto pavement? One problem with DSLRs rather than film, is that you can't easily use those nice protective cases that all of the cameras used to have. Speaking of live view, the entry level cameras could easily get swivelable displays. Live view on my K-5 is nearly useable in many conditions, but shutter lag is terrible. I actually find that in low light liveview can be tremendously helpful for manually focusing. Autofocus in liveview is a bit painful though. I'm not sure I want the zoom to be the whole screen, if they zoomed for focus, but left the outside quarter of the screen unzoomed, then I'd be able to focus and compose in live view all of the time. How about a touch screen on the display for working with menus, or editing for those that do so in body? A chimp button that I can reach with my right hand. The raw button being able to not only go into bracket mode, but bring the camera out of bracket mode. Why not a choice of colors in the high level bodies? Wifi in the body would open up a world of possibilities. Not only would it be very handy for studio shooting, but you'd be able to access GPS data from your smart phone when out in the field. You'd also be able to use your smartphone, or notepad as an external monitor. That would solve the rotating display problem when you need to shoot with your camera at the top of a monopod held over your head. For that matter wifi would enable external wireless control that would be amazingly handy, especially if they had wifi communication with external strobes. There are features I want that'll never see the light of day: A histogram on the raw values rather than JPEGs. An open API so that anyone can add features and functionality, like you can with an iPhone, iPad or Android. Design an open standard for data cards that are the size of SD cards and a much higher data rate. Full manual control of the pop-up flash. No preflash, able to set the power in 1/3 ev increments. A DSLR body that is targeted on eradicating Cotty's hat. -- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
