Pentax K-3 III Monochrome Rumor / Leak

Zuiko-logist said:
Would the older and smaller Sigma 35/1.4 DC work ? Image quality is good. Not weather sealed I think.
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Maybe, but it isn’t that much smaller and the one I had in Nikon F mount was pretty ordinary. I am not sure what I’ll do. The Pentax lenses are great, but they’re slow.
 
Zuiko-logist said:
Would the older and smaller Sigma 35/1.4 DC work ? Image quality is good. Not weather sealed I think.
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I'm seeing some conflicting information here: are we talking about the Sigma 30mm f1.4 DC HSM A lens or a Sigma 35mm f1.4?

I'm one of Sigma's biggest fans but the 30mm f1.4 was a dog. Worst Sigma lens I ever owned.

All the best,
Mike
 
Yokosuka_Mike said:
I'm seeing some conflicting information here: are we talking about the Sigma 30mm f1.4 DC HSM A lens or a Sigma 35mm f1.4?

I'm one of Sigma's biggest fans but the 30mm f1.4 was a dog. Worst Sigma lens I ever owned.
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I was looking at the 35/1.4 as a fast normal, but said it was probably too big. @Zuiko-logist suggested the 30/1.4 as a smaller option. My experience with it on a Nikon D7000 wasn’t great, and it’s still quite a bit bigger than the Pentax 31/1.8 Limited. I probably don’t have to worry about lenses for a while.
 
Sorry, I meant 30mm/1.4. Mine is quite good, but I tend to use it for street/high contrast black and white so I am probably less discerning than most users here. The manual focus or AF lenses are nice - A or F series, but no super fast wide lenses. Fast and small and super corrected tend not to go together.
 
Leica has just announced the M11M will be shipping soon. Coincidence Pentax chose the same month? I don’t have the $10k for the Leica so hope Pentax intends to go toe to toe.
 
Rayt said:
Leica has just announced the M11M will be shipping soon. Coincidence Pentax chose the same month? I don’t have the $10k for the Leica so hope Pentax intends to go toe to toe.
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Pentax is not going to be TtT, it is crop and no fast wide lenses, but something in me is refusing to pay 222 USD for made in China battery. :)
 
In general I don't watch camera video reviews but The Online Photographer's Pentax monochrome pre-announcement announcement yesterday sent me looking for information this morning. And, of course, the "canned" reviews that are part of the Pentax roll-out are what's available. The review I chose at random is the same one linked to above

I have a soft spot for Pentax, used an LX, semi-professionally for a good long while, and love their 100/2.8 portrait lens with an abiding passion. So was primed for this announcement.

I think the reviewer did a pretty good job. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, I'd look at comparison images between B&W converted color files and those from the new camera (starts at 15:30 and the conclusion starting at about 18:40). Interestingly, the reviewer concludes that while the images are nice, there are only a few advantages (details, and low-light performance) and that they are small compared to what a similar resolution Pentax full-color sensor provides when the images are processed.

I think I will be passing on the new offering -- mainly because it is an APS-C sensor and it doesn't seem like the imaging advantages are that great compared to what I currently own. In that sense, the review did exactly what I want reviews to do: allow me to make a decision on a possible purchase without having to try something expensive out for myself. Now, why don't I feel $2,200 richer? Now if it were FF? We'd have to see about that

BTW, I have a K1 and the B&W conversions from it are pretty good. It is FF, has decent high ISO performance etc. Here's an example of the existing, older tech/conversion in SilverFX:

i-7xhqGwG-X2.jpg
 
Yeah, modern APSC is pretty damn good IQ wise. I'm sure with the advantages of a monochrome sensor, it could be one of the best APSC cameras IQ wise. Other than fans of really wide angle lenses, I really do not get the APSC hate.
 
I'm a little mystified that any camera manufacturer would continue on with a reflex mirror mechanism in this day and age ... Pentax are unique obviously!

And speaking of black and white the nicest digital monochrome images I ever got were from my Epson RD1s when I had it. :)
 
Keith said:
I'm a little mystified that any camera manufacturer would continue on with a reflex mirror mechanism in this day and age ... Pentax are unique obviously!

And speaking of black and white the nicest digital monochrome images I ever got were from my Epson RD1s when I had it. :)
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Pentax have said they are sticking with SLRs, although they have made several forays into mirrorless. Perhaps as Leica is the only legacy manufacturer of rangefinders, Pentax hope to the ’the only one’ for SLRs. And Keith, I don’t know about your RD1s, but your Sigma Merrill B&Ws are amazing.

Marty
 
While I prefer to look through an optical viewfinder I need to be practical and acknowledge a EVF on a mirrorless is useful for adjusting exposure compensation on the fly to avoid blown highlights. With the M10M I default at -1.0 because I can’t see what the lens sees. I currently don’t own any Pentax lenses so it isn‘t like the cropped sensor will waste my wide angle collection. I welcome the extra dof I will get from the 16mm lens translated to a 24mm equivalent.
 
Benjamin Marks said:
In general I don't watch camera video reviews but The Online Photographer's Pentax monochrome pre-announcement announcement yesterday sent me looking for information this morning. And, of course, the "canned" reviews that are part of the Pentax roll-out are what's available. The review I chose at random is the same one linked to above

I have a soft spot for Pentax, used an LX, semi-professionally for a good long while, and love their 100/2.8 portrait lens with an abiding passion. So was primed for this announcement.

I think the reviewer did a pretty good job. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, I'd look at comparison images between B&W converted color files and those from the new camera (starts at 15:30 and the conclusion starting at about 18:40). Interestingly, the reviewer concludes that while the images are nice, there are only a few advantages (details, and low-light performance) and that they are small compared to what a similar resolution Pentax full-color sensor provides when the images are processed.

I think I will be passing on the new offering -- mainly because it is an APS-C sensor and it doesn't seem like the imaging advantages are that great compared to what I currently own. In that sense, the review did exactly what I want reviews to do: allow me to make a decision on a possible purchase without having to try something expensive out for myself. Now, why don't I feel $2,200 richer? Now if it were FF? We'd have to see about that

BTW, I have a K1 and the B&W conversions from it are pretty good. It is FF, has decent high ISO performance etc. Here's an example of the existing, older tech/conversion in SilverFX:

i-7xhqGwG-X2.jpg
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Correction to your review of Samuel's review:
If he increasing contrast in PP, he is loosing what monochrome sensor gives compared to his GRIiI.

Another hint question. :) Where is common difference between zoom (they gave him with Pentax Mono) and prime on his GRIII?

Samuel's conclusions are not surprising. I have seen very many Monochrome images from Leica ones. So far I only know two photogs who were able to preserve what Monochrome gives in DNG files.
And he is none of those two.
 
Ko.Fe. said:
Samuel's conclusions are not surprising. I have seen very many Monochrome images from Leica ones. So far I only know two photogs who were able to preserve what Monochrome gives in DNG files.
And he is none of those two.
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By preserving do you mean not over processing the DNG files?
 
Rayt said:
By preserving do you mean not over processing the DNG files?
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Not speaking for @Ko.Fe. but what most Monochrome users do is use a lot of adjustments which remove a lot of the shadow tonality, and compress the midtones. In good light and with good lenses, almost no adjustment is needed. The photos above look a little flat as DNGs straight out of the camera - all I did was make the very darkest tones a little darker, increase the shadow contrast slightly, and that's it. In hard light, more work is needed, but it's still not common to need a whole lot.

But maybe @Ko.Fe. thinks my photos lose what the monochrome sensor offers. Not sure.

1681433698854.jpeg
MM, Hexanon 50/2, yellow filter. As above, almost no editing.

Edit: I'd also note that this is very, very close to what I would have expected from 6x9 APX100 or similar tonality film.

Six weeks later I noticed spots, cleaned the sensor and couldn’t remove them. Sent the camera to Leica. It was gone for 4 months.
 
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Rayt said:
By preserving do you mean not over processing the DNG files?
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Can't tell you for sure. Even if I personally know one of the two, whom I could recall as good with Monochrome files, I never asked how it is done.

All I personally noticed with DNG files from Leica and Pentax, increasing contrast makes it feels as less quality.
 
Freakscene said:
Not speaking for @Ko.Fe. but what most Monochrome users do is use a lot of adjustments which remove a lot of the shadow tonality, and compress the midtones. In good light and with good lenses, almost no adjustment is needed. The photos above look a little flat as DNGs straight out of the camera - all I did was make the very darkest tones a little darker, increase the shadow contrast slightly, and that's it. In hard light, more work is needed, but it's still not common to need a whole lot.
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I like this style.
Which often ruined by primitive over-processing; Saldago's Genesis, for example.
 
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