Pentax put a video introducing their K-7 DSLR on Youtube. The video highlights unique features and some design principals behind this new DSLR. In their words, the K-7 is targeted at the Advanced Enthusiast Category of photographers. Given that the K-7 is their most advanced model and covers pretty much every feature available on any DSLR, this should be taken as Advanced Enthusiasts and up. There is truly now reason such a camera would not be usable by a professional photographers. As a matter of fact, while not being the fastest DSLR out there, the 5.2 FPS continuous drive greatly improves upon the performance of Pentax cameras for action and sports photography, closing the biggest feature-gap in Pentax’ lineup. Here is the Pentax video:
Archive for May, 2009
Pentax K-7 Introduction Video
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
The New Pentax K-7
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
Today Pentax introduced the K-7, the first of a new series of moderately compact high-end DSLR cameras. Being given a single-digit model number, the K-7 is placed above their previous flagship K20D, taking nearly all the K20D features, improving on many and adding much more capabilities, some of them unique to the K-7.
Just as the K20D, the K-7 is a 14.6 megapixels DSLR with built-in shake-reduction, a weather-sealed body, ISO 100-6400 range, an 11-point autofocus system and a professional grade body with a profusion of external controls, including dual control-wheels and unique Pentax exposure-modes.
What the K-7 adds, in a much smaller body than any competing DSLR, certainly smaller than the K20D in all dimensions, is:
- 100% coverage viewfinder with 0.92X magnification, making this the smallest and cheapest DSLR to have 100% coverage. This was my #1 wish for the K20D successor!
- 5.2 FPS continuous drive, limited to 40 frames, or unlimited 3.3 FPS continuous drive, making this the fasted Pentax DSLR ever. Finally enough for action photography but not as fast as some similarly-priced models like the Canon 50D.
- Electronic level indicator with automatic leveling system, corrects up to 1-degree tilt. This unique feature was predicted here 18 months ago, see http://blog.neocamera.com/?p=58
- Improved weather-seals, now resistant to cold below -10C (-14F).
- All new 77-segment metering system, up from the K20D’s 16-segment one.
- Improved white-balance system with 11 presets, customizable automatic-white-balance and 3 memories for custom white-balance, all fine-tunable.
- Improved autofocus system, still 11-points with 9 cross-type points. The K-7 also adds a focus-assist lamp.
- Maximum shutter-speed of 1/8000s, up from 1/4000s.
- Exposure compensation range from -5 to +5, up from -3 to +3.
- Finer and wider range of controls over image processing parameters such as saturation, sharpness, hue, tone, high/low key, lowlight contrast and highlight contrast, giving unprecedented control over the camera’s response curve.
- High-resolution 3″ LCD with 920K pixels, matching recent entries from other manufacturers.
- Live-view with live-histogram, grid-lines and framing micro-adjustments.
- Movie-recording mode with 720p HD wide-screen resolution (1280×720 @ 30 FPS) and a higher-resolution 3:2 aspect-ratio mode (1536×1024 @ 30 FPS) as well.
- Mono movie audio with integraded microphone, stereo audio using external microphone or no audio at all.
- HDMI output at 720p or 1080i. Why not 1080p? Who knows but no one else does it yet.
The Pentax K-7 has a completely new design to achieve its relatively compact-size and maintain a full-set of external controls required by professional photographers. Not all changes are clear improvements and perhaps even the smaller size will generate some controversy.
The first apparent difference is a much smaller width which sacrifices the entire row of buttons which the K20D had to the left of the rear LCD. This K-7 is not the first camera to do this, but with the exception of Canon’s 50D, this has not been seen in high-end DSLRs. Even Canon’s 5D Mark II, which is otherwise very similar to the 50D, has a row of buttons to the left of the LCD. The problem is not the lack of buttons but the fact that the LCD is nearly flush with the camera side, greatly increasing the changes for nose-marks and finger-marks appearing on the LCD screen.
A number of buttons have been rearranged compared to previous Pentax models. The new layout is more similar to the prototype 645D Pentax showed a year ago. Some changes are utterly minor, like the EC button moving from the rear to the front of camera. It may annoy users who have to learn a new button placement for little reason. There is now a button labeled ISO, behind the shutter-release, next to the EC button. This replaces the OK button for this function, which now activates focus-point-selection for the 4-way controller. This is needed because the 4-way controller has assigned functions to each direction because the Fn button is gone. Since the green button needs to be used in conjunction with the EC button which moved to the front, it moved to the back of the camera. The focus-pattern selection dial has moved from around thr 4-way controller to around the AF button. Then, of the 4 buttons to the left of the LCD on the K20D, 2 moved above it and 2 moved to the other side of the display. The AE-L button has moved to a more reacheable position.
All this is simply button shuffling, usability of the K-7 is nearly identical to its predecessors. The first difference is that now the OK switch must be used to toggle the 4-way controller from function-mode to autofocus-point-selection-mode, and presumably back. The last difference is that there is now a Live-View button on the K-7 and there is no longer bracketing button, as on the K20D. Bracketing has moved into the list of drive-modes. This has the most important consequence of all usability changes, bracketing can no longer be set in combination with the other modes. In total, the number of buttons remains the same, although the K-7’s smaller body makes it look more crowded even though the Shake-Reduction switch and memory-card compartment latch are gone.
The Pentax K-7 uses a more powerful battery than the K20D but the same infrared remote trigger. It obviously uses a different battery-grip, one that supports AA batteries as well. Too bad they did not let it take AA batteries directly, like the K200D which manages 1100 shots-per-charge with a set of 4. Memory used is still SD-HC.
All in all, the K-7 seems a great step ahead for Pentax in most regards. It certainly brings it to feature parity with most competitors and adds some unique capabilities. The K-7 is now the second DSLR to feature built-in shake-reduction and a 100% viewfinder (the other is the full-frame Sony Alpha A900) which is quite a feat in itself. The K-7 is the first weather-sealed DSLR to shoot video, allowing filming in rain and snow without additional protection for the camera when used with appropriate weather-sealed lenses.
Excited already? The K-7 is scheduled to ship in July. Pre-order the Pentax K-7 today from Amazon here.
Sony Announces 3 New Alpha DSLR Cameras
Monday, May 18th, 2009
Just today, Sony announced 3 new DSLR models, to replace their 3 entry-level offerings. The Alpha A230 replaces the A200, the Alpha A330 replaces the A300 and the A380 replaces the A350. These new offerings are available for preordering immediately and will ship around July this year. The bodies of these new DSLR cameras have been redesigned to be smaller and lighter than previous models. Also, for the first time these new Sony Alpha models diverge greatly from their Konica-Minolta heritage in terms of appearance. The major difference being a redesigned grip that needs to be held at an angle, allowing it to be made smaller yet remain ergonomic.
The traditional entry-level mode, the A230 features a 10 megapixels sensor with CCD-shift stabilization, a sturdy 2.7″ LCD with eye-start sensor, ISO 100-3200 and shutter-speed range of 1/4000s to 30s. It has the largest viewfinders among it sibblings with 0.83X magnification and 95% coverage.
The A330 keeps the same sensor but adds 90% coverage live-view capability at the expense of a smaller viewfinder of 0.74X magnification and 95% coverage. In order to realize the live-view advantage of shooting at odd angles, the A330’s LCD is moveable. As with previous Sony DSLR cameras with live-view, the A330 does not focus slower in live-view because it uses the same focus sensors during normal focusing.
The A380 is a higher resolution version of the A330, with a 14.2 megapixels sensor. It keeps the partial coverage (90% still) live-view system with quick autofocus, movable 2.7″ LCD and small viewfinder with 0.74X magnification and 95% coverage. The Sony Alpha A380 and all its current siblings shoot continuously at 2.5 FPS, which is down from 3 FPS of previous models.
To round-off their camera offerings, Sony is simultaneously launching 4 new low-cost and light-weight lenses: 18-55mm F3.5-5.6, 55-200mm F4.0-5.6, 50mm F1.8 and an 30mm F2.8mm Macro. These new lenses promise to lower the total-cost of Sony DSLR systems by adding a bright light-weight prime and macro lens.
