[Sagitta]

Thanks Wombat -- I probably turned off the Auto-Off setting, will check.

ISO 3200 ... IMHO, you're way over the top. I think all the camera-maker ISO-performance claims are based on bright sunny-day images, not the low-light stuff we're doing here. In the dark, try not to go over ISO 800.

I've heard that the K-30 is basically a repackaged K-01, with the sensor and important bits basically the same inside. If that's the case, then I think I may have to argue with you about that ISO 800 cap.

ISO 1600


ISO 6400


ISO 800


ISO 1600


ISO 3200

[jon404]

@interested, @sagitta -- thanks for the examples and advice... really appreciate it... and glad to find out I'm not the only person interested in low-light photography. Will have to start using a tripod, though!

[interested_observer]

I found them! It does appear to be the same ship. The first one is by the pier downtown, while the second is on Coronado the next afternoon on the beach down by the Hotel Del (which is really very cropped - only about 10% of the image is used). These were with the K100 and the pair of kit lenses.

I had an old aluminum and plastic tripod that fit into my carry-on luggage. Unfortunately, it got me started on better "mechanical support".

Gee - this reminds me that I could do a whole lot better today. It's all a learning process....

[jon404]

@Interested ... No, you were right -- looked it up, she's the Chilean training ship Esmerelda, see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmeralda_(BE-43) ... with an interesting past. Love the photo from the beach at the Hotel Del ... all sails set, off on her way to somewhere. Neat!

[Sagitta]

@interested, @sagitta -- thanks for the examples and advice... really appreciate it... and glad to find out I'm not the only person interested in low-light photography. Will have to start using a tripod, though!

FWIW, I tend to shoot wide open. In most cases I'll be far enough back from the subject that I don't have to worry about my depth of field coming into play. I then do a bit of minimal level sliding in Lightroom or Photoshop to boost vibrance and saturation a hair, and a bit of sharpening to take care of the fact that I was shooting wide open to begin with.

I also use RAW. Shooting in JPG at night will only lead to frustration, at least in my experience.

[interested_observer]

@Interested ... No, you were right -- looked it up, she's the Chilean training ship Esmerelda, see http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esmeralda_(BE-43) ... with an interesting past. Love the photo from the beach at the Hotel Del ... all sails set, off on her way to somewhere. Neat!

Evening Jon,

I dug through my images this morning and found them. The one with her docked at the pier was ISO800. That is really really high for the K100. It took some cleaning up in LightRoom, but came out pretty good. I just happened by her downtown at the pier across from the Midway one evening. A much better time to shoot is the hour after sundown - the blue hour. You get some really nice sky colors then, along with low lights, it just adds a lot more interest.

The image of her putting out to sea, was late the next afternoon. I had just gotten out of some all day meetings, and just wanted to stop and walk along the beach. I happened to look up and there she was. I had the camera with me and was a bit worried that she was too far out. The image is really just the center 10% of the image - and for a 6MP body, it came out really good (also a bit of adjustments in LightRoom). I also only shoot in RAW - so that helps.

Since I drag the tripod with me a lot, I shoot all across the apertures - wide open up to about f11, depending on what I want to do.

Between your K-01 and the K5IIs, you have a wonderful set of sensors that are extremely capable that you can really do anything with.

Also, this thread started about a month ago, asking some questions about tripods. For whatever reason, it really developed into one of the best tripod/head threads in quite a while. Its a very good read with lots of information....

• https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/22-pentax-camera-field-accessories/279529...sing-rack.html