PMA announcements

[Groucho]

PMA is on now in Anaheim - a good excuse to look at camera gear and Disneyland!

I've never really paid a lot of attention to Sigma... I have a few of their older lenses and they're basically OK, but it seems like many of their current zoom lenses tend to be bested by the Tamron competitors. The presence of the 31mm F1.8 means that I've never paid much attention to their 30mm F1.4, either.

Well, a few of their new lens announcements for PMA got my attention!

85mm F1.4...

Stabilized 17-50mm F2.8...

An ultrawide 8-16mm F4.5-F5.6...

Stabilized "Bigma" 50-500mm...

Stabilized 70-200mm F2.8...

Yes, the stabilized ones are stabilized in Pentax and Sony mounts. Sigma claims a 4-stop advantage - it will be interesting to hear more first-hand accounts of how it works with the in-body IS. It seems to me that it should work even better, as the camera will see a relatively stable image and it will make that even more stable. Worst case, if for whatever reason it works worse with in-body IS on, it can be turned off and you can have your in-lens IS. Again - no drawbacks whatsoever.

The 85mm F1.4 catches my attention! Pentax dropped theirs when switching to digital lenses - their 77mm F1.8 Limited is, by all accounts, one of the greats, but it will be nice to have another choice since I'm planning for the 77mm as my next "big" lens.

The 8-16mm should be exciting for the ultrawide fans - the equivalent of 12-24mm on a full-frame camera. Too bad it's so darn slow...

Speaking of ultrawide, Tokina is working on a 16-28mm F2.8 for full-frame cameras.

In the EVIL camp, Samsung is adding five more lenses to their existing NX system, and Sigma and Sony are both working on their own EVIL cameras. I would expect the prices of such cameras to drop soon - the Olympus ones seem rather outrageously expensive to me. Whatever happens, Micro 4/3rds will have some competition real soon - they better keep working on their lens lineup as the main appeal to me of such a system is being able to adapt almost any lens, even rangefinder ones, and you'll be able to do that one any EVIL system.

Sony has a prototype of the A700 replacement - but no announcement yet? That model is getting long in the tooth; they're released countless cheap entry-level DSLRs yet the upgrade model has been neglected a little. Guess they figure people will go right from the entry-level to full-frame.

This last one isn't really a PMA announcement and it may not even be sold int the US, but it's a think of beauty IMHO. A limited-edition silver K-7... That'd look beautiful next to my K1000s!

 

[Code]

Yes, the stabilized ones are stabilized in Pentax and Sony mounts. Sigma claims a 4-stop advantage - it will be interesting to hear more first-hand accounts of how it works with the in-body IS. It seems to me that it should work even better, as the camera will see a relatively stable image and it will make that even more stable. Worst case, if for whatever reason it works worse with in-body IS on, it can be turned off and you can have your in-lens IS. Again - no drawbacks whatsoever.

It's one or the other... since the camera doesn't know what it is seeing through the lens, just what its movement sensors are reading, it actually creates blur to shift the sensor accordingly with both turned on. Now if they ever made a sensor-shift IS camera + IS lens that communicated and worked intelligently together, that would be magical.

 

[VVFF]

Bahhhhhhh! Kill it! Burn it!

Someone at Pentax bought the original Canon Rebel!

 

[Groucho]

Bahhhhhhh! Kill it! Burn it!

Someone at Pentax bought the original Canon Rebel!

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.......... sure. That's funny, it looks just like the color scheme of my 1961 Pentax H3, actually. Also the same as their Asahiflex, the first 35mm SLR ever, built in 1952 - years before Canon built their first SLR. It was a pretty standard color scheme for cameras; I'm not claiming that Pentax was the first or only, but the idea that they're ripping off Canon is ludicrous.

Note that the silver lens in the photo is a normally available metal lens, not a special one made for this model.

I forgot to mention that the limited edition one has a special focusing screen with the Golden Sections inscribed in it. Kind of neat but I'll stick to my aftermarket dual-diagonal split-prism and microprism screen.

 

[Golf4food]

Hearing anything about any new Pentax bodies? Doubtful so soon after the K-x and K-7, but you never know... I would love a new model so the K-7 can drop a little lower and be more affordable.

 

[VVFF]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.......... sure. That's funny, it looks just like the color scheme of my 1961 Pentax H3, actually. Also the same as their Asahiflex, the first 35mm SLR ever, built in 1952 - years before Canon built their first SLR. It was a pretty standard color scheme for cameras; I'm not claiming that Pentax was the first or only, but the idea that they're ripping off Canon is ludicrous.

Note that the silver lens in the photo is a normally available metal lens, not a special one made for this model.

I forgot to mention that the limited edition one has a special focusing screen with the Golden Sections inscribed in it. Kind of neat but I'll stick to my aftermarket dual-diagonal split-prism and microprism screen.

lol, woah there groucho you took that WAY too seriously. I was not claiming that they ripped off Canon. Far from it. I was simply pointing out that I don't like Silver SLR's. In fact, Most silver electronics don't look good in my opinion. There was a brief fad in the early 2000's when silver was in, but that passed quickly. They tend to show their age quicker.

By all means you're entitled to love it just saying that I was very happy when Canon killed their silver SLR's.

Group !

 

[Groucho]

lol, woah there groucho you took that WAY too seriously. I was not claiming that they ripped off Canon. Far from it. I was simply pointing out that I don't like Silver SLR's. In fact, Most silver electronics don't look good in my opinion. There was a brief fad in the early 2000's when silver was in, but that passed quickly. They tend to show their age quicker.

By all means you're entitled to love it just saying that I was very happy when Canon killed their silver SLR's.

Group !

The difference here is that this one is metal. (As is that lens.) Metal with black grip areas is a nice, classic look IMHO. I wouldn't want an all-silver SLR or even a painted plastic one.