Another box of goodies arived today. This time it’s some more loaner gear for me to put to the test. What we have here is a Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 lens, Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro lens and a Sigma EM-140 DG TTL ring flash kit. Stay tuned…

Mr. UPS brought my new Pentax FA 35mm f/2 AL lens today. It has an equivalent field of view on my K10d of 52.5mm, making it the closest you can get to a real “fast fifty” FoV on a Pentax DSLR. This lens has been discontinued by Pentax so I figured I’d better snap one up while I could. I paid $330 from B&H with free shipping. Good thing I acted when I did because it’s now not even listed on their site any more…

I’ll be testing it over the next few days for my review. Here’s a shot of the kit (shot in my kitchen studio):

I’m really digging the lens hood (and thus planning a new center-pinch lens cap purchace).

I’m a little concerned about the focus performance of my Pentax K10D DSLR. Before I get too far into it, let me  establish a little background first…

Two years ago I was looking for an upgrade to my then 2 year old Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D). I really didn’t have much more than the kit lens and a cheap-o EF 50mm f/1.8 II, so I didn’t feel too married to Canon. I did my research and decided the then new Pentax K10D represented a better value for the $1,800 I had to spend than the more expensive Canon 30D. So, I gave my Rebel to my sister-in-law and ordered up a K10D body, Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX and Sigma 10-20mm EX from B&H Photo.

The ergonomics, features, IQ, and interface were all so much better than my old Rebel that there wasn’t much time for  retrospection. I embraced my new rig and started shooting like mad. Six months and 20K snaps later I had added the excellent DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 to my kit. To my surprise, Santa (in the form of my mom and step dad) gave me a $1,000 Wolf Camera gift certificate for Christmas 2007. Suddenly I found myself in a quandary.

You see, I had become somewhat smitten by the full frame Canon 5D we had at the office for the Marketing team I managed. It had always seemed so out of reach to me and now suddenly it was all-too-close. After a few days of agonizing over what to do, I ended up selling off my K10D kit to a co-worker friend and added the proceeds to my gift certificate. 2008 began with a brand new Canon 5D body (the $3,000 body was all I could afford). Fortunately, my old 50 1.8 was collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer so I was able to actually use the 5D while I saved up for some better glass.

It was hard to draw many comparisons between the 5D and K10D. They really are quite different cameras- with the 5D being much more like a 35mm film camera than a high-tech digital. Plus, the clunky old 50mm prime I started out with on the 5D really wasn’t anything like the Sigma EX zoom lenses I had had on my K10D. What I didn’t know was that I would decide to leave my six figure job in April to return to school and finish my undergraduate degree. This move required scaling back across the board and my beloved 5D (and all the L glass I hoped to own) suddenly seemed like an excessive luxury. I decided to sell it, my EF 50 f/1.8 II, and the EF 28 f/2.8 and EF 85 1.8 USM I had acquired on Craigslist and invest the proceeds into my college fund. For the first time in 7 years I was without a DSLR.

In September of last year my former co-worker felt pity for my situation and gave me back my old K10D with the kit lens off his new K20D! Since then I have been shooting like mad with the kit lens and a 20-year-old SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 manual focus lens I picked up off of eBay. In the past couple of months that former co-worker of mine has also shared his DA* 16-50 f/2.8 and DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited lenses with me to test on my blog. I wasn’t too impressed by the 16-50 (see review) and my experience thus far with the 35mm macro has been mixed (review here).

While I was at PMA a few weeks ago I played around a bit with all the various cameras on display. Both Pentax and Canon had similar demo set-ups for their top-of-the-range telephoto lenses. While using the DA* 300mm f/4 in the bright tradeshow lighting I tried focusing on a subject standing a few meters away and the SDM motor woooshed close then dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beeped” into focus lock. I then swung the lens up and selected a far away subject- woooosh, dunk, dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beep”. Selecting a subject a few feet away from the second the DA* 300 went dunk, dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beep”. This all seemed quite normal to me. From my experience shooting both the DA* 50-135 f/2.8 and DA* 16-50 f/2.8 SDM equipped lenses.

Then, I moseyed over to the Canon booth where they had a very similar display set up with a 1D Mark III and EF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens. Repeating the short-to-long focus test (this time with a much heavier f/2.8 lens) the Canon went woosh, “beep-beep” to the close subject then woosh, “beep-beep” to the far subject. Selecting a nearby subject to the far one I got bump, “beep-beep”. Surprised I tried several more times, panning the camera around and selecting subjects that were just out of focus. Each time I simply got bump, “beep-beep” as the subject popped into near instant focus. At the time I merely chalked this up to the near 10X cost difference between the two set-ups and continued on my way.

Fast forward a few weeks to yesterday and my niece’s 3rd birthday party. I found myself two-fisting my K10D with 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited and my sister-in-law’s Canon Rebel XT with kit lens (my old camera) while capturing both indoor and outdoor birthday party action. I was immediately aware at how much faster the 4 year old Rebel was locking focus than my K10D was. It was almost exactly like the performance difference I had experienced at PMA.

While the kids were busy taking turns in the kayak (and out of decent photo range for any of my lenses) I took a moment to do a little non-scientific focus testing. I manually set both cameras to infinity focus, selected the center focus point, 35mm focal length (on the Canon) and (in bright sunlight) focused on my hand at around 18″ away, then on the far side of the lake (infinity), then back to a post about 6′ away with the 35mm Macro on the K10D and the 18-55mm kit lens on the Rebel XT. In all cases the Canon nailed the focus point with zero hunting… zip, “beep-beep”, ziiip, “beep-beep”, ziip, “beep-beep”. The Pentax however, struggled a bit. The focus test went weeeee, tick, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” for the close subject, then weeeeee, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” for the far subject. Then, the camera completely missed the post 6′ away and went weeeeeeeeeeee all the way to it’s closest focus distance than weeeeeeeee, tick, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” on the post. (To be fair, this is a macro lens).

Thinking that the Pentax 35mm Macro might have been to blame (which it was), I pulled out my Pentax 18-55 Mark I kit lens and repeated this test again. The results were nearly identical with the exception that the Pentax kit lens did not overshoot the post and merely ticked around a couple of times before locking focus. Also, the lighter less damped focus action on the kit lens did make it seem a tad snappier when focusing between the close subject and the far subject. Incidentally, this time to reach the correct focus distance was basically identical for both the Pentax and the Canon kit lenses. The exception being all the tick, tick, ticking the Pentax lenses did before locking focus. (In case you were wondering I also repeated a similar test inside under poorer lighting with the two kit lenses and got nearly identical results as outside).

Discussing this with my co-worker friend, he relayed the results of a similar test he decided to try with his K20D as follows:

I just did back to back comparisons of the K20d + FA 50/1.4 and my Rebel + EFII 50/1.8. In indirect sunlight, using the center focus point I swapped focus between the front hedge at about 10M away and my left hand outstretched.
The Canon will ziiiiip, stop, confirmation beep.
The Pentax ziiiiips from 10M to my hand quickly just like the Canon but then it quickly zips one (or two!) more times before focus confirmation… Almost like it has momentum from the first movement.
I’ve been fully aware of this (and failure to focus–maddening) but had assumed that after twenty years of screw-driven, TTL autofocus technology this was the best the world could do. Seems it’s the best Pentax can do.
IMHO this is the worst aspect of my K20d.

Keep in mind that his test was done with a state-of-the-art $1,000 K20D + FA 50mm f/1.4 vs a $300 6 year old Canon 300D + 50mm f/1.8 II eBay find.

In hindsight I realize now how many shots I have missed over the years with my Pentax due to its slow autofocus performance. The most frustrating part is that the vast majority of shots I’m missing are while the camera is tick, tick, ticking its way towards focus lock, not because it has mis-focused. Once it gets there it is generally just as accurate as any other camera I have used. I hope Pentax is listening and improves the performance of their next generation of DSLRs. In my opinion, this is much more important than live view, more megapixels, movie recording, higher frame rates, and/or higher ISO performance. Pentax’s DSLRs are some of the best values on the market. Bring the AF speed up to par with the competition would end a lot of arguments in Pentax’s favor.

What do you think?

PS- I excluded Nikon from this comparison because I have very limited experience with their modern DSLRs. However, I did borrow a friend’s D300 + 50mm f/1.8 to take some studio shots of my K10D for my DA* 16-50 f/2.8 review. The camera was set up to use all 50-something focus points in AI mode. Being unfamiliar with Nikon’s focus confirmation implementation I didn’t realize until after I was done shooting that when all those grey boxes popped up in the viewfinder that the camera had locked focus. In hindsight I now realize that it was happening so fast that I was unaware that the camera was focusing. To get my shots BTW, I ended up switching over to manual focus ;-)

UPDATE: First of all I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting that Pentax’s autofocus system is any less accurate than anyone else’s. It is clearly quite effective. Also, I fully understand that Pentax has to pick and choose where they spend their limited development funds and I am happy they put it where they have (weather sealing, in-body shake reduction, user oriented controls, etc). In fact, that is why I chose Pentax over the others in the first place. My main reason for publishing this article was to attempt to draw the same comparisons so many Pentax users have over the past few years in a more objective manner so that those who haven’t experienced the differences themselves could be more fully informed. Too many consumers buy products today based on too narrow a point of view and then blame the product when it doesn’t meet their expectations.

The BlackRapid R-Strap RS-4 camera strap was only product I came across at PMA that I decided to buy and try for myself because I thought it was such a clever solution for an age-old problem. BlackRapid has obviously gotten a lot of press for this product because I am seeing a high percentage of Google hits on my site from my single mention of it last week. So, I decided to forgo the usual studio photography routine and go ahead and publish my user review to help all of those of you obviously trying to figure out if this thing is worth all the hype.

Pros:

• Quick access to camera as advertised.
• New design camera mount is fairly easy to use and solid.
• Decent construction quality of shoulder pad.

Cons:

• Camera incessantly gravitates to an in-the-way position.
• Difficult adjustment mechanism.
• Camera dangles and spins at your side.
• Chintzy connection clip.*
• S.W.A.T. team riot gear styling.
• Shoulder pad does not stay put.
• Connection clip may contact LCD screen potentially causing damage.
• Camera can not be set flat without removing mount.
• Sharp edges on camera mount can damage surfaces, other objects, etc.
• $50 price tag.

Conclusion:

I’m guessing by this point you can tell that I’m not a huge fan of the R-Strap. The most disappointing thing is that I had such high hopes for this product. In fact, I made a special trip back to BlackRapid’s booth and forked over $40 (PMA show special- $8 off their MSRP) just so I could start using it right away even though they promised to mail me a review unit after the show. Eager to get rid of my 12 year old Nikon branded neoprene shoulder strap, I stepped around the corner and quickly tore into the package. Immediately, I encountered difficulty with the connector clip. Then, I struggled to get the length of the strap adjusted to suit my preference. After spending a good 6-8 minutes squatting behind a trash can I was finally ready to put the R-Strap to use.

Within the first 5 minutes I was already starting to think I had made a mistake. My camera just wouldn’t stay put. It kept gravitating to the bottom of the strap which put it on my right hip with the lens sticking straight out into my arm and oncoming traffic. I tried turning and shifting my camera sideways and around to the small of my back like the BlackRapid people had shown me to do standing in their booth. But as soon as I started walking it would quickly slide back around front where I’d smack my lens against my arm or some poor soul walking by. I knocked the lens hood off my little kit lens 3 times in the first 10 minutes of use. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been had I been sporting a longer lens.

Thinking that maybe I hadn’t gotten used to this new-and-improved way of carrying my camera, I was determined to give it the ol’ college try and muddled through the rest of the day and half through the following day. Yes, the R-Strap did make it quite quick and efficient for me to get my camera to my eye and snap a picture. And, I love the fact that the strap doesn’t get all tangled up across the eyepiece like a traditional strap always seems to do. However, I just couldn’t get used to my camera dangling, twirling and knocking into everything while I was walking the show and the streets and casinos of Las Vegas.

BlackRapid seems to market their product to people on the go. From my experience the R-Strap is really only suitable for photographers in a static position that need quick access to their camera (like sports photographers standing on a sideline with three cameras around their neck). I can see how it might work better attached to the tripod collar on a larger telephoto lens- though the laws of gravity seem to suggest that it’s always going to seek the lowest point and not stay behind your back as BlackRapid suggests. As it is- combined with the geeky styling, camera dings and high price tag- I can not recommend the R-Strap. And I’m really bummed about that. Be that as it may, lot’s of people seem to swear by it so make your own choice.

Now for the details and photos:

Review:

The key to the strap’s design is the sliding camera hook (top). Note how the adjustment buckle is positioned at the left with the tag (loose) end of the strap feeding back through the pad assembly. This makes loosening the strap a piece of cake (pull down on the buckle while tugging on the bottom of the strap). However, if like me you get it too loose, you have to remove the strap and feed it backwards through the pad in 1/2″ increments until you get the fit right. I never did figure out the purpose of the extra buckle on the right. I tried feeding the tag end of the strap through it but it was too tight of a fit. Instead, it just dug into my back most of the time.

Adjustment mechanism detail. It’s basically like a backpack strap turned upside down. Why it is turned upside down I’m not sure.

Connector clip and FastenR camera mount. The connector clip on this version is basically a suitcase strap spring clip with a DIY aquarium tubing “lock” mechanism. The importance of this seems obvious but the implementation made it nearly impossible to open the clip wide enough to get the ring on the mount through. *To be fair, BlackRapid showed me a new carabiner style clip with a screw down lock mechanism that seems much more appropriate to this application. They said it would be shipping on the new RS-4 straps “soon.”

The camera mount screws into the tripod mount on the bottom of your camera. There is a rubber washer that provides tension as you tighten the mount to the camera body. This is a very clever way to lock the mount securely to the camera and is a significant improvement over the previous version. An extra rubber washer was included in the package- suggesting that this one will eventually get lost or fail.

Once installed the camera hangs neatly from the mount via the clip. Orientation of the mount is not important since the clip spins freely.

One potential alarming thing I noticed was that the clip would contact my LCD screen on my camera when I was using the R-Strap without my battery grip. The potential for scratching not withstanding, hit it the wrong way once and you could break the LCD screen. BlackRapid does make a point of including a disclaimer card saying they are not responsible for damage to your camera caused though the use of their product. You know what that means….

Another drawback to this design is that once you screw the mount into your camera you can no longer set your camera level on a flat surface. I made the mistake of doing this on my dining table and the sharp corners of the mount left a nasty gouge in the finish. I guess that’s part of the risk I assumed in using this product. :-/

The strap worn in its intended manner. I say “intended” because a number of times I put it on backwards. I’m not sure what I would put in the pocket. Designers always think we need more pockets on our stuff. More pockets just equals more places to loose things. In this case it also means more material and labor cost. Since the camera is not attached to the two fixed ends of the strap like on a traditional shoulder strap, every time you pick the camera up to shoot, the shoulder pad has a tendency to shift one way or the other due to the effect of gravity. Mine kept working its way over my shoulder and down my back where it was impossible to reach to pull it back up. This lead to me having to remove the strap regularly and replacing it backwards by mistake. The “cool mesh” backing material on the pad is likely to blame here and a non-skid material would make more sense.

Here you can see how the camera starts off in the middle of my back then after a few steps has worked its way to the back of my hip and then a few steps later around to its preferred location at the front of my hip. No matter how I positioned the camera this is what would happen within a dozen steps- banging into my arm on the way around.

Now, with the camera hanging as it is in the third frame above, it is in the ideal position for easily grabbing the grip…

…and quickly raising the camera to your eye for a shot. Notice how the clip has slid along the strap rather than the strap sliding around your body. Also notice how the strap is coming off the bottom of the camera where it is out of the way rather than off the top. This is what held so much promise for me.

However, after walking a few more steps the camera would flip itself around so that the flat back was against my body and the lens was pointing out. This made it somewhat awkward to grab hold of…

…and really creates a problem when your arm swings by. Also, having your camera hanging off your hip (lens out) is the worst position for walking in any kind of crowd. Clink, bump, clank, “excuse me, is this your lens hood sir?”

So, is the R-Strap any better than a standard shoulder strap? That depends. If the shoulder strap is worn like this, it seems like an even bet either way (though at $48+ shipping not a bet I’d be willing to take). Here the camera is always slipping off the shoulder, is dangling with the lens pointing out in the way of your arm and is quite difficult to reposition after a shot.

However (given a long enough strap- unlike my stock Pentax one), worn across the chest like the R-Strap a standard shoulder strap starts to make a lot more sense.

You can easily tuck the camera to the back of your hip where it will stay within easy reach but out of the way while you walk.

When the going gets tough, you can just swing the camera around the the small of your back where it is completely out of the way. Simply tug the strap to slide it back around to the front for a shot. I have litteraly logged hundreds (possibly thousands!) of miles in all kinds of sitautions with this set-up. My only gripe about this whole system is the grippyness required for the strap to stay where you put it also means it will constantly be pulling your clothing around with it. Maybe BlackRapid will continue to improve ther product and make a version that lives up to its promise and potential. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that.

Update:

Apparently the clip I couldn’t figure out on the right in the first picture of the review section is a stop block that you can set to prevent the camera from sliding further backwards than you wish for it to. (For the record, the instructions that came with the strap make no mention of this clip or its function.) I tried it and it basically only prevented me from sliding the camera around to my back where I wanted it. Had I placed it in a way that would keep my camera out of the way it would have prevented me from sliding it around front to take a picture. I also tried positioning it so that it kept the camera hanging in front of my body but the weight of my camera just pulled the whole rig back around to my side again.

Please let me know if there is anything else I’m missing here.

The photos for this review were hastily shot with a borrowed Nikon D40. Some of the shots were taken left handed and upside down. I apologize in advance for any lackluster image quality ;-)

I have typically resisted battery grips for my DSLRs because I felt that they weren’t worth the extra bulk. There have only been a half dozen times in my the past 5 or 6 years that I actually drained a fresh battery while shooting. Even then, I just pulled a back-up battery out of my bag/pocket and kept on shooting. My K10D routinely gets 200-300 shots out of a charge so I haven’t even bothered to pick up an extra battery. After playing around with a Nikon D3 and a Canon 1D Mark III (both cameras with built-in vertical grips) I was struck by how much better these cameras felt in my hand- despite their heavier weight. In preparation for heading out to the PMA show I decided to pick up an extra battery. While I was shopping I discovered Cameta had a deal on Amazon for a BG2 battery grip + extra no-name battery for $139.95. This meant if I bought the grip I’d get the battery essentially for free. So I took the plunge. Here’s what I discovered:

Pros:

• Vastly improves ergonomics, balance and stability of the camera.
• Extra battery equals more shots between charges.
• Ability to designate grip battery as the primary battery so it depletes first- leaving the in-camera battery as a back-up.
• Redundant controls for vertical shooting.
• Solid OEM build quality (weather sealed, too).
• Does not require removal of in-camera battery and battery door like some grips do.
• Nifty storage slots for extra SD card and Pentax IR remote.
• Makes camera look more “significant”.

Cons:

• Added weight (11oz).
• Added bulk (may not fit in many bags).
• Redundant controls are not placed identically to camera controls and do not function as well.
• Tripod screw mount takes a few seconds to engage/disengage.
• Vertical grip not as substantial as regular grip.
• No AA battery option.

Conclusion:

Having used the grip for three days of walking around the Las Vegas Convention Center and a couple of days worth of my normal routine I can safely say that this is the best accessory I have purchased for my camera. Surprisingly, it’s not because of the extra battery life. The main advantage of the battery grip for me is the dramatic improvement in the ergonomics and handling of the camera. If you own a Pentax DSLR you owe it to yourself to pick one of these up (the K200D uses the BG3 grip). The improvements it makes are easily worth the $130. I actually believe that this is one of the only accessories that I have tried that can actually help improve the quality of your photographs by making the camera a more natural extension of your hand. If you have another brand of camera I can only assume that their battery grips will provide a similar improvement in the handling of your camera (though some are a bit more fussy to work with).

On to the pictures and details…

Review:

Fresh out of the box the BG2 impresses with its build quality. It is a direct match to the finishes of the K10/20D (including the molded rubber insert). The plastic shell is thick and the whole assembly feels quite solid. Like all accessory battery grips, the BG2 attaches to the bottom of the camera via the tripod mount socket. Pentax thoughtfully includes an accessory socket on the bottom of their cameras for the battery grip so one doesn’t have to remove the battery and battery door as is common on most other DSLRs. They even include a place to store the rubber cover so you don’t have to track it down later (large red arrow). This means that the grip can be quickly and easily installed and removed as desired. The grip is kept located on the bottom of the camera body by three stainless steel posts (arrows 1, 2 & 3). Nikon uses one tiny plastic peg on their D300 grip.

Detail of the rubber cover holder.

The BG2’s battery tray is released using a similar flip-up-and-twist lever as the battery door on the bottom of the camera and slides out completely from the grip housing. It has a thick rubber gasket to seal against moisture and dust. A standard D-LI50 battery fits into the tray (1) and there is a space for an extra SD card (2) and Pentax’s optional IR remote control (3). Very thoughtful design. Unfortunately, there appears to be no AA battery tray option for the BG2.

Mounted on the camera, the BG2 very nicely matches the design of the K10/20D. It’s not nearly as bulky and blocky looking as some others I have seen (Canon 5D for example) and as such, doesn’t look so much like an add-on. The bottom is solid plastic with a center-mounted metal tripod socket. Some kind of rubber pad/coating on the bottom would be a nice touch as I’m sure the plastic will start showing wear pretty quickly. A rubber pad would also be nice for long exposure shots when the camera is braced against a wall or other surface. As you can see here, the camera will stand upright on the battery grip with the kit lens. I’m sure that a larger, heavier lens like Pentax’s 16-50 f/2.8 DA* would likely result in tip-over.

Pentax gives you the ability to select which battery the camera will use first. I’m not sure what “Auto” mode does but I selected the grip battery as the primary battery (despite what this photo shows). This means that I will not have to remove the grip to recharge the camera battery very often. This also ensures that the camera battery is fresh in case I decide to ditch the grip for some stealthy street shooting or something.

The BG2 (bottom) replicates most of the K10D’s (top) shooting controls for vertical shooting. While the controls on the front pretty much match the location of the camera’s controls, the ones on the back (exposure comp, AE-L, e-dial) have been rearranged. This will require a bit of remapping of your muscle memory for using the vertical shooting controls. The on/off switch on the grip only turns the grip’s controls on and off (not the camera). I found this feature nice as I was constantly bumping the shutter release on the grip while holding the camera (even though it is recessed). The rear e-dial does not protrude as much as the camera’s and does not have the same fluid action which made it somewhat difficult to manipulate.

I also found the BG2’s vertical grip to be considerably shallower than the camera’s horizontal grip. It does feature a nice rubber insert and a lip for your fingers to grip but never felt as secure in my hand as I would have liked. Another oddity is that the eyepiece is offset towards the bottom left of the camera when using the vertical grip. I often find myself having to hunt around for the viewfinder when shooting with the vertical grip. Personally, I just leave the grip turned off and continue to use the camera’s controls in the hand-over-the-top style while shooting vertical shots.

Now for the good stuff. Notice how my pinkie finger is clinging for life on the bottom of the K10D w/o the battery grip (top)? With the grip there’s now a very nicely contoured pocket for my little finger to help hold onto and control the camera (bottom).

More significantly, notice how the heel of my hand is just hanging out in space in the top photo while in the bottom photo the grip fills the void. Without the grip the camera is supported by my fingers and thumb. With the grip the camera is now cradled in my entire hand with my palm taking the weight instead of my fingers. This provides significantly improved control of the camera as well as far greater comfort while holding the camera for long periods of time. While walking a trade show I like to carry the camera in my hand rather than wear it on a strap around my neck or shoulder. Without the grip the tips of my fingers become quite sore after and hour or so. With the grip I was able to go all day with no discomfort. In my opinion, the improvement in ergonomics alone justifies the purchase price of the BG2.

Buy one today. You’ll be glad you did!

UPDATE: After using the BG2 for a few more weeks I have started using the vertical grip for taking portrait shots more and more. I think it just took a little getting used to. Doing so I noticed a small problem the other day. The rear e-dail on the grip stopped working. I removed the grip and discovered one of the spring loaded contact pins on the grip was stuck down…

I suspect this was due to me being a bit hasty while installing the grip a some time. After popping it loose I found that it was bent slightly so I gently bent it back straight. All is well again. Careful with those pins!

PMA 2009 is in the books. All in all it was a pretty lack-luster show for us enthusiasts. Following are a few more product findings, some observations and my conclusions about the show in general. Be sure to check out my Day 1 and Day 2 reports if you haven’t already.

Click through for the rest of my Day 3 report or click here for my complete PMA report.

Seahorse’s waterproof hard-sided equipment cases have all the features of the bigger brands at less than half the price. If and when I need one of these this will be the brand I’ll buy.

Hoya’s new HD filters promise to redifne the filter paradigm. I picked up a 77mm sample for testing. Unfortunately, I don’t presently have a lens with a 77mm element. I hear Pentax’s 16-50 f/2.8 DA* does…

Liquid Image’s scuba mask digital camera may look pretty retarded but it’s actually a one of the more clever ideas at the show. As a former certified scuba diver I can safely say that, unless underwater photography is your profession, a dedicated cost-effective solution like this makes a lot of sense. (Have you priced underwater DSLR housings lately?) The hands-free design is quite ingenious for sport divers as it eleimnates the usual fumbling with underwater cases. I get the idea behind the mask-mounted lights, but if it were me I’d pass on them and just carry an old fashioned hand-held dive light for those deep water shots.

Note to Tamrac: hire a design firm. Your bags are u-g-l-y!

“So you won’t look like a tourist.” I’m told that this OP/TECH neoprene camera cover is easy-on/easy-off. This looks to me like some kind of combination ED and S&M/bondage product.

(no comment)

Ladies, why confine your scrapbooking to dusty old books destined for life on a bookshelf? Why not carry your photos with you proudly displayed for everyone to see? Actually, now that I think of it, Braggables might be on to something. Louis Vuitton has got nothing on my girls.

Dust-Aid got a lot of attention for their new clear plastic film mirror box/sensor covers. I agree with them that their product could be an ideal solution for pros heading out on safari, but am skeptical about amateurs dropping $20 a pop for something this fragile.

A better $20 solution from Dust-Aid is their Dust-Aid Classic product. It features a special silicone pad that simply lifts dust off the sensor. This seems like such a better idea than just blowing dust around inside the mirror box where it’s likely to just end up back on the sensor.

By the way, Sigma has been sealing their mirror boxes for a while now. Why doesn’t anyone else do this?

Speaking of Sigma. Check out their 200-500 f/2.8 EX APO DG lens they had hiding around the side of their booth.

According to Sigma: “For the convenience of the photographer, focusing distances and focal lengths can be viewed on the lens’ built-in LCD panel.” That’s nice. Unfortunately, the $34,000 price tag does not include the stand needed to support this beast- you know, for the convenience of the photographer and all…

This bothers me somehow.

What exactly is it that Panasonic thinks we will be doing with their cameras?

I found it somewhat ironic that focus and zoom rings on Samsung’s versions of the Pentax lenses are a closer design match to Pentax’s old lenses than their new ones (old on the right, new in the middle and on the left):

In Conclusion:

The digital camera industry has reached a critical development point. Today’s cameras have made wonderful photography accessible to the masses. However, all the bells and whistles modern cameras now feature are making it harder for novice photographers to actually learn photography. It used to be that entry-level photographers would start off their learning experience with a fully manual 35mm SLR and then step up to more feature rich products as they developed their photographic skill and better understood how to make the most of the extra features. Today’s entry-level DSLRs have basically all the same features as the most advanced professional models. The problem is that, in an effort to make the entry-level cameras more approachable, even some of the most basic shooting settings are buried in a menu system and overridden by automatic settings. What has been lost is that critical connection between the photographer, the camera and the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed & ISO).

The result is that there are more and more people running around taking pictures with fancy cameras who have no idea why their pictures turn out the way they do. The problem is that they often quickly become frustrated when they realize there’s no creative preset for every type of picture they want to take. I have yet to see a “bokeh” preset for example. The solution that the camera industry seems to provide is new cameras with even more features. What I would like to see is the camera manufacturers use technology to build a camera with only the features that actually help people take better pictures while becoming better photographers. As an experienced product designer this is what I would do if given the chance:

• Put the aperture control ring back at the base of the lens but make it a “by wire” system that keeps the aperture open to maintain a bright viewfinder for composing the shot while providing feedback in the viewfinder. “A” setting provides automatic control.
• Dedicate a thumbwheel to shutter speed and index it so that it has dedicated and marked shutter speed stops like manual film cameras do. Again, provide digital feedback in the viewfinder and include an “A” setting.
• Dedicate a second dial to ISO control with similar feedback and an “A” setting. ISO range from 100 up to a usable 32,000 as seen on the the latest high end DSLRs.
• Include a front control dial dedicated to exposure compensation. Allow changes to steps and direction via the menu.
• Loose multi-point AF and just make the center focus point work damn well all the time.
• No built-in flash. Hot shoe mount only.
• Use the space saved by deleting the flash to make the viewfinder bigger, brighter and have 100% coverage.
• Dedicated on/off switch around the the shutter release button- not hidden on the back of the camera.
• In-body sensor shift image stabilization with auto-override for stabilized lenses.
• Simple multi-position switches for auto-focus and metering modes.
• Dedicated image review buttons (play, delete, zoom, info, navigation, etc.)
• Simplified menu structure- don’t waste space on things that don’t help take pictures like “slideshow” and “creative effects.”
• Include a dedicated B&W shooting mode (even for RAW). There’s something about knowing you’re shooting in B&W that causes you to look at composition differently.
• Maybe even make it a dedicated RAW format camera- sort of like shooting film you’re going to process yourself.
• Move the top-mounted LCD screen to a dedicated screen on the back (like Canon did on the original Digital Rebel) and don’t clutter up a whole 3″ LCD with graphics and too much information.
• Make it super responsive (menus, start-up, review, shutter lag, etc.) and fast (5+ frames per second).
• Wrap the whole thing in a mid-sized rugged metal weather sealed chassis.
• Include modular different sized rubber grip inserts to allow a custom fit to all hand sizes. Or perhaps you can go without a grip if you prefer.
• Price it all under $500 and bundle it with a 50mm f/1.8 (or faster) equivalent lens while making it compatible with all full frame and APS-C sized lenses offered by the manufacturer.

The interesting thing is that most of these features are already being done or have been done on one camera or another. Maybe if one of the big brands decides to follow my advice we’ll have something a bit more interesting to talk about next year. Something that reconnects the photographer with the camera and the whole photographic experience. Perhaps if I can find some free time I’ll mock-up a 3D CAD model to explore my ideas…

Day 2 I took another lap of the show floor looking for things I may have missed yesterday. Click through to see what I found.

This idea in some form or another showed up in several Asian vendors’ booths. The idea is simple: provide a remote display that uses the video out feed from cameras with live view. This version is wired to the camera and features an articulating screen. Others seen on the show floor featured wireless technology to transmit the video signal to a remote release. The basic idea is pretty clever but I have to wonder just how many people really need such a thing (voyeurs not withstanding).

CropLines is a specialty product that adds custom-designed crop lines to focus screens. They’re not particularly cheap (close to $200 per screen) but that is mostly due to the degree of handwork required. I’m thinking I could use one with square crop lines. If you print a lot of photos an 8 X 10 crop would also be useful. The focus screen pictured is for standardized studio portraits.

Those wily Germans at Novoflex have one-upped the tripod by adding a fourth leg. They call it the “Quadrapod”. Not content with adding an extra leg, they also made the whole thing modular. Each leg screws off to create monopods. Also, additional accessories can be attached to the head mechanism to further expand its usefulness:

Add two more mini legs and you have a packable table-top quadrapod. Add suction cups…

…and you can stick it to a window. In typical Germanic fashion, the build quality is second to none. I didn’t ask how much ’cause if you have to ask…

I figured if I was going to spend $15 on lunch I should get my money’s worth so I headed over to the Hilton to the Noodle Bar in the back of the Benihana restaurant for some Hong Kong style stir fry noodles.

Back to the show and I discovered Olympus’ cut-away version of their E3 DSLR. Is it just me or does this look more complicated than the Nikon D3 version from yesterday?

With the crowds dwindling I took a few moments to play with the Panasonic Lumix G1. It is quite a tidy little package though it feels a little on the plasticy side for my tastes. The electronic viewfinder (EVF) is quite strange for someone coming from a true SLR camera. The weirdest part was the fact that the EVF displays the exposure preview just like a PnS (point ‘n shoot) camera does. I can see this being sort of useful sometimes but could turn into a real turn-off as the image fluctuates back and forth looking for “proper” exposure. My guess is most users will just use the big LCD display on the pack like a PnS camera. I stand firm in my assertion that this camera (and others like it) are either pocket cameras that are too big to fit in a pocket or DSLRs that are too small to keep up with their larger brethren. BTW, I overheard a Panasonic employee boasting that their were a total of 6 lenses for the G1. Me, I’ll just keep carrying a PnS (an old Panasonic Lumix FX-07 actually) in my pocket and a real DSLR around my neck for the time being.

Finally, I wondered back to the Nikon booth to take a look at their new AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens. Obviously, I didn’t get to take any sample photos with it but it looks and handles pretty nice. I’m sure at $200 Nikon will sell a ton of these. If you have a Nikon DX format camera (anything other than a D700 or D3) I suggest you look at this lens. Having shot fast fifties on both full frame and DX sensor cameras, I can safely say that a 35mm lens on a DX sensor camera (52.5mm equiv focal length) is much more useful than a 50mm lens (75mm equiv)  for everyday use.

Tomorrow I’m planning on making one more pass. I wouldn’t hold your breath in anticipation of any more great finds.

Day one of PMA is in the books and as promised here is my first round of interesting product picks with comments. I will have more to report as the show continues and hopefully some additional in-depth reviews of a few of these items. Let’s dive in:

Prior to the show opening I headed up to the press center to pick up a lanyard for my badge and check things out. Outside of the press center I ran across Greg Downing from xRez standing in front of an awesome panorama of Yosemite valley that he helped create. Rather than try and explain what’s going on here I suggest you hit the xRez site and check it out for yourself. Very cool stuff.

The show opens to a pretty good crowd. I’m used to bigger shows (CES, for example) so this seems a bit tame to me. The show is contained within the two floors of the South Hall of the LVCC. CES, for example, uses the entire LVCC + the Sands Expo Center.

Joby has added a much needed ball head with bubble level to their often-imitated-never-duplicated Gorillapod.

Ever wonder what a Nikon D3 looks like cut in half? Wonder no more!

The LensPen people have come up with a nifty little sensor cleaning accessory the SensorKlear Loupe. At $60 I still think it’s a bit pricey for a magnifying glass + LED flashlight but it does feature a nifty slot in the side so you can reach in with your LensPen to get that pesky last speck of dust while you’re using the scope.

Not technically a photo product (nor a product on display) but I spied this “Wrist Writer” product on a guest at the Sigma booth. It features 25′ of paper on a spool that can be manually advanced to keep a running logbook of shot notes while in the field. I recommend field use as it is pretty incredibly dorky for anything where you might encounter other people ;-)

Also while in the Sigma booth a snapped this shot of a fellow Pentaxian’s DIY BlackRapid R-Strap. More on that later. I’m digging the 31 f/1.8 Limited lens, though.

I know I said I wasn’t going to blog about the mainstream products but I had to take a look at Panasonic’s new G1 while I was there. I find these new small form factor DSLRs quite interesting. Unfortunately, this photo illustrates the problem I have with this whole concept. Why would I want to bolt such a nice tidy little camera to such a huge lens? I mean isn’t the whole idea to have a smaller camera system?

Investigating further I uncovered the other problem with this system. Above is the complete collection of compact lenses for the G1. Clever concept but too limiting for enthusiast use IMO.

Naturally, I spent much time in the Pentax booth. They had a very interesting macro photography demonstration set up on display.

I also spent a little time with their new smc DA 15mm f/4 ED AL Limited wide angle lens. This is an absolute jewel of a little lens. I couldn’t tell much about the image quality from the few test shots I took on the show floor, but the thing just felt so nice that I know it will do well ;-)

Olympus had a very clever display for one of their ruggedized pocket cams. They were frozen in a solid block of ice. I presume at some point they will remove them from the ice and prove that they still work…

Samsung has arguably gotten the most attention at this year’s show with their new NX compact APS-C sized DSLR. This photo answers the question of whether or not there will be multiple lens options available for this camera. I like the little pancake lens but I refer back to my Panasonic G1 comments otherwise. Samsung says this camera “bridges the gap” between compact pocket cameras and full-sized DSLRs. Sounds to me like a compromise situation where no one wins.

Jill-e debuted a new line of stylish leather camera bags for men called “Jack”. If you don’t know Jill-e check them out. They are doing some really nice things with camera bags from a fashion standpoint that I haven’t seen before.

Here’s another Jill-e bag design featuring a highly functional “gatemouth”-style opening that makes getting at your gear while wearing the bag much easier. This proves that Jill-e is thinking beyond just style.

Next I visited the Crumpler booth where they were stuffing their bags with toilet paper (?). I complained about the difficulty of accessing my gear due to their universal use of a flap-over design and was told in no uncertain terms that Crumpler “always puts style above functionality.” Hmmmm.

For you studio lighting types I’m here to report that CFLs are now all the rage. This one has the output of a 250w incandescent lamp but outputs almost no heat and lasts 10K hours.

Lunch break: $13.85.

Zeiss Pentax mount 50 f/1.4: $550 MSRP. This could be the ultimate bokeh tool. I took a few sample shots and was immediately blown away by the complete lack of vignetting. I’m planning on getting a review sample or two to do a more in-depth analysis.

Bryce Thatcher and the crew at Clik Elite had some of the most unique bags I have seen yet at PMA this year. They have a very narrow focus right now on the adventure sports set but I’m told to keep an eye out for some more “mainstream” products that might appeal more to everyday outdoorsy folks like myself. Their first batch of products should be showing up at your local REI store in the next couple of weeks.

LowePro had a huge collection of bags. The one that caught my eye was their new Classified series of shoulder bags. They feature un-camera bag-like take-it-to-work styling with that gatemouth type opening that makes so much sense to me. My Crumpler may end up in the bottom of the closet for good.

Another clever thing I spotted in the LowePro booth was this camera mount on the handle of their roller bag. Perfect for those airport departure lounge self portraits. I get the sense that LowePro’s design staff actually uses (or at least consults with people who use) their products. Lots of clever design features like this that are missing on lesser bags.

This is the Ray Flash ring light accessory. As you can see, it bolts up to your existing external flash unit and re-directs the light to a large ring around the lens. This type of lighting is very popular for portrait photography. I find this to be very clever but am somewhat appalled at the $200 price tag. Pros won’t bat an eye at it but us amateurs need a more cost-effective solution. Plus, it seems a little plastic-y for the $$ IMO (though I have not used one yet).

Not a very good picture of a very clever product solution. The Shootsac is a function-specific neoprene shoulder bag with multiple compartments that allow one to keep all their lenses within easy arm’s reach. The designer has seen fit to add a fashion component with a bunch of interchangeable covers (none of which I would have chosen). Were I still shooting Canon and had a bunch of L zooms this product would make a lot of sense. As it is, my little Pentax lenses would get lost in there.

Trek-Tech has some very interesting products all based around a very slick custom magnetic tripod mount (shown above).

The most interesting Trek-Tech product was their MagBag system. Using the same magnetic tripod mount, the MagBag securely supports your camera beanbag-style. It has a number of other unique features that I hope to go into more detail about at a later date.

Across the asile from Trek-Tech (and at the far back corner of the exhibit hall) I found Black Rapid’s tiny booth. I found their new R-Strap a few weeks ago while doing some camera strap research. From the information I read online I couldn’t quite make out how the product worked. I got the fact that you attach the strap to the tripod mount on the bottom of your SLR, but I couldn’t see how it would be much better than a regular strap. The main benefit is shown above- the strap stays stationary while the camera slides along the strap on a D ring. I could do without the SWAT-style padded-strap-with-pockets styling, but overall it seems a very clever attempt at a solution to an age-old problem.

After the show I returned to the hotel to retrieve my laptop and download my pictures from the day while enjoying a cold one.

Then, I treated myself to a table for one at Mon Ami Gabi at Paris for some wine and steak frites :-)

Day two I’m back looking for things I missed and spending more quality time with some vendors looking for some nuggets to report on.

Tilt/shift photography (the real kind, not the kind you fake with a computer) can be quite fascinating and is a key component of high quality architectual photography. I have often wondered why Canon’s tilt/shift lenses didn’t come in wider focal lengths than 24mm. Tuesday, Canon announced the TS-E 17mm f/4L lens. This lens promises to make high quality wide angle tilt/shift photography available to APS-C sensor cameras (27.2mm equiv) while allowing full frame and 35mm film users to explore a whole new world of creative possibilities. If it is anything like Canon’s other TS-E lenses I’m sure (to the right people) it will be worth every penny of the $2,500 Canon is asking for it. Scheduled to ship in May.

The PR requests are starting to roll in pretty regularly for the upcoming PMA show. I even got a phone call from Kodak today while I was giving a presentation. I’ve worked with PR firms before. In fact, I have even hired them to work for me. Seeing how poorly most of these meeting requests are formatted I can’t help but wonder whose standards are this low, the PR people, the clients or the press they are trying to reach.