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05-06-2023, 04:05 AM   #1
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New K3 owner and questions

Greetings Pentaxians:

In the 1970s when I was much younger (obviously) I built a Pentax system over time; An MX, a 50mm 1.4, a 28mm 2.8, and a 100mm 2.8. This was to supplement my main camera which was a Mamiya C330, I could shoot more convenient Kodachromes and such. As I got older and made more money, I moved into Olympus, Contax, and Leica M. Somewhere in there I had a couple of Nikon F5s too.

Enter the digital era, I started with a Kodak DC 14N, then to Canon 5D Mark 1, 2, 3, and 4. Finally I switched to Sony mirrorless which is my main system now.

I also bought back some MX stuff, for sentimental reasons, and I have a black body, a couple of chrome bodies, and those lenses plus a couple of more. Like most people though, I didn’t really pay modern digital Pentax gear much attention.

What changed for me was the introduction of the K3 iii Monochrome. I always thought about a Leica M Mono, but too expensive, and I also thought about the Q2 Monochrom (too wide for a fixed lens camera, imo).

I have K3iii monochrome on order but no idea when I will get it. I started accumulating the four Limited lensed on ebay, plus the 20-40 zoom. Meanwhile, I hadn’t realized that Pentax was the only camera company that made a provision to use old MF lenses on their bodies with no adapters. So much the better.

Anyway I thought I might buy another Pentax body to learn the system and have a second body for my wife or when I want to be able to shoot color as well. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so I found a used K3 v1 for less than $400, and I bought one. Very happy with it and frankly surprised at the capability of this camera given its age. (OK I won’t mention the slow and noisy AF lol).

My idea was to do some street shooting and to pretend I was carrying the Monochrome, i.e., to visualize B&W and only take images that would look good in B&W, then convert to B&W in LR. And also try out the capabilities of the body with an old MF lens, in this case I took the SMC 55mm 1.8.

So after the shoot I have a few questions that I haven’t been able to resolve on my own. I only shoot RAW.

- Do you guys turn on any of the distortion correction features? Do you do it differently if you are using old M lenses as opposed to newer AF lenses?
- How about the NR?
- Do you guys use PEF or DNG? Seems safer to do the latter, but I could change my mind.
- When you use manual focus lenses and use the green button to stop down and meter, how long does it hold that exposure? I couldn’t figure out if it resets after the shutter button is pressed, when the camera is turned off, or if it holds until you press the green button again.
- One thing that troubled me is, I think, the time it takes to ‘wake’ the camera from sleep. Most of the time, when walking the NYC streets, I carry the camera at my side with a wrist strap, and the power on. If I see a shot coming, with any recent camera I’ve owned, I can half press the shutter button and by the time I get the camera to my eye, it’s ‘awake’. With the K3 yesterday, I paused because I was near Central Park, there was an interesting background, and I planned to hang out a while and catch cyclists and skaters passing against the background. A couple of times, when I brought the camera up to my eye, it was still ‘asleep’ and I missed the shot. I pressed the shutter and nothing happened. If I pressed it a few more times the camera ‘woke’ but of course by that time it was too late. Do I need to extend the ‘power off’ time? I’ll set it to ten minutes but I’m not sure if that’s the answer here.

PS I did a firmware update too.

Denton

05-06-2023, 04:32 AM - 2 Likes   #2
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Distortion correction will be registered in the raw file but wont be automatically applied in your processing software. You will have to apply it if you want it

Manual lenses won’t have profiles for distortion so will have no affect

I use DNG but it doesn’t really matter as long as your processing software works with both
05-06-2023, 04:49 AM - 1 Like   #3
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If you are referring to long exposure NR that will only kick in on very slow shutter speeds. It used dark frame subtraction to reduce noise

In manual mode it should remember the same shutter speed on wake up and off/on
05-06-2023, 05:43 AM - 1 Like   #4
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Raw doesn’t apply the lens corrections those only apply to jpgs. Only lenses with a chip that passes a lenses ID can have the corrections.

Nikon offers manual focus lens compatibility without an adapter in the dslr series. Certain lens series may not fit but the details of lens series and exact body are needed to determine that. Mostly non-ai lenses have issues on some bodies (film or digital) that are less expensive due to the mount tab not being retractable on some.

I use PEF on my older Pentaxes, but by the time of the k-3 I switched to dng. There’s no practical reason to use one over the other if your software supports both; but I feel better using dng for some reason.

How slow was the wake up? I’ll have to time mine. I have two.

05-06-2023, 08:17 AM - 1 Like   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by denton Quote
- Do you guys turn on any of the distortion correction features? Do you do it differently if you are using old M lenses as opposed to newer AF lenses?
As mentioned before if you shoot RAW only, there is no reason to turn distortion correction on, as it applies to jpg's only (and only 'new' lenses are supported in camera). It might slow down processing/writing speed of your camera, as distortion correction is still applied to your preview image in the camera.

QuoteOriginally posted by denton Quote
- How about the NR?

High ISO NR is equally good in post as it is in camera in my opinion, therefore I usually only use NR for long exposures (you can also do that in post, if you shoot a image with the same camera settings but with your lens cap on, to substract the dark frame in post)

QuoteOriginally posted by denton Quote
- Do you guys use PEF or DNG? Seems safer to do the latter, but I could change my mind.
I use DNG because it is more universally accepted by software, quality wise shouldn't be any difference though.

QuoteOriginally posted by denton Quote
- When you use manual focus lenses and use the green button to stop down and meter, how long does it hold that exposure? I couldn’t figure out if it resets after the shutter button is pressed, when the camera is turned off, or if it holds until you press the green button again.
The settings usually stay the same as long as you don't change them manually or push the green button again.
You can adjust which settings the camera should remember when switched off somewhere in the menu though.

QuoteOriginally posted by denton Quote
- One thing that troubled me is, I think, the time it takes to ‘wake’ the camera from sleep. Most of the time, when walking the NYC streets, I carry the camera at my side with a wrist strap, and the power on. If I see a shot coming, with any recent camera I’ve owned, I can half press the shutter button and by the time I get the camera to my eye, it’s ‘awake’. With the K3 yesterday, I paused because I was near Central Park, there was an interesting background, and I planned to hang out a while and catch cyclists and skaters passing against the background. A couple of times, when I brought the camera up to my eye, it was still ‘asleep’ and I missed the shot. I pressed the shutter and nothing happened. If I pressed it a few more times the camera ‘woke’ but of course by that time it was too late. Do I need to extend the ‘power off’ time? I’ll set it to ten minutes but I’m not sure if that’s the answer here.
It somethimes happens to me too when shooting sports, it is more related to a too soft pushed shutter button and not so much the wakeup time of the camera in my case though.
Delayed shutter actuations can also occur if you set the camera to focus priority in the menu, in that case it won't fire the shutter until focus is achieved.


The new K-3iii mono will offer some extended compatibilities with your vintage lenses compared to the original K-3. Av will actually stop down the lens, on the original K-3 it will only work with wide open apertures when using M lenses.
05-06-2023, 09:53 AM - 1 Like   #6
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.....used K3 v1 for less than $400, and I bought one. Very happy with it and frankly surprised at the capability of this camera given its age. (OK I won’t mention the slow and noisy AF lol).
- use electric motor lenses like pentax PLM or Sigma HSM and focus will be surprisingly fast...., in other words lens matters, even some screwdrive focus lenses are quit fast. But K3III will also improve on camera side.


- Do you guys turn on any of the distortion correction features? Do you do it differently if you are using old M lenses as opposed to newer AF lenses?
You can leave it on, but old manual lenses don’t provide lensinfo, so no correction is applied.

- Do you guys use PEF or DNG? Seems safer to do the latter, but I could change my mind.
Mostly jpg and PEF as back up with pentax sw DCU. Match to your postprocessing Software...

- When you use manual focus lenses and use the green button to stop down and meter, how long does it hold that exposure? I couldn’t figure out if it resets after the shutter button is pressed, when the camera is turned off, or if it holds until you press the green button again.
The top display shows this info ... check there? On a K3 it is a convenient ’tool’

- One thing that troubled me is, I think, the time it takes to ‘wake’ the camera from sleep. Most of the time, when walking the NYC streets, I carry the camera at my side with a wrist strap, and the power on. If I see a shot coming, with any recent camera I’ve owned, I can half press the shutter button and by the time I get the camera to my eye, it’s ‘awake’. With the K3 yesterday, I paused because I was near Central Park, there was an interesting background, and I planned to hang out a while and catch cyclists and skaters passing against the background. A couple of times, when I brought the camera up to my eye, it was still ‘asleep’ and I missed the shot. I pressed the shutter and nothing happened. If I pressed it a few more times the camera ‘woke’ but of course by that time it was too late. Do I need to extend the ‘power off’ time? I’ll set it to ten minutes but I’m not sure if that’s the answer here.

? Might indicate button wear or corroding contacts (might improve when used)? But I would say half a second if camera is left on and pressing half the shutter. I usually press the shutter a first time already when lifting my arm with camera to allow a quick shot. (And yes, occasionally it yields a picture of the pavement )
On an older camera you might need to invest in a new battery, a worn battery’s voltage might be lower/weaker and affect camera performance.
05-06-2023, 01:51 PM   #7
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Dear friends:

Thank you for your comments, very helpful. Looking forward to getting my Monochrome!

05-07-2023, 09:59 PM - 1 Like   #8
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Just two things I would like to say as a person that does not own a K3.

You said it is nice to use older manual focus lenses with out an adapter. Pentax does sell an adapter you can get so you can mount screw mount lenses to newer SLR and DSLR's.

Also, and this is just me, I would turn off the sleep mode. That's how I have my K7 and K5IIs set up. Like I said, that's just me.
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