in a surprise move, Pentax announced the existence of a weeklong-rumored camera, the k-s1. Real specs appeared, and they impressed me especially since it was supposed to be an "entry level" cam. My spouse looked over my shoulder and said it looked cool. And so I caved.
Yup, for the first time ever I pre-ordered a camera.
So first off, what's not really different from my current K-5?
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Ricoh-imaging.co.jp's /09/19 ship
date may mean little in the USA
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- Weather seals are the big change - OK so no standing outside in heavy rain: check! *
- better battery life
- the security of a proven camera
- second control dial is lost - bummer yet not a huge loss to my way of doing things.
- near-silent shutter will likely go away, and that's a shame.
- burst shooting will be slower... gee have I ever used it? And four more Mpxls will do that.
And what do I gain? Let us see:
- smaller and lighter body, enough that a second small cam could become unnecessary
- a gentle bump to 20 Mpixels, using a Sony sensor with a short but very good track record
- interval-movie function (lost when the K-01 was sent off) and 1080p video for our new TV
- an updated interface that is controversial online - but I will take the chance
- exciting new fonts and timer/face-detect lights (ok not exciting :) and especially
- new tech from the K-3, like
- AA simulation and no physical low-pass filter,
- somewhat better video specs (maybe I'll use it now),
- focus peaking
- AF-hold and expansion for better focus tracking
- multi-auto white balance
- an HDMI port
For me that's a decent net gain, for my manual primes and how I shoot. It also gives me better AF-c shooting if I start going for pretty birds, which is in my plans at the new home. I really enjoyed my k-x a few years ago; this is slightly smaller and massively more sophisticated. For me, small is good.
So let's do this upgrade!!
- oh yeah, I already did. It's the one on the left. ^D
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| ricoh-imaging.co.jp |
* and I'm keeping the K-5 so weather seals will be available when needed!
