[Clothears]

Picked up my new K-S1 (black, body-only) today. Still charging the battery at the mo, besides which it has been a very grubby day, low coming in from the Atlantic (well they all do I suppose), so wet and misty.

I may try my Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 in it first. Odd though, I could have sworn remembering it to be a 35mm lens.

[UncleVanya]

Picked up my new K-S1 (black, body-only) today. Still charging the battery at the mo, besides which it has been a very grubby day, low coming in from the Atlantic (well they all do I suppose), so wet and misty.

I may try my Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 in it first. Odd though, I could have sworn remembering it to be a 35mm lens.

LOL - First where I am few systems come in from the Atlantic since it lies to the East of me and the systems tend to come to me from the west. Second, your 28mm is effectively similar in field of view to a 42mm so if you average the real and effective focal length we can call it a 35mm if it makes you happier!

Seriously - The KS1 looks like a great camera - enjoy!

[mtngal]

Picked up my new K-S1 (black, body-only) today. Still charging the battery at the mo, besides which it has been a very grubby day, low coming in from the Atlantic (well they all do I suppose), so wet and misty.

I may try my Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 in it first. Odd though, I could have sworn remembering it to be a 35mm lens.

Congrats on the camera and I feel for you having a low coming in. I thought I might be in your area over the weekend, it rained off and on for 2 days - not a hard rain, but enough that I didn't venture out much. Our storms all come from the Pacific or the Arctic Oceans. In winter you can tell where it originates, depending on whether it rains or snows.

Post some pictures and your impressions.

[clackers]

Congratulations, Clothears - the flashing red focus peaking in Live View will be great with that lens! :-)

[Clothears]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right but a possible sequence seems to be:

1) Set aperture ring enabled
2) Set green button to DoF preview
3) Set AE-L to lock exposure (do I need this?)
4) Mount M lens
5) Turn on camera and set focal length
6) Select M mode
7) Compose picture, focus, including setting aperture as desired (using green button to check DoF), and using wheel to adjust shutter speed to get correct exposure according to the meter in the VF
8) Press shutter button

I got a picture that may be roughly correctly exposed but I've only tried it indoors and it's dark now.

But this is in M mode, and I wanted to do it in Av. However, the green button seems to do nothing in Av.

[Adam]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right but a possible sequence seems to be:

1) Set aperture ring enabled
2) Set green button to DoF preview
3) Set AE-L to lock exposure (do I need this?)
4) Mount M lens
5) Turn on camera and set focal length
6) Select M mode
7) Compose picture, focus, including setting aperture as desired (using green button to check DoF), and using wheel to adjust shutter speed to get correct exposure according to the meter in the VF
8) Press shutter button

I got a picture that may be roughly correctly exposed but I've only tried it indoors and it's dark now.

But this is in M mode, and I wanted to do it in Av. However, the green button seems to do nothing in Av.

You have to use M mode except with M42/manual diaphragm lenses.

[THoog]

That's right (and not just for the K-S1). Because the "crippled" K-mount on Pentax DSLRs does not have a linkage to detect the aperture setting, K-or-M series lenses stay wide open in Av mode, no matter what the setting on the aperture ring.

Congratulations on your new K-S1! Last night, I was wandering through a Target store, and couldn't resist handling the Canikon entry-level DSLRs. I know I'm biased, and the security devices didn't help, but I found the grips to be even less comfortable than the K-S1. OTOH, I played around with my Chribirthday present last weekend (a Samyang 10mm), and at 580g, it was just heavier than I think K-S1 lens should be.

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Last edited by THoog; 01-13-2015 at 03:35 PM.

[Clothears]

Well TBH it wasn't quite so much that I wanted to do it in Av mode, more that I wanted to be able to press a button and get metering to happen and to have the shutter speed set. I think I may have that now (I set green button "Action in M/TAv mode" to "TvShift") and could see the indication of correct metering in the viewfinder. Weather tomorrow looks much better so I'll be out and about trying a few simple shots.

---------- Post added 13-01-15 at 22:47 ----------

Congratulations on your new K-S1! Last night, I was wandering through a Target store, and couldn't resist handling the Canikon entry-level DSLRs. I know I'm biased, and the security devices didn't help, but I found the grips to be even less comfortable than the K-S1.

I had a 55-300 mounted today and found it no problem with the grip for just handling the camera one-handed (as in, picking it up one handed with a view to applying the other hand to the lens).

The shutter actions seems much faster than the K100D Super that SWMBO has, as does the AF (mind you, she insists that she's quite content with it but we'll see). The viewfinder information is entirely sufficient without being too busy.

After the M lens I'll try the FA 50mm f1.4.

[THoog]

I had a 55-300 mounted today and found it no problem with the grip for just handling the camera one-handed (as in, picking it up one handed with a view to applying the other hand to the lens).

During my first couple weeks with the K-S1, I took it to the zoo with the 55-300, intending to swap my usual wrist cord for a neck strap. Well, I forgot to pack the neck strap, and got to carry the K-S1 + 55-300 in one hand for several hours. It handled much better than expected - but the 55-300 is only 440g. Somewhere around 500g is my comfort limit.

As much as I like my K100D, the K-S1 is about three generations newer under the skin. If SWMBO borrows the K-S1, she will need to keep in mind that the viewfinder is 100%, as opposed to the 96% on her 'Super. When you get used to having a little extra on the edges, and shift to a 100% VF, you find yourself cutting things off.

[UncleVanya]

I went from a K100D Super to a K-50 this past year. It's been quite an experience. I really enjoyed the K100D Super but the K-50 is a totally different league. The K-S1 seems to improve on many of the things the K-50 did right already which is pretty awesome. One area of deficiency is the lack of focal length info in the K-50 viewfinder vs. the top LCD on the K-100D Super. Does the K-S1 give focal length info in the viewfinder?

[mtngal]

I'm not sure if I'm doing this right but a possible sequence seems to be:

1) Set aperture ring enabled
2) Set green button to DoF preview
3) Set AE-L to lock exposure (do I need this?)
4) Mount M lens
5) Turn on camera and set focal length
6) Select M mode
7) Compose picture, focus, including setting aperture as desired (using green button to check DoF), and using wheel to adjust shutter speed to get correct exposure according to the meter in the VF
8) Press shutter button

I got a picture that may be roughly correctly exposed but I've only tried it indoors and it's dark now.

But this is in M mode, and I wanted to do it in Av. However, the green button seems to do nothing in Av.

You brought up an interesting problem that I hadn't thought about. With previous Pentax cameras your basic method of using a manual exposure lens would be to:

1. Set the aperture ring to enabled
2. Set the aperture on the lens.
3. Point to what you want to shoot, push the green button which would very quickly stop down the lens and allow the camera to meter. You can see the viewfinder very briefly go dark and brighten again - not long enough to check dof, long enough just for the camera to meter.

This gets you your one button push exposure. That's how the K-S1 works for it's default settings (I've been using it that way).

Previously, if you wanted to check dof, there was a third stop on the on-off switch for dof preview, the place where the K-S1 has the movie mode.

Since the K-S1 doesn't have the optical preview where it used to be, they put it on the green button. What you did was enable the green button to stop down the lens to see dof preview. I suppose if you want, you can then change the shutter speed to match the exposure using the meter, but I didn't try that - seems too awkward to hold down the button and manipulate the wheel.

And that's the problem.

You CAN'T use the green button to set the shutter speed if you have it assigned to optical preview!!! In my opinion, that's downright dumb. A person who's shooting a manual focus/manual exposure lens is far more likely to want to see the optical dof AND be able to set the shutter speed by one button. They should have set it up that a different button for previews. I tried it just now.

I want the green button for setting shutter speed in M mode far more than I want optical preview so I've changed my camera back to the default setting for the green button. If I really want optical preview I'll change it in the menu and then change it back.

[Clothears]

Yes, the sequence I was able to use is:

1) Set aperture ring enabled
2) Set green button "Action in M/TAv mode" to "TvShift"
4) Mount M lens
5) Turn on camera and set focal length
6) Select M mode
7) Compose picture, focus, including setting aperture as desired, and pressing green button to cause camera to meter. It will then set the required shutter speed for correct metering
8) Press shutter button

As you say, since the green button is in use for metering, you can't use it at the same time for DoF verification.

What I then found is that my Pentax-M 28mm f2.8 has more chromatic aberration than I'd like.

I also found that my Pentax-FA 50mm f1.4 is a very good lens (sharp and very little chromatic), so that's good news. And the 18-55 kit lens is not too bad either, provided you don't look too closely at the edges of the image

By the way, does anyone actually use the supplied software. It seems a bit clunky.

[THoog]

As fond as I am of my old M28/2.8 (many, many lousy shots but good memories on film), it's not a lens for pixel-peeping. Still good for walking around / hyperfocal "f/8 and be there" kind of shooting.

I occasionally use the Pentax software, but yes, the interface is downright inscrutable sometimes. To complicate things, the version supplied with the K-01 was also SilkyPix-based, had a completely different interface, and was equally inscrutable - but in different ways. Maybe it makes more sense in the Japanese version.