[Pioneer]

Will it work?

What else should I consider?

Or should I take my LX like I normally do?

[bobbotron]

If you're used to an LX, I imagine you can make the K5IIs work just fine with the 18-135. The K5 is supposed to be good with higher ISOs, I'd run it at 1600 or higher (even in bright weather) so you can take advantage of higher shutter speeds and smaller apertures. Good luck!

[Jeff Lopez]

AF-C, spot focusing, back button focus, multimeter exposure mode, jpg, youre good to go!

[wibbly]

I used to use my 50-135 for motorcycle racing, but found it lacked some reach. It depends a lot on the facility and access to the track of course, but I am able to get pretty close and still prefer the 60-250 for racing.


For a body you want the one with the fastest burst speed. Forget everything else. Autofocus even isn't that important as you'll probably be prefocusing. You definitely want back button af as previously mentioned

[Pioneer]

Thanks for the hints bobbotron.

Usually I am photographing the kids locally so the LX is more than adequate. But this time my son in law is taking me to the Supercross in SLC. I rarely use auto focus but 18-135's focus speed has impressed me in the past.

I usually stress too much about these things but this will be my first professional autocross. Although our seats are close, we will be in the stands instead of right on top of the action. The main races are in the evening under the lights so that is also a slight concern though the K5iiS always seems to handle stadium lighting pretty well.

I am also packing my older K 200/2.5 along with the AF1.7 Teleconverter for longer range work if needed.

I guess I'll just go for the gusto and hope it works out. If not there is always the beer and pretzels.

[onlineflyer]

Thanks for the hints bobbotron.

Usually I am photographing the kids locally so the LX is more than adequate. But this time my son in law is taking me to the Supercross in SLC. I rarely use auto focus but 18-135's focus speed has impressed me in the past.

I usually stress too much about these things but this will be my first professional autocross. Although our seats are close, we will be in the stands instead of right on top of the action. The main races are in the evening under the lights so that is also a slight concern though the K5iiS always seems to handle stadium lighting pretty well.

I am also packing my older K 200/2.5 along with the AF1.7 Teleconverter for longer range work if needed.

I guess I'll just go for the gusto and hope it works out. If not there is always the beer and pretzels.

The k 200/2.5 + 1.7X AF will bring you a lot closer to the action than the 18-135mm. If you're in the stands, you will likely need as much reach as possible. I'd suggest you start with the 200mm + 1.7X and switch to the 18-135 if you don't like the results. Please posts a few pics of your results.

[Pioneer]

Back from the Monster Energy Supercross Event held in the Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.on April 22, 2017. Had a great time and was able to bring back some halfway decent pictures out of the stands.

The camera used was the Pentax K5iiS. The lenses used were the 18-135mm zoom and the K 200/2.5 mated to the Pentax AF 1.7x adapter/teleconvertor. Other than taking a few photos during local racing events, this is my first foray into the professional world of Supercross Racing. Keeping things relatively short, here are some photographs from the adventure.

First, the son in law explaining to Grandma how Supercross Racing works. This is the 18-135mm zoom.



To allow you to orient yourselves, here is a shot of the stadium while the equipment crew was smoothing out the dirt from the earlier time trials. We were sitting a couple rows above the entrances you see across the stadium, in the middle. This is also taken with the 18-135mm zoom.



Here is a photograph of one of the pretty ladies getting out of the way after displaying the 30 second warning for the start. This was taken with the 200/2.5 attached to the 1.7x teleconvertor for a combined reach of 510mm. This gets you up close.



20 or more motorcycles are all lined up behind some gates. When they drop everybody heads for the first corner, jockying for position. Think horse racing with a lot more noise. I am back to the 18-135mm zoom since the other lens setup didn't give enough field of view to get the sense of the bunch headed for the corner.



Eventually things sort themselves out and someone takes the lead. This is Ryan Dungee one of the number one riders on the Supercross circuit. Another nice and up close shot with the K200/2.5 on the 1.7x teleconverter.



But, there is always someone wanting to pass you. This Eli Tomac, another of the number one riders, challenging Ryan for the lead in one of the corners. This is the corner closest to where we were sitting and most of my best photographs in this corner were taken with the 18-135 zoom. But this was taken using the 510mm combination and I liked how it turned out. I think it gives a good impression of how competitive these racers are.


As things worked out in main event, Eli Tomac eventually took the lead from Ryan and here he is exiting the corner just before the finish line. This was also taken with the 510mm combination. The finish line was on the other side of the stadium and required some reach. I think the K200/2.5 and 1.7x teleconverter did a great job with this photograph.



We really enjoyed the event and I think the K5iis and the two lens combos did a fine job. The 18-135mm zoom focuses very quickly and had no trouble whatsoever locking in on the action. The K200/2.5 is an older K-Mount manual lens but the Pentax AF 1.7x teleconvertor gives a limited amount of autofocus if you prefocus the lens to start with. In my case I just turned the old manual lens to infinity and let the autofocus teleconverter/adapter do the rest. Although it was so tight on the action that it took a lot of work to keep up with the racers, if I did my part I think the lens certainly did its part.

Everything was shot in jpeg and the white balance was on auto. Multi-Segment metering was used. The color was set to Vibrant. The photographs were imported into Lightroom, sharpened a bit, and exported in reduced format for this forum. Nothing else was done. No cropping, no color adjustments, no contrast or other developing work. I set the ISO at 3200 and used shutter priority to maximize the shutter speed as much as possible.

I used spot focus with continuous auto focus and almost all of the photographs came out very clear and sharp. Focusing was very quick with both lens combinations. I never had a problem catching focus with the zoom but occasionally, particularly if I wasn't panning fast enough, the K200/2.5/teleconvertor combo would not catch focus. But this was not an equipment problem, this was entirely a photographer problem. When I was panning with the action the focus was just as quick as the zoom, maybe even quicker.

I started with rapid continuous shooting but shut that off pretty quickly and went back to single frame. I found that I was easily able to capture what I wanted by firing the shutter myself. I know that people worry about shutter lag but I can tell you, from my observation, the K5iiS has very little, if any, lag. At least I couldn't detect any. Once in awhile I was a bit behind the action when I reviewed the results, but that was my doing, not the camera's.

I have almost certainly rattled on enough over this so I'll cut it off here. I would have loved to be on the field in the midst of the action but this worked out even better than I had hoped.

[Pioneer]

Here is another small selection that I thought were interesting.

First we have two fast moving racers making a leap over some of the whoop di doos in perfect unison. Taken with the 18-135 zoom. This picture also gives you a great perspective on how telephoto lenses seem to bring everything closer together. These guys look almost as if they are over the further section of the track, and they also look like they have taken the head and body right off the poor track official standing on the edge of the track, leaving his legs to dangle below the bikes.



As I mentioned in the previous post, most of the photographs of the action in the turn directly below our seats was usually photographed using the 18-135 zoom. Here is an excellent example where I was able to photograph a group further back in the pack playing follow the leader through the turn.



One of the photographs I made of Ryan Dungee caught Jason Anderson in his desperate run to catch up as well. I didn't even know I had this until I reviewed the photographs in Lightroom today. While panning Ryan racing in one direction I pressed the shutter just as Jason Anderson was in his jump headed the opposite direction on another section of the track. This photograph was taken with the K200/2.5/AF 1.7x Teleconvertor.



Finally, as in most racing events I have ever witnessed, there are always a few spills to thrill the audience. This poor rider has just dumped himself over the handle bars, landing on his head. He has made it to the edge of the track and is sitting dazed on the padded bails. He sat there for awhile, always looking like he was going to stand up and pick up his motorcycle. But he never did. The track crew hauled him off to the doctor for a good examination. This photograph was also taken with the K200/2.5/AF 1.7x Teleconvertor combination. Considering the age of the lens/converter combination I am amazed at the sharpness and beautiful color that this combo provided.


Hope you have enjoyed these. I know I enjoyed the race and photographing it.

[Jeff Lopez]

Great job man! Glad to see it worked out great..The K200 is a really nice one..

[onlineflyer]

Thanks for sharing, Pioneer. I enjoyed the pictures and commentary, great job with both.