eastsaltwater
Senior Member
So this morning I braved the rain and drove up to the Bridgeport Discovery Museum for their "Tech Fest". It was a fun little, and I do mean little, show, maybe 10-15 small setups. I cant even call them booths. Couple of card tables and a banner above. But it was nice because it was uncrowded and you could get to talk to the people on a personal basis. As a New Yorker I miss that. On the digital photography front there was only Pentax and Canon represented. Panasonic was there too, but they didn't have much in the way of digital photography. I got to talk to John C. at length. I got to play with 2!!! K10D's one with the vertical grip and one without. I was surprised that the one with the vertical grip felt very comfortable, I was expecting it to be kinda big and bulky, but it wasn't. I'm sure 'youse guys' want to hear more about what John C. (the JohnCPentax in the forum here) said than about how I tried not to drool over the K10, I'll get right to it.
1. Sensor is made by Sony
2. You can carry a second battery in the grip and in the menu chose between body battery first, grip battery first or auto (the camera picks the battery with the most charge
3. On why there are no sample images. John said that all the show gear was assembled before some crucial decisions had been finalized about the camera. Not only is the firmware beta but the demo cameras have beta mainboards in them too. Pentax was testing out 4 different versions of the mainboard when the logistical planning for the shows was taking place. The production cameras will have a different mainboard than the demo cameras, therefore no sample images. The mainboard is now finialized however.
4. Production has started on the camera. From what John said, I get the impression that they are getting together all the various subassemblies; mainboard, optics, frame, bodyskin etc. I don't think final assembly has started yet, but I could have misunderstood John. If I have, I apologise.
5. Camera is creating a BIG BUZZ. He mentioned that B&H alone have ordered 1000. John said that the Canon guys at the show came by the booth more than once, ostensibly to check out other stuff by their eyes always went to the K10D
6. Weather seals. I specifically asked John about taking the K10D sailing. He said the camera and sealed lenses would handle spray with no problem but major splashing coud cause problems. He mentioned several times that it is weather resistant not weather proof. Rain would not be a problem but a tropical downpour might be.
7. Lenses: We talked a long time about lenses. He said the FA 50mm 1.4 is still in production as is the 77 ltd. (I'm sorry, but I forgot to ask about the other two FA ltd's) He said that Pentax was surprised at the lens sales generated by the K10D announcement and that is a big part of the reason for the shortages now. They are increasing production so the local shortages should be eliminated soon. He also said that they will be discontinuing the silver 77ltd and making only the black one. Again the current shortages of the black 77ltd should be a allieviated in the near future. I got the impression that their new factory is ramping up as fast as possible and many current lens shortages "should" soon be a thing of the past. Operating word here being, of course, "should". I told him that I wanted both the K10D and the 77ltd. But couldn't afford both. He told me to get the K10D, and the the 77ltd would be in production for some time yet. Good news.
8. I asked John specifically about new long primes. He basically said they are on the roadmap, but the roadmap istself is not carved in stone yet. I got the idea that a new long prime might not come by until late 2007 or later. From what he said I wouldn't hold my breath for a long prime anytime soon.
Well that's about all I can remember. Sorry for the length of the post but I wanted to be sure I included everything I could remember. I will say the K10D is a beauty. I had previously made the decision to get the 77ltd and hold off on the K10D. Now I'm going to have to rethink that decision.
east(or maybe just go rob a bank
)saltwater
1. Sensor is made by Sony
2. You can carry a second battery in the grip and in the menu chose between body battery first, grip battery first or auto (the camera picks the battery with the most charge
3. On why there are no sample images. John said that all the show gear was assembled before some crucial decisions had been finalized about the camera. Not only is the firmware beta but the demo cameras have beta mainboards in them too. Pentax was testing out 4 different versions of the mainboard when the logistical planning for the shows was taking place. The production cameras will have a different mainboard than the demo cameras, therefore no sample images. The mainboard is now finialized however.
4. Production has started on the camera. From what John said, I get the impression that they are getting together all the various subassemblies; mainboard, optics, frame, bodyskin etc. I don't think final assembly has started yet, but I could have misunderstood John. If I have, I apologise.
5. Camera is creating a BIG BUZZ. He mentioned that B&H alone have ordered 1000. John said that the Canon guys at the show came by the booth more than once, ostensibly to check out other stuff by their eyes always went to the K10D
6. Weather seals. I specifically asked John about taking the K10D sailing. He said the camera and sealed lenses would handle spray with no problem but major splashing coud cause problems. He mentioned several times that it is weather resistant not weather proof. Rain would not be a problem but a tropical downpour might be.
7. Lenses: We talked a long time about lenses. He said the FA 50mm 1.4 is still in production as is the 77 ltd. (I'm sorry, but I forgot to ask about the other two FA ltd's) He said that Pentax was surprised at the lens sales generated by the K10D announcement and that is a big part of the reason for the shortages now. They are increasing production so the local shortages should be eliminated soon. He also said that they will be discontinuing the silver 77ltd and making only the black one. Again the current shortages of the black 77ltd should be a allieviated in the near future. I got the impression that their new factory is ramping up as fast as possible and many current lens shortages "should" soon be a thing of the past. Operating word here being, of course, "should". I told him that I wanted both the K10D and the 77ltd. But couldn't afford both. He told me to get the K10D, and the the 77ltd would be in production for some time yet. Good news.
8. I asked John specifically about new long primes. He basically said they are on the roadmap, but the roadmap istself is not carved in stone yet. I got the idea that a new long prime might not come by until late 2007 or later. From what he said I wouldn't hold my breath for a long prime anytime soon.
Well that's about all I can remember. Sorry for the length of the post but I wanted to be sure I included everything I could remember. I will say the K10D is a beauty. I had previously made the decision to get the 77ltd and hold off on the K10D. Now I'm going to have to rethink that decision.
east(or maybe just go rob a bank
)saltwater
) on Long Island Sound.
