[popellis]

There are on line mentors tutorials and courses you could use. As far as post processing, I do very little, most of my images get renamed in Lightroom. It takes very little time to process a day's shooting and export as jpegs and you still have the original files for when you learn more about pp. I am 6 or so years older than you and understand the eye thing but with diopters and autofocue that should not be a problem.
for sharpness have you tried a tripod? That would tell you if it is your handling of the camera that is a cause of lack of sharpness. My gear is neither the latest or the greatest. It does take an effort to produce very good images on a consistent basis. The photographers who have improved the greatest in our local club are those using an online mentor but he is putting them through their paces.

Golf is a lot easier, you hit the ball and it rolls forward not so far that you do not see where it is. After smaking it 4 or 5 times you get to the green and spend the afternoon chasing it from one side of the hole to the other. Some day I am going to take lessons or even practice so I can actually golf. Photography is like that too, you can take pictures or learn to create photographs.

Good lukj whichever direction you choose

If I did photography like I play golf I would need a new camera after every shot. I lost a lot a balls at golf.

[Parallax]

[ChristianRock]

Ansel Adams said that if he got 12 good pictures in a year, he would consider that a good year.

And that's one of the best photographers who ever lived, at the height of his career.

So don't put so much pressure on your end result. Just keep on learning. You have GREAT equipment but might have gotten too much, too soon, and you're not mastering any of it. Like it was suggested before - I'd take that 35 and leave it on the camera for a long time and use it all the time. And it doesn't hurt to read up on good photography, if anything, to inspire you.

[pacerr]

Every camera ever made has the ability to take the "perfect" picture -- in the hands of anyone. The skill of the shooter makes the deciding difference. Or luck if you must.

The day you can shoot 20 images (and intelligently post-process them - digitally or wet darkroom) and explaine WHY they aren't perfect is the day you may begin to complain that the in-camera process (say P-mode?) wasn't designed by VERY knowledgeable persons -- probably born and shooting before you were. Use the P-mode and Green mode as tutorials until you can explain why you differ.

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Last edited by pacerr; 11-25-2014 at 07:38 PM.

[WightWalker]

Hi
I am not here to Bash Pentax gear. I own a K-x and a K-5. I started with bridge cameras, but was unable to get those WOW pictures. So I bought a K-x on reading the stellar reviews, I have not had much luck with getting sharp photos with this camera either.Then when the K-r came out, i read how bad the K-x really was. So I purchased a K-5 because the price came down to affordable level. Now that the K-3 has been out for awhile, and the bashing of the k-5 and how bad it is has started. I am starting to believe that all the wow photo's of these cameras has more to do with processing software than the actual camera.
Is this true? I think my own problems with my k-5 has been missed focus. I have posted images in the past and had a lot of comments about the photos being soft. I don't know if I have to adjust for all my lenses or what I need to do. I am looking at the K-3 but I don't really believe the faster AF and more Focus points will really help me. I am not sure the increase in megapixels is good or bad. Of course the posted pictures from K-3 look like Wow pictures to me again, Don't get me wrong I believe my skills are more of the problem than the gear. But I have to believe that as gear evolves it should be getting easier to use just like any other tool. I usually shoot in jpeg, I would like to use photo's out of the camera versus spending so much time processing images. Is this possible?
Again please do not be to hard on me. I have not had any photographic training

Thanks in advanced for your advise.
Mark

I have some sympathy with your situation as, am sure do a lot of other users that just want to take good pictures without all the fuss & bother of post processing.

However, straight out of 'more upmarket' camera, images will not necessarily have that wow factor; quite simply it's best NOT to have too much in-camera processing, especially if you use JPG, because once that processing has been applied, there's no way back to what was present at the original output of the sensor.

You don't mention how you view your images, whether on screen or with prints, but if like me, it's mostly done on screen, then you'll gonna find that the image resolution of the image (K5: 4928x3264) is at odds with the monitor resolution (typically: 1920x1080); simply, images will not show at their best unless they are resized to fit the monitor &, add a bit of bi-cubic sharpening during the re-size process, & you'll be amazed how much better they look.

My criticism of the K5 (see my signature below) is to do with AEL; my *istDS & K10 both locked the settings when AEL was activated thus enabling successive shots to be taken at the 'locked setting' which ensured exposure settings, white balance etc were all the same; the K5 has a glitch in it's firmware which means that this doesn't always happen. There are many ways around this problem like setting the camera to manual with a preset white balance, but that takes time & is a tad fiddly, often resulting in missed action shots.

[Oldbayrunner]

I do believe that is me and the lack of knowledge that is why my photography" sucks" for a lack of a better word. I live in a large/ small minded community, so there is 1 photo club that concentrates on competition vs instruction. again there is a college but it is during the day and expensive. The books you mentioned i have and have a hard time following since he is always talking about some outing he was on.

Mark

Obviously you have a computer and internet or you wouldn't be posting here, there are plenty of easy to follow photography learning videos or reading material available via the internet. Some people prefer visual aided training vs reading in either case all one has to do is apply themselves and search. Photography, whether it be a profession or hobby, is a journey that if one wants to improve not only takes practice but has a constant learning curve. If one likes video learning Adorama & B & H have tons of instructional videos on just about everything to do with photography. For basics I like steering people to Mike Brown's you tube videos.

The only one that is holding you back from achieving the kind of photos you want is yourself not so much your gear.

[TER-OR]

Don't get me wrong I believe my skills are more of the problem than the gear. But I have to believe that as gear evolves it should be getting easier to use just like any other tool. I usually shoot in jpeg, I would like to use photo's out of the camera versus spending so much time processing images. Is this possible?
Again please do not be to hard on me. I have not had any photographic training

Thanks in advanced for your advise.
Mark

Here's my two duckets worth:

I started photography back in the early 80s or late 70s (fuzzy memory) with my Dad's fully manual Minolta. It was easy, you told the camera the ISO of your film, then chose shutter speed based on activity you were shooting then adjusted the aperture to get a good exposure. Or vice versa, you adjusted the shutter speed to match exposure with your set aperture - and if you were smart you deliberately over and underexposed a bit. This is called bracketing.

It all comes down to exposure. If you don't nail that fairly closely, your images won't "pop."
Bear in mind this all comes with compromises - an overcast day won't give you great contrast. Indoor concerts or events are pretty tricky.

Your K5 is more than enough machine for any of these tasks. I prefer using TAv for most shooting - with center-metering. Pick a good aperture, stopped down for sharpness in most cases, then adjust your shutter speed to keep your ISO in a comfortable range. Outdoors in full sun you might be shooting f8 or f11 with the DA55-300 at 1/750sec or faster to keep an ISO under 200. (In this case you don't need the shake reduction.) If overcast that shutter speed is going to drop to 1/250 - if you're shooting action you'll need to let that ISO float up higher to keep 1/350 or faster.

People indicating post-processing is required is right. Your camera is only so smart, and you're going to do some cropping to isolate or re-compose your image, and adjust your exposure - remember that bracketing, now we can do it in post. I prefer colors neutral in the camera's jpg if I use it, I find the oversaturation doesn't look real and can cause problems with the red channel. So if I need to make the colors pop out a bit more, I do it in post-processing. Frequently a little adjustment to contrast is all it takes, or bumping the black channel. Most of the time I'm using the RAW images and processing in Lightroom.

You'll want to do some focus checks with the lens, too. That should be obvious - if you take close images you'll figure out whether you're hitting your mark.

To be certain there's a lot to learn, but start with the basics. It all goes back to the basics, just like in sports or anything else.

[WightWalker]

I prefer using TAv for most shooting - with center-metering. Pick a good aperture, stopped down for sharpness in most cases, then adjust your shutter speed to keep your ISO in a comfortable range. Outdoors in full sun you might be shooting f8 or f11 with the DA55-300 at 1/750sec or faster to keep an ISO under 200. (In this case you don't need the shake reduction.) If overcast that shutter speed is going to drop to 1/250 - if you're shooting action you'll need to let that ISO float up higher to keep 1/350 or faster.

I'm with you there. I use a Tamron 18-270mm as a general walk around/suit most requirements lens which is is prone to vignetting at larger apertures, so TAV Mode allows me to adjust things to keep the aperture high whilst balancing this against shutter speed & ISO.

Incidentally, it's the only mode where AE Lock works with the exception of White Balance.

[rod_grant]

I lost a lot a balls at golf

My son used to think a good day at golf was when he brought home more golf balls than he took onto the course!
Personally, a good game of golf is when someone else is playing it.

[MarkJerling]

Welcome to the forum. I suggest you do some still-life focus test shots, and post them for comment.