[funyboyke]

Hi everybody,


My hobby is automotive photography.
After some cheaper camera's, a few year ago I decided to buy my first DSLR camera.
I liked the specs, looks and price of the Pentax K-r.
In the years I've been using it, I started to buy some extra lenses.

Now I got the feeling the K-r was 'just a start', and I should upgrade to a better camera.
Since it's already "old" and technology evolved.

But my question is: is it worth it?
Beside 12MP VS 24MP, is there anything i'm missing with the K-r?
And what should I buy? I want to re-use my lenses. So I can only choose the k-mount series, I guess.
Or is the K-r body still very good, and should I better spend money on lenses?


Kind regards,
Wim

[ChristianRock]

I think that if money is a consideration the K-r is still very good. Better to spend on lenses than bodies. A K-r with a good lens will beat a newer camera with a kit lens any day IMHO - unless the newer camera has a specific feature that you must have and the K-r doesn't have. But one could make the case that the K30 and K50 are not much more money and the two wheels are very useful. Still, when I found the K-r for 150 dollars on Craigslist last year I did not hesitate. It has been the perfect camera for my wife while I love my even older K20d.

[funyboyke]

ok. Thx for the reply ChristianRock.

What do you mean with 'good lens'?
If you buy the K-r for 150 dollars, whould you spend 200 on a lens?

I'm not good in spending money. :P
I usually don't want to spend more than 100 euro on a secondhand lens.
And most of the time, it's a lot with 2 lenses for about 100 euro.

BUT I love the 'SMC Pentax-FA 1:4.7-5.8 100-300mm' lens.
It's ridiculous to use it during car meetings, but it's so fun to play with. And I love the quality and bokeh of those pictures.
Is that a 'good lens' or is there still a whole new world to open for me? :-)

[Aksel]

...Now I got the feeling the K-r was 'just a start', and I should upgrade to a better camera.
Since it's already "old" and technology evolved
...
Or is the K-r body still very good, and should I better spend money on lenses?.

K-r is still very good camera. But - is it for You? I don't know. It depends what kind of photography You like.
Have you noticed that K-r sets limits for You?

[Pablom]

The K-r is great for making great photos but IMO not very comfortable to use.


Regarding what to do with your money, It really depends on your personal preferences and what you already have but if you want to make yourself feel better with a new camera than, for a modest budget, you can get a new K-50 for scraps these days and it is far and beyond anything anyone needs for an APS-C camera.

is there still a whole new world to open for me?

Yes

[HeavyCorPhotography]

When I got my camera I was looking between the K-r. K-30, and K-50. They are all very affordable, and similar cameras. I read a lot of things that basically said, if you have a K-30 or K-r don't bother upgrading to the K-50 just yet, because they are all very similar cameras, but if you're buying a new camera, the K-50 is the way to go. I would definitely have to agree with this, but it also depends on the budget you have. For less than $400 though, you can get a brand new K-50 body, and it only cost a little more to get it with the kit lens (18-55mm). A little more than that and you can have it with two kit lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm). And if you have the money a lot of people will suggest going for the higher end kit with the 18-135mm WR lens.

From my experience, since I do some amateur automotive photography, I have gotten great results with the K-50 and the 18-55mm kit. You can check out some of the stuff I've done here. I hope this helps.

[Aaron28]

the K-r is a great camera! I use it more than my K-50 but I do a lot of time lapse stuff and racking the shutter count on it versus the 50.......yeh there is a difference from 14mp to 24mp but if ya don't like spending the dollars I would think an upgrade is really not necessary.....the most I've spent on a lens is 250 for a bower 14/.8(which is great!)...however getting an itch for some good reach but it will take some doin to buy a 1000$ zoom but I would buy one before I got another camera......money on glass will be well spent and carry over to yer next camera upgrade when that time comes

[Pablom]

When I got my camera I was looking between the K-r. K-30, and K-50. They are all very affordable, and similar cameras. I read a lot of things that basically said, if you have a K-30 or K-r don't bother upgrading to the K-50 just yet, because they are all very similar cameras, but if you're buying a new camera, the K-50 is the way to go. I would definitely have to agree with this, but it also depends on the budget you have. For less than $400 though, you can get a brand new K-50 body, and it only cost a little more to get it with the kit lens (18-55mm). A little more than that and you can have it with two kit lenses (18-55mm and 50-200mm). And if you have the money a lot of people will suggest going for the higher end kit with the 18-135mm WR lens.

From my experience, since I actually do automotive photography, I have gotten great results with the K-50 and the 18-55mm kit. You can check out some of the stuff I've done here. I hope this helps.

K-50 & K-30 are very similar, K-r not so much. Most notably K-30/50 have an immensely better viewfinder, extra control wheel, WR.

[boriscleto]

K-50 & K-30 are very similar, K-r not so much. Most notably K-30/50 have an immensely better viewfinder, extra control wheel, WR.

And a much better sensor.

[HeavyCorPhotography]

And a much better sensor.

I just found what I was originally looking at. I was WAY off. It was the K-5 II, not K-r, that it was compared against. My bad.

Pentax K-50 Review - Specifications | PentaxForums.com Reviews

[funyboyke]

thx all. Usefull information.


FYI, this is my flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/funyboyke
plz scroll down a bit, because I don't really like the pictures from the last event I've uploaded.
for example, these are 2 pictures I took with the previously mentioned lens (which I like): https://flic.kr/p/tNzc4S and https://flic.kr/p/tysBma
(small note: picture quality is slightly descreased to save bandwith on a weblog.)

Have you noticed that K-r sets limits for You?

Not really.
Reading these replies and thinking about it, I think my main problem are
1) my lack of technical knowledge of photography (even after reading it multiple times, I keep forgetting it). I mostly shoot on Auto and do the work in PS with the raw-file.
2) not daring to spend the money for good lenses.
This sometimes results in disappointment and the temptation to buy 'a better camera'.
Which, by now, I found out, is not the solution.

is there still a whole new world to open for me?

Yes

Can you give me an example?

When visiting an automotive event, cars are sometimes lined up close to each other.
So I'm looking for a lens with a low focal length. Maybe a prime lens. Autofocus required.

[Aaron28]

since you shoot in auto....maybe try Av (aperture priority) where ya set a certain f# and the camera picks the shutter.....the new world being depth of field....may give ya a different perspective when shooting and detail that ya thought you were missing

[DeadJohn]

Good images on your flickr. The K-r looks like a good fit for you. Wait until you push your K-r more before changing cameras; test Av mode for parked cars, Tv mode for moving cars, and if you enjoy the extra work and extra control in those modes then you might consider stepping up to a more advanced camera. An upgrade offers:

1. Less noise. "Noise" is like static in an image that increases with ISO. Your images don't seem to be suffering from that.
2. More control over the camera. The higher Pentax models have 2 control wheels instead of just 1 and advanced modes like "TAv". TAv is great for moving objects but requires more decisions by the photographer.
3. Higher resolution. If you are mostly viewing full images on screen extra resolution is wasted. More resolution is good for cropping or printing large. Higher resolution can require better technique and newer, sharper lenses to get the most of it.

If you prefer to stay in auto mode, stick with the K-r.

---------- Post added 05-31-15 at 01:22 PM ----------

When visiting an automotive event, cars are sometimes lined up close to each other. So I'm looking for a lens with a low focal length. Maybe a prime lens. Autofocus required.

The autofocus ultrawide lenses (The Pentax DA 15, Tamron 10-24, a few Sigma models) are in the $400+ range unless you find an amazing used bargain. Going manual focus with ultrawide isn't that bad, though. At wide angles more of the photo looks to be in focus, and you can use a technique called hyperfocal focusing to manually focus once and then all of your photos will look sharp.

[funyboyke]

Thx!

I'll start with using the Av mode.
If that works, I'll try manual focus and may consider buying a manual focus lens.

That's one of my other things I might do wrong in photography: wanting to take pictures of everyting.
Need to more like: Quality over Quantity
I'll try to take some time for each picture.

[HeavyCorPhotography]

When visiting an automotive event, cars are sometimes lined up close to each other.
So I'm looking for a lens with a low focal length. Maybe a prime lens. Autofocus required.

Look at my Flickr that I posted in my first reply. I have only been able to take shots at car shows. There's still a lot you can do, as far as composition goes, to get good shots, even when everything is packed tight. Keep working on it and you're sure to get it. Even then though, I'll take around 150 shots or so at a car show and really only grab about 2 dozen of them that I feel are good enough for me to worry about post processing on. Don't just delete the bad photos though. Try and look at them and see what you could've done better for that shot. I'd say focus on 1. Getting composition down, and 2. Learning the settings of your camera little by little. I've quite literally only had DSLR cameras (no previous SLR experience either) for about 2 and half months. If you focus on learning the basics, and taking as many shots as you can, you'll get it down quick.

If you are going to upgrade bodies, find a body that will suit your needs for a good year or more. It's expensive to be changing cameras every few months when something new comes out. Once you find out which camera you are going to get, then work towards different lenses. A lot of car show guys I know love to shoot 50mm primes. That may not be for you though. I find I take most of my shots between 18-30mm, for example. Use your kit lens and find which length you are most comfortable with, and then go for a prime that is close to that. After a year or so on the same camera, but having built up a lens collection, you can move up to whatever camera you want, and you get to keep all that good glass you invested in, whereas the old camera body you were using will eventually go obsolete.

Also, when getting lenses. Manual focus lenses are great, and definitely fine for the parked cars in auto shows. I primarily use MF even on my AF lenses. It is a lot easier to get what you want in focus when you do it yourself, and since the cars aren't moving around you can take your time to get it right. Plus MF lenses are usually a little cheaper than AF lenses.