matthew miller

<p>I do hope a corrected version of the review goes up. The white balance comparison (where the K-7 shone) was interesting. I know the auto wb on my K-7 is superb, but it's interesting to see how the others do.</p>

<p>The buffer issue may be due to having distortion or chromatic aberration correction turned on. That definitely limits the burst mode to something small like that. Since they apparently had the high DR mode on, that wouldn't be surprising.</p>

<p>How are you processing the images now? Increased sharpening <em>is</em> part of the answer, either in camera, in Photoshop, or in some other image-editing program. Here's the original with USM added — maybe actually a bit too much, but you get the idea.</p><div></div>

<p>Some systems (like the One Laptop Per Child XO) have enough internal flash memory to store two copies of the firmware, and toggle between them at boot. That means if you mess it up, no problem, you can boot using the old one.<br>

Most consumer electronics don't have that, though. So if the firmware gets corrupt, there's no way to do a hard reset to get it back, since there's <em>nothing to get back to</em> . So, back to Pentax it is.</p>

<p>Eh. The clearance prices aren't so great — for example, once you figure in the shipping, the DA★ 50-135 is only 2.5% cheaper than B&H. And the AF540FGZ is <em>more expensive</em> !</p>

 

<p>I was excited about the DA★ 30mm for the ★ more than for the speed — I want a high-quality weather-sealed normal to stick on my K-7 and basically leave there 90% of the time.</p>

<p>Well, either way, I'll be somewhere between Davis and Harvard with my kids and my K-7. If you see me, say hi! :)</p>

<p>Sounds fun, but I think you're planning on the wrong side of the river. That weekend is Honkfest (http://honkfest.org/schedule/) up in Davis Square, and there's an awesome parade from Davis down to Harvard on Sunday, where there's a big Oktoberfest event.</p>

<p>Although the marketing line is clearly "It's not a K20D replacement", the K-7 definitely <em>is</em> what had been in development as the K30D. (I'm basing this on direct quotes from JohnCPentax on dpreview — he's someone in management at Pentax USA).<br>

They've also obviously put a lot of marketing effort into defining the K-7 as a flagship model.<br>

Therefore, I think if you're holding out for a higher-speced camera within the next 12 months, you will be disappointed.<br>

The 17mpix sensor Ben's guessing at may indeed happen, but I don't think we'lll it before the "K-8" or whatever.</p>

<p>It's not just the marketing — the customer service is the same way. If you have a detailed technical question, you will probably eventually get responses like this:<br>

<em>No doubt there is a numerical value to these increments but that value has never been made available to us by Pentax Japan. </em><br>

(That's a direct quote. I've got more like it.)<br>

Basically, Pentax USA is an import and distribution channel, with a repair shop. They're not the <em>real</em> company.</p>

<p>Yes, I have <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=3763961">Dave Hollander</a> 's Auto110. Thanks so much again, Dave! The CVS drugstore down the street stocks 110 film, and will end it in to Kodak to be developed. I've taken a couple of rolls with it, and something is definitely wrong with the shutter. (It sticks open.) Haven't gotten around to having it fixed, but I do intend to eventually.<br>

As for digitization: looks like ScanCafe <a href="http://www.scancafe.com/services/negative-scanning">will scan 110 negs</a> , but at $0.99/frame it hasn't seemed worth it, at least not until I'm getting really good results.<br>

Although I <em>am</em> getting good use of part of the kit: the cap from one of the lenses is 30.5mm and fits perfectly on the DA 40mm Limited's lens hood, replacing the way-too-finicky metal screw-on cap with a nice, official Asahi Pentax squeeze-side-tabs cap. Much better quality than the cheap e-bay 30.5mm cap I'd been using before. :)</p>

<p>Yes, that's correct — the built-in flash can't do HSS, so it can't act as the controller for HSS wireless, even if it's in controller mode and not contributing to the exposure. I've confirmed this with Pentax tech support just to be sure.</p>

<p>I'm gonna be selling my K10D when the K-7 comes out, assuming Pentax hasn't gone totally off the rails with some surprising new misfeature. I'd like to get as much as possible, of course, but I'm totally willing to offer a good, fair deal to a fellow Pentaxian.</p>

<p>And Jet, $337 sounds like a pretty decent price for the K<em><strong>10</strong> </em> D to me, but a bit steep for the K100D at this point.</p>

<p>The manager of that Ritz in Coolidge Corner was really friendly a few years ago when i was trying to decide between a K10D or K100D. They didn't have the K10D in stock and she recommmended that I find somewhere to check it out — no attempt to steer me to another brand which they did have in.</p>

<p>Yes, that's absolutely correct about the swivel-head. I got over-excited when I saw that on their web site. Sorry, everyone. :)<br>

The pricing really does seem unfortunate. I bet they could do better than Bogen.</p>

<p><a href="http://ww.xotopro.com/" target="_blank">Xotopro</a> , who currently make a twin-flash macro unit (with three flashes, actually) for Pentax, will be importing and selling the Chinese-make Tumax flash guns they use in the QMM1 directly. <br /> <br /> From Xotopro directly:<br /></p>

 

<blockquote dir="ltr" cite="http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=0#post0">

The next products will most likely be the DMR Ring Flash, the DMF880 AFZ<br /> separately, the DTP386AFZ and the DSL20AF. But the QMM1 with Tumax twin<br /> flash system has to sell as well.

</blockquote>

 

<p>The Tumax DTP386AFZ is like the Sakar/Digital Concepts 952AF/Pen; the DMF880AFZ is like the Digital Concepts 918AF/Pen we just talked about. And the DSL20AF is a interesting beast — a little compact flash with only guide number 18, but a <a href="http://www.icorpandtumax.com/product_info_a.php?cat=110&id=75&pre=95" target="_blank">weird little tilt/bounce-reflector</a> (and a focus-assist beam). No idea on the pricing but if they can make the DSL20AF really cheap it's pretty interesting.<br /> <br /> Even though the DTP386AFZ is nothing we haven't seen before, I think it is big news because Xotopro is <em>good at answering their e-mail</em> . Sakar/Digital Concepts isn't, and if I bought something from them, I would consider it a one-time no-warranty purchase. Xotopro will offer a one-year warranty. And they were able to provide me with guide number information (which seems relatively trustworthy), so I can finally fill out that portion of my <a href="http://pttl.mattdm.org/" target="_blank">pttl flash guide</a> .</p>

<p><!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --></p>

So, Metz and Bogen tell me that the <a href="http://pttl.mattdm.org/models:metz:36-af-4" target="_blank">Metz 36 AF-4 for Pentax</a> is now available in the US, and in fact technically has been since November — although Bogen, the importer, didn't know that until I got someone from Metz to tell them to double-check. (!)<br /> <br /> This is a basic, low-priced P-TTL (only) flash with manual zoom and a tilt-swivel head and pretty good power. The main thing is that in Germany, it goes for under €75 — a very good price for what you get.<br /> <br /> I still can't find it at any big online retailers, but after some back and forth with Bogen and Metz, Bogen offered to set me up with a dealer. They've set the list price at $139, so it's not as attractive as in Europe — I'm not sure how cheaply one could get it in reality.

<br />

<br />

(I'll update my <a href="http://pttl.mattdm.org/">Pentax flash guide</a> with this information soon.)<br />

<p>It only applies to JPEG output. However, at least with the K10D, the settings you choose also affect the histogram display.</p>

<p>So, the article was getting out-of-hand for a google knol, so I've moved it to its own site, at <a

href="http://pttl.mattdm.org/">http://pttl.mattdm.org/</a>. Again please let me know if there's any errors — and

particularly if I've lost anything in translation between the two sites.</p>

 

<p>I'm still planning on doing <i>something</i> with the knol article as well; I'm just not sure what exactly.</p>

Yes — the wireless sync uses P-TTL, and that requires camera control of lens aperture.

Lindy, I think you're overreacting. But there's no excuse for Pentax to put the new web site up without having a list of redirects. All sorts of Google searches are broken by this too.

Thanks everyone, especially Carina Z for the detailed report. I'll definitely add a weight/coverage comparison.

 

Dan — I thought about doing a price comparison, but I'd be worried about keeping the data current. Plus, neither B&H and Adorama carry Promaster (let alone the generic/Sakar flash). The only local store to do so is Hunt's, and their prices aren't very good for anything. (A fact I wouldn't begrudge if their service weren't also awful.) So I'm not sure how to properly figure that out. It'd be nice to be able to just use the B&H price, or even Amazon.

 

On another note: I'm thinking of splitting the article into portions, since I think it's currently exceeding the "one unit of knowledge" idea. :)

Fixed — thanks!

<p>My article on <a

href="http://knol.google.com/k/matthew-miller/pentax-p-ttl-hot-shoe-flash-options/3jwk7bitq8i8/1">Pentax P-TTL

Compatible Flash Options</a> is almost complete. Just have to add a section on physical qualities -- build, size,

and user interface.</p>

 

<p>This isn't intended as a review, since I did little to no actual testing. It's just a gathering of all the

available technical information, so those in the market for a flash can make an informed decision. And hopefully,

a useful presentation of that information.</p>

 

<p>It's all getting very big for a single Knol, so I may eventually split it into several parts.</p>

 

<p>Right now, I'd really appreciate corrections of any errors, and suggestions for how I might make the article

better. Thanks!</p>

Thanks! I've updated the article with that and with a bunch more. I have another update in the works for tomorrow or the next evening too which will include flash bracketing and other more-esoteric features.

 

And I got information from Metz and Promaster about the guide numbers of their secondary reflectors.

 

No one has any corrections? Surely I've made a mistake somewhere in there. :)