Hi all,
My K5 w/18-55 WR from Adorama showed up today, along with an excellent used smc-a 50mm f/1.7 i picked up on ebay.
As today was a work day, I didn't get too much playtime with it, but do have a few questions.
First off, I want to say the packing job from Adorama was quite good - air 'bags' completely encapsulating the Pentax box, plus the 'gifts' (bag, extra battery, 8GB Class 10 card, etc. - same price as the current body+18-55 is retailing for currently, so 'free') filling in the rest of the space. The Adorama slinger bag is decent at first glance, big enough for the K5 and multiple lenses. The 8gb flash is a Kingston Class 10 and thankfully not a no-name. The cleaning kit I added for $10 is pretty basic (tiny blower, no lens pen), but comes with an OK case, and surprisingly a pair of screen protectors, which I haven't yet decided if I'll be using or not. I'm not sure i would buy the extras kit for an 'extra' $110 or so, but it's probably worth $80 or so, and I'll gladly be using what came in it.
I was somewhat surprised to see the K5 with a low 393* serial number (1/24/11 date of manufacture), and with firmware 1.01 on it, but i guess it's the luck of the draw. I flashed it to the current v1.11, and in case anyone later reads this and is wondering, no you don't need to remove any/all images from the camera, just put the firmware file in the root folder on the flash, power the camera on holding the menu button, follow the prompts, then remember to delete the firmware file afterwards.
The menus changing depending on which mode you're in was somewhat confusing, as i went hunting for the 'allow aperature ring' setting, but resolved easily enough.
I wasn't able to immediately write to the SD card (pre-formatted) from my Mac, but could when connected through the camera - will have to sort that one later, may need to reformat the card from the Mac.
The random questions - is there a generally preferred mode with the A lenses? I'm going to assume most put it into A mode to let the aperature be controlled by the camera controls itself, in which case is there anything i should check in the images produced? The aperature ring is somewhat stiff on the lens, but all seems to be well there.. ?
For either Lightroom or Aperature use, should i prefer to shoot in DNG or PEF when using RAW mode(s)?
I saw mention in multiple places about lens/and or AF calibration - are these one and the same, or can/should I calibrate my A lens(es, one more on the way) as well?
I must be missing it, but regardless of mode selected, hold down button = single shot, and I see no option anywhere for burst mode nor anything > 1 click = one shot. I'm sure this one is obvious, but - where? I don't have any immediate need for it but I will in the future, someone please enlighten me.. ??
Lastly - with a relatively low SN, or just in general, is there anything i should do or check immediately? front/back focus, stain, other general maintenance/sorting?
Here's a quick hand-held shot with the smc-a 50mm, converted to B&W just for the heck of it, as my wife wanted a camera to do a lot of portrait/family pics and 'with that cool defocused background'.
Just some random first impressions on the K5, from the standpoint of a first time DSLR owner, but someone who has owned most things electronic and taken apart and fixed a lot of odd things..
1. It's heavier than I expected, surprisingly so. Not a bad thing, but dense for it's size certainly.
2. The out of box neckstrap - will be getting replaced. No clue with what, but likely with something longer and possibly with some dense foam around the neck.
3. Yep, the SD card is a tight fit. Goes in fine, pops out 'most of the way' easily enough, then makes you wonder if you're somehow doing it wrong.
I'll be nail-filing the card later, not a big deal.
4. I absolutely *love* the seal and 'lock' on the battery holder. No fingernails required, and a solid twist/turn to lock and unlock, it's just mechanically great and confidence instilling about the seals and not worrying about the battery compartment *ever* opening on accident.
5. I wish the other compartments used a more solid latch mechanism like the battery compartment. The SD locking mechanism is 'ok', but the pin for the hinge somewhat thin/skimpy. The other seals seem OK.
6. I really like the jog wheels front and back - they're positioned great and are natural and solid feeling, i really dislike having to go into a menu system prior/while taking a shot, so the dual jog wheels are great...eventually I'll learn the rest of the buttons.
Lots to learn..