drummercam

Note to Pentax: Please do not change your traditional high-end-camera placement of exposure compensation and ISO buttons next to shutter release on any K-3 upgrade. I've noticed that your mid-tier cameras have had +/- and green button on top, with ISO on the 4-way. +/- and ISO on top is the better design, and I see why you do that. K-P does neither of these described set-ups. Please don't "fix" the K-3 in that regard. Thanks.

I don't like the "prism" hump. Existing K-3 is much nicer as originally designed.

"Let's take a closer look at what is right with the KP."

Thanks for that. In the past, Pentax reviews have seemed to contain at least one or two unnecessary snarks against the brand. This review is a clear change from that, and a balanced and fair review of the camera.

"Heavy for its size" -- I think that betokens efficient, dense-pack interior engineering. Pentax cameras always feel very robust in hand.

The replaceable grips derive (I think) from addressing grip gripes that go back to the K-01 and K-S1. It seems like typical Pentax thinking to come up with this solution. The design forecloses the AA-battery grip of the K-30 and K-50, but anyone with a K-30, K-50, K-500, K-S1, or K-S2 already has a spare D-LI109 battery for the KP.

Very nice picture. I'm troubled, though, by all of the dead brown pine trees. I'm guessing western pine bark beetle infestation because of the California drought.

Following the lead of Pentax in using color as a marketing device?

Congratulations on that one. It has a fabulous look to it.

And I will immediately add (having reached a character limit) that I don't think for a moment that poppyjk intended anything more than a nice picture. He has many nice pictures. My concern is with mass-appeal, reflexive attitudes about images like this one, which seem to carry more faux-patriotic weight than genuine truths.

(Nor was I a competitor in this challenge.)

poppyjk's gallery shows that he is a world traveler who documents his travels nicely. I congratulate him on a 1st place. But this being selected as a 1st place means that many people probably voted in reflexive reaction to the most cliche notions of "American freedom." When the nation "America" established itself in North America, it nearly drove the bison in this picture to extinction through hunting, profiteering, and mere entertainment. Native Americans were harshly treated, driven from ancestral homes, murdered by the U.S. Cavalry (under the same flag), and generally decimated and corralled. The man on this horse also suggests the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge malcontents who illegally seized federal lands this year, with much conspicuous flag-waving on horseback and one death. If the flag is part of the story, as D.N. observes below, then the full story ought to be told. America's western legacy is a complicated picture that often includes little to be proud of.

Request for no snarks declined . . .

Thank you for your support Edgar. I'm an editor in my day-job and know the power and intentions of even small groups of words; even punctuation marks can be used tactically, as I feel was done in this case. I'm not jumping into the raging AF debate, but many of the positive observations in the article -- on ISO invariance and dynamic range, for one example -- deserved that the headline not carry connotations of questionableness, crack off the bat. The context, established by DPR itself, has been a similar tone in (some) prior reviews of Pentax cameras. It should have been avoided here.

Since pentax has long been making DSLRs, I have to guess that you speak of merely the full-frame arena as the area where Pentax has "not typically tried to compete in." On that ground, I see nothing at all in this review focused on movement into full-frame format. Since "full-frame" refers primarily to the sensor, in fact, I see "The K-1's 36MP full-frame sensor offers some of the best dynamic range and image quality available on the market, with results falling just short of the class-leading Nikon D810 in typical shooting, yet exceeding it in Pixel Shift mode." On that ground, it's a flat-out winner. As for all of the K-1's other features, we have transparently successful upsizing and refinement from Pentax's APS-C designs. No hitch whatsoever in designing into the new format, with no systemic production flaws yet revealed among the growing user base. Pentax has in fact knocked it out of the park, if "first time at bat" is a point one wishes to stand on.

Recent review titles: "Benchmark Performance": "Nikon D810 review; Setting new standards": "Nikon D5 Review; Back to the action: Nikon D500 Review."

Why am I not surprised at the slightly pejorative question mark in "Special K? Pentax K-1 Review"? Riffing on a cereal brand for a title is cute, but just a little off-key, given the innovations and ergonomics of this camera, IMHO.

To give credit, DPR said this about the green button on the K-30 several years ago: "The 'Hyper' in Hyper Program and Hyper Manual refers to the function of the green dial in program and manual exposure modes. In P (Hyper Program) mode, rotating the front or rear dial quickly switches the camera into shutter priority (front dial) or aperture priority (rear dial) modes. To return back to full Program mode just press the green button on the back of the camera. This simple but effective method of going between the three exposure modes is very clever, and unique to Pentax." A unique and effective feature that persists across models needs to be pointed out for each model on which it appears, if any purpose of the review is to present handling characteristics to potential new users. The green button is a veritable lesson in elegant camera programming.

I don't find the Green Button's basic "hyper-program" functionality explained at all, just mention of it as the stop down metering route, and other unstated customizations. The basic functions (not customizations) of the green button -- i.e., what it was first designed to do when it appeared on the MZ-S -- as a shortcut back to the program exposure solution from any exposure alteration, in any exposure mode, and as shortcut back to baseline from any exposure compensation (both ambient and flash), are well worth describing under the "Controls" heading.

I can see how Eye-Fi might no longer send to your e-mail on your home computer an image that the app in your phone had sent to Eye-Fi's servers -- a service I never needed. I'll be curious to see if this means that they can, from afar, actually disable the ability of an Eye-Fi Pro 2 card to continue allowing you to just transfer the images to your phone.

Leica follows Pentax K-50 color customization. Now that's news.

Review of Pentax on DPR is problematical. They have occasionally called attention to trivia (rubber SD-card door on K-01, LEDs on K-S1) while failing to mention other significant features, and formerly (but to their credit, not so much recently), there was a dismissive tone in the writing. Recently DPR got kudos for retracting and replacing a piece about K-1's pixel shift, but simple due diligence could have prevented the misstep. Pentax became somewhat overwhelmed and fell behind at the beginning of the digital era, and the Pentax shop at Ricoh even now is but a small part of the whole. Nonetheless, Pentax has been a tenacious group of designers and engineers and production people (excellent production lines and quality control), and they have remained unambiguously innovative. Their cameras are top-notch in-hand. Given the trials they have withstood and survived, Pentax group deserves far more credit than they get.

Thanks for that quote. A scene in which nearly everything is moving -- flowing water and breezy foliage -- is not what PS was intended for.

K-1 looks like clear proof that Ricoh has nurtured the Pentax acquisition with planning and care, while allowing the Pentax tradition of great ergonomics in robust bodies, and sticking with K-mount to keep many older but still excellent lenses snapping. Goof job, Ricoh, and congratulations to the Pentax/Ricoh design and engineering teams.

Thanks for saying so. Maybe I was penalized for typing the wrong name of the castle, which was purely by accident.