[Michaelina2]

Honestly, IMHO, next to composition, lighting and DOF, post processing skills are the single most important skill for improving the end results of your photography. I'm sure I will get a lot of flack for that, and if you don't have good images to start no post process will save them, but thats just how I feel...

Well said...

You will NOT get a argument from me.

Cheers...

[Christine Tham]

Christine,
You should really try bracketing 5 stops at 2 ev per bracket, instead of 1. I can tell just by looking at the sky in your shot that you left a lot of dynamic range on the table (ideally you want every highlight and lowlight detail covered by your exposures, and your sky is very clipped). But nice first attempt.

Thanks a LOT! benisona!!! The tutorials don't seem to give an indication how large the EV spacing should be - your experienced assessment means a lot to me.

I'll be braver next time. Unfortunate it's raining all day today, so probably not a good day for HDR shooting.

[raider]

Apologies i am a bit slow here and i m still clueless about HDR. To get a high dynamic range, we take 5 series of shots of 2EV each. Say i am taking landscape photos. Would this not highlight the motion blur of trees and leaves caused by the wind?

[Rory]

Apologies i am a bit slow here and i m still clueless about HDR. To get a high dynamic range, we take 5 series of shots of 2EV each. Say i am taking landscape photos. Would this not highlight the motion blur of trees and leaves caused by the wind?

Should be fast enough with sunshine that you wouldn't notice too much. Also, if it's a landscape and nothing's too close you probably wouldn't notice anyway.

[Col]

Apologies i am a bit slow here and i m still clueless about HDR. To get a high dynamic range, we take 5 series of shots of 2EV each. Say i am taking landscape photos. Would this not highlight the motion blur of trees and leaves caused by the wind?

Indeed it can, and there are many examples of just that on the web. The more sophisticated programs will exclude areas where the images don't align and use just a single shot in that section, before blending etc. or this is done manually.

[BrendanPK]

Quick update after a full weekend including 2 sports game (one afternoon, one evening/night under lights) and other various assignments:

AF Speed: AMAZING, both with SDM and in-body (screw) drive. Fastest Screw-drive motor to date I think. Lacks alot of hunting and small corrections that haunted prev pentax's Fast in low light too! Only problem was a little bit inside with my 16-50 (a known problem child of the lens line to begin with)

AF Accuracy: Much better in AF-C than any other Pentax. Both in Focus-priority and Frame-Rate Priority (yes it has this cool new CF mode)
The AF point mode 5 or 11 is dissapointing for sports I think, Eliminates "rule of 3rds framing

FPS: AMAZING, in both AF modes (see above) its fast, I estimate in AF-C I average 4+FPS in most situations. I am also finding that the FPS-Slow is a tad too slow, but useful for shooting w/ flash indoors etc

High ISO: WOW, Im shooting night/indoor games iso 11000-12800 at 1/500sec @ F4 with less noise than iso 5000 (k7)overexposing by 1/3stop @ISO 5000 and 1/320ish @f3.2. Shot a few @ 51200 that looked on par with my k7 @6400, usable, but not pretty

Buffer: The only Dissapointing thing here. Granted with the improved AWB accuracy and great noise handling i will be shooting more JPG for the papers again, but the buffer at high ISO SUCKS. At 12800 I was averaging only 5 frames before a 1-sec-ish pause would allow another 1-2 frames (Note this is with JPG's! its about the same with RAW too) All corrections turned off, using a Sandisk x-3 30mbs card. In lower ISO I was getting about 8-10 before it would slow. (JPG's are 4-star, 16mp) average size=8-10mb

Flash/PTTL: Much better so far than My k7 or other Pentax's IMHO Still no Nikon but getting there

[shimoyjk]

nice!! i read all the reply and now I think I'm back to pentax again... perfect for my hobby (landscape, portrait, sometime shoot some wildlife like bird but not so seriously..) one thing is price..
If i got 7D in second handed, I can save at least 300$ and can buy more lens..
anyway Please keep posting! THANKS ALOT!

[maxpiz]

AF Speed: AMAZING, ................
Only problem was a little bit inside with my 16-50 (a known problem child of the lens line to begin with).....................

Thanks for your review!
This is the right time to return to a pentax reflex after the sale of Pentax K10D!
I would like to take exactly the K-5 with DA * 16-50, therefore do you could explain better your statement above?
Thanks

[Rory]

nice!! i read all the reply and now I think I'm back to pentax again... perfect for my hobby (landscape, portrait, sometime shoot some wildlife like bird but not so seriously..) one thing is price..
If i got 7D in second handed, I can save at least 300$ and can buy more lens..
anyway Please keep posting! THANKS ALOT!

$300 with Canon may buy you more lens, but it won't necessarily be better. $300 wouldn't go far in Canonworld.

[brecklundin]

$300 with Canon may buy you more lens, but it won't necessarily be better. $300 wouldn't go far in Canonworld.

one can't exactly go on a shopping spree for Pentax glass these days with that same extra $300. But for example there is always the 70-200/4 non-IS for ~$600 and it easily stands up to the 60-250, in fact as it as real USM it's gonna be a bit nicer. Only missing part is the IS so you can opt for the 70-200/4 IS for about $1100 new or around $900 used. Or on a budget there is the excellent EF-S 55-250 IS for around $250. It's got a real 4-stop IS though it's micro motor....but it is a great lense.

Only thing is when ya get into lenses to rival the limiteds...but there are zooms which cover what 3-4 primes would and cost about the same as those lenses combined. So it's really all about what a person wants...I so much prefer the images I get with my K20D than I did with my 40D. Right now I am watching if as these new sensors push the ISO envelope as the new buzz word to replace the MP race, but what happens to the low ISO color as well as IQ. Things look pretty sweet so far but remember most people haven't even had their K-5's a full week yet.

But hope is still there, I simply don't trust Hoya. I trusted Pentax without question, as dysfunctional as they were, I loved the company. Hoya, not so much... Despite that I am willing to wait things out...but when Hoya is charging Canon money for the K-5 I am going to be very suspicious. I feel the same way about Nikon and the D7k, I like better glass and well, Nikon glass makes Canon glass look like it's free. hehehehe....actually I have an eye on an Oly E-5 and ONE of their F2 zoom lenses but that is a real long shot for me.

Right now, even though I am hard on Hoya, it's ONLY about the price and them engineering out tethering from the systems (maybe as we don't know for sure yet) and not the hardware. I even like the K-7 as for my needs it's fine, but the K-5 gets much closer to where I would be with a 7D as an all purpose camera but still the 7D has a lead thanks to being proven as well as a year of being proven under fire.

[Rondec]

one can't exactly go on a shopping spree for Pentax glass these days with that same extra $300. But for example there is always the 70-200/4 non-IS for ~$600 and it easily stands up to the 60-250, in fact as it as real USM it's gonna be a bit nicer. Only missing part is the IS so you can opt for the 70-200/4 IS for about $1100 new or around $900 used. Or on a budget there is the excellent EF-S 55-250 IS for around $250. It's got a real 4-stop IS though it's micro motor....but it is a great lense.

Only thing is when ya get into lenses to rival the limiteds...but there are zooms which cover what 3-4 primes would and cost about the same as those lenses combined. So it's really all about what a person wants...I so much prefer the images I get with my K20D than I did with my 40D. Right now I am watching if as these new sensors push the ISO envelope as the new buzz word to replace the MP race, but what happens to the low ISO color as well as IQ. Things look pretty sweet so far but remember most people haven't even had their K-5's a full week yet.

But hope is still there, I simply don't trust Hoya. I trusted Pentax without question, as dysfunctional as they were, I loved the company. Hoya, not so much... Despite that I am willing to wait things out...but when Hoya is charging Canon money for the K-5 I am going to be very suspicious. I feel the same way about Nikon and the D7k, I like better glass and well, Nikon glass makes Canon glass look like it's free. hehehehe....actually I have an eye on an Oly E-5 and ONE of their F2 zoom lenses but that is a real long shot for me.

Right now, even though I am hard on Hoya, it's ONLY about the price and them engineering out tethering from the systems (maybe as we don't know for sure yet) and not the hardware. I even like the K-7 as for my needs it's fine, but the K-5 gets much closer to where I would be with a 7D as an all purpose camera but still the 7D has a lead thanks to being proven as well as a year of being proven under fire.

Why do you insist on comparing the 70-200 f4 (non IS) with the 60-250 f4? Clearly the 60-250 is a significantly larger focal range and still quite sharp throughout. The lens to compare to is the 50-135 f2.8, a crop lens, but also a stop faster. The 50-135 currently sells for 820 on Amazon, a pretty good deal for what it is.

I think that it becomes clear looking at line ups that Nikon and Canon are doing their very best to get photographers into full frame any way they can. This upward pressure is not present in Pentax as focal lengths are specifically designed for cropped sensors. You may or may not like this, if you think that full frame is the ultimate goal, but clearly for present that is where Pentax feel their niche is.

[benisona]

My 16-50 da* is shit. Seriously, it has always been shit. I was hoping it was just the nterface between my k10 and the lens, but on the K-5 it's better, but not much (if at all when I take any bias out of my head). Slow focus, sometimes fails to focus at all (no movement, with blinking "not focused light on") and when it does focus it's often way off (no calibration will help). I'm gonna finally send it in, but was looking for some advice from those who have sent lenses in before. I know pentax USA is notoriously bad CS, what is the most efficient way to get them to fix/replace the lens and how should I go about it. (ps, really liking this whole forum thing, feels nice to be a part of a specialized community).

[PMunks]

Very interesting thread. I thought people might be interested in how in-camera HDR looks. These were taken handheld on my first trip out with the K5 (after waiting 6 hours for the battery to charge). Not a pro so please take that into account.
Autumn Rose | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Norwich Arcade | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[brecklundin]

My 16-50 da* is shit. Seriously, it has always been shit. I was hoping it was just the nterface between my k10 and the lens, but on the K-5 it's better, but not much (if at all when I take any bias out of my head). Slow focus, sometimes fails to focus at all (no movement, with blinking "not focused light on") and when it does focus it's often way off (no calibration will help). I'm gonna finally send it in, but was looking for some advice from those who have sent lenses in before. I know pentax USA is notoriously bad CS, what is the most efficient way to get them to fix/replace the lens and how should I go about it. (ps, really liking this whole forum thing, feels nice to be a part of a specialized community).

Bummer!! This thread might help see what the issues could be, my money is on decentering as well as SDM failure.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/22297-da%2A-16...-database.html

As for lense service, Pentax made the switch to CRIS which is in Colorado. They handle lense servicing for Sigma and I am sure other brands. My experience with them has always been excellent...others have run into issues, but then again, this is the web and some tend to exaggerate. But if the thing is not in warranty I would imagine it is not going to be an inexpensive repair. But maybe if it's only SDM failure they'll do it at no charge, they have done so for a number of folks when their SDM lense was out of warranty. Or maybe even no charge for parts or some sort of break...but that lense is cursed. Canon as their "Brick", 24-70/2.8L and people running through 5-8 copies before getting a good one. So it's not just Pentax that can have a "problem child" lense or two.

[Ron Kruger]

My 16-50 da* is shit. Seriously, it has always been shit. I was hoping it was just the nterface between my k10 and the lens, but on the K-5 it's better, but not much (if at all when I take any bias out of my head). Slow focus, sometimes fails to focus at all (no movement, with blinking "not focused light on") and when it does focus it's often way off (no calibration will help). I'm gonna finally send it in, but was looking for some advice from those who have sent lenses in before. I know pentax USA is notoriously bad CS, what is the most efficient way to get them to fix/replace the lens and how should I go about it. (ps, really liking this whole forum thing, feels nice to be a part of a specialized community).

I believe you said you are shooting professionally. Not sure you would qualify, but you should check out Pentax Professional Program: expedited repairs and service, loaner and test equipment and many other benefits. You sort of have to jump through hoops to get in, but I've found it worth the effort.