Ricoh announced a new paid firmware expansion for the Pentax K-1 and K-1 Mark II cameras that will add three new functions aimed specifically at astrophotography.
Spotted by Digicame-Info, the firmware update was made available yesterday in Japan and added three new “premium” features under what it is calling Astrophotography Assist. The update includes what Pentax is calling “Star AF,” which allows automatic focusing when photographing astronomical objects, “Remote Control Focus Fine Adjustment,” which assists manual focusing, and “Astronomical Image Processing,” which will enable photographers to further process dark sky photos in-camera.
Star AF allows the camera to automatically focus on stars at night. Normally, Pentax says, when focusing on astronomical photography, photographers would first focus on a star that is easy to focus on and then adjust it to the composition they want to shoot. With Star AF, photographers are able to decide the composition they want to shoot from the beginning and then focus by simply operating the AF on the camera. This mode is only available in live-view and when using autofocus lenses. It also can fail if there are too many bright objects in the area of the photo, such as could be caused by light pollution, or when stars are not visible to the naked eye.
Remote Control Focus Fine Adjustment allows photographers to adjust focus without touching the lens or camera using a remote control, such as the Pentax O-RC1.
Finally, Astronomical Image Processing allows photographers to adjust photos of astronomical objects in-camera and includes features like shading correction, fog correction, the darkness of the background, star brightness, celestial clarity, and fringe corrections. This applies to RAW or JPEG images. Below is an example of what can be expected from this feature:
This new “premium feature” is available as a firmware update that is unlocked via an activation key that must be purchased directly from Ricoh Pentax for 11,000 yen, or about $70. At the time of publication, the update was only available through Ricoh’s Japanese website and it is not clear if Astrophotography Assistant will be available outside of the country. PetaPixel has reached out to Ricoh and will update this story when and if it receives clarity on the issue.
Image credits: Ricoh Pentax