K-3 Learning Curve?

stevebrot · 06-02-2015, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by crewl1

(You will get spoiled with the K-3 over your K-30 I predict. )

Ha! Ha! I have a friend who owns a K-50 and one day she asked to take a turn with the K-3. Aside from the added weight, she was totally wowed by the camera. On the opposite side of the trade, I was suitably impressed with the K-50 as well.

Steve

**mattb123** · 06-02-2015, 03:10 PM

I went from a K-x to a K-5 to a K-3. Always a learning curve, but after a few days I usually feed pretty good with the new tool.
Like others said, don't worry about your lenses unless you have a specific problem. The Limiteds are awesome, but I still use my Sears 135/2.8 quite a bit for portraits and I still love it like I did when I got it for my K-x. CA is the biggest issue which is easy to fix in LR.
The grip is nice for big lenses. I end up putting mine on and off a lot depending on what I'm shooting. I don't carry the grip hiking, biking, or skiing.

UserAccessDenied · 06-02-2015, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

I went from a K-x to the K-5. The K-30 won't be as big of a jump.

Won't be as big of a jump... But nonetheless, a jump worth taking?

I don't want to get the K-3 and regret the purchase.

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:04 PM ----------

Originally posted by stevebrot

Ha! Ha! I have a friend who owns a K-50 and one day she asked to take a turn with the K-3. Aside from the added weight, she was totally wowed by the camera. On the opposite side of the trade, I was suitably impressed with the K-50 as well.

Steve

Just curious... Is it worth the jump than?

I know the K-30 is very capable of producing great shots. I have proof!

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:07 PM ----------

Originally posted by stevebrot

Agreed. There is enough similarity between all Pentax dSLR (except the new K-S1 and K-S2) that moving between bodies is not too traumatic. The 24 Mpx resolution is another matter!

The weakest lens in your lineup is the DA 18-135 which may be a little soft at the wide end (

). The others should do just fine with the possible exception of the Rikenon 50/1.7 (depending on which version).

Steve

Interesting... I considered putting my 18-135 on the marketplace. It hasn't seen light in almost two months! And the Bigma hasn't left my K-30 in almost 5 weeks, lol.

hmm...

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:10 PM ----------

Originally posted by mattb123

I went from a K-x to a K-5 to a K-3. Always a learning curve, but after a few days I usually feed pretty good with the new tool.
Like others said, don't worry about your lenses unless you have a specific problem. The Limiteds are awesome, but I still use my Sears 135/2.8 quite a bit for portraits and I still love it like I did when I got it for my K-x. CA is the biggest issue which is easy to fix in LR.
The grip is nice for big lenses. I end up putting mine on and off a lot depending on what I'm shooting. I don't carry the grip hiking, biking, or skiing.

Thanks for the advice!
I'm really considering the battery grip... Almost a necessity.

Where I shoot 90% of the time I have the luxury of parking my car about half mile away and generally go out using a monopod with the Bigma. I think the battery grip out help balance my rid first off... the K-30 is too light and the lens wants to tip forward haha.

Plus I'd love to have a bigger overall piece of equipment to hold onto.

chaddy7604 · 06-02-2015, 04:21 PM

I upgraded from a K-r to a K-3 a couple of weeks ago, only had one opportunity to get out to take some photos so far, the rest of the time I've been shooting around the house and garden to familiarise myself with the different positionings of the buttons around the body, the similarity in the menus has made the switch pretty easy tho

stevebrot · 06-02-2015, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by UserAccessDenied

Just curious... Is it worth the jump than?

If you have the money, it is worth the jump, IMHO. I upgraded from a K10D and I was hooked on the first shutter press. Is it safe to assume you are not shooting landscapes with the Bigma? Here is the short list of bullets in favor of the K-3 over the K-30 for shooting typical Bigma stuff:

Much better AF with more options for customization
Top LCD (more useful than you might think)
Larger battery with better life
Faster frame rate and deep buffer
14 bit color

A similar list for the K-30 over the K-3:

Lighter
Fewer buttons
Looks cool

Steve

IchabodCrane · 06-02-2015, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by UserAccessDenied

Won't be as big of a jump... But nonetheless, a jump worth taking?

I don't want to get the K-3 and regret the purchase.

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:04 PM ----------

Just curious... Is it worth the jump than?

I know the K-30 is very capable of producing great shots. I have proof!

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:07 PM ----------

Interesting... I considered putting my 18-135 on the marketplace. It hasn't seen light in almost two months! And the Bigma hasn't left my K-30 in almost 5 weeks, lol.

hmm...

---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:10 PM ----------

Thanks for the advice!
I'm really considering the battery grip... Almost a necessity.

Where I shoot 90% of the time I have the luxury of parking my car about half mile away and generally go out using a monopod with the Bigma. I think the battery grip out help balance my rid first off... the K-30 is too light and the lens wants to tip forward haha.

Plus I'd love to have a bigger overall piece of equipment to hold onto.

Two things not yet mentioned, I think:

The K-3 has a quieter mirror and shutter mechanism than the K-30. It's quite noticeable for shooting indoors when you're trying to be unobtrusive.
The low light focus ability is better on the K-3.

**boriscleto** · 06-02-2015, 06:05 PM

The AF alone is worth the jump from the K-30.

calsan · 06-02-2015, 06:19 PM

I found choosing the focal point when shooting on a tripod at night had me reaching for a torch, as I couldn't remember how to do it on the K-3 and had got used to the K-7's method of selecting focal points.
Having said that, the fact that AF works when it's too dark to see your camera is truly amazing!
AF modes requires a bit of explanation that isn't in the manual - but can be found on this forum.

Having 3 user modes is great - especially as you can name them, so having learnt from the above, I now save AF modes and Focal points to the user mode, so I just turn the mode dial to get the AF mode I want. So this was a few minutes of customisation sitting on the couch that is a big time saver out in the field.

I suddenly needed a bigger hard disk, backup disks and memory cards - allow some money for this!

stevebrot · 06-02-2015, 08:05 PM

Originally posted by IchabodCrane

The K-3 has a quieter mirror and shutter mechanism than the K-30. It's quite noticeable for shooting indoors when you're trying to be unobtrusive.
The low light focus ability is better on the K-3.

Oh yeah! The K-3 shutter whispers! The K-30/K-50 is notably raucous! Low light AF is much, much better on the K-3.

Steve

Al_Kahollick · 06-02-2015, 08:06 PM

You definitely want the grip!! The K-3 is pretty solid feeling on it's own, but the grip just feels right! If you're looking for a more "substantial" piece of gear to hold, you won't be disappointed!

I still have my K-30, and as others have stated, the biggest learning curve for me was button placement, and cleaning up my hand held shooting technique.

Bophoto · 06-03-2015, 12:39 AM

I came from K7, K5 and i have always use the standard "bright" colour. But with my K3 it looks bad, half way to a black and wihite picture. So i use "vibrant" mode. And i get the same pics as with my K7, K5 and K5II. Strange, how do you do?

UserAccessDenied · 06-03-2015, 03:32 AM

Originally posted by Bophoto

I came from K7, K5 and i have always use the standard "bright" colour. But with my K3 it looks bad, half way to a black and wihite picture. So i use "vibrant" mode. And i get the same pics as with my K7, K5 and K5II. Strange, how do you do?

Interesting!
I set my K-30 to 'Cloudy' and never looked back...
Curious how I'll setup my K3.

**felixkh** · 06-03-2015, 04:36 AM

I too went from the K30 to the K3. It was very different as I had to AF tune all my AF lenses to suit the K3. Mind you, this is the 1st batch of cameras that were sold in Nov 2013. I got it 2nd hand from another buddy who moved to Canikon and had to get the lenses tuned by the service centre.

I am still learning about the other features of the camera and the learning curve is not that steep.

I remembered the button layout as I had the K5 before going to the K30 and back to K3.

UserAccessDenied · 06-03-2015, 05:12 AM

Originally posted by Al_Kahollick

You definitely want the grip!! The K-3 is pretty solid feeling on it's own, but the grip just feels right! If you're looking for a more "substantial" piece of gear to hold, you won't be disappointed!

I still have my K-30, and as others have stated, the biggest learning curve for me was button placement, and cleaning up my hand held shooting technique.

Maybe it's worth buying new than...
I see K-3 body only on here alot around $600.
But for $749 I can get a brand new K-3 with battery grip and warranty... Seems like a no-brainer?

**felixkh** · 06-03-2015, 05:58 AM

Originally posted by UserAccessDenied

Maybe it's worth buying new than...
I see K-3 body only on here alot around $600.
But for $749 I can get a brand new K-3 with battery grip and warranty... Seems like a no-brainer?

For that price, it's a great bargain.

06-02-2015, 04:32 PM	#20
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by UserAccessDenied Just curious... Is it worth the jump than? If you have the money, it is worth the jump, IMHO. I upgraded from a K10D and I was hooked on the first shutter press. Is it safe to assume you are not shooting landscapes with the Bigma? Here is the short list of bullets in favor of the K-3 over the K-30 for shooting typical Bigma stuff: Much better AF with more options for customization Top LCD (more useful than you might think) Larger battery with better life Faster frame rate and deep buffer 14 bit color A similar list for the K-30 over the K-3: Lighter Fewer buttons Looks cool Steve

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06-02-2015, 02:36 PM	#16
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by crewl1 (You will get spoiled with the K-3 over your K-30 I predict. ) Ha! Ha! I have a friend who owns a K-50 and one day she asked to take a turn with the K-3. Aside from the added weight, she was totally wowed by the camera. On the opposite side of the trade, I was suitably impressed with the K-50 as well. Steve

06-02-2015, 03:10 PM	#17
mattb123 Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Colorado High Country Photos: Gallery Posts: 10,873	I went from a K-x to a K-5 to a K-3. Always a learning curve, but after a few days I usually feed pretty good with the new tool. Like others said, don't worry about your lenses unless you have a specific problem. The Limiteds are awesome, but I still use my Sears 135/2.8 quite a bit for portraits and I still love it like I did when I got it for my K-x. CA is the biggest issue which is easy to fix in LR. The grip is nice for big lenses. I end up putting mine on and off a lot depending on what I'm shooting. I don't carry the grip hiking, biking, or skiing.

06-02-2015, 04:02 PM	#18
UserAccessDenied Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Maryland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,677 Original Poster	Originally posted by boriscleto I went from a K-x to the K-5. The K-30 won't be as big of a jump. Won't be as big of a jump... But nonetheless, a jump worth taking? I don't want to get the K-3 and regret the purchase. ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:04 PM ---------- Originally posted by stevebrot Ha! Ha! I have a friend who owns a K-50 and one day she asked to take a turn with the K-3. Aside from the added weight, she was totally wowed by the camera. On the opposite side of the trade, I was suitably impressed with the K-50 as well. Steve Just curious... Is it worth the jump than? I know the K-30 is very capable of producing great shots. I have proof! ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:07 PM ---------- Originally posted by stevebrot Agreed. There is enough similarity between all Pentax dSLR (except the new K-S1 and K-S2) that moving between bodies is not too traumatic. The 24 Mpx resolution is another matter! The weakest lens in your lineup is the DA 18-135 which may be a little soft at the wide end ( ). The others should do just fine with the possible exception of the Rikenon 50/1.7 (depending on which version). Steve Interesting... I considered putting my 18-135 on the marketplace. It hasn't seen light in almost two months! And the Bigma hasn't left my K-30 in almost 5 weeks, lol. hmm... ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:10 PM ---------- Originally posted by mattb123 I went from a K-x to a K-5 to a K-3. Always a learning curve, but after a few days I usually feed pretty good with the new tool. Like others said, don't worry about your lenses unless you have a specific problem. The Limiteds are awesome, but I still use my Sears 135/2.8 quite a bit for portraits and I still love it like I did when I got it for my K-x. CA is the biggest issue which is easy to fix in LR. The grip is nice for big lenses. I end up putting mine on and off a lot depending on what I'm shooting. I don't carry the grip hiking, biking, or skiing. Thanks for the advice! I'm really considering the battery grip... Almost a necessity. Where I shoot 90% of the time I have the luxury of parking my car about half mile away and generally go out using a monopod with the Bigma. I think the battery grip out help balance my rid first off... the K-30 is too light and the lens wants to tip forward haha. Plus I'd love to have a bigger overall piece of equipment to hold onto.

06-02-2015, 04:21 PM	#19
chaddy7604 New Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Photos: Gallery Posts: 11	I upgraded from a K-r to a K-3 a couple of weeks ago, only had one opportunity to get out to take some photos so far, the rest of the time I've been shooting around the house and garden to familiarise myself with the different positionings of the buttons around the body, the similarity in the menus has made the switch pretty easy tho

06-02-2015, 04:55 PM	#21
IchabodCrane Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,728	Originally posted by UserAccessDenied Won't be as big of a jump... But nonetheless, a jump worth taking? I don't want to get the K-3 and regret the purchase. ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:04 PM ---------- Just curious... Is it worth the jump than? I know the K-30 is very capable of producing great shots. I have proof! ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:07 PM ---------- Interesting... I considered putting my 18-135 on the marketplace. It hasn't seen light in almost two months! And the Bigma hasn't left my K-30 in almost 5 weeks, lol. hmm... ---------- Post added 06-02-15 at 07:10 PM ---------- Thanks for the advice! I'm really considering the battery grip... Almost a necessity. Where I shoot 90% of the time I have the luxury of parking my car about half mile away and generally go out using a monopod with the Bigma. I think the battery grip out help balance my rid first off... the K-30 is too light and the lens wants to tip forward haha. Plus I'd love to have a bigger overall piece of equipment to hold onto. Two things not yet mentioned, I think: The K-3 has a quieter mirror and shutter mechanism than the K-30. It's quite noticeable for shooting indoors when you're trying to be unobtrusive. The low light focus ability is better on the K-3.

06-02-2015, 06:05 PM	#22
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,475	The AF alone is worth the jump from the K-30.

06-02-2015, 06:19 PM	#23
calsan Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,549	I found choosing the focal point when shooting on a tripod at night had me reaching for a torch, as I couldn't remember how to do it on the K-3 and had got used to the K-7's method of selecting focal points. Having said that, the fact that AF works when it's too dark to see your camera is truly amazing! AF modes requires a bit of explanation that isn't in the manual - but can be found on this forum. Having 3 user modes is great - especially as you can name them, so having learnt from the above, I now save AF modes and Focal points to the user mode, so I just turn the mode dial to get the AF mode I want. So this was a few minutes of customisation sitting on the couch that is a big time saver out in the field. I suddenly needed a bigger hard disk, backup disks and memory cards - allow some money for this!

06-02-2015, 08:05 PM	#24
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by IchabodCrane The K-3 has a quieter mirror and shutter mechanism than the K-30. It's quite noticeable for shooting indoors when you're trying to be unobtrusive. The low light focus ability is better on the K-3. Oh yeah! The K-3 shutter whispers! The K-30/K-50 is notably raucous! Low light AF is much, much better on the K-3. Steve

06-02-2015, 08:06 PM	#25
Al_Kahollick Banned Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 390	You *definitely* want the grip!! The K-3 is pretty solid feeling on it's own, but the grip just feels right! If you're looking for a more "substantial" piece of gear to hold, you won't be disappointed! I still have my K-30, and as others have stated, the biggest learning curve for me was button placement, and cleaning up my hand held shooting technique.

06-03-2015, 12:39 AM	#26
Bophoto Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 429	I came from K7, K5 and i have always use the standard "bright" colour. But with my K3 it looks bad, half way to a black and wihite picture. So i use "vibrant" mode. And i get the same pics as with my K7, K5 and K5II. Strange, how do you do?

06-03-2015, 03:32 AM	#27
UserAccessDenied Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Maryland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,677 Original Poster	Originally posted by Bophoto I came from K7, K5 and i have always use the standard "bright" colour. But with my K3 it looks bad, half way to a black and wihite picture. So i use "vibrant" mode. And i get the same pics as with my K7, K5 and K5II. Strange, how do you do? Interesting! I set my K-30 to 'Cloudy' and never looked back... Curious how I'll setup my K3.

06-03-2015, 04:36 AM	#28
felixkh Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Singapore Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,201	I too went from the K30 to the K3. It was very different as I had to AF tune all my AF lenses to suit the K3. Mind you, this is the 1st batch of cameras that were sold in Nov 2013. I got it 2nd hand from another buddy who moved to Canikon and had to get the lenses tuned by the service centre. I am still learning about the other features of the camera and the learning curve is not that steep. I remembered the button layout as I had the K5 before going to the K30 and back to K3.

06-03-2015, 05:12 AM	#29
UserAccessDenied Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Maryland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,677 Original Poster	Originally posted by Al_Kahollick You *definitely* want the grip!! The K-3 is pretty solid feeling on it's own, but the grip just feels right! If you're looking for a more "substantial" piece of gear to hold, you won't be disappointed! I still have my K-30, and as others have stated, the biggest learning curve for me was button placement, and cleaning up my hand held shooting technique. Maybe it's worth buying new than... I see K-3 body only on here alot around $600. But for $749 I can get a brand new K-3 with battery grip and warranty... Seems like a no-brainer?

06-03-2015, 05:58 AM	#30
felixkh Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Singapore Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,201	Originally posted by UserAccessDenied Maybe it's worth buying new than... I see K-3 body only on here alot around $600. But for $749 I can get a brand new K-3 with battery grip and warranty... Seems like a no-brainer? For that price, it's a great bargain.