[mohb]

What exactly is this 'low light' that seems to cause so much worry and stress to some thinking of buying Pentax? I have never had a problem with the AF on my various cameras in what I consider low light - gloomy poorly lit rooms for example- so how bad does it have to be to cause problems?

[pathdoc]

"Low light" is when my Spotmatic F's needle meter can no longer be clearly seen, OR when 1/15 and f/3.5 can't put enough light on the film.

[aaacb]

Me either, but you can't argue with internet wisdom That being said, I have a nice camera (k3ii) with f2.8 or f4 lenses, so it may be that f6.3 is worse.

Here's an example of one of the most difficult situations in which I've had to use af. Not just because of poor lighting, but also because they were moving a lot around the stage. Didn't notice a single issue with af.

Don't go by what settings flickr shows, I processed and compensated a lot in post from raw, at least two stops if I remember correctly. So with those settings and a final iso 12800, the EV value would be about 9, far above the minimum rating of -3ev which the camera's rated for. But I'm guessing -3ev would certainly require a tripod, so I don't know if af speed would be a concern at that point.

[alamo5000]

"Low light" can mean different things to different people, but I assure you it's not something exclusive to Pentax that people worry about.

Low light can mean anything from a wedding with dim lighting, to a campfire setting, to a sunset, to walking around the streets in the evening time. You have the golden hour, the blue hour and several other times when the light is very unique either just before or just after sunset, but it's still technically 'low'. There are a million and one definitions of 'low light'.

It matters because in these times I have found that I can get very unique shots, stuff you will not get at any other time. If you only go out shooting on pristine blue sky cloudless days you're probably missing out on a whole lot of shots. If you never go out on the streets in the evening you're probably missing out a lot too.

For low light you need a fast enough lens. You need enough quality light. You can have both good and bad light even though both are 'low' so it depends. You also need a sensor that can absorb more light. If you're shooting something moving at low light your shutter speed needs to be sufficient, which also means your ISO has to go up...and in many instances this means a lot more noise.

You also have scenarios where part of the scene is very dark but other parts are not. How do you balance all that stuff out?











The question really is... can you, your camera sensor, and your lens take it or make it happen?

[alamo5000]

Here's another one...taken hand held in Istanbul.

[MadMathMind]

So with those settings and a final iso 12800, the EV value would be about 9, far above the minimum rating of -3ev which the camera's rated for. But I'm guessing -3ev would certainly require a tripod, so I don't know if af speed would be a concern at that point.

-3EV is pretty much total darkness, like a night with light ONLY from the full moon. If you've been out in the wilderness with that, you know how absolutely amazingly dark that is.

Exposure value - Wikipedia

[rbelyell]

to me its if the abscence of light in a scene necessitates me using iso1600 or higher. it strikes me that what 'causes concern' to photographers about 'low light' situations thus defined is their camera's ablity to handle shadows and noise at 1600 plus. of course we can im sure come up with dozens of other situations that capture some minute part of some minute minoritys 'concerns'. but imo its best to keep it simple and squarely in the mainstream. if youre camera performs well in the abscence of good light at 16-6400 youre overwhelmingly likely to not be concerned about 'low light' photography.

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Last edited by rbelyell; 12-18-2016 at 06:50 PM.

[ChrisPlatt]

"Low light" is when my Spotmatic F's needle meter can no longer be clearly seen, OR when 1/15 and f/3.5 can't put enough light on the film.

I did lots of low light and time exposure photography when I was young and still experimenting.
Now when I run out of meter coupling range it's my camera's way of saying "Don't go there!"

hris

[pakinjapan]

What exactly is this 'low light' that seems to cause so much worry and stress to some thinking of buying Pentax?

I think that is an old worry back in K-5 days. K-5 auto focus in low light is not really good.

[arnold]

Low light is when you resort to manual focus and *exposure, like this Pentax MX Kodachrome illustrates. (*Unless you use an LX)

[mike.hiran]

I think that is an old worry back in K-5 days. K-5 auto focus in low light is not really good.

Agreed. Pentax's low light performance now is usually above it's peers both in noise performance and AF performance. Low light is a Pentax strength, not weakness.

[hcc]

You already got some very useful comment. Let me comment on a slightly different point. Low light and very low light.

Very low light is the most challenging. The AF may not lock (Canikon, Pentax and co), the ISO might skyrocket, the picture could be black.... So let me share a few tricks about very low light.

The key is the lens: you want to use a fast lens (f1.4) and you preferably want to work MF. Thus a true MF fast lens is an optimum, because a MF lens has usually a very accurate focus ring.

The next trick is to set up the camera in a manual or semi-manual mode: set the fastest aperture, the highest ISO that you are willing to use, and then set the shutter. Do a few tests to check that your results are decent.

Very low light shooting is not easy, but any Pentax camera with a fast MF lens can work well IMHO.

Hope that the comment may help.

[wildman]

Cat in basement with the only light coming from a high, small basement window.
Both aperture and ISO at max. RAW and careful Photoshop work to get it usable.
Used a m4/3 camera with an adapted FA 35 lens at f/2 and max ISO.
I like the mood of these natural low key shots but they are hard to pull off in digital - I sometimes think a grainy Tri-X shot would work better.

[pathdoc]

Cat in basement with the only light coming from a high, small basement window.

Great shot! Heeeeere, kitty kitty kitty.

[wildman]

Heeeeere, kitty kitty kitty.

At my age and with the temp getting down to -20f it's nice to go to sleep with two cats and my better half for company.
After all these years with cats in my life I don't think I could sleep without a couple purring next to me in the bed at night.