[Cannikin]

EDIT: What about blue lines on the right in the screen shot?

That would be moire.

In most current implementations, moire is worse in video than for stills, because only a small number of pixels on the sensor are actually sampled (~2MP in the case of 1080p), increasing the probability that false colors/patterns will be generated.

[memo90061]

That makes sense. Thank you. Is moire common on the K-30?

[JustinK10D]

Will the k30 ( or any dslr) take a still image whilst shooting video, without interruption to the video?

[exwintech]

JustinK10D - The Canon 650D does. See Page 178 of its Manual. There's a 1-second 'freeze' in the video. The JPEG is a separate file saved in the same Aspect Ratio and size as the video being shot.

The K30 does it better - you can save a single frame as a JPEG from any video clip. Obviously that's going to be the same as the video AR and size, too. But you can playback the video clip, stop it when nearly at the part you want - then frame-step forward (or back) to the frame you want. See Page 135 in the K30 Manual.

Both cameras save your "still" as the video AR and size - 1920 x 1080 is about 2Mpix.

But - where with the 650D you only get "1 bite at the cherry" per shutter-shot - with the K30 you can of course scroll either-way from where that "1 shutter shot" might have been - and while the single shot might not have grabbed the precise moment or movement you wanted as a still - with K30 you can scroll many frames either side of your "stop point" to get the exact frame you need. Or save several - to see which you or friends like best, later.

If you want to save frames from videos other than in K30 - you can use Avidemux - free for Windows, Linux and Mac - to save frames as BMP, JPEG, or a sequence selection of frames as a set of JPEGs.

Regards, Dave.

[kadajawi]

I would not say the k30 is the most advanced pentax for video... the k-01 is.... and I'm considering buying the k-01... also the jello effect... non issue unless you're shooting sports... all the fast pans that induce that effect would also make the video unwatchable for most situations...

You mean like all new action movies?

Now from my compact Canon I'm used to shoot with CHDK, and the big ones have Magic Lantern. Is there anything somewhat similar for Pentax DSLRs? Any way to increase the bitrate, get the ISO above 3200, ...? I suppose that isn't possible since the processor isn't able to do proper noise reduction. The little Canon does a great job, it removes color noise rather effective (until you really push it too far), and what you are left with is something that almost looks like film grain. But with a high enough bitrate you could do that in post too...

The K-30 doesn't take all pixels and downsample from them? Hmpf. That too is very unfortunate... I guess yet again the CPU wouldn't be able to keep up, so it's better to shoot at Full HD and then lower the resolution afterwards.

[JustinK10D]

JustinK10D - The Canon 650D does. See Page 178 of its Manual. There's a 1-second 'freeze' in the video. The JPEG is a separate file saved in the same Aspect Ratio and size as the video being shot.

The K30 does it better - you can save a single frame as a JPEG from any video clip. Obviously that's going to be the same as the video AR and size, too. But you can playback the video clip, stop it when nearly at the part you want - then frame-step forward (or back) to the frame you want. See Page 135 in the K30 Manual.

Both cameras save your "still" as the video AR and size - 1920 x 1080 is about 2Mpix.

But - where with the 650D you only get "1 bite at the cherry" per shutter-shot - with the K30 you can of course scroll either-way from where that "1 shutter shot" might have been - and while the single shot might not have grabbed the precise moment or movement you wanted as a still - with K30 you can scroll many frames either side of your "stop point" to get the exact frame you need. Or save several - to see which you or friends like best, later.

If you want to save frames from videos other than in K30 - you can use Avidemux - free for Windows, Linux and Mac - to save frames as BMP, JPEG, or a sequence selection of frames as a set of JPEGs.

Regards, Dave.

Thanks Dave.
After much deliberation, i purchased the k30 & 18-135. So far I'm certain i made the right choice, it's great.
Cheers
Justin

[exwintech]

JustinK10D - Congrats, mate! Needs "deliberating"...? What in the price level, and available in Oz - gets near it for "imaging functions"...?

Sure - if good video quality and performance is a demand - or a "family need", as can be, nowadays - the Canon 650D sure takes the bikky... But at the awful price of no pentaprism, only 1 e-dial, no water/dust sealing, and "no-comparo" on high-ISO abilities... And if your subjects are in a hurry - shutter at 1/6000th trumps the 650's 1/4000th... Even my P&S Fuji HS10 has 1/4000th....! (Yes, I know about the K-R and K-X.)

With the bright pentaprism the K30 works nicely with classic manual lenses - the Green Button gets you somewhere near correct exposure - check with a shot and adjust shutter or ISO. Works rather more easily than I thought it was going to.

If you're not set to do RAW - and like the JPEG when you take a glance at it - you can still save the RAW data from the buffer by hitting the +/- button. I initially thought that was a "party-trick" - until I started using it.

Set the EV to "1/3rds" - and you have all the ISO "in-betweens" as well - ISO 100-125-160-200-250 so on... Rather nifty when you just want to lift shutter-speed a bit, say for handheld - without going way-up-ISO.

The K30 is crammed with "nifty-usefuls" - that can turn up in use - even if you thought you'd read the Manual in great detail...

As for the "video" - like my HS10, the 1280 x 720 is better than the 1920 x 1080, though both are at quite low bitrate. The Std HD is okay for short clips to put into other material when editing.

Sadly - unlike the HS10, while you can trim video clips - you can't append (join) them in the camera.

But you can manipulate JPEGs usefully - both image and frame can be rotated - and you can crop to Aspect Ratios 3:2-4:3-16:9 and 1:1 - so you can have a tree - person - tall building - in portrait mode at 9:16 - useful if you wanted to post or email it immediately.

The camera itself does sort-of-HDR - Level 1 picks up shadows detail with some enhancing you might like, or not - Levels 2 and 3 are garish to cartoonish.

If you like doing your own HDR - you're a bit out of luck... Bracketing/AEB, Timer and SR are all on the 1 'drive' in the Menu. Selecting any one cancels the others. You can't put it on tripod and use a Remote to fire AEB - Remote cancels out, too.

Pentax could so easily have allowed Timer with Bracketing - the K5 has it.

But I suppose they have to leave some useful functions out - or who'd buy the new model - or higher model - that has them...?

Unfortunately - Pentax doesn't yet have a Canon style "CHKD" hack function to "add-back" missing functions...

But - for a mere $809.00 with kit-lens - $879.00 with a 2-year Warranty Extension - I'm more than merely pleased with the K30...

Writing this at early a.m. - having coffees and a garlic roll - and the K30 with Tak SMC 55mm f/1.8 is waiting for the dawn light.....

As somebody else from W.A. said elsewhere - "A K30 and Classic lenses - can you have more fun with your pants on...?"

Do suss they're right.....

Regards, Dave.

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Last edited by exwintech; 11-05-2012 at 03:24 PM.

[SteveB]

I wonder if video moiré could be eliminated with a soft filter?

[kadajawi]

In a shop I have shot a video with the K-5 and with the K-30. The K-5 won hands down, UNLESS space is an issue. The K-5 files are humongous. You can easily enough compress it down to a sane level at home, but better bring many big SD cards with you if you plan to shoot a lot. With no visible loss of quality (to me) I got a 286 MB file from the K-5 down to around 21 MB (x264, very high settings that take forever to encode and a lot of power to decode, but it looks great). The same settings gave me around 60% smaller files with the K-30 footage.