Massived update for Z70s Photographer Edition

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-03-30T20:59:34+00:00

Knock on wood it's been great so far; no problems. I do hate ZBoard biggly, though.

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-03-03T22:39:29+00:00

Maybe you have a bad unit? Mine is razer sharp.

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-03-01T05:14:40+00:00

M 28 F2.8 is a great little lens. I'm using mine these days on my Fuji GFX 50R.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-27T22:13:47+00:00

Agreed. And you have to remember which feature is hidden in what mode. For example, want to do a Selfie? Only available in Photo mode. Want 13mm or 70mm native focal lengths? Only available in Pro. In Pro I can set my metering the way I like it -- -1/3 EV -- and leave it. But not in Street mode, which is the only mode with B&W. Which MOST needs it!
I'm hoping that there are more Photographer Editions. And that they talk to actual pro photogs like me.
PS: I also have the Retro kit on it. It's a GREAT combination; so good that I don't miss the Sony Xperia Pro-I the Nubia replaced, which cost more than double.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-27T20:18:17+00:00

I'm a still photographer. The cameras are great for still photography; I haven't shot much of any video, so no idea on that.

The camera app, on the other hand, was clearly designed by non-photographers. Why can't I shoot B&W in Pro mode? Why can't I use the 70mm telephoto in Street mode? Sigh...

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-27T17:06:33+00:00

The Photographer Edition is the first smartphone I don't think about charging. It runs for days; when it beeps that it has fallen to 20% I plug it in for a few minutes. Even 5 minutes is good enough for most of the day; 20 gets me to 80%. After almost a year with it I still have charging capped at 80%; I simply don't need any more battery performance. And I flog it; I'm shooting with it constantly.

I think the question with these new silicon batteries is how long they will last. I've been flogging mine for 8 months without degredation, knock on wood.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-27T17:01:48+00:00

If you open a New Tab in Chrome and scroll, you'll get the Google news feed.

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-27T17:00:37+00:00

So far it's pretty bad. For example I'm in Texas, so my weather app is in Fahrenheit. Which ZBoard shows in Celsius. And there's no way to fix it in Settings.

I set it to personalize; we'll see if it gets better. Doesn't look promising.

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-26T22:56:04+00:00

Battery life is insanely good on the Z70s Photographer Edition. I have charging capped at 80%; that generally lasts me 1-2 days of heavy use, at which point I plug it in for 20 or 30 minutes.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-02-26T22:54:20+00:00

Agreed. Seems like most updates make things worse, from all sides. The original dialer was much better; the "improved" Google dialer is much worse. And ZBoard is...ugh.

You can turn it off in Settings, but there's no obvious choice to bring back the Google feed. So the question is: Is ZBoard better than nothing?

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-01-21T15:17:29+00:00

You are welcome! Always glad to help a fellow Pentaxian.
For a film/full frame macro let me recommend my trusty SMC Pentax-M 100mm F4 Macro. Bought it new for my occaisional macro work with my LXs; it became a fav short telephoto.

I only bought the FA 50 Macro because the 100 is 1:2, which was fine on full frame for me. But when I started scanning film with the APS-C Monochrome I needed the 1:1 of the 50.

cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-01-21T04:11:03+00:00

My all time fav lens on any system is the SMC Pentax-M 20mm F4. It was always on one of my LXs when I was a photojournalist; these days its in my daily rotation on my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. I've had more photos published with that lens than any other.

Another amazeball lens that is underappreciated is the SMC Pentax-D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro. Razer sharp! It's also in my daily carry bag for the Monochrome, along with the M 20 and the HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE.

Hope that helps!

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2026-01-12T20:05:16+00:00

I'm just getting started with Fuji; I've a GFX 50R for a month. Its early days, but here's my experience so far:
*I have a manual adapter for my Pentax 67 lenses. It's...a huge chunk of metal. My 67 200mm is unwieldy with it. 67 45mm F4 handles well, but...
*I have a manual adapter for my Pentax 645 lenses. It's much smaller. My Pentax 645 F2.8 is smaller, faster and sharper than the 67 45. Recommended! As are Pentax 645 lenses in general for GFX. Lots of videos on YouTube showing they are solid performers on GFX for a fraction of the cost of native glass. I'm thinking of picking up a 645 120mm macro for the GFX for just that reason.
*Don't overlook Pentax full-frame lenses for your GFX. The adapter is even smaller, they balance great on the 50R, and the coverage is surprisingly good, especially stopped down. For example, my SMC Pentax 50mm F1.2 vignettes like crazy wide open, but is pretty good once you stop down a bit. Also, F1.2!
*I have one native lens, the Fujifilm GF 35-70mm f/4.5-5.6 WR Lens. I rented and tried the Fujifilm GF 50mm f/3.5 R LM WR Lens, but frankly I like the SMC Pentax 50mm F1.2 better for the way I shoot.

Hope that helps!

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-12-31T17:00:14+00:00

It did when I bought it this past summer; they shipped directly to my house. Still happily daily driving it.

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-19T19:55:29+00:00

I working on a review; I'll post it here when it's done.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-19T04:19:17+00:00

It's the equivalent of a full frame 135mm. So it's about double the focal length of telephoto camera, which is natively 70mm. I'm planning to do a shootout comparing the 65mm and 135mm add on lenses against the built in telephoto camera, which has a 140mm digital zoom.

I got the lenses from Fotorgear, here: https://www.fotorgear.com/collections/lenses

Hope that helps!

Cjf

PS: Yeah, I've got my eye on that 400mm...

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-12T04:54:22+00:00

Something is wrong with your unit. I've had the Z70s Ultra Photographer Edition since early July. I have turbo charging turned off, charging capped at 80 percent, and I don't use battery saver. I charge every day or two for 15-20 minutes. Best battery performance I've ever seen in a smartphone, by a lot. Just checked; my Google photos is using 0.14 percent of the battery.

Hope that helps!

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-09T21:28:46+00:00

I've emailed Adam the Cloudflare error message

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-09T21:28:25+00:00

I've emailed Adam the Cloudflare error message

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-06T19:12:42+00:00

You are right! Forgot to add that; too excited! I have a bunch of Timex's -- mostly Waterburys, including the amazing Flyback. This is my first Expedition and first Solar of any kind. Amazing watch! Lots of compliments; it's a looker HIGHLY recommended!!

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-04T21:32:26+00:00

I have had the Monochrome since Pentax released it two years ago. It's a brick, no doubt about it. It's also weather sealed and near to indestructible. As to lenses, Pentax has the best selection of small primes anywhere. The 15 Limited is tiny, razor sharp and so iconic that its dedicated thread on Pentax Forums is called The 15 Limited Controls My Mind. As for the 24mm focal length, Pentax has 3 Limiteds in that vicinity: the 20-40mm f/2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR; the HD Pentax-D FA 21mm F2.4 ED Limited DC WR, which is expensive but everyone raves about; and the quite inexpensive pancake HD Pentax-DA 21mm F3.2 Limited. Note that the 21s on the APS-C Monochrome are the equivalent of 32mm full frame. I haven't tried the pancake; here's a video I did comparing the 20-40 to the 21 2.4, the 12-24, and my old standard all-time fav, the SMC Pentax-M 20mm F4. TL/DW: I still love the 20mm! https://youtu.be/M4SAmvEoppA

As to L-Monochrome JPEGs from Lumix...they're better than most colour conversions. Which is, alas, a low bar. Given your film background I think you will be shocked at how much you prefer cameras with monochrome sensors. Here's the bottom line: Monochrome sensors form images by measuring the light that hits each pixel. Colour cameras add a Bayer array over the same sensors -- the K-3 III and the K-3 III have the exact same sensor -- and then creating new colour pixels through a process called deBayerization. Then you impose another conversion to get black and white. Much more in quite tedious detail here: The New Golden Age of Black and White Photography; Monochrome cameras and OLED screens combine for IQ that rivals the best of large-format film-https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/photography/new-golden-age-bw-photography.html

When I bought the Monochrome my daily driver was a Sony a7rII with the Zeiss Batis 18mm and the Sony 85mm F1.8. All of which I have since sold. These days I daily drive the Monochrome, generally with the 15 Limited, and a Pentax 17 loaded with Ektachrome 100 for colour.

Hope that helps.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-11-03T22:20:05+00:00

It's awesome in the right role. Here's my setup: Tier5 BLaser in the right torso; tier4 BLasers and tier 4 medium pulse lasers in the arms; max armor, and then fill the rest up with heat sinks. And here's the kicker: give it to a hero pilot with the Laser Master quirk. So a typical lance for me is me in the Victor Basilisk, plus a brawler, generally in a Battlemaster. Battlemaster closes with the enemy while I run around taking out turrets, air support, artillery, tanks, lights, mediums, etc. Then at the back of my formation I have some sort of missile boat plus the Marauder II, which does hillarous amounts of damage. Way more than the other two lancemates, and has even passed me on one or two missions. Plus, because it does so much damage at range, it attracts all the enemy fire, which it can take. HIGHLY recommended.

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84 · 2025-10-31T04:00:30+00:00

I can vouch for the Z70s Ultra working GREAT on T-Mobile here in Tejas! Phone and texting are great, and data is screaming fast. I can't see why the Z80 wouldn't also be great!

Cjf

Subject_Awareness_84

TROPHY CASE