My k-r review

pamzpix · 10-20-2011, 07:08 PM

I've had my camera about a month now. I have taken landscape shots early in the morning with little light, if I put it on the night setting, it takes good shots as long as I'm shooting away from the sun. I always shoot automatic since I don't pretend to be any kind of a photographer. I charged the battery, have taken oh, well over 700 pictures over a three week period and it still holds a full charge. I take the battery out when I'm not using it. I have a 4G card that has some sort of high speed rating thing, it looks impressive but the other number on the card is a 6 which is supposed to be good. I haven't taken any video with it, but when I went to the bull riding to shoot, it was firing off pictures one right after the other. They were very much in focus, and the only fault lies with the fact that I am a lousy picture taker. I can fix a lot in photoshop though, cropping and adjusting etc. The important thing for me was speed, a concern was focus (not a problem) and battery life (also not a problem). I did buy two more batteries, and a AA battery holder in the event the chargeable ones croak. So with three chargables, if I can get 1800 pictures and another 1000 on the AA's, I think I will manage quite well. The reason I upgraded was I had heard Pentax was going with the chargeable setup, and I am in love with the AA (CRV-3) but for another twenty bucks, I can just recharge those and save myself the cost of the lithiums.... although I'll have to keep some around for the 100K!

pamzpix · 10-20-2011, 07:14 PM

Oh, I suppose I should mention that I was not impressed with the idea that I would have to buy a camera with a chargeable battery pack. I met an artist with a Nikon that has the battery under the body, and she complained that the camera is heavy especially when you tack on a zoom lens, The K-r is light, takes super duper pictures, and I am very impressed with it, and am delighted beyond anything that I got this camera. There were people and bulls flying around, dirt etc. and I thought it did a very impressive job capturing everything especially considering the lighting wasn't all that great, no flash, I mean there was daylight but it was October sun going down, and set on automatic. I don't remember getting any blurry shots. Very satisfied. I was extremely hesitant about this camera because of the focus thing, but I have no doubt at all that I made the perfect choice with this camera. I am not sure what anyone might be unsure of when considering buying this camera, but unless you want to make movies with it too, I say get this camera!

02insight · 10-20-2011, 08:07 PM

those are some nice shots, what lens did you use there?

pamzpix · 10-21-2011, 03:44 AM

Thanks! It's a 50-200 4.5f I believe. Nothing fancy, it was around $200. I was looking for something to shoot the arena distance, sometimes they can get pretty close and I get nothing, but from the chute to about 15 feet away it does great. I have to remember now, since this camera is set on 10megapixels, that I can get away with not zooming right in and crop when I get home. Otherwise I chop off heads and feet, everything gets to moving so much. It's not like a horse race where they are running along horizontally. There's a lot of vertical movement with these guys.

Philoslothical · 10-21-2011, 05:13 AM

10 MP? Why? It's best to shoot at the full resolution the camera is capable of, which is 12 MP with the K-r. Either shoot the best quality jpeg, or preferably, shoot raw (I use DNG rather than PEF, opinions vary). Raw isn't necessarily much more hassle to deal with. If they're shots you're happy with straight from the camera, you can batch process them to jpeg very quickly. If you over/underexpose, you'll be very glad for the extra data that will let you recover them without loss of detail.

pamzpix · 10-21-2011, 08:18 AM

I had only 4gig card, and with a 10mp I wasn't sure how many pictures I'd get on the card before I ran out. My other cards are regular 2gig sd's. I don't know if they are 'fast' enough to store the info as fast as the camera takes the pictures. I now have two more 4g cards, and I'll get more, I'm sure, but the higher the mp, the less pictures I can take, and also the bigger the file, I wasn't sure if even those would get written fast enough. They were. So I'll have to test out the 12 mp now that I have more cards, but for what I do, even 10 seems overkill. I guess if the camera has the capability, I may as well use it. I was checking to see how fast it would take pictures and how well it focused.

New Englander · 10-21-2011, 05:47 PM

Great pics! Keep it up...

wax · 11-02-2011, 07:53 PM

Nice pictures, good job.
I agree with you about the AAs holder. It´s fantastic. I think works better than the lithium´s originals batteries I have. Specially with manuals lenses.

10-20-2011, 07:08 PM	#1
pamzpix Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nebraska Photos: Albums Posts: 32	My k-r review I've had my camera about a month now. I have taken landscape shots early in the morning with little light, if I put it on the night setting, it takes good shots as long as I'm shooting away from the sun. I always shoot automatic since I don't pretend to be any kind of a photographer. I charged the battery, have taken oh, well over 700 pictures over a three week period and it still holds a full charge. I take the battery out when I'm not using it. I have a 4G card that has some sort of high speed rating thing, it looks impressive but the other number on the card is a 6 which is supposed to be good. I haven't taken any video with it, but when I went to the bull riding to shoot, it was firing off pictures one right after the other. They were very much in focus, and the only fault lies with the fact that I am a lousy picture taker. I can fix a lot in photoshop though, cropping and adjusting etc. The important thing for me was speed, a concern was focus (not a problem) and battery life (also not a problem). I did buy two more batteries, and a AA battery holder in the event the chargeable ones croak. So with three chargables, if I can get 1800 pictures and another 1000 on the AA's, I think I will manage quite well. The reason I upgraded was I had heard Pentax was going with the chargeable setup, and I am in love with the AA (CRV-3) but for another twenty bucks, I can just recharge those and save myself the cost of the lithiums.... although I'll have to keep some around for the 100K!

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10-20-2011, 07:14 PM	#2
pamzpix Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nebraska Photos: Albums Posts: 32 Original Poster	Oh, I suppose I should mention that I was not impressed with the idea that I would have to buy a camera with a chargeable battery pack. I met an artist with a Nikon that has the battery under the body, and she complained that the camera is heavy especially when you tack on a zoom lens, The K-r is light, takes super duper pictures, and I am very impressed with it, and am delighted beyond anything that I got this camera. There were people and bulls flying around, dirt etc. and I thought it did a very impressive job capturing everything especially considering the lighting wasn't all that great, no flash, I mean there was daylight but it was October sun going down, and set on automatic. I don't remember getting any blurry shots. Very satisfied. I was extremely hesitant about this camera because of the focus thing, but I have no doubt at all that I made the perfect choice with this camera. I am not sure what anyone might be unsure of when considering buying this camera, but unless you want to make movies with it too, I say get this camera!

10-20-2011, 08:07 PM	#3
02insight Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 25	those are some nice shots, what lens did you use there?

10-21-2011, 03:44 AM	#4
pamzpix Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nebraska Photos: Albums Posts: 32 Original Poster	Thanks! It's a 50-200 4.5f I believe. Nothing fancy, it was around $200. I was looking for something to shoot the arena distance, sometimes they can get pretty close and I get nothing, but from the chute to about 15 feet away it does great. I have to remember now, since this camera is set on 10megapixels, that I can get away with not zooming right in and crop when I get home. Otherwise I chop off heads and feet, everything gets to moving so much. It's not like a horse race where they are running along horizontally. There's a lot of vertical movement with these guys.

10-21-2011, 05:13 AM	#5
Philoslothical Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 1,889	10 MP? Why? It's best to shoot at the full resolution the camera is capable of, which is 12 MP with the K-r. Either shoot the best quality jpeg, or preferably, shoot raw (I use DNG rather than PEF, opinions vary). Raw isn't necessarily much more hassle to deal with. If they're shots you're happy with straight from the camera, you can batch process them to jpeg very quickly. If you over/underexpose, you'll be very glad for the extra data that will let you recover them without loss of detail.

10-21-2011, 08:18 AM	#6
pamzpix Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Nebraska Photos: Albums Posts: 32 Original Poster	I had only 4gig card, and with a 10mp I wasn't sure how many pictures I'd get on the card before I ran out. My other cards are regular 2gig sd's. I don't know if they are 'fast' enough to store the info as fast as the camera takes the pictures. I now have two more 4g cards, and I'll get more, I'm sure, but the higher the mp, the less pictures I can take, and also the bigger the file, I wasn't sure if even those would get written fast enough. They were. So I'll have to test out the 12 mp now that I have more cards, but for what I do, even 10 seems overkill. I guess if the camera has the capability, I may as well use it. I was checking to see how fast it would take pictures and how well it focused.

10-21-2011, 05:47 PM	#7
New Englander Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 216	Great pics! Keep it up...

11-02-2011, 07:53 PM	#8
wax Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Santiago Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 53	Nice pictures, good job. I agree with you about the AAs holder. It´s fantastic. I think works better than the lithium´s originals batteries I have. Specially with manuals lenses.