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12-08-2013, 02:13 PM   #1
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Pentax K3 Wedding Photos

I think the K3 puts Pentax into the discussion for wedding photography. Post your best pics here - either from a technical or esthetic standpoint - and let's test the hypothesis.

12-08-2013, 02:16 PM   #2
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I'll kick start the thread with this example. ISO 6400 shot of a wedding singer. Shot with the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD at 43mm. Image cropped and color-corrected in Photoshop[, from an Adobe Camera Raw conversion with no noise reduction.

Pentax K3 ISO 6400 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
12-08-2013, 02:20 PM - 3 Likes   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by TheBlindHog Quote
I think the K3 puts Pentax into the discussion for wedding photography.
What was wrong with the K-5? K-30? Despite what many people claim, Pentax has been in the discussion for wedding photography for years now, and there are some among us that still shoot them with K-7's and earlier.

-Heie
12-08-2013, 02:31 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by TheBlindHog Quote
I think the K3 puts Pentax into the discussion for wedding photography.
You probably won't see many wedding pros using a K-3 until the major commercial photo tools used by most wedding photographers (eg Adobe ACR/Lightroom, Aperture, DxO, and Capture One) start directly supporting the K-3. It may take until early 2014 before they are all 'K-3 compatible'.

12-08-2013, 02:36 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Heie Quote
What was wrong with the K-5? K-30? Despite what many people claim, Pentax has been in the discussion for wedding photography for years now, and there are some among us that still shoot them with K-7's and earlier.

-Heie
Exactly. K-5 did quite well for me.
12-08-2013, 03:04 PM   #6
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No offense

intended. I have been a Pentaxian since 2007 and have owned the K100, the K20, the K5, the K7, the K30, and now the K3. I am not disparaging anyone's work. We have all produced fantastic images with our Pentax cameras.

I am making the case that the improved AF and the bigger files and the improved PTTL make the K3 a better performer - in my opinion - than any of the previous bodies I've used for wedding photography. And when I say "wedding photography" I mean "wedding reception" especially, where the low light and fast moving people caused me to miss a TON of shots because of poor AF in those conditions with the K5, K7, and K30. Whereas I have had much better success with the K3. My experience only and again not taking away from anyone else's work.
12-08-2013, 03:32 PM   #7
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I am a K20D Shooter who is indeed thinking of the K3, its replacement, or even a K5II.
I would welcome any REAL wedding photographers (people that get paid serious money) to contribute. I understand how a camera can do quite good. But also I understand how a camera can do it all!! The Pentax system has looked good since the K5II, but I would like to not rely on the terrible Metz interface for flash photography.
So, does the K3 have it all.
consistent metering
great AF in terrible lighting
decent P-TTL
quiet
fast
dual slot (at last)
high Iso performance that cleans up as well as the K5 (NR)
reliable battery indicator
And the rest, I got bored listing.
It looks on paper like a lighter Canon 1D MKIII
does it do it all.

12-08-2013, 11:46 PM   #8
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My wife and I did around a dozen weddings for pay, until we got tired of it. We earn more with less work from family portrait sessions.

We used two Minolta 600si and a K1000, then I used an original Canon Digital Rebel until this little plastic pin for the mirror flip decided to break ( common problem, I hear ), then two Pentax Ist-DS for a long time ( which work fine to this day ) , then added a K10D then a K20D.

Flash was dual auto-flash to cross light the subjects. One mounted on the flash bracket with the camera plus a radio transmitter, and the remote flash on a stick with a receiver. Totally awesome looking lighting, but it's harder work than just running around with on-camera only.

Bunch of primes in a bag, although we also used a few zooms and my wife got the 80-200/2.8 on a tripod for the ceremony from the balcony or the like, while I covered the processional from the aisle. The processional is the most intense part of the whole ceremony, while posing everyone is the most intense part of the time afterwards. The reception is mostly easy.

The primes are great for being able to see something through the viewfinder while in a dark reception hall or the like. The bazooka 80-200 is great for gaining some respect from the clients, especially when it's my wife who's running it. The big flip frame with strobe and transmitter help too.

Lots of manual focus. Katz-Eye screens, although I'd prefer the center focus patch screen of the original K1000 instead of the split image and ring of the Katz-Eye. Split image focus doesn't do much for a face. Since using flash, the depth of field can cover small focus errors, but it's pretty fast to manually focus on the fly during a dance, and there's plenty of time to let the autofocus work its stuff while the camera is on the tripod during formals or ceremony. During a processional, you just focus on a spot on the floor and trip when they arrive at that spot. Then manually focus a bit on the fly as they keep walking.

Several cameras are required for back-up, but they're also nice for use during the ceremony when you instantly change between flash for processional / recessional, v.s. ambient only for the ceremony.

In reality, you can do a beautiful job covering a wedding with a tripod, two K1000s, and some auto flashes. Everything else is optional, but often very nice to have.

My biggest concern with the K-3 would be the lack of the AA filter when it comes to the veil and such. It will be interesting to see how that turns out in reality.
12-09-2013, 12:53 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by bdp1 Quote


My biggest concern with the K-3 would be the lack of the AA filter when it comes to the veil and such. It will be interesting to see how that turns out in reality.
well, it does have an AA simulator, which works. It moves the sensor minutely to make it work.
12-09-2013, 10:32 PM   #10
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I should have clarified that I was referring to flash photography with the AA simulator.

The K-3 simulator is supposedly good up to around 1/1000 second, but flash durations can easily be much faster, which reduces the effectiveness of the AA simulator.

Note on the following page that most of the flash power comes in a surge near the start of the flash exposure, then the flash tails off for a while.

According to their specification page for the studio strobe which I use for our main light, it has a t.5 duration of 1/6000 second as I usually have it set.

They also show 1/2000 or faster for speedlights such as you might commonly use on the hotshoe or bracket during a wedding reception.

So depending on what kind of flash unit and how it's used, the AA simulator might or might not have a noticable effect.

Reference:
Flash Duration
12-10-2013, 12:39 AM   #11
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Interesting.
I wonder how flash and moire worked out with the K-5IIs?
12-10-2013, 01:18 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by rawr Quote
Interesting.
I wonder how flash and moire worked out with the K-5IIs?
I have a theory that it doesn't matter whatsoever what the flash duration is. Even 1/100,000s flash duration. Because the sensor is still being shaken during the same exposure as the flash's emittance, thus illuminating for the flash duration, but not maintaining the crispness from the flash. I would even go so far as to say that this would apply during a studio session in a completely blacked out environment where the flash duration IS the effective shutter speed despite an actual several second long shutter speed. Just like if your subject is moving faster than the sync speed, there will be blur of said subject despite a flash duration of 1/2000s (God what an amazing sync speed that would be!). The only difference is the blur is not subject induced (localized to the subject's hand, for example), but rather generalized to every pixel (the entire image captured). The caveat here is that the blacked out environment is exactly how to counter this using a short flash duration.

I haven't tested this on my K-5 IIs, but this theory is based solely on my knowledge of photography and science/physics (which granted are both very limited).

-Heie
12-10-2013, 02:41 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by bdp1 Quote
I should have clarified that I was referring to flash photography with the AA simulator.

The K-3 simulator is supposedly good up to around 1/1000 second, but flash durations can easily be much faster, which reduces the effectiveness of the AA simulator.

Note on the following page that most of the flash power comes in a surge near the start of the flash exposure, then the flash tails off for a while.

According to their specification page for the studio strobe which I use for our main light, it has a t.5 duration of 1/6000 second as I usually have it set.

They also show 1/2000 or faster for speedlights such as you might commonly use on the hotshoe or bracket during a wedding reception.

So depending on what kind of flash unit and how it's used, the AA simulator might or might not have a noticable effect.

Reference:
Flash Duration
I did think that you probably meant the flash after posting........ it is an interesting thought. I would imagine that the veil might be slightly problematic as there is a human face beneath. any fix would affect the focus point of the image. My studio flash is 1/800th to 1/500th so I should be safe. But I use light strobes most of the other time, which have a very quick flash.
12-10-2013, 02:51 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by Heie Quote
I have a theory that it doesn't matter whatsoever what the flash duration is. Even 1/100,000s flash duration. Because the sensor is still being shaken during the same exposure as the flash's emittance, thus illuminating for the flash duration, but not maintaining the crispness from the flash. I would even go so far as to say that this would apply during a studio session in a completely blacked out environment where the flash duration IS the effective shutter speed despite an actual several second long shutter speed. Just like if your subject is moving faster than the sync speed, there will be blur of said subject despite a flash duration of 1/2000s (God what an amazing sync speed that would be!). The only difference is the blur is not subject induced (localized to the subject's hand, for example), but rather generalized to every pixel (the entire image captured). The caveat here is that the blacked out environment is exactly how to counter this using a short flash duration.

I haven't tested this on my K-5 IIs, but this theory is based solely on my knowledge of photography and science/physics (which granted are both very limited).

-Heie
I have a feeling you are wrong. The flash is very very fast indeed, and the sensor needs to move enough to make a difference in a very short time. Imaging resources measured the sensor to move at 500 Hz in a second which may or may not be fast enough for some flashes, but certainly not enough for flash over 1/2000th duration it would get the equivalent of 1/4 the movement normaly in the AA simulator .
Think of it as the simulator being fully effective at 1/500th of a second and anything under.
I would welcome someone doing a real test on this.
12-10-2013, 04:33 AM   #15
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Hi Guys,

I'm a Wedding Photographer with my own photography business (AJC Photography. I wouldn't call myself a Wedding Photography 'pro' by any means but I shot my first wedding as the official photographer earlier this year, you can see the photos here - Clients, these were shot with a Pentax K-r and everyone involved was very pleased with the results!

I have paid bookings for next year where I will be using my new Pentax K-3 along with my K-r as a backup/second body. The enhanced low light performance, better AF, dual slots etc will mean I can get much better shots than I ever could before. I see no reason why a number of Pentax bodies can't be used for Wedding Photography if i'm honest, as I said I shot a whole wedding on a k-r and that is essentially an entry level DSLR!

The only thing I am going to have to consider is what to do about flash - I currently use a Bell & Howell flash which works well with my K-r but doesn't play too nicely with the K-3 so i'll need to invest in 1 or 2 new flashes.

Cheers

Alex
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