PENTAX Optio W80

Optio W80 on location in Costa Rica. Photo by Pentaxian Carolyn Pitcavage

We announced our newest "adventure proof" W-series camera today. All product info can be found here: PENTAX Optio W80 Press Release

The Optio W80 is available in Cardinal Red, Azure Blue and Gunmetal Gray, and will ship in the U.S. in July for $299.95 USD. Since I am not sure if websites reporting on this new camera will show all the new colors, here they are...

Pentax K-7 Operating Manual

June 26th Update:

I was just informed by my associates in Japan that the manual I uploaded to Scribd was not the final version. I have therefore removed the current pdf from Scribd, and hope to have a new and final version of the K-7 manual uploaded by early next week.

My apologies for any confusion in releasing this pdf. It is positive to see the interest in this camera, as the manual was viewed over 6,000 times in less than two days!

Cheers,
Ned

We typically upload "user manuals" to our website at the time a new model ships. However, I've seen quite a few requests for an advanced copy of the K-7 manual. Therefore, and with thanks to the power and ease of use of Scribd, I've uploaded a pdf for your review.

DA 18-55mm WR Lens

We're celebrating the birth of our newest granddaughter who arrived late Thursday night, and watching a few of the grand kids this weekend. Therefore, any extensive testing of the K-7 naturally has been put on the back burner. However, I did have a chance to try out the new 18-55 WR lens, and will be posting a few samples over the weekend.

First, the pebble like texture of the zoom ring feels very nice, the zoom action is nicely dampened, and there's a minimum of noise and no sloppy feel when you hit either end of the zoom range. Although I don't have any previous 18-55's to compare to, I'm finding the focusing with this lens on the K-7 to be quite fast and snappy.

I realize most 18-55 lens designations are thought to be poor quality, "kit" lenses. However, I think anyone considering the WR as their primary lens will be pleasantly surprised by its performance...plus it has the added bonus of basic weather sealing.

Posted images were all shot in JPEG in the "bright" mode with no other camera adjustments. Images were sized in PhotoShop to no more than 1600 x 2400, as I still do not have a final production sample of the K-7 to shoot with. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.

D-BG4 Battery Grip

"The D-BG4 Battery Grip extends shooting times by providing additional power via a second lithium-ion battery or AA batteries. The battery grip includes a tray for either battery option. It also features a vertical release button, depth-of-field preview switch, front and rear e-dials, and buttons for exposure lock and autofocus, as well as a green button and ISO button. The D-BG4 is weather-sealed to protect the battery. Please note that extra batteries are sold separately."

(Above photos taken with K20D and FA 50mm f/1.4 lens. Shot RAW and converted to JPEG for uploading to Blogger. Click on any thumbnail for a larger view.)

Popular Photography First Look: K-7

As I said in the previous American Photo post, I cannot upload this copyrighted material since I don't own the rights or have permission from the owner. However, I can share this much with you.

The July issue of Popular Photography features a hands-on review of the K-7 by Philip Ryan. The review, entitled "Prize Patrol/That Winning Feeling" starts with the following observation...“Things had been quiet on the upper end of the PENTAX DSLR front...Well the silence has been broken. No, make that shattered.”

A few comments Phil made include:
- In-camera HDR is opening a door for newbie's to “explore this growing trend.”
- Composition Adjust “is perfect for tough-to-arrange macro shots.”

Phil acknowledged they were eager to get a production unit to run it through their tests in the Pop Photo Lab. This issue has already been mailed to subscribers, and should be on the newsstand any day.

(Note June 11: Pop Photo must be running split covers for the July issue, as we just received more copies with a cover that features a large hero shot of the K-7)

K-7's First Award

Please understand that I cannot upload this copyrighted material since I don't own the rights or have permission from the owner. However, I can share this much with you.

We just received a pre-newsstand copy of the July/August issue of American Photo. This is the issue that contains their “Editor’s Choice Awards for 2009”. We were excited (or really "stoked" to use a surfer's term) to see they awarded the Pentax K-7 (and the Nikon D90) their camera of the year for the “Advanced D-SLR” category. They stated their reason for this joint award as follows:

“We couldn’t decide whether the Nikon D90 or Pentax K-7 should win the Advanced D-SLR of the year, so we chose them both. Yet each has different strengths: The Nikon is a low light champ, the Pentax an affordable pro-spec workhorse.”

We were also pleased to read that American Photo gave the new DA*55mm lens an Editor's Choice, and the P70 its “Best Buy” rating for Compact cameras.

If you're interested in reading the reviews, I believe this issue will hit the newsstands by the third week of this month, if not a few days earlier in certain markets.

Upgrade Mentality?

Apple announced the new iPhone 3G S at their WWDC conference yesterday. I spent a little time last night reading the reactions to the new phone on the various tech websites and forums. As expected, many posters complained that there was little improvement in the new 3G S and they weren't going to upgrade from their current 3G.

I have to admit that I chuckled at the similarity to all the discussions on various photo forums about whether one should upgrade from the K10D, K20D etc, to the K-7. Since we're comparing totally different product categories, this is one time I can unabashedly state that compared to the 3G S, we've put a ton of significant new features and capabilities in the K-7, and therefore the thought process of whether to upgrade or not should be a brain-dead decision.

As I realize we all have limited funds to purchase new gear, my somewhat biased advice is to pass on upgrading your iPhone, and buy that K-7! Unfortunately, I've promised my wife I will hold out for more than 60 days before I buy the 3G S, so I still have a ways to go in my quest to ignore upgrade angst.

(Note: The comments above are intended to be tongue-in-cheek and do not reflect the opinions of anyone at Apple or HOYA...but yours truly.)

K-7 Custom Image Presets

The K-7 has six Custom Image presets including Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant, and Muted. These presets offer an additional -4 to +4 steps of additional tuning for saturation, hue, brightness, contrast, and sharpness. There is also a Monochrome mode with the same range of adjustment over brightness, contrast and sharpness.

Since it's hard to visualize how these presets will affect your image, I had a chance over the weekend to take a few photos of my 88 year old mother to show the likely results you can expect in using these different presets. Since I'm shooting with a pre-production camera, I'm restricted from posting images larger than 600x800. All images shot in JPEG with no processing, editing or cropping before uploading files to Blogger.

Photos below displayed from top to bottom: BRIGHT, NATURAL, PORTRAIT, VIBRANT, MUTED and MONOCHROME. As it wasn't appropriate, I did not take a photo in LANDSCAPE mode. Lens used: FA 50mm f/1.4 with aperture set to f/5.6 for these photos.

K-7 HDR Capture Mode

I had a chance to spend a little time over the weekend experimenting with the HDR capture mode in the K-7.

I'll post some comments later, but have uploaded a few series of HDR shots. Since we are still shooting with pre-production cameras, we are not allowed to post sample files larger than 600x800. The photos in these series include a standard photo, an HDR 1 photo and an HDR 2 photo. I should note that when shooting in HDR mode, you really ought to use a tripod. I can't attest to the absolute sharpness of my HDR shots, as I did not bring a tripod on this this trip and had to resort to supporting the camera with a table, chair rail or other nearby solid object.

To read more about the K-7's HDR mode, you might want to check out Jack Howard's First Look at K-7 HDR