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05-07-2016, 07:05 PM - 12 Likes   #1
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K1 Wedding Photography Impressions

Don't know how many folks on here shoot weddings, but I gave my K-1 a workout the day after it arrived and wanted to give my first impressions. I was going to have it for my second camera because I was nervous about using an unfamiliar camera for such critical pictures as a wedding. Just looking at the pictures on the back of the screen, the K-1 was outperforming my K-3 so much that I ended up using the K-1 for all important shots.

My first impression when looking through images is, "Where are the out of focus shots?" Seriously, even when the af doesn't seem that much faster in certain situations, it is so accurate that I am completely blown away.

Obviously, the high ISO is amazing, I probably don't even need to comment about that.

The tilting screen was my biggest surprise of the day. I have never used live view before. Today, I went crazy with it for detail shots that I would have formerly had to get on chairs to get. I think I'll have to start trying it with people. Focus is great in live view.

It's intuitive. Coming from a K-3, I didn't have to read a manual to figure out how to do everything I needed to. Some things that bothered me initially I am really starting to like, such as the different spot for the playback button. The focus select being a black square took some getting used to. If I am pointing the camera at dark objects I can't always see where my focus point is until it lights up. I like the square the rest of the time, though, and the camera knew where the focus point was even if I didn't.

I had done another wedding in the same church less than a year ago. I just really hope the brides don't compare wedding pictures, because the ones from today are that much better! In particular, the earlier time the walking in pictures were soft because I had a strong backlight from a door and the camera struggled. The backlit shots today were amazing and the camera didn't hesitate a bit.

05-07-2016, 07:13 PM   #2
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I'm committed to buying this camera eventually, but your post has just strengthened my case.

I think you're very fortunate in having had not only the previous Pentax flagship to compare, but also previous experience in the same place under similar conditions.

Pentax seem to have made some serious advances in AF with this camera. It would be interesting to know what lenses you were using, but that's only part of the issue - it's the detection-decision-control loop that drives the focus motor which really makes the difference, and all the AF points in the world won't save you if your control system implementation is a deranged mess.
05-07-2016, 07:22 PM   #3
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Thanks for sharing your experience!

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05-07-2016, 09:25 PM   #4
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I mainly used the DFA 24-70 and the DA* 200. Both are lenses I liked ok on the K3 and K5s, but I like them both better on full frame. Someone posted pictures with the 200 that had vignetting, but I had no problems with it, with and without the hood.

05-08-2016, 03:02 AM   #5
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Thank you so much for your feedback about this wedding. Weddings push cameras (and photographers) to their limits because of all these very different lighting conditions and it seems that your K1 performed amazingly ! Nice to have such a feedback before getting the camera
05-08-2016, 03:27 AM   #6
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Thanks for sharing about the K1 in wedding shoots. I might just use it for the next event.
05-08-2016, 03:32 AM   #7
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Good to know.

I had a 21st shoot last night..... took the K3, left the K-1 at home so no beer would be splilt on it.

05-08-2016, 03:43 AM   #8
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To the OP - awesome news. This camera is shaping up to be a blockbuster product. I can hardly wait to buy (but must due to finances)

To Noel - never be concerned about your baby and beer (check out this)

Testing the Pentax K-1... With Mud and a Shower
05-08-2016, 04:09 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wild Mark Quote

To Noel - never be concerned about your baby and beer (check out this)

Testing the Pentax K-1... With Mud and a Shower
Embarrassingly, the only WR lens I have is the DFA 150-450. I must admit, by about middnight the DFA 150-450 was about the right focal length to keep me out of harms way..... (I'm sounding really old.....)
05-08-2016, 08:58 AM   #10
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Great feedback on the K-1. Photography has only been a hobby and continues to be so for now. I have toyed with the idea of it becoming more than a hobby at some point later as I improve my visual and technical skills. I am looking forward to my K-1 and 24-70mm lens arriving tomorrow. Lots of talented folks that share here on PF; really enjoy reading the comments and viewing the pics as well as part of education.
05-08-2016, 09:12 AM   #11
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thank you for your comments, can you comment in more detail about afc and pttl flash

Thanks for your comments about the wedding. i would love to hear some more detailed impressions about AFC--was it able to keep up with action in the processional/recessional (what percentage of shots were pin-sharp? Did you use pttl? If so, which flash and did you detect any shutter lag in this mode at all? On K3II, the shutter lag is a disappointment with pttl flash.
Thanks from another wedding photographer,
--Mark
05-08-2016, 12:48 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by walro Quote
I mainly used the DFA 24-70 and the DA* 200. Both are lenses I liked ok on the K3 and K5s, but I like them both better on full frame. Someone posted pictures with the 200 that had vignetting, but I had no problems with it, with and without the hood.
Really excited to hear that you like the DA* 200 on there! That's the lens I'm most excited to try! I think I'll be going a while with just primes on the K-1... It sounds like the DFA 24-70 is a must-have in the long run though!

Thanks also for telling us how much you liked it for weddings! Super excited!
05-08-2016, 01:41 PM   #13
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Pictures or it never happened :P
05-08-2016, 02:08 PM   #14
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Without actually counting and looking at each image at 100% crop, I would put the number of pin sharp recessional/processional photos at 90-95%. There were maybe about 4-5 images that looked soft to me out of roughly 50 images. I had no super blurry photos, and was really surprised by how well it did when the subject was close to me. Normally, I would say about one fourth to half of those images are soft depending on the lighting situation. This is using a.f.c. The a.f.c. on k-1 Is so good that even when I forgot to switch to a.f.s for still shots, I couldn't tell later I had forgotten. I often use the center point for action, not always.

I did not use flash on the K1 at this wedding. It was an early afternoon wedding, and I didn't feel like I had time to try it with a flash enough the night beforehand. Definitely something I wanted to try out in the next couple of weeks. I was grateful for the high ISO, as I shoot Mennonite weddings where they often have Amish parents or grandparents that the couple wants surreptitious pictures of. I call the 200 my Amish grandparent lens because I am able to take pictures across the room when they don't realize it. I never use flash for ceremonies, and for the reception, I used flash on the k3 with a wide angle and used the k-1 with the 200 and higher ISOs. The shutter lag on the k3 is very frustrating to me as well!

I typically shoot in AV mode and use exposure comp. to get to the exposure I want. When shooting the same situation side by side, I noticed I had to apply more exposure comp. to the k-3 than the k-1 in tricky metering situations. This is when using matrix metering in both cameras.

---------- Post added 05-08-2016 at 05:10 PM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Dr_who Quote
Pictures or it never happened :P
It's been a long time since I uploaded pictures to this forum. I need to figure out how to do it again.
05-08-2016, 04:43 PM   #15
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Thanks for posting. I'm a wedding shooter too, so it's really exciting to hear that the K-1 addresses all the shortcomings of K-3/APS-C that I had hoped it would. Icing on the cake to hear that the AF & keeper-rate is greatly improved, as I also find the K-3 to be problematic (at times) in this department.

It really does seem like the K-1 will be finding its way into my kit-bag sooner rather than later. :-)
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