every 35 years

Sigma has been getting rave reviews for their 18-35mm f/1.8 zoom lens.  It's an amazing accomplishment, and owners speak very highly of it.  It is unprecedented to have a zoom be as fast as this, and it is f/1.8 throughout the range.  Impressive!

I just spent $50 for Sigma's original 'impossible' wide-angle zoom, the 21-35mm f/3.5-4.2.  This one was made around 1980 and was the very first wide-angle zoom of any sort it seems; the answer was to make two sets of elements shift in the zooming process.  It seems they did it so well that they made it several times in manual-focus alone, before moving the design to AF in the mid-80s - it comes labeled as Sigma Zoom, then Gamma and later Gamma-II.  All copies have the PK-A aperture connection for Pentax (odd, was the A setting in play that early?), some have infinity at the far left of the focus ring and others at the far right.  The one I acquired has no Gamma marking and focuses like a true Pentax lens.  Also this copy is a 1-touch focus/zoom (others have two rings) and the hood is attached permanently to this one unlike some others.  Crazy!

Did I mention it's a FFFF (full-frame/film friendly) lens?  Guess not...

Anyway, this could be an ideal video lens with enough depth of field to just set to 12 feet and f/5.6 and ignore that issue.  I spoke of a 28-105 as a great video lens before, but that much zoom was too much and it needed to go wider on the aps-c platform - so this feels like a better fit.  It weighs about a pound though so we'll see if it will do.  What few reviews I've found online from owners speak well of it, but with so many variations it's hard to say if every variant is spoken for.  The pentaxforums site shows the lens but it has no reviews; that says a lot for its rarity!

change of plans but not of heart

I really like the K-s1 in principle and execution, but I cannot manage the cost right now; a few more unexpected expenses make it a bad idea.  As for value the $800 price can't be justified - I can pick up an open-box K-3 for a similar price, and as while wandering virtually I found a K-50 with all the features that the K-s1 may or may not have, for Half the price!  Yes a white K-50 body with under 200 images taken; someone decided it wasn't for them so I shall make it mine.

The K-5 can now be sent off to the shop for the extra-mirrorflip issue that many have experienced.  Mine generally makes the extra mirror flip with a filled battery only while others' cameras were flipping the mirror at every button press or dial turn!

I still really want the K-s1 to succeed, and I like its compact and angular good looks quite a bit.  In a couple of years my finances should be more predictable, and then I shall look around at the market - perhaps that's when the K-s1 will be mine...

rethinking an old relationship

This lens was on the block, even reaching 'sale pending' mode.  But here it is still.  
The old JCPenney 80-200 zoom is getting another chance to show off, and with careful use it is acquitting itself nicely.  Previous tests showed its color fringing when wide open - that's f/3.5 throughout by the way!

However, when you're not deliberately trying to find weaknesses and shooting at decent shutter speeds it does fine work.  I shot my lawn mower at several focal lengths with the shutter speed locked & aperture set at f/4.5, and all shots are good.  I stopped down to f/8, and things improved which is no surprise.

This lens weighs in at just over a kilogram, has a locking tripod collar & takes 62mm filters.  It also has a built-in shade that's quite handy when fighting glare with old coatings.  While 1030g is a bit bulky for my style it's barely slower than an f/2.8 copy which adds nearly half again to the weight - and let's not go into the price difference!  Oh go ahead and gloat: with M42 to PK adapter, I paid about $40 for this. 

But wait!

•  The others have VC/OS stabili... oh yeah my JCP is on a Pentax body.. :^)
•  The others have silent HSM/USD focus - mine's manual focus and very quiet :^)
• The others cover full-frame sensors - the JCP was built before the term 'full frame' was invented! :^D

It's a keeper.

K-s1: what do we know 'for sure'?

On the Ricoh Japan site, we know this -
2014年9月11日までにご注文いただくと、発売日（2014年9月26日）

Other sites say shipping in September, so the 9/26 date seems more likely than the 11th - especially since it's the 12th now and I have no confirmation e-mail :^(  Originally the blue/white/black were supposed to ship two weeks earlier than the other colors, so these might be correct ship dates - for Japan!

 edit.. the translated page says 'Come out in 2014.09.26'

Given that it's hard to reshape a camera body, we presume that the sensor, SR, button availability & layout, and other hardware bits are well-known quantities.  Oddly we haven't heard the shutter fire in any videos, so some of the inner hardware is still a mystery; will it be fairly K-5 silent, or more K-50 'clacky'? 
Edit - Adam at pentaxforums says it's very much a K-50 clack, not a K-5 swoosh.

So what's on 'paper' from Ricoh?

• A new 20.12Mpx sensor (let's call it twenty) for a pinch more resolution and cropping relative to the sweet-16 sensor of past models, a pinch less than the K-3, and reviews (of Sony cams) that show it to be a good performer.  It's noteworthy, a slight positive in my Book (and I'm glad it isn't 24M) so some joy but overall to me: no big deal.
• Size: for the specs this is a small and light camera, like a melded K-x mark II and a K-01 mark II with a few good K-3 parts within.  For me small is good, and my search for a small camera with indifferent small sensor ends now!  That IS a big deal to me, and I'm happy to see it.
• Weather Resistance: nope.  The price I seem to pay for smaller size is battery and WR.  I have a K-5 for wet shots though, so as a primary camera this one is just fine.  The control ring on the back means less entry points for mist on top anyway - and like most intergalactic hitch-hikers I know where my towel is!
• Li-109 battery, weaker and smaller than recent flagship cams - oh yeah this Isn't a flagship!  I can carry a spare, and I did anyway with the K-5 - so another note without complaint.  We film veterans used to go about 38 shots max before having to open up the camera, so making a battery change around 400 shots isn't really that bad :^)
• ISO 100-51200.  Several early reviewers say 102400, implying iso expansion or perhaps early firmware - but again, 'subject to change' applies, and as I type Ricoh says 51200 max.
• AF features are similar to the K-3 with AF expansion and hold functions - BUT Safox IX+ means fewer actual points, and no word on f/2.8 sensors.  Focuses to EV-1 not -3 so low-light skill is not up to K-5ii or K-3 models.  AF-A shows on the rear screen shots, so that's either a menu thing or another firmware question-mark; the switch on the side only does MF/AF and the K-3 choose-which-AF button is not present.
• One control dial.  Yes, a tragic loss - oh yeah some of my best images were taken with the K-01, K200d and Sony A200, all 1-dial cameras.  Worse yet the 2-dialers often find me spinning the wrong one (yes that's on me, I should change the way they operate.  I continue to seek My Answer on the K-5!).  So again, noted but not mourned.
• Settings dial is on the back!  And it lights up!! OK, what's wrong with me, I should be upset and all fired up - but this is fine by me, as I've heard that the lights can be turned off (but do we know that 'for sure'?). I hope I can keep the shutter LED light on though!
• Video is on the power switch and the LED lights red in video mode, green for stills.  This will be valuable to users I know (there's one in my mirror) who take very short videos unintentionally!
• PRIME M-II sensor processing.  This is a mystery that only time can resolve.  The PRIME M came with the K-01/30 intros, but the only visible change is that the video is now accessed by the power dial.  Ah, the 640x480 setting is gone too, maybe that's part of it?  Some day we will know what this means - or maybe not!  The M-II does give us compressed video with good specs, focus peaking (yay!), interval movies (not compressed!) and some other things I probably didn't notice when I owned my K-01.  Video isn't a big deal to me... yet I keep thinking it will become interesting again; in the late '90s I backpacked for a week with a DV camcorder AND an SLR, so video has been big before!  Edit: Since the pipeline went two directions with PRIME M and PRIME II, maybe all future cams will use the M II as the latest and best reunification of the component - that makes enough sense that it could be true!  We also wonder if video bit-rate quality is adjustable now; time will tell.
• The flash is a bit weaker, guide number of 10m not 12.  I often throttle back on flash to keep things more natural so that's noted but not significant to me.
• Full viewfinder, nice screen, and the usual DSLR features like a hot shoe.  Check!
• Green button, Sv, TAv, -10°C operating minimum, and other Pentax special touches.  Hooray!
• Strap lugs holding the strap to the camera, Not jingle-clips like the K-5 models have.  Thank you, thank you!
• Misc. and sundry updates include UH1 and FluCard capability, rotation-axis SR (which allows for AstroTracer with O-GPS1), multi-auto WB from Ricoh and K-3 products, and ?14-bit RAW files.   The ? is because specs show 14 and 12 bits, so that's another unsettled parameter like ISO max.

I think that will do (I don't find fonts worthy of a bullet, so there).  I added a few things that aren't clear yet: ISO range, shutter sound, and in fact everything about the firmware other than a font change.  

I downloaded the spec sheet and highlighted changes from the K-5, and many purple items are in there.  Many other features are on the K-50 but some are not, suggesting the answer to many people's question
"why buy this when the K-50 is cheaper, has two control wheels and WR??".

Or just go with the easy answer - We are not all the same.

---

Edit: the Ricoh page has been updated as of the 19th and more has become clear.  Only 12-bit raw is referenced now, and additions made to include AF adjustments similar to recent Pentaces.  I see playback editing includes moiré reduction, that's new to me but was probably on the K-3.  Also seen now are 'slant correction' along with different aspect-ratio crops, and all the lens corrections and custom images are here.  It's still unclear if saving custom settings is possible now; no C1/C2 setting on dial or USER option seen anywhere.  Like the K-3 it comes with the new Pentax DCU5.x software, still based on SilkyPix but a later version.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Update.. Photkina 2014 is over, and hands-on reports are better than visual 1st impressions.  Firmware 0.3 was on test cameras and iso102400 was 'available' though no keepers were allowed.  For a camera due out in a week the firmware seems quite unsettled!
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Final edit / K-s1 update, 27.Sep
Given the ever-changing specifications online, and a bill that I did not expect, I have canceled my order.  While examining cheaper options I encountered a barely-used K50 in white for half the price of the K-s1.  Since I have the WR kit lens, and since the K50 has all the items that appear to be removed or unmentioned for K-s1 specs, this cannot be passed up.  Now the K-5 can go into the shop without worry and I have focus peaking and compressed video like my old K-01 but with a real viewfinder.  I hope the K-s1 does well without me, as I shall do without it - and the expense of it.  When Pentax can access Sony's sensor with phase-detect AF points I'll probably go shopping again.

happy ending for 55-300

though a bit sad for the white 18-55mm lens.

The DAL 55-300 arrived, and sure enough only the mount itself was broken in a couple of places - no contact-pin or aperture-lever issues at all.  I compared screw-points to other spare lenses, but Sigmas use fewer screws so the spacing was off - so that left the DAL 18-55 mount.  That's too bad as the white DAL was a fine match to the upcoming K-s1, but I have a WR version on my K-5 that makes it expendable.  I suppose it would be practical to swap my DA WR for a white DAL WR, if any K50 users are up for it; that would be pretty on the K-s1 yet functional on my K-5.  Takers, anyone?

After about a half hour of slow-motion detail work, I now have a fine copy (again) of the DAL 55-300 lens!  How nice.

p.s. I modified my K-s1 preorder to be a black body - far less effort than working in a white lens!

meet the new photo team!

So here is most of the imaging team, including all current manual-focus shooters.  Not showing are the two Quantaray FF-ready pair of 28-90 and 100-300, the two 18-55s (WR, white DAL) - nor is the DAL 55-300 (arrives tomorrow, mount "needs repair").  The K-01 is in a box ready to ship, as soon as someone actually claims it.  This may be the last time either the 40 or 50 is in the same shot as well, and who can say about the fast 28-70 zoom on the far right?

 - - 17, 80-200, 28, 40, 50, 85, K-5/135, 28-70, 2x Macro TC - - 

Aside from the DA40 it's an all-manual shot;

aside from the top corners it's an all-prime shot!

take a chance..

The one shaky area in my kit is/was the telezoom end.  I really like two lenses, the Quantaray 100-300 and the Pentax DA±L 55-300 - and I've owned each several times.  Why?  Well the Pentax lens has more range, faster aperture at tele (f/5.8 vs 6.7) and in some cases includes quick shift; the Q-ray is decently sharp, faster to focus, and both smaller and lighter.  Each has its merits, so I keep alternating.

I just found a mount-damaged DAL for $67.  We'll take the chance that it may be irreparably damaged but hopefully I can rip parts out of another lens for it.  At that price, and the approximately $30 net that I paid for the quantaray: why not own both? :^)