[Ayoh]

ok,
comparing the SR K01 vs K3
very rough videos, just indoors...
Both settings equal, recorded at FullHD 30p / iso1600

the plant shots are made with a m100mm 2.8
the cat with DA70
the living room with m28mm 3.5

the title says which camera and it may be best to download the shots (download arrow on top to the right...). Otherwise it might not be playing fluent...
LATEST - IMAGES

draw your own conclusion
the real test will be outdoors though...

The SR image quality is a sad joke. Look at the plant video - it is ridiculous. There must be someone quite stupid in the video group at Pentax HQ.

[fuent104]

There must be someone quite stupid in the video group at Pentax HQ.

This is a shame. Though the image quality is generally lackluster, the SR for video on my K-x is a very nice feature.

[7samurai]

The K-3 video of the cat was better. Alot better than the K-01. Digital SR worked pretty well in that case.
Both camera's failed regarding the plant.

Thank you for taking the time with those videos.

[Steve.Ledger]

just download them...

ha. Didn't see the download icon

Done, and thanks.

Well, I won't be buying a K-3 for it's video capabilities.

[grispie]

The K-3 video of the cat was better. Alot better than the K-01. Digital SR worked pretty well in that case.
Both camera's failed regarding the plant.

I agree. the cat is spectacularly better. just looking at the frames behind the cat. With the K01, it wobbles all over the place.
I took the fist vid out (living room), as i was moving exageratedly, but even there the k3 showed significant less wobble on the edges.

Regarding the plant, yes, they both failed, but the k3 does better again. But for some reason this seemed to be a difficult one...
Maybe because it was the most tele..

And regarding that plant: on 60i, it was nicely stabilised. I don't understand how come?

For me, this is more or less good enough. It's not where i would want it, but I can (carefully) use SR on holiday and daytrips. Otherwise i use a tripod anyhow.
And if i want to be sure it to be without wobbles, i can use 50/60i. Sthing the K01 can't do (i think).

[snappy76]

I was very close to buying a K3 but then read that you aren't able to set the shutter speed when shooting video?! I think I've read all the posts on this thread but may have missed it so apologies if I'm repeating the question - is this correct and if so, why would Pentax exclude it if they're trying to market a DSLR with more 'serious' video features such as manual sound level adjustment and headphone monitoring socket?

Can someone clarify? many thanks!

[Adam]

I was very close to buying a K3 but then read that you aren't able to set the shutter speed when shooting video?! I think I've read all the posts on this thread but may have missed it so apologies if I'm repeating the question - is this correct and if so, why would Pentax exclude it if they're trying to market a DSLR with more 'serious' video features such as manual sound level adjustment and headphone monitoring socket?

Can someone clarify? many thanks!

You can certainly set the shutter speed. Just activate M or TAv mode from the info screen and you can control everything manually before & during recording.

Adam
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[lister6520]

This thing about not being able to set aperture and shutter speed seems to be a very common misconception but I can't understand why. The manual seems to be clear enough and yet even an otherwise excellent review stated the same (sorry can;t remember which one it was).

What might possibly be confusing some is the fact that the mode dial is ineffective in video shooting so perhaps what they do is set the mode dial to M for instance and then find that the aperture and shutter speed cannot be changed. They probably do not realise that they need toi go into the video menu to select the exposure mode.

At first it seemed dumb to me that they would do it this way, sort of if there is already a mode dial to set exposure mode why not just use it. However on further reflection I can understand that it is better the way they did it, keeping the video exposure mode independent of the stills exposure mode.

[grispie]

However on further reflection I can understand that it is better the way they did it, keeping the video exposure mode independent of the stills exposure mode.

One of the things that is really horrible on my sony is that when switching from video to photo mode, it retains the exposure values you've set. and vice versa. Can you imagine?! oh, i want to take a quick photo in between. Forget quick...

pentax ergonomics, just love them

[snappy76]

Thanks for the quick responses!

In case you were wondering, I read this review which mentioned the shutter thing: Pentax K-3 Review | PhotographyBLOG - it's about halfway down the page. Anyone knows what he's referring to or do you think he's just copied and pasted from his review of the K5 IIs (Pentax K-5 IIs Review | PhotographyBLOG) and forgot to delete that sentence?!

After a bit of googling, I also came across this, which mentioned lack of manual video control on the K5ii and ways to workaround it: Controlling Video Exposure on the K7/K5 II: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review. I then wondered if Pentax kept things the same - I'm very relieved they haven't!!

[grispie]

He is wrong on that. Everything, shutter, aperture and iso, can be adjusted while recording.

[Steve.Ledger]

@snappy76
Be careful when reading reviews, many of them get important things quite wrong as they rush to get their reviews out and drawing traffic / earning ad revenue.
You even have to be careful of YouTube video 'tests' as there's no way to actually prove the video you see was shot by the camera they say it was shot with. Stick with known and trusted camera reviewers like Chris and Jordan (TheCameraStoreTV), Blunty (DigiDirect) and Ed (photouniverse).

Also, download the PDF manuals and study them, read threads and posts by people who own the camera. I only use review sites for sample JPG/PEF/DNG images - anything else isn't of much interest to me - which is why I read forum posts from people who actually have a K-3.

[grispie]

And regarding that plant: on 60i, it was nicely stabilised. I don't understand how come?

Does anyone know? I'd like to find out. And i'm not sure what the implications are of shooting 60i...

[osv]

60i has been part of the ntsc standard for decades... the video signal is recorded into two fields; odd scan lines in one field, even scan lines in the other field... on the old crt televisions, it was displayed as odd/even fields.

of course, no lcd/plasma monitor/tv can display odd/even fields, so it's kind of funny to see nearly all tv signals broadcast like that, and to have video recorded as 60i... but that's how most camcorders still do it.

when the 60i fields are combined into 30p frames, you'll lose picture resolution(compared to shooting in 60p/30p mode).

however, 60i can look very good; for instance, the picture quality of 60i broadcast tv is much better than any cable/satellite signal in america... that's largely due to the increased bitrate you get with free broadcast television.

k-3 60i video appears to be avchd, the same thing that many camcorders use; if it's compressed right after editing, it can look very good.

i think that the far bigger concern is how you as the shooter handle the k-3, especially wrt the typical dslr jellocam problems... another thing to look at is shutter speed, to help mask issues with panning and such:

You Tube

You Tube

[kadajawi]

You CAN convert 60i to 60p with VERY good results... in most cases you won't be able to spot the difference. However that is extremely CPU intensive... even at PAL resolution on a fast PC it will take a while. And if you don't deinterlace... 50i/60i just looks bad.


Interestingly the Panasonic HC-X900M, a rather expensive consumer camera from Panasonic from the 2012 season seems to do some crazy interlacing/deinterlacing stuff... IIRC shooting at 50p you will get 50i deinterlacing artefacts. But that's OT.

You Tube

You Tube

I have uploaded a raw video I've shot last week with my K-5 and the 18-55 at 18mm. Basically I'm walking up some stairs at a restaurant, and then just walking towards my table. I didn't pay much attention on panning smoothly (and slowly), so the 25p and lack of (easily accessible) shutter speed control really shows it's ugly face. The only stabilizing equipment used was the built in SR system and my Rieker shoes with Antistress feature. With my Puma sneakers it would probably look a bit different, they don't absorb bumps as good as the Rieker. I also held the camera a bit higher than I would usually, around the same height as my chin is. That seems to help a bit too.


I must say that aliasing can be a very big problem, as well as moire, and the low frame rate can be quite problematic too (my monitor also seems to exaggerate it with the overdrive system...). I have seen better cameras in those regards. So if you have stabilizing gear anyway, other cameras may make more sense. But if you don't have/don't want to use those things...

You Tube

You Tube

This video was shot at 200mm (so after crop it's 300). It starts with some panning, after that I'm trying to hold it steady while some airport staff is throwing around and smashing luggage.

My observations are there IS rolling shutter when I pan quickly, but it just doesn't wobble around. So this sort of rolling shutter artifact might be fixed in post (there is a feature for that in Premiere Pro CS6?). Also, at 200mm holding the camera steady is a bit of the challenge. It works best when holding the tip of the lens with one hand (which I wasn't doing, at least not while focusing. Can't remember how I did it the rest of the time). Stabilizing works, but it can't do wonders. I didn't notice wobble, though there is motion blur and some shakiness due to the SR not being able to keep up. The shakiness might be fixed in post with stabilization plugins, if the shutter speed is short enough. Might try that one day... Also there is little of the panning back after a pan that some have observed... perhaps it is more likely to happen/visible when shooting with a wide angle lens? I do notice it sometimes when shooting at 18mm.


Ok, I've also stabilized the second video using the warp stabilizer at default settings. It pretty much looks like what you'd expect from a K-01/K-3, without the wobbling. Not sure if that is because Adobe is able to reduce rolling shutter, or because rolling shutter was already eliminated by SR system (during the fast pans there is still lots of rolling shutter). The occasional motion blur is there, and very badly so. Otherwise the video is of course smoother, but personally I think I'd rather have it jerk around a little than to have these weird artifacts.