K-1, 14 months, 20000 photos (gets a bit nitpicky)

Full list of niggles:

28-105 WR

Why is the focus ring now closer to the body than the zoom ring? Easy to touch when holding the camera or zooming. Just going between horizontal and vertical orientation can accidentally turn the ring.

No clear infinity/near endstop for the focus ring is very annoying. I understand why, but I don't like it.

Charger

Green light while charging, off when finished? I wish manufacturers would stop doing this.

K-1:

When using one-touch bracketing with 2s timer, there should be no 2s waiting time between shots, it should only be between shutter press and the first exposure.

Bracketing with 2s timer should arguably always default to one-touch bracketing.

The camera gives no indication whether it is finished with an exposure. The darkframe shot gets counted down with "NR" in the top display, that's nice. But the main exposure is not indicated in any(?) mode.

When formatting, the most-recently-written-to SD card slot could be highlighted. Even better, give a date range of the images or even some thumbnails.

Camera estimates 195 (sometimes 200?!) DNGs on 16GB Sandisk card - but routinely gets over 300. Roughly: Maximum RAW image size I get is 75MB, smallest is 40MB. (Average 48MB over 2200 varied photos) Wow!

When zooming in to check focus in playback, it doesn't actually look like a full res top quality JPEG (see above). For easier focus checking, maybe manufacturers could offer zooming into the green channel of the RAW only. That would be a B&W image and the camera would have to do no mosaicing and the JPEG quality wouldn't matter.

When card slot 2 is filled up and card slot 1 has a fresh card, the camera will not switch to the other slot until cards were manually swapped around - unbelievable!

"Self-timer + continuous"- please increase number of shots from 10 to 16 (=four stops) or 99 or 999.

"Self-timer + continuous" should display shot count.

"Self-timer + continuous" - intermediate photos only show if using liveview mode

Bracketing shows no review of the photos while they are taken, only the last one gets shown- unhelpful for multiple long exposures.

if you try to delete an image after a burst of sorts (bracketing, cont), the camera takes very very long to complete the actions and is basically unresponsive in that time

when in liveview mode and you press the menu button, why does the mirror need to flip and then flap after you exit the menu. Just keep it up!

Entering the number of photos / speed of timer+continuous uses the menu button to cancel and the info button to enter. Both buttons are directly next to one another and have no specific texturing/shape.

Camera should indicate how much I am shaking in the viewfinder, see Sony A850.

Camera could take into account how shakey I am in order to select shutter speed in appropriate modes. Could give warning in other modes. Does any camera on the market do that?!

Use shake sensors to detect tripod in SR auto mode.

Electronic level could be written to exif/metadata and used by processing software (Lightroom). [Update: It is written, but not used by any third-party software apparently.]

Why not let the user define non-standard aspect ratios as framing help for their viewfinder markings?

The green button should return all (or at least more) menus to its default. For example, upon entering the single/continuous/bracketing menu, green button immediately should set to single shot (or whatever the active user mode has as standard).

If you are using a user-setting and then change a parameter, then there seems no easy way to revert to the saved settings. On the A850 you just go to another user setting and then return to the previous and it will be reset. On the K-1 you need to fully switch off the camera. [I guess some people will prefer this behaviour, I wish there was a button combo, ideally with the green button.]

The on-off lever has almost the same texture as the front dial and both are close - can be confusing.

AF/MF lever is awkward, even without gloves, have to squeeze thumb between lever and camera body or use fingernail. Pentax *ist DS or K-01 style slider was much better. Sony A850 button also much better.

AF/MF de/activate button does not allow toggle (Sony style), need to keep pressed which is awkward and hinders adjusting other controls.

Also, on screw-drive lenses that are not-quick-shift, the AF/MF change must be done mechanically using the lever, meaning that "not AutoFocusing" does not mean "ready for ManualFocusing". This is different from Sony/Minolta A-mount, which also uses shaft-driven AF but allows AF/MF toggle and turning the focus ring when toggled to MF (Sony/Minolta retracts the AF drive shaft upon button press). Considerably worse usability on Pentax.

If you AF with the AF button, then shutter half-press should be possible to set to AE-Lock. This seems very obvious?

Instant review and playback are treated as completely separate modes. You cannot directly go from instant review to playback, which would be helpful to review a recent series. (again, Sony does that)

In instant review, you cannot cycle through different display/info options (apart from toggling between luminance and RGB histogram) by pressing a "disp" button, you need to enter the main menu to change.

Similarly, in playback, to change the display/info options, you have to enter the display/info menu (four way controller down, then choose). Would be much faster if repeatedly pressing four-way-down just cycles through the options - like on basically all other cameras I've used over the last years.

Feature, not problem: scrolling through ISO options does not enter AUTO ISO. [That annoyed me a lot at first, but arguably, using the green button is better.]

no eye-sensor to switch off rear display. Having it permanently off is also bad, because it offers useful information that the top display does not. Surely the Minolta patent has long expired, it is so *so* useful, please everybody "borrow" it!

no viewfinder shutter (as on A850) - plastic slider-over thing is super annoying, gotta get my baseball cap out again (but not when windy), light leaks definitely can be a problem with 10stop filter

How does NR AUTO decide? A mix between exposure time and ISO, but it would be good to know in advance whether ot not a darkframe exposure will be done, even in auto mode.

Liveview overexposure warning (blinking) seems usually over-cautious by half a stop. [not a big problem due to good DR]

How does the camera decide exposure parameters in for example AV mode with Auto ISO? Camera often seems to prefer ISO 200 over ISO 100 and neither Auto ISO "slow bias" nor "normal" seem to use usual values: "Normal" sometimes uses very short exposure times for no good reason, increasing ISO a lot beyond base ISO and sometimes even beyond 200. "Slow" seems sensible for short focal lengths, but comparatively optimistic for long focal lengths.

For RAW shooters, three out of the four buttons on the 4-way controller are basically unnecessary. Maybe better to move the single/cont/int/... shooting mode to the CH/CL mode dial settings, then the four way controller can be used for AF point selection exclusively for RAW shooters and you can give JPEG shooters something else on the four-way-up button.

Only one choice of peaking colour - and it's white! Also no peaking in review mode (as on my old Sony Nex5). Highlight flashing is also white...

General interval shooting mode does not allow "immediate" setting for interval, for this you need to go to continuous mode. Only star trails interval allows "immediate" but then you only get 4K video, not full resolution stills.

No option to keep individual frames of multi-exposure modes?

changing magnification ratio in LiveView is laggy.

Perspective correction is neat but won't do much, why not offer digital perspective compensation in the crop modes? Personally, I would just shoot FF and then crop myself, but someone might have a use for this. (Rotation would not be possible without the camera doing maths, probably not a good idea.)

Perspective correction will throw off external lens correction tools but this is not Pentax's fault.

Liveview AF with screw drive lenses is not very good: both indecisive and inaccurate. It feels as if it wants to go faster than it can. Maybe offer a "slow but sure" option? [Edit: there seems to be a slow mode that the camera chooses "in emergencies", but the problem shows up earlier.] Liveview AF accuracy can be shockingly bad.

Took photos of an airshow, negatively surprised how out-of-focus normal phase detect AF-C shots were even with "focus priority" chosen. I have no been told that this feauture has been broken on a number of new Pentax cameras.

Just an observation: The SR system is audible, as if something is rolling around, including when "off". It's completely silent on the Sony A850 when off. In contrast the Sony buzzes when the SSS is working whereas it is virtually inaudible on the K-1.
[This seems to be caused by Pentax K-1 and Sony A850 using different SR actuators.]

Wake-up from sleep is very long, sometimes it feels that power on from off is faster than wake up from sleep.

Battery life worse than Sony A850, even when not using liveview (but worthwhile trade off for GPS).

Viewfinder lines, AF confirmation or electronic level not always easy to see. Electronic level is black, useless in the dark.

Flash exposure compensation is limited, even if the attached external flash is powerful enough.

When using adapted lenses or K/M mount lenses in M mode, older Pentax cameras would show you an lightmeter bar when pulling the DOF preview lever. This no longer works for lenses that do not bridge the appropriate contacts in the lens mount, including most M42 lenses.

M mode with old lenses does not readily show the dialed-in EC in the display (viewfinder or liveview) - just use the space of F-- to show it.

There seem to be only minor inconsistencies with stop down metering in M mode, both with M42 and K/M lenses, which seems to be mean the problems of the K3 have been fixed?

Lots of buttons, difficult with gloves and/or when you can't see them - wish the lighting function would illuminate them a bit.

Would be nice to have an option to keep the mirror up in continuous modes (tripod use for example).

No SR in movie mode

Some good suggestions here, but you are finding problems most of us would never have, or notice.  I'm pretty sure if Ricoh took the time, energy, production design, etc to give you the camera you wanted, it would costs more than you would want to pay. On the other hand, please forward this post to Ricoh. Maybe they will be responsive.

Alright lets have some fun LOL

JensR wrote:

Full list of niggles:

28-105 WR

Why is the focus ring now closer to the body than the zoom ring? Easy to touch when holding the camera or zooming. Just going between horizontal and vertical orientation can accidentally turn the ring.

Yes, sometimes lens ergonomics fail

No clear infinity/near endstop for the focus ring is very annoying. I understand why, but I don't like it.

Me either however in such a lens it won't bother me

Charger

Green light while charging, off when finished? I wish manufacturers would stop doing this.

LOL You get used to it though

K-1:

When using one-touch bracketing with 2s timer, there should be no 2s waiting time between shots, it should only be between shutter press and the first exposure.

Interesting

Bracketing with 2s timer should arguably always default to one-touch bracketing.

Stuff I don't do much so Interesting also

The camera gives no indication whether it is finished with an exposure. The darkframe shot gets counted down with "NR" in the top display, that's nice. But the main exposure is not indicated in any(?) mode.

In previous models you could usually tell it was after a certain length shutter speed however I usually have left it off completely

When formatting, the most-recently-written-to SD card slot could be highlighted. Even better, give a date range of the images or even some thumbnails.

Nah, give me the blank choice, I should know whats on my cards and if not sure will check before doing anything like this.

Camera estimates 195 (sometimes 200?!) DNGs on 16GB Sandisk card - but routinely gets over 300. Roughly: Maximum RAW image size I get is 75MB, smallest is 40MB. (Average 48MB over 2200 varied photos) Wow!

LOL I average about the same but can't say I've seen a 75mb RAW file, still across multiple previous Pentax cameras its the same problem

When zooming in to check focus in playback, it doesn't actually look like a full res top quality JPEG (see above). For easier focus checking, maybe manufacturers could offer zooming into the green channel of the RAW only. That would be a B&W image and the camera would have to do no mosaicing and the JPEG quality wouldn't matter.

Not had an issue here, I can zoom in and in a split second spot focus quality even if its subtle, maybe my eyes are well trained for it over the years. However for subtle focus issues I won't delete until I get home

When card slot 2 is filled up and card slot 1 has a fresh card, the camera will not switch to the other slot until cards were manually swapped around - unbelievable!

Hmmm... yes that could be annoying except I always start on card one unless I've already filled card one and then its filled so no point in switching back to it

"Self-timer + continuous"- please increase number of shots from 10 to 16 (=four stops) or 99 or 999.

"Self-timer + continuous" should display shot count.

"Self-timer + continuous" - intermediate photos only show if using liveview mode

No comments, haven't used these features much

Bracketing shows no review of the photos while they are taken, only the last one gets shown- unhelpful for multiple long exposures.

Perhaps set the +/- order to the most important to see first

if you try to delete an image after a burst of sorts (bracketing, cont), the camera takes very very long to complete the actions and is basically unresponsive in that time

If its still writing to the card then it could well take time, I wonder what if any multi-threading the processor and I/O functions can handle

when in liveview mode and you press the menu button, why does the mirror need to flip and then flap after you exit the menu. Just keep it up!

There could be a long term mechanical issue with holding the mirror up too long for too many times

Entering the number of photos / speed of timer+continuous uses the menu button to cancel and the info button to enter. Both buttons are directly next to one another and have no specific texturing/shape.

What would you suggest, not knocking the criticism just tell them a better way to do it.

Camera should indicate how much I am shaking in the viewfinder, see Sony A850.

Interesting

Camera could take into account how shakey I am in order to select shutter speed in appropriate modes. Could give warning in other modes. Does any camera on the market do that?!

No camera does this as far as i know, could be good, could be fowled up, best be user selectable

Use shake sensors to detect tripod in SR auto mode.

Seen it don't however there should still be a way to force it on if you have a weak tripod or a windy day

Electronic level could be written to exif/metadata and used by processing software (Lightroom). [Update: It is written, but not used by any third-party software apparently.]

I didn't know it was recorded, thats nice, the problem is it could be off as much as 0.5 degrees if out of alignment

Why not let the user define non-standard aspect ratios as framing help for their viewfinder markings?

Maybe on the next model

The green button should return all (or at least more) menus to its default. For example, upon entering the single/continuous/bracketing menu, green button immediately should set to single shot (or whatever the active user mode has as standard).

What if the user is using manual mode with green button stop down metering and doing bracketing stuff?

If you are using a user-setting and then change a parameter, then there seems no easy way to revert to the saved settings. On the A850 you just go to another user setting and then return to the previous and it will be reset. On the K-1 you need to fully switch off the camera. [I guess some people will prefer this behaviour, I wish there was a button combo, ideally with the green button.]

Never knew that, I don't use user modes despite there being 5 of them now.

The on-off lever has almost the same texture as the front dial and both are close - can be confusing.

The same as its been for years, no complaints here

AF/MF lever is awkward, even without gloves, have to squeeze thumb between lever and camera body or use fingernail. Pentax *ist DS or K-01 style slider was much better. Sony A850 button also much better.

Never given me a problem, I must have a small thumb

AF/MF de/activate button does not allow toggle (Sony style), need to keep pressed which is awkward and hinders adjusting other controls.

AF Mode button?

Also, on screw-drive lenses that are not-quick-shift, the AF/MF change must be done mechanically using the lever, meaning that "not AutoFocusing" does not mean "ready for ManualFocusing". This is different from Sony/Minolta A-mount, which also uses shaft-driven AF but allows AF/MF toggle and turning the focus ring when toggled to MF (Sony/Minolta retracts the AF drive shaft upon button press). Considerably worse usability on Pentax.

physical problem with the system, can't be changed on the K-1, likely won't be changed, you just have to live with it

If you AF with the AF button, then shutter half-press should be possible to set to AE-Lock. This seems very obvious?

Don't use it so don't know

Instant review and playback are treated as completely separate modes. You cannot directly go from instant review to playback, which would be helpful to review a recent series. (again, Sony does that)

Yes, another thing you get used to, would be nice the other way though

In instant review, you cannot cycle through different display/info options (apart from toggling between luminance and RGB histogram) by pressing a "disp" button, you need to enter the main menu to change.

See above

Similarly, in playback, to change the display/info options, you have to enter the display/info menu (four way controller down, then choose). Would be much faster if repeatedly pressing four-way-down just cycles through the options - like on basically all other cameras I've used over the last years.

Right, this changed in recent years, it used to be easier

Feature, not problem: scrolling through ISO options does not enter AUTO ISO. [That annoyed me a lot at first, but arguably, using the green button is better.]

I only use auto ISO in TAv, I hate it when accidentally going into auto ISO in other modes because getting out can be annoying, maybe I just haven't figured it out the easy way

no eye-sensor to switch off rear display. Having it permanently off is also bad, because it offers useful information that the top display does not. Surely the Minolta patent has long expired, it is so *so* useful, please everybody "borrow" it!

Ah just leave the screen on

no viewfinder shutter (as on A850) - plastic slider-over thing is super annoying, gotta get my baseball cap out again (but not when windy), light leaks definitely can be a problem with 10stop filter

I've taken to using a lens cloth, fast and easy, just flop it over the OVF before taking the shot, in the wind that could be more of an issue but perhaps less so than the baseball cap.

How does NR AUTO decide? A mix between exposure time and ISO, but it would be good to know in advance whether ot not a darkframe exposure will be done, even in auto mode.

Don't use it I don't think, its jpeg only anyways right?

Liveview overexposure warning (blinking) seems usually over-cautious by half a stop. [not a big problem due to good DR]

Again don't use it but I'm sure I might sometime so good to know

How does the camera decide exposure parameters in for example AV mode with Auto ISO? Camera often seems to prefer ISO 200 over ISO 100 and neither Auto ISO "slow bias" nor "normal" seem to use usual values: "Normal" sometimes uses very short exposure times for no good reason, increasing ISO a lot beyond base ISO and sometimes even beyond 200. "Slow" seems sensible for short focal lengths, but comparatively optimistic for long focal lengths.

For Av and Tv I always set 2 parameters, one of them being ISO, if i wanted auto ISO i use TAv where again I set 2 parameters, Manual for 3 parameters and I'm the type of photographer who never uses Program or Auto modes so they're just wasted programming to me. I suppose I'm just a bit of a control freak.

For RAW shooters, three out of the four buttons on the 4-way controller are basically unnecessary. Maybe better to move the single/cont/int/... shooting mode to the CH/CL mode dial settings, then the four way controller can be used for AF point selection exclusively for RAW shooters and you can give JPEG shooters something else on the four-way-up button.

They may well be unnecessary but I don't need to use them for any other controls either

Only one choice of peaking colour - and it's white! Also no peaking in review mode (as on my old Sony Nex5). Highlight flashing is also white...

Yes this would be nice, and a more exacting focus peaking would be nice too.

General interval shooting mode does not allow "immediate" setting for interval, for this you need to go to continuous mode. Only star trails interval allows "immediate" but then you only get 4K video, not full resolution stills.

my lack of experience means I'm not sure what immediate is all about

No option to keep individual frames of multi-exposure modes?

I suppose this could be a nice improvement

changing magnification ratio in LiveView is laggy.

I only use 10x or normal so never noticed a lag

Perspective correction is neat but won't do much, why not offer digital perspective compensation in the crop modes? Personally, I would just shoot FF and then crop myself, but someone might have a use for this. (Rotation would not be possible without the camera doing maths, probably not a good idea.)

A gimmick IMO, still i don't care for the camera to do it either, I need to correct distortion and horizon before I bother trying to correct perspective in post

Perspective correction will throw off external lens correction tools but this is not Pentax's fault.

Interesting fault I hadn't thought of.

Liveview AF with screw drive lenses is not very good: both indecisive and inaccurate. It feels as if it wants to go faster than it can. Maybe offer a "slow but sure" option? [Edit: there seems to be a slow mode that the camera chooses "in emergencies", but the problem shows up earlier.] Liveview AF accuracy can be shockingly bad.

Could be different with different lenses, I've had decent experiences with LV AF and screw drive lenses but not all of them and not all are quick or slow... somewhere inbetween

Took photos of an airshow, negatively surprised how out-of-focus normal phase detect AF-C shots were even with "focus priority" chosen. I have no been told that this feauture has been broken on a number of new Pentax cameras.

Just an observation: The SR system is audible, as if something is rolling around, including when "off". It's completely silent on the Sony A850 when off. In contrast the Sony buzzes when the SSS is working whereas it is virtually inaudible on the K-1.
[This seems to be caused by Pentax K-1 and Sony A850 using different SR actuators.]

Been that way for years, been commented on by new comers for years, it still works, you'd better believe that Sony is using a different system, all IBIS actuators across brands are unique to the brand, they do the same job but in different ways

Wake-up from sleep is very long, sometimes it feels that power on from off is faster than wake up from sleep.

I never use sleep, when active the camera is just on even if there is a gap, when not active the camera is just off unless i make the mistake of leaving it on

Battery life worse than Sony A850, even when not using liveview (but worthwhile trade off for GPS).

I don't know the difference, good enough for me I guess

Viewfinder lines, AF confirmation or electronic level not always easy to see. Electronic level is black, useless in the dark.

I suppose, that system has a lot of potential and given the K-1 is the first iteration of that system one might expect improvements to come in the next models

Flash exposure compensation is limited, even if the attached external flash is powerful enough.

Not something I've used

When using adapted lenses or K/M mount lenses in M mode, older Pentax cameras would show you an lightmeter bar when pulling the DOF preview lever. This no longer works for lenses that do not bridge the appropriate contacts in the lens mount, including most M42 lenses.

The main screen has a full time active meter simulator no DOF preview necessary

M mode with old lenses does not readily show the dialed-in EC in the display (viewfinder or liveview) - just use the space of F-- to show it.

Not something I noticed, maybe i just know what EV compensation I've set when i last set it.

There seem to be only minor inconsistencies with stop down metering in M mode, both with M42 and K/M lenses, which seems to be mean the problems of the K3 have been fixed?

Stop down metering is not how modern metering systems were meant to be used and that could lead to quirks as you stop down that don't occur when metering wide open and using math so long as the aperture closes the correct amount during the exposure

Lots of buttons, difficult with gloves and/or when you can't see them - wish the lighting function would illuminate them a bit.

Use the correct gloves, but everyone is different so you may have it worse than I do

Would be nice to have an option to keep the mirror up in continuous modes (tripod use for example).

Mentioned above there could be a long term "reliability" mechanical reason for this

No SR in movie mode

Yeah another long time complaint.

Alright lets have some fun LOL

Have they removed the character limit?

Hmmm... yes that could be annoying except I always start on card one unless I've already filled card one and then its filled so no point in switching back to it

My point would be to fill card1, then continue on card2, swap out card1 against a blank one (card3) and once card2 is filled up, continue on card3 and so on. Not possible.

If its still writing to the card then it could well take time, I wonder what if any multi-threading the processor and I/O functions can handle

Yeah, it must be something like that. The camera becomes unresponsive in this instance. If you just keep shooting, it will happily work on the queue and stay responsive, but throw in a delete and things choke.

There could be a long term mechanical issue with holding the mirror up too long for too many times

I would be surprised if that is worse than the mirror flip-flapping, tbh.

Entering the number of photos / speed of timer+continuous uses the menu button to cancel and the info button to enter. Both buttons are directly next to one another and have no specific texturing/shape.

What would you suggest, not knocking the criticism just tell them a better way to do it.

Use the four way controller and confirm with ok.

The green button should return all (or at least more) menus to its default. For example, upon entering the single/continuous/bracketing menu, green button immediately should set to single shot (or whatever the active user mode has as standard).

What if the user is using manual mode with green button stop down metering and doing bracketing stuff?

How would that interfere with my proposal? I meant you enter a menu that has a default setting and WHILE you are in that menu, the green button would return it to default.

Never knew that, I don't use user modes despite there being 5 of them now.

Interesting! I use them all the time. I like that they are so powerful and can be named.

The on-off lever has almost the same texture as the front dial and both are close - can be confusing.

The same as its been for years, no complaints here

I've gotten used to now. But I remember switching off the camera a few times at the beginning

AF/MF de/activate button does not allow toggle (Sony style), need to keep pressed which is awkward and hinders adjusting other controls.

AF Mode button?

I mean the AF button on the rear. I have now set it to rear-button focus.

Also, on screw-drive lenses that are not-quick-shift, the AF/MF change[...]

physical problem with the system, can't be changed on the K-1, likely won't be changed, you just have to live with it

Yup, not expecting it, but it's not a physical impossibility, as Sony/Minolta screw drive mount allows it.

Similarly, in playback, to change the display/info options, you have to enter the display/info menu (four way controller down, then choose). Would be much faster if repeatedly pressing four-way-down just cycles through the options - like on basically all other cameras I've used over the last years.

Right, this changed in recent years, it used to be easier

Oh snap! It can be really annoying. *shrug*

I only use auto ISO in TAv, I hate it when accidentally going into auto ISO in other modes because getting out can be annoying, maybe I just haven't figured it out the easy way

Really? I thought the only way to get auto ISO is to activate it with the green button, which I initially found irritating but now prefer over the Sony way (where it is on the dial)

no eye-sensor to switch off rear display. [...]

Ah just leave the screen on

I never thought I would like it, but once I had it on the Sony, I got used to it very quickly. Not a major thing, admittedly.

How does NR AUTO decide? A mix between exposure time and ISO, but it would be good to know in advance whether ot not a darkframe exposure will be done, even in auto mode.

Don't use it I don't think, its jpeg only anyways right?

Sorry, should have clarified, I meant long exposure, e.g. dark frame subtraction.

For Av and Tv I always set 2 parameters, one of them being ISO, if i wanted auto ISO i use TAv where again I set 2 parameters, Manual for 3 parameters and I'm the type of photographer who never uses Program or Auto modes so they're just wasted programming to me. I suppose I'm just a bit of a control freak.

Well, I keep an eye on the values, but no point in twiddling all the dials when/if the auto function does a good job. I actually think Pentax have done their research for the variation of the 1/FL rule. But the tendency to choose "high" ISO is puzzling.

General interval shooting mode does not allow "immediate" setting for interval, for this you need to go to continuous mode. Only star trails interval allows "immediate" but then you only get 4K video, not full resolution stills.

my lack of experience means I'm not sure what immediate is all about

The next photo is taken as quickly as possible.
(Which is what you need for startrails, but I also need that for my long exposure stacking.)

No option to keep individual frames of multi-exposure modes?

I suppose this could be a nice improvement

I could have sworn some older Pentaxes did that.

changing magnification ratio in LiveView is laggy.

I only use 10x or normal so never noticed a lag

So do I actually, just noticed it a few times when I was zooming out a bit.

A gimmick IMO, still i don't care for the camera to do it either, I need to correct distortion and horizon before I bother trying to correct perspective in post

True. It would save some memory card space and make alignment easier, but just take the whole frame and crop in post.

Liveview AF with screw drive lenses is not very good [...]

Could be different with different lenses, I've had decent experiences with LV AF and screw drive lenses but not all of them and not all are quick or slow... somewhere inbetween

Surely depends on the lens, had some absurd "focus confirmation" in LV with long Sigma lenses.

[SR noises]

Been that way for years, been commented on by new comers for years, it still works,

Of course, it was honestly just an observation

I never use sleep, when active the camera is just on even if there is a gap, when not active the camera is just off unless i make the mistake of leaving it on

I can see how that would be the best solution for airshows and the like.

When using adapted lenses or K/M mount lenses in M mode, older Pentax cameras would show you an lightmeter bar when pulling the DOF preview lever. This no longer works for lenses that do not bridge the appropriate contacts in the lens mount, including most M42 lenses.

The main screen has a full time active meter simulator no DOF preview necessary

That is not entirely correct. K/M lenses need M mode to stop down for the exposure and in M mode you have no meter simulator on the screen. M42 is less crucial, as using them in AV is usually sufficient.

There seem to be only minor inconsistencies with stop down metering in M mode, both with M42 and K/M lenses, which seems to be mean the problems of the K3 have been fixed?

Stop down metering is not how modern metering systems were meant to be used and that could lead to quirks as you stop down that don't occur when metering wide open and using math so long as the aperture closes the correct amount during the exposure

I know that. But the metering range of the Pentax K-1 is actually better than that of old stop-down metering cameras.
And in any case,the DS was fine,the K-1 seems fine, but it seems some cameras in between have been affected by this inconsistency.

Use the correct gloves, but everyone is different so you may have it worse than I do

Maybe you never have proper winter

Thanks for your input, Mike!
Cheers
Jens

Thank you both!

I do think that quite a few of the suggestions would be relatively simple firmware fixes.

But as Mike said, some things seem deliberate decisions by Pentax (such as removing SR from movies) and so these are unlikely to come back unless people complain.

OTOH, things like "improve LV AF accuracy with screw drive lenses" is a simple sentence, but obviously it isn't simple to do, I have no illusions there.

Cheers

Jens

Yup, have the tiny Pentax remote, helps with a few important things, but I wouldn't say it solves "many" issues.

But thank you for reminding me of a product idea.

Anybody want to do a kickstarter of a remote that is also a red LED for night time illumination and a rubber tip to press buttons while wearing gloves?
Such a contraption would solve a few more issues

Not sure what you mean when you say you don't have time for these, but thanks for dropping by anyway.

Cheers

Jens

JensR wrote:

Alright lets have some fun LOL

Have they removed the character limit?

Maybe

Hmmm... yes that could be annoying except I always start on card one unless I've already filled card one and then its filled so no point in switching back to it

My point would be to fill card1, then continue on card2, swap out card1 against a blank one (card3) and once card2 is filled up, continue on card3 and so on. Not possible.

I suppose one could firmware update this but if you take the time to swap one card then you probably could take the time to swap 2 cards when both are filled instead of doing it twice

There could be a long term mechanical issue with holding the mirror up too long for too many times

I would be surprised if that is worse than the mirror flip-flapping, tbh.

The green button should return all (or at least more) menus to its default. For example, upon entering the single/continuous/bracketing menu, green button immediately should set to single shot (or whatever the active user mode has as standard).

What if the user is using manual mode with green button stop down metering and doing bracketing stuff?

How would that interfere with my proposal? I meant you enter a menu that has a default setting and WHILE you are in that menu, the green button would return it to default.

Ok I understand now

AF/MF de/activate button does not allow toggle (Sony style), need to keep pressed which is awkward and hinders adjusting other controls.

AF Mode button?

I mean the AF button on the rear. I have now set it to rear-button focus.

I guess because I never use it I don't know that it could be better

How does NR AUTO decide? A mix between exposure time and ISO, but it would be good to know in advance whether ot not a darkframe exposure will be done, even in auto mode.

Don't use it I don't think, its jpeg only anyways right?

Sorry, should have clarified, I meant long exposure, e.g. dark frame subtraction.

I have both set to off

For Av and Tv I always set 2 parameters, one of them being ISO, if i wanted auto ISO i use TAv where again I set 2 parameters, Manual for 3 parameters and I'm the type of photographer who never uses Program or Auto modes so they're just wasted programming to me. I suppose I'm just a bit of a control freak.

Well, I keep an eye on the values, but no point in twiddling all the dials when/if the auto function does a good job. I actually think Pentax have done their research for the variation of the 1/FL rule. But the tendency to choose "high" ISO is puzzling.

I've seen this, the 1/FL bit but since i don't use program like modes I just ignore it, you can set the "program line" as they call it to speed/normal and slow, this might help

General interval shooting mode does not allow "immediate" setting for interval, for this you need to go to continuous mode. Only star trails interval allows "immediate" but then you only get 4K video, not full resolution stills.

my lack of experience means I'm not sure what immediate is all about

The next photo is taken as quickly as possible.
(Which is what you need for startrails, but I also need that for my long exposure stacking.)

Interesting they left that out.

No option to keep individual frames of multi-exposure modes?

I suppose this could be a nice improvement

I could have sworn some older Pentaxes did that.

I don't recall

When using adapted lenses or K/M mount lenses in M mode, older Pentax cameras would show you an lightmeter bar when pulling the DOF preview lever. This no longer works for lenses that do not bridge the appropriate contacts in the lens mount, including most M42 lenses.

The main screen has a full time active meter simulator no DOF preview necessary

That is not entirely correct. K/M lenses need M mode to stop down for the exposure and in M mode you have no meter simulator on the screen. M42 is less crucial, as using them in AV is usually sufficient.

I stand corrected

Use the correct gloves, but everyone is different so you may have it worse than I do

Maybe you never have proper winter

-20C to -30C wind chills occasionally certainly can't use big gloves though

Thanks for your input, Mike!

Thanks for entertaining my thoughts on the matter

Cheers
Jens

I suppose one could firmware update this but if you take the time to swap one card then you probably could take the time to swap 2 cards when both are filled instead of doing it twice

Yeah, it's just one more risk of confusing memory cards.

Sorry, should have clarified, I meant long exposure, e.g. dark frame subtraction.

I have both set to off

While LR is pretty good with removing hot pixels, I find it does help with long exposures at medium-high ISO, so I have set it to auto. maybe I should think of using off as the default, as I take a lot of long exposure series where I don't want the gap of the darkframe. The gap can ruin a composite photo, the hot pixels less so.

I've seen this, the 1/FL bit but since i don't use program like modes I just ignore it, you can set the "program line" as they call it to speed/normal and slow, this might help

It just moves the head-scratching to another focal length
program mode "fast" is good on a bumpy day, but "normal" and "slow" are a bit puzzling, tbh.

Maybe you never have proper winter

-20C to -30C wind chills occasionally certainly can't use big gloves though

Went to Norway, had thin gloves in thick gloves, worked well. It's a luxury problem to some extent (apart from that AF/MF switch, I'd contend), as few cameras have so many adjustment possibilities as the K-1.

Thanks again Mike!
Cheers

Jens

Glad there was "some" useful stuff in there

> I'm pretty sure if Ricoh took the time, energy, production design, etc to give you the camera you wanted, it would costs more than you would want to pay.

I am sure *I* would be willing to pay for it.
But that is not the question - I actually also believe that the overall camera cost would not increase too much:

Most of the stuff is doable in firmware at no increased hardware cost.

A few things like the control lighting would require light hardware mods, for example moving two LEDs to the edge of the LCD carrier, which should be cost neutral. (I'd suggest switching to red LEDs, which would save a few cents). Similarly, going back to the slider AF/MF switch or using a press-button would be effectively cost-neutral.

Then there are a few things that would require a bit more RAM and CPU power. That does cost money, but we are not talking Sony A99II levels here.

The only things that that would really cost money would be the viewfinder shutter (Sony A850 does it and that camera was not in a different league compared to the K-1), the admittedly far-fetched screw-drive-shaft retraction mechanism (again, standard on most or all Minolta/Sony dSLRs) and the improved AF performance, which is an ongoing issue for Pentax.

Incidentally, those last hardware issues are more nice-to-have and not as crucial to living with the camera as the software things.

So, if you look at this list of niggles and ideas and come away thinking "oh my, such a camera would be prohibitively expensive" - I frankly think you are wrong.

Cheers
Jens

Thank you for chiming in

Back in the days when they used a red led it was a little more logical. But I wished they could add half a cent on manufacturing cost and add a multi colored led that is red during charging and green when fully charged.

Yup, or two LEDs or a PWM control that pulses the LED.

I know some people think this is pitiful nitpicking, but I had a situation where the battery wasn't correctly seated and the light went out because the battery no longer touched the contacts. User error, sure, but avoidable for a few cents.

When using one-touch bracketing with 2s timer, there should be no 2s waiting time between shots, it should only be between shutter press and the first exposure.

2s delay is implemented for avoiding mirror slap, so it has to be done on all shots, or do K1 hokd up the mirror during the whole brackting sequence?

I would leave the mirror and then 2s is not needed. However, things get weird: In LV the mirror stays up but we still get 2s delay. In OVF, the mirror flip flaps, which is pointless and we then need the 2s.

2s can be the difference between easy merging for HDR and terrible ghosting.

Bracketing with 2s timer should arguably always default to one-touch bracketing.

Not neccesary. There could be times you need 2s delay but manual control when the shot is done. It seems more that you need a remote or should use a smartphone to start your brackting sequence. And if this would no longer be possible someone else would be upset as they are using that feature.

In which instance do you want 2s delay between bracketed shots?! 
I have the remote, but I think there can be little disagreement that it is generally best if we do not need extra equipment. 
If there is REALLY someone who wants 2s between bracketed shots: Fine, add it to the bracketing drive mode.

And does not K1 have countdown timer for timed bulb shots too?

Good point!
I don't see anything. No count-up in untimed bulb and no count-down in timed bulb.

Camera estimates 195 (sometimes 200?!) DNGs on 16GB Sandisk card - but routinely gets over 300. Roughly: Maximum RAW image size I get is 75MB, smallest is 40MB. (Average 48MB over 2200 varied photos) Wow!

The camera show minimun amount of shots it can capture, not an estimate.

I realise that, just the difference is enormous. I have no idea what the compression of the embedded JPEGs is, but I assume it has something to do with that. The Sony A850 as less

An estimate would be much worse as then it sometimes would capture less than it would estimate.

Oh of course, totally agree!

The difference between 195 and 200 may be because of different raw formats.

It seems I have slightly different batches of the same Sandisk memory card!

Use shake sensors to detect tripod in SR auto mode.

I think it already try to do that. But it's probably safer to use a remote as that disables SR completely. And pressing the shutter button by hand on tripod may induce vibrations that SR need to compensate for so in that case you probably need to use 2s timer which also disables SR.

That's how I use it, was just wondering

Pentax choose a different route with quickshift for screwdrive lenses so I doubt they will make any changes. And I'm not sure they ever will release any new screwdrive lenses.

Fair points, not nice for backwards-compatibility and third-party support, but makes business sense, I guess.

There is an simple workaround for this though, and it is to hold in the lens release button as it will retract the screwdrive. But not recommended on lenses with focus ring that is hard to turn, but AF lenses usually have minimum friction on the focus ring.

Ah, forgot about that! Yes, probably best on a tripod unless you are very flexible with your fingers/hands

How does NR AUTO decide? A mix between exposure time and ISO, but it would be good to know in advance whether ot not a darkframe exposure will be done, even in auto mode.

In auto it also use sensor temperature as input, so it's probably only after the shot is captured it decides if it should use NR or not.

Ok, that makes sense. Switched it off for now. The Sony A850 switches off darkframing for bracketing and burst. Which makes sense, but I can imagine other people prefer the Pentax way.

Liveview AF with screw drive lenses is not very good: both indecisive and inaccurate. It feels as if it wants to go faster than it can. Maybe offer a "slow but sure" option? [Edit: there seems to be a slow mode that the camera chooses "in emergencies", but the problem shows up earlier.] Liveview AF accuracy can be shockingly bad.

I they kept the option for PDAFin LV, because of it works better on some lenses. Sigma lenses are known for unreliable AF in LV using CDAF.

Is there a word missing? Maybe "I wished they kept"? In that case, I assume you mean the old flip mirror, focus with standard PDAF, flap mirror, LV style? 
That should work, but I (obviously) don't understand how CDAF can be so bad sometimes. I am not talking about not locking, that I understand. But "reliably" misfocusing as I experienced with my long zooms, that is befuddling.

On-sensor PDAF would be nice, I guess, but it's a different technology altogether, so didn't want to include it.

It's because they use two completely differrent designs, where the Sony sensor is fixed on rails while Pentax sensor is free floating. Most manufactures today use similar system to Pentax (including Sony).

Sure, that wasn't a criticism, just an observation

I wonder if that difference is due to the additional axes the new Sony and Pentax systems can compensate compared to the older Sony system? Not sure how it was for older Pentax systems.

Cheers

Jens

Not neccesary. There could be times you need 2s delay but manual control when the shot is done. It seems more that you need a remote or should use a smartphone to start your brackting sequence. And if this would no longer be possible someone else would be upset as they are using that feature.

In which instance do you want 2s delay between bracketed shots?!
I have the remote, but I think there can be little disagreement that it is generally best if we do not need extra equipment.
If there is REALLY someone who wants 2s between bracketed shots: Fine, add it to the bracketing drive mode.

It's not exact 2s between the shots that may be neede; bur longer delay. If you use bracketing to get the best exposure for the shot it may not matter if it is a long delay beween shots. Sometimes you just have to wait between shots for best conditions.

Bracketing is not only used for HDR.

I think we are talking a little bit past one another here.

While I can see that for some instances you do not want to do the shots as quick together as possible: If you want to space it out some time, you'd not use one-touch bracketing! Because then you'd take each shot of the series individually.

So I maintain: One touch bracketing with mirror-preflip should only flip the mirror up at the start and then keep it up during the whole series.

Yes you spotted the missing word. The old style PDAF had the advantage of working with all lenses. Old Sigma lensesit has showed that their reversed engineered frimware is not fully compatible with CDAF. If it is newer Sigma lenses they may have firmware updated that can fix the issue.

And it is not a Pentax specific problem users of other brand cameras has reported the same thing.

Interesting. This means that CDAF is not really a fully closed control loop, but has some open-loop or feed-forward characteristics.

I shall try and compare my screw drive Sigmas to my HSM 120-400. It's not an ideal comparison, because the 120-400 is much newer than my other long Sigmas, so it will not be clear whether a difference in performance is due to the other drive system or the improved reverse engineering.But it's the best I can do.

If you have links regarding this, I'd be interested in them

It's because they use two completely differrent designs, where the Sony sensor is fixed on rails while Pentax sensor is free floating. Most manufactures today use similar system to Pentax (including Sony).

Sure, that wasn't a criticism, just an observation

I wonder if that difference is due to the additional axes the new Sony and Pentax systems can compensate compared to the older Sony system? Not sure how it was for older Pentax systems.

The old Minolta/Sony IBIS could not rotate the sensor so it would have been limited to 4-axis, but at the time it had 2-axis when Pentax had 3-axis.

But I think the biggest disadvantage of if was that it was less responsive so it would not have reached the 5 stops of compensation that free floating systems allow. And it would be difficult to add all other fuctions that rely on SR. (pixel shift, AA simulator...)

Oh yes, things have improved for sure.

FWIW, I found the old Sony SSS works quite well during panning (Sony recommended to switch it off), but haven't done any detailed tests regarding the Pentax system during panning.

Cheers

Jens

Hi Dominique,

good to read from you! Did you not get one of the first 645D in Switzerland? Are you still using that?

Yes, I know what you mean! FInding out in the field that the spare battery in the bag is empty, not because I forgot to charge it, but because it had a wrong contact with the charger during the night...

Thanks, that makes me feel less clumsy
I normally have four or five batteries with me, but on a camping holiday when power can be an issue, it's still not ideal and of course not everyone has the luxury of so many spares.

K-1:

For RAW shooters, three out of the four buttons on the 4-way controller are basically unnecessary. Maybe better to move the single/cont/int/... shooting mode to the CH/CL mode dial settings, then the four way controller can be used for AF point selection exclusively for RAW shooters and you can give JPEG shooters something else on the four-way-up button.

I am not happy with that two-mode four-way controller. I frequently happen to change shooting mode or whatever parameter when I just want to move the AF points around.

Agreed. As a landscape photographer that is annoying enough, but as an events photographer, it must be worse.

if you try to delete an image after a burst of sorts (bracketing, cont), the camera takes very very long to complete the actions and is basically unresponsive in that time

Thank you Jens! It won't help you, but having a second user complaining about the problem already helps somewhat. On my very first photo session with the K-1 back in April 2016, I noticed the camera somehow locks up when in heavy use for 10-20 seconds.

Oh wow, not the thing you want to experience at a gig.

I quickly found out the reason for the lockup and reported it to Ricoh. It took them a while to acknowledge the problem but a year later, when I asked about the status, I was told there will be no fix as long as I am the only one complaining.

Whom did you contact? Like, not the person necessarily, but which Pentax office?

Previous Pentax cameras did not allow the user to delete photos as long as data in the buffer was not processed. The user could not delete photos just taken, but then, the camera remained usable, whenever the shutter was pressed, the photo was taken. For some reasons, the engineers at Ricoh prefer to lock the camera for 10-20 seconds.

I had a similar situation when I changed from the DS to the Sony A850. It allowed me to delete while the buffer was clearing, but it was not a good idea to do that. Sony users at the time asked me why I'd even delete in the field and maybe I shouldn't make so many mistakes. hahaha, helpful bunch they are

I have read this being referred to as "being able to walk and chew gum at the same time"

As an event photographer frequently working on tight schedules, I have got used with Nikon to sort the photos right on the spot. Once the habit is taken, it is difficult to avoid it.

Right, even with my Sony experience, I still want to be able to sort it out. Like I realise I forgot to focus correctly or set the wrong aperture or ISO - deleting the dud in the field will make my life in Lightroom easier when I need to investigate 4 seemingly identical photos to see where I made a mistake. Not a \*huge\* issue for me, but for your type of photography, I can see the impact even more.

Cheers

Jens