[barondla]

Just got the K-30 18-55 and 18-55/50-200 twins lens kits in. Will play and try to post some photos.
thanks
barondla

[JinDesu]

And to chime in for everyone else - how is the autofocus!?

I need tihs camera to get into B&H...

[VacantBuddy]

Shoooooot. B&H, where are you?

[monochrome]

Man barondla, your camera guy is a true champion!!

[Kyle509]

Shoooooot. B&H, where are you?

This!

[loco]

Congrats, looking forward to pics and your thoughts on the camera!

[Docrwm]

Congratulations on the new camera. What store had it this soon?

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Why would he not post where/how he got it so quickly? Must've been too excited I guess...

[monochrome]

Why would he not post where/how he got it so quickly? Must've been too excited I guess...

He has a camera store nearby that seems to be first-in with everything. He had a Q before they were even received at Adorama. That's why I posted what I did above.

Also, he doesn't visit every day and his posts are often brief. When he does follow up on this he will tell us a lot about his new camera. He is no doubt out playing as I write this.

[barondla]

Battery had a little charge on it fresh out of the box. Smaller K-r battery instead of K-01/5/7. With adapter will still take AA batts.

Menus look similar to other K cams - no problem. Camera feels good in hand. Seems to have a little more for the pinky finger to rest on. 4 way control fast short cuts are laid out like K-01/Q vs K-7 ( and if I remember correctly K-5). No lock on psam mode dial. May not be needed since dial swapped sides of camera and is closer to middle than edge mounted K-5/7.

Shutter not as quiet as K-5/7. Quieter than older Pentax DSLR's. Fine for me.

Autofocus. Well I am not much of an AF guy because it usually bugs me (not counting Q with prime lens). Only had time to shoot camera at lunch today. Used the supplied 18-55 (non WR) kit lens and center point AF. I am amazed. Probably focused and refocused on things 200 times. The focus just zips to its spot and stops. Like Nadia Comaneci it just sticks the focus point. A perfect 10. Only once in all these tries did it start to go the wrong direction then backup. Even then it didn't go all the way in the wrong direction - just a milisecond. It is also very quiet focusing with the 18-55. Tried some fairly hard focusing on wood grain that is almost all the same color and contrast - no problem. Bright outdoors but under shade of a picnic shelter - no problem. Need to try low light tomorrow night.

Would have played more with camera but battery went dead ( never charged it). Left the battery charging at work - arghhh. If this would have taken K-01/5/7 battery I would have been covered. Oh well, it is on loan from the camera store ( Audio 1). Tomorrow more tests and pictures.

thanks
barondla ( I do post a fair amount - mostly in Q forum last 6 months).

Also recieved the K-01 quickly.

[JinDesu]

Sick, that AF is sounding better and better.

[Welfl]

Tomorrow more tests and pictures.

I used to take a lot of sunrise and sunset pictures. If your schedule allows it, would you consider taking some pictures like that so that we can see what the K-30's dynamic range is like -- i.e. how much detail can be retrieved from the shadows in post processing? If you don't have time, that's okay!

Thank you!

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Thanks for taking the time to share your impressions so far. Can you comment on how the speed of the liveview AF compares to that of the K-01? Thanks!

[Docrwm]

Sounds very good so far. Thanks for all the details, am looking forward to the further explorations of your K30.

[barondla]

Had a chance to play with the K-30 another hour or so. The fast AF is amazing on the 77 LTD. Have never seen it move so quickly. It never seemed this fast on the K-5's I have borrowed.

In bright light tried comparing the K-01 to K-30 using LV with AF. Used two 18-55 lenses. Neither had a tough time focusing and I couldn't say one was notably faster than the other. Haven't tried lower light to see if one is better than the other.

Image quality seems very similar to K-01. Sharper than K-5, but K-5 seems to handle extreme dynamic range a little better. None of this is based on extreme pixel peeping.

Like the back thumb rest on K-30. Miss the top mounted lcd screen a little. Dual control dials are nice. A little miffed that we no longer have a choice of MTF program.

more later
barondla

Keep in mind I have not looked at the IB.