I went out for a volleyball tournament.... (33 images)

RonHendriks1966 · 12-31-2013, 07:25 AM - **5 Likes**

In the Netherlands there was on 29th and 30th december the Dela Trophy, a tournament for volleyball. This was the sixt time that this event was held and it is mainly a preparation tournament for some qualification. Up till now only the womens team was playing, but for this year also the Dutch national men's team was playing. Both teams in preparation for the World Cup Qualification Tournament in januari. For the men's team the French national team was invited, while for the women the team from Belgium was present. In the past teams from Cuba, China and Turkey where present for this tournament. Basicly you play against each other for a few games and one gets a cup. This year only two days (we had before events for 2, 3 or 4 days) and only playing in one venue and not a small tour around the Netherlands. The sponsor is DELA, wich is a funeral Insurance company, pays for all off it and it is very nice for the visitors, who get free T-shirts, win prices and free entrance. Both days where sold out with each day 2.800 visitors. It's a real party for Dutch Volleyball. In 2011 there where 4 days and totaling off 11.000 visitors with two larger venues and two smaller ones.

I did take images for a sportssite this time, so I also covered the men's game, but only partly, since I only needed 20 images for covering for each game.

With me I had the K-5 (only on sunday with the FA*85mm), K-01 (used with FA31mm and FA*85mm) and the K-3 (with the FA*85mm and Sigma 70-200mm). Some off the images I took with the K-01 I should have used the K-3, for instance the groupshot, where you benefit for the larger pixelamount. But I didn't because I used the Sigma, for standing further away then I would like, but not allowed to come closer and the FA*85 is just to perfect to not use. There is no time for switching lenses.

Sunday men's game:
1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Sunday women's game:
6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15)

Monday men's game:
16)

17)

18)

19)

20)

21)

22)

Monday women's game:
23)

24)

25)

26)

27)

28)

29)

30)

31)

32)

33)

So is there anything to conclude with these images? Well it is clearly possible to make good sports images with the K-3 and a set off good lenses. The camera is faster in AF then the K-5 is, and you do have a bigger chance in making good images. Making excellent images still needs some input from the photographer, since the K-3 is just a picture taking machine.

The battery does deplete very fast. To my knowing I could run this event with K-5 on a single battery, but for the K-3 I changed the battery during the second game since it was giving attention to being depleted and giving just one bar left over.

The files with these iso-settings are on average about 32,5 MB witch I think is very large. This is one off the things I'm not to happy with, since I don't get 50% more image quality compared to the K-5 or even up to 90 % larger files then with the K-01!!!!!!!!!!

The postproduction on these images where very briefly. Only some minor things in LightRoom. I run on my laptop Ligthroom 4.4 and Camera RAW 7.4. No idea if that is the latest, but no updates available. I still have to update to Lightroom 5, but for now this is my tool.

The noise in the images directly from the camera doesn't look nice and I guess that jpg's straight from the camera with hi iso isn't that pleasing. To my feelings (no measurements taken) this is a step back compared to the K-5! But that was also to be expected. Cleaning up does give some nice images, but there is more work to it then for the K-5 I am used to.

When making nice images, one doesn't use these hi-iso settings, so this doesn't mean the K-3 can't make good quality images. I also did some studiowork and that does look very good.

So how good is the K-3?
Well for starters I only made so little images and I only did so little work with files in post processing that I can't compare that to the K-5, wich I made over 340k images with with different body's. In technic the K-3 is certainly better then the K-5 (I also had the K-5 II, but my main comparison is to the K-5 Silver I own).

The AF is faster and nicely accurate.
The White Balance is as crappy as always in these sports venues and I set the white balance in post processing. In most sportsvenues the light isn't even the same all around the venue.
The hi iso images are very noisy out off the camera.
Cleaning up the noise is to be done in post processing and that does work nicely, but it isn't winning from the K-5.
Files are huge with on average off 32,5 MB.
The battery does deplete much faster then in the K-5.
I used AF-C and 9 AF points wich I moved around the AF-area and that does work very quickly. Just handling the 4-wheel steering and the AF-points light up in your viewer so you see where you are.
The AF is faster and reliable, but I didn't yet do real fine tuning on the AF. With sports, large scenery's and hi-iso however that is less important, since there will always be something not in focus that you would like.
The processing off the files and storing off the files is much faster then on the K-5. But due to the large files some off the advantages from the PRIME III engine are lost to that extra amount off work.
The continues shooting I used was the fast setting, but that doesn't deliver the 8,3 fps since the refocussing takes time. However you can take more images then with the K-5 since the focusing is faster. I did no measuring on that yet. My guess on the K-5 was that with AF-C the limit with an average scene would be going around 2.8 fps or so and hte K-3 is faster then that number.
There is no use for the second cardslot in this work. As I expected.
The changing for the AF-points with the extra button and using the wheals works great. You can just snap to some other setting, like one-point AF.
Deleting files in the camera (pre-selecting) has one new offer. With the +/- button you can scroll and select multiple images for deleting, not possible in the K-5 and that is great.
Reviewing images on the screen is great. The screen is larger, but somehow I have the feeling that the K-01 still offers better previews then the K-3 does. It is a bleassing that images again turn on your screen so you can look at portrait-images on the big screen by tilting the camera.
I mainly used TAv this time with auto-iso settings. I would not recommend to make images above iso3200 if not nessacery! Only if you really need to. The K-5 still wins in this area.
I didn't took a dive into the working from the SR system, but my feeling says that it is working proparly.

Well somehow I still think that putting the 16 megapixel sensor inside the K-3 would make a better and faster camera then the 24 megapixel we now have. The PRIME III engine would have some nice playtime with the smaller files and making the K-3 really faster. For having better image quality I still would prefer a larger sensor and we all know that APS-H is my my personal preference to reach this goal!

This is me at work, photo taken by my collegue Roel Ubels, wich is an amazing photographer using the Olympus E5 (while all others are on CaNikon).

The beard is new and going away in 2014.

Greetings, Ron.

Last edited by RonHendriks1966; 12-31-2013 at 09:13 AM.

normhead · 12-31-2013, 07:42 AM

Very nice pictures and report Ron... I love #26, where the girl way up in the air for a big hit has tried to blast her way throughout the block, that's my kind of insanity... and #2. 20 years ago in my 40's I was still playing at that level, and getting that high over the net. These days, if I jump as high as I can, I get my hand over the net. I've gone from a 30 inch vertical to 10 inch vertical, but your pictures remind me what it felt like to fly.

Thanks for posting.

pinholecam · 12-31-2013, 07:43 AM

Excellent shots!

Thanks for sharing the user experience too.

**THoog** · 12-31-2013, 07:51 AM

Nice work, Ron!

Heheh, I was asking myself "when did Ron grow a beard?" when I finally scrolled down and saw your comment.

starjedi · 12-31-2013, 07:52 AM

wonderful！thanks for sharing

Gnarelsek · 12-31-2013, 08:31 AM

Really nice photos and sharing of K-3 experience. Reminds myself when I was a player. Too bad I did not get my actions photos taken for remembrance. What a pity( to myself)

JinDesu · 12-31-2013, 08:39 AM

Thanks for the report. To be honest, I would agree with what you said - I would love to have a 16MP k-3. Imagine the jpeg buffer on that....

normhead · 12-31-2013, 08:43 AM

Originally posted by JinDesu

Thanks for the report. To be honest, I would agree with what you said - I would love to have a 16MP k-3. Imagine the jpeg buffer on that....

I was just saying the same thing the other day, I'm not convinced the 16 Mp sensor in the K5s isn't the optimum size for an APS-c sensor. I'd love a K5IIs with the K-3 AF and Prime engine, and the K-5 low light and Dynamic range capabilities.

Brew1brew · 12-31-2013, 09:34 AM

Awesome series Ron! I think this should prove to you that you don't need to carry but one camera. Although you stated that you brought the K5 and the K01 you only showed K3 images in this thread. And by the way you captured some very nice images.

I to am just starting to familiarize my self with the K3 and I'm loving it. I really like the dual SD card option that we now have. I agree that the file sizes are a bit large, but then again storage is just getting cheaper every day. So go buy a few more terabytes of storage and keep shooting.

RonHendriks1966 · 12-31-2013, 10:18 AM

Originally posted by Brew1brew

Awesome series Ron! I think this should prove to you that you don't need to carry but one camera. Although you stated that you brought the K5 and the K01 you only showed K3 images in this thread. And by the way you captured some very nice images.

I to am just starting to familiarize my self with the K3 and I'm loving it. I really like the dual SD card option that we now have. I agree that the file sizes are a bit large, but then again storage is just getting cheaper every day. So go buy a few more terabytes of storage and keep shooting.

Well those images could have been made with the K-3. With the K-01 I'm not in a hurry and just browsing around to make some random images that give some feel for the atmosphere. When I bought the K-5 my plan was to keep the K-7, but having the K-5 for just two day's I knew that I wanted to change that plan and sold the K-7 and bought a second K-5. The K-3 did not do that to me this time in wanting to sell my other camera's. I just sold the K-5 II, since it was just plain black to make room for the K-3 Silver.

Some K-01 images:

Sunday

Monday

**jbinpg** · 12-31-2013, 11:39 AM

Great images, Ron. The 2nd SD card would provide an overflow for your shots in sequential mode, no? It did in mine the other day when taking a lot of shots.

Jack

RonHendriks1966 · 12-31-2013, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by jbinpg

Great images, Ron. The 2nd SD card would provide an overflow for your shots in sequential mode, no? It did in mine the other day when taking a lot of shots.

Jack

Yes, but I didn't plan to make so much images. I use 32GB cards, so plenty off images fit on it.

gebco · 12-31-2013, 11:59 AM

Thanks Ron, I appreciate the work you put into your explanations and posts. I'm looking at upgrading from my K-x to the K-3, mostly for the added control and improved DR and AF. I keep reading how the K-3 hi ISO output isn't that great. Hi ISO is something I really appreciate from my K-x as I do a lot of dance theatre photography and frequently get into the ISO 6400 range. The K-x is relatively good already and cleaning it up in LR3 isn't too difficult.

The attached image is typical of my shooting conditions: lots of DR, white balance all over the place, quick AF needed, and hi ISO. This one was shot at 2.8, 1/500 and ISO 6400.

So my question, even though the files (RAW) may come out noisier than you like, do they clean up fairly easily? I keep wondering if I should look at the K-5ii, but I really want that improved AF on the K-3.

aaalegre · 12-31-2013, 11:59 AM

85 mm nice and sharp

kenyee · 12-31-2013, 12:04 PM

Originally posted by RonHendriks1966

The White Balance is as crappy as always in these sports venues and I set the white balance in post processing. In most sportsvenues the light isn't even the same all around the venue.

Just an FYI in case you don't know it...that's probably because these venues use sodium vapor lamps that rotate the light frequencies. When you run higher shutter speeds shooting sports, you'll catch the lights at different color temps. I have a friend who shoots school auditorium events w/ a D800 and he has the same issues. You can't do much about it unfortunately

The K-01 shots look slightly blown out in comparison to the K-3's but both did a good job.

12-31-2013, 07:25 AM - 5 Likes	#1
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	I went out for a volleyball tournament.... (33 images) In the Netherlands there was on 29th and 30th december the Dela Trophy, a tournament for volleyball. This was the sixt time that this event was held and it is mainly a preparation tournament for some qualification. Up till now only the womens team was playing, but for this year also the Dutch national men's team was playing. Both teams in preparation for the World Cup Qualification Tournament in januari. For the men's team the French national team was invited, while for the women the team from Belgium was present. In the past teams from Cuba, China and Turkey where present for this tournament. Basicly you play against each other for a few games and one gets a cup. This year only two days (we had before events for 2, 3 or 4 days) and only playing in one venue and not a small tour around the Netherlands. The sponsor is DELA, wich is a funeral Insurance company, pays for all off it and it is very nice for the visitors, who get free T-shirts, win prices and free entrance. Both days where sold out with each day 2.800 visitors. It's a real party for Dutch Volleyball. In 2011 there where 4 days and totaling off 11.000 visitors with two larger venues and two smaller ones. I did take images for a sportssite this time, so I also covered the men's game, but only partly, since I only needed 20 images for covering for each game. With me I had the K-5 (only on sunday with the FA85mm), K-01 (used with FA31mm and FA85mm) and the K-3 (with the FA85mm and Sigma 70-200mm). Some off the images I took with the K-01 I should have used the K-3, for instance the groupshot, where you benefit for the larger pixelamount. But I didn't because I used the Sigma, for standing further away then I would like, but not allowed to come closer and the FA85 is just to perfect to not use. There is no time for switching lenses. Sunday men's game: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Sunday women's game: 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) Monday men's game: 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) Monday women's game: 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30) 31) 32) 33) So is there anything to conclude with these images? Well it is clearly possible to make good sports images with the K-3 and a set off good lenses. The camera is faster in AF then the K-5 is, and you do have a bigger chance in making good images. Making excellent images still needs some input from the photographer, since the K-3 is just a picture taking machine. The battery does deplete very fast. To my knowing I could run this event with K-5 on a single battery, but for the K-3 I changed the battery during the second game since it was giving attention to being depleted and giving just one bar left over. The files with these iso-settings are on average about 32,5 MB witch I think is very large. This is one off the things I'm not to happy with, since I don't get 50% more image quality compared to the K-5 or even up to 90 % larger files then with the K-01!!!!!!!!!! The postproduction on these images where very briefly. Only some minor things in LightRoom. I run on my laptop Ligthroom 4.4 and Camera RAW 7.4. No idea if that is the latest, but no updates available. I still have to update to Lightroom 5, but for now this is my tool. The noise in the images directly from the camera doesn't look nice and I guess that jpg's straight from the camera with hi iso isn't that pleasing. To my feelings (no measurements taken) this is a step back compared to the K-5! But that was also to be expected. Cleaning up does give some nice images, but there is more work to it then for the K-5 I am used to. When making nice images, one doesn't use these hi-iso settings, so this doesn't mean the K-3 can't make good quality images. I also did some studiowork and that does look very good. So how good is the K-3? Well for starters I only made so little images and I only did so little work with files in post processing that I can't compare that to the K-5, wich I made over 340k images with with different body's. In technic the K-3 is certainly better then the K-5 (I also had the K-5 II, but my main comparison is to the K-5 Silver I own). The AF is faster and nicely accurate. The White Balance is as crappy as always in these sports venues and I set the white balance in post processing. In most sportsvenues the light isn't even the same all around the venue. The hi iso images are very noisy out off the camera. Cleaning up the noise is to be done in post processing and that does work nicely, but it isn't winning from the K-5. Files are huge with on average off 32,5 MB. The battery does deplete much faster then in the K-5. I used AF-C and 9 AF points wich I moved around the AF-area and that does work very quickly. Just handling the 4-wheel steering and the AF-points light up in your viewer so you see where you are. The AF is faster and reliable, but I didn't yet do real fine tuning on the AF. With sports, large scenery's and hi-iso however that is less important, since there will always be something not in focus that you would like. The processing off the files and storing off the files is much faster then on the K-5. But due to the large files some off the advantages from the PRIME III engine are lost to that extra amount off work. The continues shooting I used was the fast setting, but that doesn't deliver the 8,3 fps since the refocussing takes time. However you can take more images then with the K-5 since the focusing is faster. I did no measuring on that yet. My guess on the K-5 was that with AF-C the limit with an average scene would be going around 2.8 fps or so and hte K-3 is faster then that number. There is no use for the second cardslot in this work. As I expected. The changing for the AF-points with the extra button and using the wheals works great. You can just snap to some other setting, like one-point AF. Deleting files in the camera (pre-selecting) has one new offer. With the +/- button you can scroll and select multiple images for deleting, not possible in the K-5 and that is great. Reviewing images on the screen is great. The screen is larger, but somehow I have the feeling that the K-01 still offers better previews then the K-3 does. It is a bleassing that images again turn on your screen so you can look at portrait-images on the big screen by tilting the camera. I mainly used TAv this time with auto-iso settings. I would not recommend to make images above iso3200 if not nessacery! Only if you really need to. The K-5 still wins in this area. I didn't took a dive into the working from the SR system, but my feeling says that it is working proparly. Well somehow I still think that putting the 16 megapixel sensor inside the K-3 would make a better and faster camera then the 24 megapixel we now have. The PRIME III engine would have some nice playtime with the smaller files and making the K-3 really faster. For having better image quality I still would prefer a larger sensor and we all know that APS-H is my my personal preference to reach this goal! This is me at work, photo taken by my collegue Roel Ubels, wich is an amazing photographer using the Olympus E5 (while all others are on CaNikon). The beard is new and going away in 2014. Greetings, Ron. Last edited by RonHendriks1966; 12-31-2013 at 09:13 AM.

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12-31-2013, 07:42 AM	#2
normhead Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Near Algonquin Park Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 40,451	Very nice pictures and report Ron... I love #26, where the girl way up in the air for a big hit has tried to blast her way throughout the block, that's my kind of insanity... and #2. 20 years ago in my 40's I was still playing at that level, and getting that high over the net. These days, if I jump as high as I can, I get my hand over the net. I've gone from a 30 inch vertical to 10 inch vertical, but your pictures remind me what it felt like to fly. Thanks for posting. Last edited by normhead; 12-31-2013 at 07:51 AM.

12-31-2013, 07:43 AM	#3
pinholecam Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: North Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,706	Excellent shots! Thanks for sharing the user experience too.

12-31-2013, 07:51 AM	#4
THoog Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: North Carolina Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,685	Nice work, Ron! Heheh, I was asking myself "when did Ron grow a beard?" when I finally scrolled down and saw your comment.

12-31-2013, 07:52 AM	#5
starjedi Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: New Jersey Posts: 932	wonderful！thanks for sharing

12-31-2013, 08:31 AM	#6
Gnarelsek Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 37	Really nice photos and sharing of K-3 experience. Reminds myself when I was a player. Too bad I did not get my actions photos taken for remembrance. What a pity( to myself)

12-31-2013, 08:39 AM	#7
JinDesu Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: New York City Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,638	Thanks for the report. To be honest, I would agree with what you said - I would love to have a 16MP k-3. Imagine the jpeg buffer on that....

12-31-2013, 08:43 AM	#8
normhead Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Near Algonquin Park Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 40,451	Originally posted by JinDesu Thanks for the report. To be honest, I would agree with what you said - I would love to have a 16MP k-3. Imagine the jpeg buffer on that.... I was just saying the same thing the other day, I'm not convinced the 16 Mp sensor in the K5s isn't the optimum size for an APS-c sensor. I'd love a K5IIs with the K-3 AF and Prime engine, and the K-5 low light and Dynamic range capabilities.

12-31-2013, 09:34 AM	#9
Brew1brew Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Plano Texas USA Posts: 121	Awesome series Ron! I think this should prove to you that you don't need to carry but one camera. Although you stated that you brought the K5 and the K01 you only showed K3 images in this thread. And by the way you captured some very nice images. I to am just starting to familiarize my self with the K3 and I'm loving it. I really like the dual SD card option that we now have. I agree that the file sizes are a bit large, but then again storage is just getting cheaper every day. So go buy a few more terabytes of storage and keep shooting.

12-31-2013, 10:18 AM	#10
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675 Original Poster	Originally posted by Brew1brew Awesome series Ron! I think this should prove to you that you don't need to carry but one camera. Although you stated that you brought the K5 and the K01 you only showed K3 images in this thread. And by the way you captured some very nice images. I to am just starting to familiarize my self with the K3 and I'm loving it. I really like the dual SD card option that we now have. I agree that the file sizes are a bit large, but then again storage is just getting cheaper every day. So go buy a few more terabytes of storage and keep shooting. Well those images could have been made with the K-3. With the K-01 I'm not in a hurry and just browsing around to make some random images that give some feel for the atmosphere. When I bought the K-5 my plan was to keep the K-7, but having the K-5 for just two day's I knew that I wanted to change that plan and sold the K-7 and bought a second K-5. The K-3 did not do that to me this time in wanting to sell my other camera's. I just sold the K-5 II, since it was just plain black to make room for the K-3 Silver. Some K-01 images: Sunday Monday

12-31-2013, 11:39 AM	#11
jbinpg Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Prince George, BC Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,546	Great images, Ron. The 2nd SD card would provide an overflow for your shots in sequential mode, no? It did in mine the other day when taking a lot of shots. Jack

12-31-2013, 11:58 AM	#12
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675 Original Poster	Originally posted by jbinpg Great images, Ron. The 2nd SD card would provide an overflow for your shots in sequential mode, no? It did in mine the other day when taking a lot of shots. Jack Yes, but I didn't plan to make so much images. I use 32GB cards, so plenty off images fit on it.

12-31-2013, 11:59 AM	#14
aaalegre Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: new jersey Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 112	85 mm nice and sharp

12-31-2013, 12:04 PM	#15
kenyee Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, PRofMA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,026	Originally posted by RonHendriks1966 The White Balance is as crappy as always in these sports venues and I set the white balance in post processing. In most sportsvenues the light isn't even the same all around the venue. Just an FYI in case you don't know it...that's probably because these venues use sodium vapor lamps that rotate the light frequencies. When you run higher shutter speeds shooting sports, you'll catch the lights at different color temps. I have a friend who shoots school auditorium events w/ a D800 and he has the same issues. You can't do much about it unfortunately The K-01 shots look slightly blown out in comparison to the K-3's but both did a good job.