[Edgar_in_Indy]

Can you report whether the K-3 II's pixel-shift feature has an option to space out the exposures, to allow it to be used with studio strobes/flashes (to give them time to recycle). I've heard that Olympus has such an option on their implementation.

[mgbirder]

Thanks for you valuable input, i currently still have a K7 and a K5, but i am seriously considering upgrading to the K3ii mostly because of the pixel shit feature and better AF. I shoot a lot of long exposure Fine Art Landscape with ND filters, could you please tell me if the pixel shift feature has a time limit (eg. no more than 1 seconds - 30 seconds?), i imagine it does not surpass 30 seconds because that is BULB territory?

[Fenwoodian]

Edgar, as far as I can tell, the K3ii pixel shift feature does not have the option to space out the exposures. All of their 4 exposures take place one after another very quickly, with no ability to space them out. Although I would imagine if there were enough of a demand for this feature (personally, I'd sure love to have this feature) I would not be surprised if Pextax could offer it in a future firmware update.

Mgbirder, great question. I will take some long exposure pixel shifted images tonight and answer your question tomorrow.

Also, today or tomorrow I intend to photograph a local waterfall with the K3ii in the pixel shifting mode. I'm as interested as some of you are in what moving water looks like in the pixel shift mode.


Dave

[Rondec]

Thanks for you valuable input, i currently still have a K7 and a K5, but i am seriously considering upgrading to the K3ii mostly because of the pixel shit feature and better AF. I shoot a lot of long exposure Fine Art Landscape with ND filters, could you please tell me if the pixel shift feature has a time limit (eg. no more than 1 seconds - 30 seconds?), i imagine it does not surpass 30 seconds because that is BULB territory?

I think it is actually pixel shift feature, although I could be wrong...

[mgbirder]

I just checked the K3II manual, Pixel Shift will not work in Bulb, X-Sync and Green Mode, therefore I assume 30 seconds is the max duration.
I would love it if by Pentax Firmware we could have the possibility to adjust exposure times greater than 30 seconds (just as the Astrotracer menu provides us with the possibility to adjust exposures up to 5 minutes).

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Edgar, as far as I can tell, the K3ii pixel shift feature does not have the option to space out the exposures. All of their 4 exposures take place one after another very quickly, with no ability to space them out.

Well that's very disappointing, and definitely diminishes some of the appeal of the camera for me. Thanks for letting me know though.

[Fenwoodian]

Well, it's midnight here in northern Wisconsin. I just took the attached photo. https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ms7jjubllt5p0a/20%20second%20Pixel%20Shift%20imag...night.JPG?dl=0

It was a 30 second K3ii image taken in the pixel shift mode. I used my Voightlander 90mm APO f/3.5 lens stopped all the way down. I know, it's got some blown highlights, but took it because I promised that I'd take a long exposure image at night in the pixel shift mode. As usual, I did not sharpen the image.

The horizontal streaks of light is actually the lights from a car driving out of this McDonald's Drive Through.

The entire exposure took 2 minutes (30 seconds for each of the 4 exposures). There was some wind tonight, and if you look at the tree's leaves on the right, you can see significant blurring.

If you look at 100% - 130% on the McDonalds door on the left center area you should be able to read "McDonald's" on this door, and a small sign above the handle that says "Pull'. In my book that's pretty good detail.

I found that in Pixel shift mode, I could not use the B Bulb setting. However, I could use the M Manual setting, and in M, I found that the longest exposure that I could take was 30-seconds. MGBirder, does this answer your question?

Dave

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Last edited by Fenwoodian; 06-19-2015 at 10:13 PM.

[mgbirder]

I found that in Pixel shift mode, I could not use the B Bulb setting. However, I could use the M Manual setting, and in M, I found that the longest exposure that I could take was 30-seconds. MGBirder, does this answer your question?

Yes, thank you very much for taking your time. Thanks :-)

[Fenwoodian]

MGBirder, and others who've posted questions and challenges here...

I like responding to the questions that you post here on the K3II. By responding to your requests, I'm indeed learning more and more about my new K3II. In effect, we're learning together. Keep your questions and challenges coming.


Dave

[npc]

I just downloaded the RAW file. I was disappointed to see that Pentax has chosen to continue its tradition of not outputting a true 3:2 shaped image file. Instead, the files are 16 pixels wider than 3:2. Why do they do that???

Humm, are these extra pixels present in the normal OOC JPEG? I've read somewhere that the raw file usually contains few more pixels that are supposed to be cropped by the raw converter - but I don't remember what was the reason behind it...

By the way Pentax has no control on how many pixels Sony chooses to fit on the sensors
I would be more pissed if they gave me 16 less than what I've paid for

[Edgar_in_Indy]

By the way Pentax has no control on how many pixels Sony chooses to fit on the sensors
I would be more pissed if they gave me 16 less than what I've paid for

lol, I'm pretty sure they could manage to shave a few pixels from the output if they wanted to. I've used a few other APS-C cameras in the past from other brands, and they did not have the same problem.

I'm not sure if the OOC JPEGs suffer from the same problem. I always shoot RAW. It's just a minor annoyance that for all my 4x6 photo files, I have to take the extra time to make a crop, even if the picture did not need cropped for aesthetic reasons.

[npc]

In the video he claims that the K3ii pixel shift images are better then he gets with his full frame Canon camera.

I guess he's not talking about the new 50mipx ones ... 5D mkIII for example is FF 22.3mix and has AA filter - vs ASPC 24 no AA - of course the details will beter on K3 even without the pixel shift, assuming good leses are used.

---------- Post added 06-20-15 at 02:34 PM ----------

lol, I'm pretty sure they could manage to shave a few pixels from the output if they wanted to

lol, won't be a RAW file anymore , will it?

I've just checked the RAW+JPEG output on my k5iis - I did not count the actual pixels myself but the image viewer reports 4928x3264 for the jpeg (well, still not exactly 3:2 I agree) and 4950x3284 for the RAW - so around 20px more on each side.

It is up to whatever software you use to decide how much exactly to crop out of the RAW file at the end.

[Shanti]

MGBirder, and others who've posted questions and challenges here...

I like responding to the questions that you post here on the K3II. By responding to your requests, I'm indeed learning more and more about my new K3II. In effect, we're learning together. Keep your questions and challenges coming.


Dave

have if by chance you have any long glass..200mm or more,can you try some moving objects,birds...with AF-C and see if you think its better than the K3,K5II
also in Silkypix,what setting did you use? have downloaded your raw files but don't know SP very well,& what I get out is not good
Thanks alot

[Edgar_in_Indy]

lol, won't be a RAW file anymore , will it?

Well, I understand what you mean, but I don't think I agree with that. If that's the case, then my Panasonic LX100 cannot be said to have RAW output, since it lets you select 4:3, 3:2, or 16:9 output, by sampling a different area of the sensor.

I downloaded RAW sample images for the Nikon D5500 and Sony A77-II, both of which feature 24MP APS-C sensors, like the K-3. I believe they are both Sony sensors as well. And the RAW files for both of those cameras are exactly 6000x4000. So would you say those two models do not output RAW files?

To further add to the confusion, I went on DXOmark and checked the specs. They list the D5500 as having 6016 x 4016 resolution, the A77-II as 6024 x 4024, and the K-3 as 6080 x 4032. So I'm not sure what to make of that, since none of those cameras output any of those resolutions in RAW. Sound to me like the manufacturer decides how much of the sensor area is actually output, and the others have seen the sense is making sure that their nominal 3:2 sensors actually output images with true 3:2 proportions.

[npc]

Well, I understand what you mean, but I don't think I agree with that. If that's the case, then my Panasonic LX100 cannot be said to have RAW output, since it lets you select 4:3, 3:2, or 16:9 output, by sampling a different area of the sensor.

I downloaded RAW sample images for the Nikon D5500 and Sony A77-II, both of which feature 24MP APS-C sensors, like the K-3. I believe they are both Sony sensors as well. And the RAW files for both of those cameras are exactly 6000x4000. So would you say those two models do not output RAW files?

To further add to the confusion, I went on DXOmark and checked the specs. They list the D5500 as having 6016 x 4016 resolution, the A77-II as 6024 x 4024, and the K-3 as 6080 x 4032. So I'm not sure what to make of that, since none of those cameras output any of those resolutions in RAW. Sound to me like the manufacturer decides how much of the sensor area is actually output, and the others have seen the sense is making sure that their nominal 3:2 sensors actually output images with true 3:2 proportions.

Getting little OT , but couple of things I remembered about why usually few of the pixels are cropped - one thing was that there are increased chances of defects around the edges (due to how sensors are cut out of thel plate I guess) and second that due to demosaic the color of edje pixes that don't have neighbours cannot be properly averaged. Also some cameras apparently have the edge area covered and used to measure noise or something like that - so if the raw converted does not know this and does not automatically crop these pixels - you get a purple band on the side - maybe like the problem described here : https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/58-troubleshooting-beginner-help/212617-k...hotomatix.html