[john5100]

You got me excited to test DXO. I really like your results.

Looks like I'll be getting it because these are 1 button processing

Here is my KX at ISO 6400

DXO Testing 6400 by John Rudolph Photography, on Flickr

K3 At ISO 4000

DXO Testing 4000 by John Rudolph Photography, on Flickr

K200D ISO 800

DXO Testing 800 by John Rudolph Photography, on Flickr

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Last edited by john5100; 01-20-2015 at 02:13 PM.

[Stagnant]

john5100 , you could try reducing the amount of noise reduction in the first shot. It looks somewhat soft. The third shot is excellent ! Judas Priest \m/ .

[john5100]

Stagnant - thank you for the comments. Yeah, the first one is a little soft and I think I'll lower the level from the default 40 to 25 to see what happens.

[Stagnant]

For my last shot I halved all of the NR parameters and used PRIME. At that size it makes perfect sense. For full size images and ISO 6400 + (K-3) you might use the default settings, although sometimes the processing seems too aggressive to me. As some people noted, the noise grain of K-3 is quite small, so it is not as distracting as coming from the previous sensors. But in the end it is a matter of tastes.

[Stagnant]

Some shots from a gig in Helsinki (Blitzkrieg [the old UK band] and support). Same combination of camera and lens.



This was a very dark and small club packed full. The choice of positions for shooting was very limited, wherever you went you were surrounded by the crowd. This was the first time I experienced serious focusing issues with this set up. Quite a number of shots were just a tiny bit off. In some cases the camera refused to lock focus (both CDAF nd PDAF modes). Perhaps I faced the limitations of the equipment. I also figured out that certain types of stage light made the camera auto focus freak out. I remember that certain colours affected the focusing stronger than the others.
I once again used the M mode (F1.8 and 1/100) and set ISO to 6400. Av mode in this kind of environment is unreliable. Everything was processed in DxO and then resized. Most of the shots were cropped.
Some thoughts on using K-3 for shooting rock concerts. Despite good high-iso performance, fast lenses are still a must : even at F1.8 I had to use at least 6400 to get the shutter speed of 1/100 and then I had to brighten the images in post processing. In some cases ISO 12800 and occasionally 25600 can end up useful, but it heavily depends on the stage lights. Honestly I would prefer to shoot at faster shutter speeds, but the noise would ruin the shots. In most of the situations the focusing system performs well enough. Naturally the amount of misfocussed images is higher than in brighter conditions, but it does not bother me much.
Some other shots from the gig are under this link : https://flic.kr/s/aHsk8tvnmC . Most shots from the headliner's set were converted to BW, due to the crazy colours of the stage lights.

[Stagnant]

Some more photos from the concerts I attended.

Doom Metal from USA - Saint Vitus live in Tallinn.


More shots in the Flickr album : Saint Vitus Live In Tallinn 2015-06-12

Estonian punk band Psychoterror live in Tallinn.



Really massive flare from the stage lights and a drunk vocalist, trying to figure out where he is.

More shots in the Flickr album : Psychoterror Live In Tallinn

Finnish Doom Metal band Antagonist Zero live in Tallinn.




More shots in the Flickr album : Antagonist Zero Live In Tallinn

Swedish Heavy Metal band Wolf and support live in Helsinki.

- Rapid - opening act.
- Crimson Day - opening act.

- The focus is on the guitar headstock, instead of musicians' faces.

More shots in the Flickr album : Wolf and support live in Helsinki The shots in this album were not resized. Just cropped.

Some my latest observations.
The combination of Pentax K-3 and Sigma 18-35 can perfectly nail focus in case with one type of stage light, while in case with the other stage light it can struggle with focusing. If the lens misses the focus wide open it is often "by a hair". I tried using AF-C and I can't say, that I was impressed with the results.
K-3 meter often suggests using much higher ISO than really necessary. At F1.8 1/100 in that environment the camera suggested 6400 + ISO. I figured out, that even if you "underexpose" the shots, there is plenty of details to be recovered in post processing (I am using DxO). Besides at 3200 the noise is far easier to handle as opposed to 6400.
All in all the camera is more than capable of making high quality shots at the concerts.

[cali92rs]

Big question on my mind...how is it with PDAF focusing (ie thru the viewfinder)?

[Stagnant]

Normally (I was not able to systematize the results, hence the choice of words), PDAF is quicker and about as accurate as CDAF. But there are some cases where PDAF just refuses to lock on the target, or repeatedly misses. As I mentioned somewhere before, I have a suspicion that it depends on the stage light and perhaps the way band behaves on stage - some move too rapidly and in an unpredictable fashion.
I prefer to use live view. It has electronic level and I can better see the exact part of the scene I am focusing on. It is slower, more cumbersome but I get more "keepers" that way and don't have to sort through several hundred images.

[debakarma]

Considering that (guess) you handheld that heavy combo, you did well with the K-3 and Sigma 18-35. I have also observed that the K3 prompts higher ISO than is necessary. This blows out the highlights, so even with high ISO I have sometimes used Exposure Compensation especially when performers wear highly reflective garments. I tend to try different things, the trial and error method is a good way to learn with digital anyway and sometimes one can get some nice shots too. Changing stage lights are always a challenge.

[Stagnant]

@debakarama , thanks ! I indeed used that combo handheld. I would say that due to it's weight and size the combo is quite stable in the hand. I normally expose to keep as much highlights as possible, because shadow recovery is much easier.

[rfg]

Normally (I was not able to systematize the results, hence the choice of words), PDAF is quicker and about as accurate as CDAF. But there are some cases where PDAF just refuses to lock on the target, or repeatedly misses. As I mentioned somewhere before, I have a suspicion that it depends on the stage light and perhaps the way band behaves on stage - some move too rapidly and in an unpredictable fashion.
I prefer to use live view. It has electronic level and I can better see the exact part of the scene I am focusing on. It is slower, more cumbersome but I get more "keepers" that way and don't have to sort through several hundred images.

Interesting - it does sound like you are getting better PDAF performance than described in the in depth review which said: "But it was never accurate. And by never, we mean that not once in the entire combination of five camera bodies and two lenses and two USB docks did we get a single in-focus shot unless we switched to Live View." Although probably your preference for Live View is linked to the same issue?

Great shots by the way!

[Stagnant]

Interesting - it does sound like you are getting better PDAF performance than described in the in depth review which said: "But it was never accurate. And by never, we mean that not once in the entire combination of five camera bodies and two lenses and two USB docks did we get a single in-focus shot unless we switched to Live View." Although probably your preference for Live View is linked to the same issue?

Great shots by the way!

Thanks ! I guess I am a lucky owner of a properly functioning copy It is far from being perfect, but it seems better than the ones described in the review.

[Stagnant]

Some more concert shots :

Anatagonist Zero (Finland) (another gig)



More from this performance in this album

Hobbs' Angel Of Death (Australia)




More from this performance in this album

Local bands.

- Cantilena

- Rattler

- Aggressor

More from this performance in this album

Links to the first and the second albums already appeared in Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 Art Focus Issues Thread During the Antagonist Zero gig, the lens + camera combo simply refused to focus. Eventually I did manage to get some shots. It is really hard to tell if was the fault of my gear, or the stage lights were too dim.
The Hobbs' Angel Of Death gig took place the same day, but in a different venue. Most of the shots were converted to B&W in DxO filmpack, because due to the stage lights, performers had various nasty purple and green tints on their skin. Here the same combination of lens and camera worked far more predictably.
For the gig of four local bands I took FA 50 1.4 to compare it's performance on K-3 against Sigma 18-35. Surprisingly (or not) it was slower in both CDAF and PDAF, although I should say it performed somewhat more reliably in PDAF mode. I fiddled around with AF-C and FA 50 1.4 seemed to be more reliable than Sigma 18-35. At some point (IMGP5307_DxO) I used shutter speed of 1/250 at F1.8 and ISO 3200 and in post processing managed to get the right amount of shadow details. K-3 is a really impressive camera, when shooting RAW !

[polaco]

great shots! I was pretty impressed about this lens ( the sigma 18-35 f1.8 ) until i read in many reviews it had lots of autofocus issues when using the viewfinder.
Have you experienced such issues in your K3?

ps:sorry I have seen you have already posted your experiences in the upper responses to this thread, thanks for sharing