Don't Cry for Me My Cantina

This happened this morning.

There's a myriad of coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques  in Beaufort St Mount Lawley. After ambling past four or five I settled on Cantina. Good choice! Warm relaxed ambience, attentive staff, free newspapers and really top coffee. The sun was shining, birds were tweeting, I had enough money for coffee and nobody was shooting at me. This was going to be  a good day. At least that's what I thought.

Alston's cartoon in the West made me chuckle and I was two sips into my long macchiato when my mobile rang. Whoops! Long lost girlfriend was calling.   In my eagerness to answer I stood up, rattling the table and clean bowled my coffee over the paper, the table and a friendly lion. (not so friendly after the coffee stains).

Who said men can't do two things at once? I was simultaneously chatting to long lost GF and apologising to coffee shop staff and tentatively dabbing at the soggy lion. Maybe this won't be such a good day.  The lion's boyfriend did not look happy. As I chatted to my confused ex GF a young waitress cleaned up the mess and promptly returned with a replacement long macchiato. Lion was weeping brown tears.

By the time I had finished my second long mac and the call from my ex GF my pulse rate was back down to 190 beats a minute. I approached the counter to pay for two coffees at $4 each. The cherub-faced waitress had Marilyn Monroe style,bouncy blonde hair, bright red lipstick and smile like a Kimberley moon. She leant over and whispered secretly,
 'Tell me about your girlfriend'
'It was a long, long time ago; more than fifty years ago'
'That's soooo romantic' she gushed.
''Oh is it? How much for coffee?'
The smile broadened - I'm sure she could have done a Pepsodent commercial with no rehearsal.
'No charge, its on the house'

I was walking on sunshine, feeling so good. I glanced sideways.  The lion's boyfriend looked a bit dark.
Oh well, nobody's perfect.

Nikon D600 VS Pentax K-3 - what the Ad didn't tell you!

Pentax K-3

The back page of The Weekend Australian Nov 16-17 2013 carries an impressive full page advertisement for the new Pentax K-3 DSLR camera. The ad does what all good ads do in promoting the features of the camera. That's fair enough. However, it draws a direct comparison between the K-3 and Nikon's D600, suggesting that the K3 is the 'Leader of the Resolution'. I'm sorry to say that nothing could be further from the truth. The facts plainly don't support Pentax's claim. The ad would be more aptly headed the 'Leader of Deception'

Nikon D600

Let me be clear at the outset. I'm not bagging the K-3. I love Pentax. But I am questioning both the accuracy and the ethics of the comparison. I'm still the proud owner of two grand old Pentax 67 film cameras and half a dozen magnificent Pentax lenses. The Pentax 67 is not a 'pretty' camera. Its a classic old vintage model, born of an era when they made 'real' cameras - heavy, solid, simple, virtually foolproof, bombproof, thoroughly reliable performing for more than 30 years. (A bit like the author)

Now back to the problem of the misleading advertisement. What the ad does NOT tell you is that the sensor in the K-3 is APS size and the Nikon is full-frame. Sensor size is the single most important factor in determining image quality. The K-3 sensor measures 366.6 square millimetres and the D600 measures 861.6 square millimetres. In other words the D600 sensor is 235% larger than the K3. That is a massive difference.

Now, here is where the problems really start for Mr Pentax. Because they have packed 24 MP into an APS sensor the K-3's pixel density* has sky rocketed to 65,466 pixels per square millimetre. Whereas the pixel density for the D600 is only 27,855 pixels per square millimetre. In  fact the K-3's pixel density is higher than the tiny Panasonic TZ40 compact camera!

The ad also fails to mention that the Nikon D600 gives you 900 shots from a  fully charged battery while the K-3 can only squeeze out 560 clicks.

The K-3 also has a multiplier of 1.5X on all full frame lenses which further complicates achieving a true wide angle lens result. If you buy APS lenses for the K-3 you will have lost a lot of money when you decide to upgrade to a full-frame camera.

The advertisement is big and impressive and I'm sure Pentax will sell quite  a few cameras. However, the ad is deceptive and misleading suggesting that resolution is superior on the K-3. The facts speak for themselves - the D600 eats the K-3 for breakfast, with hardly a burp.


*The higher the pixel density number the lower the camera's performance.

Join Dale Neill during the UWA Summer School Workshops and find out what makes your camera click!
Talking of clicking, click HERE for details.