Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
07-04-2016, 05:32 AM - 2 Likes   #1
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Michigan
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 419
First Trip Completed with the K-1

I've now had a chance to take my new K-1 and D FA 24-70 lens on a short vacation that provided a number of photography opportunities. Before this trip, my K-1 shooting was primarily test shots with various other lenses, mainly to determine if I needed to buy the 24-70. I concluded that I would see a significant benefit from the 24-70 and purchased it just a few days before the trip. In addition to the 24-70 I also took the Pentax DA* 60-250 and the Sigma 8-16. I mainly shoot to capture beautiful scenery, but I'll take other types of shots when they are attractive to me.

The camera and new lens performed well during the trip. I took about 550 pictures over a long weekend. I was definitely impressed with the resulting pictures. I don't recall any missed focus shots that were not attributable to user error. I think the combo of the K-1 and 24-70 tended to overexpose for me a little and I found myself shooting at -.7 to achieve the exposure I desired. I missed having filters that would work on the 24-70, as my maximum filters are 77 mm and the lens uses 82 mm filters. I think the level of detail in the pictures is quite impressive, even shooting JPEGs. I think the color rendition was very accurate. With my K-3 I used the vibrant setting much of the time but with the K-1 I only used the natural setting. The SR was very effective. I used a tripod for longer exposures so I didn't really test the SR, but I had one shot at 108 mm at 1/8 second and there was virtually no signs of motion. I found the flexible screen very useful for shots near the ground, which were quite difficult with the K-3. I found the new screen brightness option very handy as I've struggled in the past to review shots on bright days. It was no problem to inspect a shot with the screen brightness increased. I used Pentax DA* 60-250 much more frequently than with the K-3 due to the crop factor. I was somewhat disappointed in the amount of vignetting that resulted from use of this lens, especially since I consider post-processing to be a chore. I didn't go beyond ISO 3200, but my shots at 3200 looked better than similar pictures with the K-3. I had planned to use and evaluate the on-board LED lighting, but I forgot about it since I felt quite comfortable with the K-1 in the dark because the controls are so much like those of the K-3. I did not miss the onboard flash on this trip, but I'm quite sure I will in the future. I did not use the GPS on this trip, but certainly will use it to embed location information on my pictures during future trips.

While I didn't feel that the K-1 was significantly larger or heavier than my K-3, the combination with the 24-70 is quite heavy. I used a shoulder strap much more than I would have with the K-3 / Sigma 17-50. I definitely didn't want to hold the camera very long, which was annoying at times. I was concerned that the K-1 and larger lenses would be a little heavy for my Manfrotto BeFree tripod, but it proved to be very stable. My backpack was definitely heavier than in the past with the K-1, 24-70, 60-250 and Sigma 8-16, but I must say the weight in the backpack never bothered me.

An analysis of the focal lengths I used during the trip shows the majority of shots with the 24-70 were at 24, followed by 70. For the 60-250 the most were seen at 250. This matches my prior experience as I tend to shoot at the extremes with my zooms, suggesting I should perhaps change lenses a little more frequently. I never used the 8-16 on this trip. Without going into crop mode the 8-16 is really only full frame at 16 mm. I will eventually have a better ultra wide option for this camera, but I'm still figuring that one out. I'd like to get the FA 20 2.8 if I could ever find one.

I did use the Synch Image app to transfer pictures from the K-1 to my tablet for sharing to social media during the trip. Like many men, I try to do everything without reading the instructions / manual first and this worked with a little difficulty for the uploads. The app is not very intuitive in my opinion, it worked but I found it to be a little challenging. Having looked at the K-1 manual today I see it would be pretty simple with the instructions. Overall, I didn't find the built-in WiFi to be any better than my prior use of an Eye-Fi memory card.

In conclusion, my trip experience confirmed many of the viewpoints previously shared by others. I saw many of the advantages and disadvantages previously discussed on this forum. The weight and need for full-frame lenses, which may be quite expensive or hard to find, are definite disadvantages. However, the IQ and extensive capabilities / features of the K-1 are big advantages. I'm very glad to have the K-1 and the 24-70.

The following sample pictures have not been edited except for resizing for posting (except the bridge shot was cropped a little).









07-04-2016, 06:22 AM   #2
New Member




Join Date: Feb 2016
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 22
Love the colors of the first shot.
It really looks like you used a polarizing filter, but you've mentioned in your post that you don't have any filters for 24-70 so I'm bit puzzled =)
07-04-2016, 08:42 AM   #3
Veteran Member
aleonx3's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Brampton, Ontario
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,996
Thanks for sharing your experience using the k-1 with the 3 lenses on your trip. On the note about the heaviness of the 24-70 with the k-1 (which you said you use the most), I am just curious whether you have previously thought about getting the DFA 28-105 (kit lens) instead. According to some, that is a darn good kit lens and it is light compared to the DFA 24-70. The reason I am saying this is that when I travel, I try to avoid hauling heavy gear. I would think the DFA 28-105 would be much lighter than the DFA 24-70, isn't it? Besides, I would think that wide-open fast lens would be less likely used on day trips. I would tend to use the DFA 24-70 more for events (such as weddings, performances etc.) and less often when I have to haul the gear around all the time when I travel. Nothing wrong with your thinking, just my thoughts. Did you shoot JPEG only? I did it once and regret that i did not capture RAW, which has so much details (and sometimes despite my user errors). BTW, I like your photos... especially the bridge taken at night fall.
07-04-2016, 09:54 AM   #4
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Michigan
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 419
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by kislotiq Quote
Love the colors of the first shot.
It really looks like you used a polarizing filter, but you've mentioned in your post that you don't have any filters for 24-70 so I'm bit puzzled =)
I agree, it does look very much like a shot with a polarizing filter, but I assure you that no filter was used. The focal length on that shot was 24 mm, which is probably wide enough that a polarizing filter would have created significant variation in the color of the sky from one side of the picture to the other. That is a mistake I've made in the past, i.e. using a polarizing filter on a shot that is so wide the effect of filter creates unwanted variation in the sky color.

---------- Post added 07-04-16 at 01:06 PM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by aleonx3 Quote
Thanks for sharing your experience using the k-1 with the 3 lenses on your trip. On the note about the heaviness of the 24-70 with the k-1 (which you said you use the most), I am just curious whether you have previously thought about getting the DFA 28-105 (kit lens) instead. According to some, that is a darn good kit lens and it is light compared to the DFA 24-70. The reason I am saying this is that when I travel, I try to avoid hauling heavy gear. I would think the DFA 28-105 would be much lighter than the DFA 24-70, isn't it? Besides, I would think that wide-open fast lens would be less likely used on day trips. I would tend to use the DFA 24-70 more for events (such as weddings, performances etc.) and less often when I have to haul the gear around all the time when I travel. Nothing wrong with your thinking, just my thoughts. Did you shoot JPEG only? I did it once and regret that i did not capture RAW, which has so much details (and sometimes despite my user errors). BTW, I like your photos... especially the bridge taken at night fall.
You raise some very good points and I did seriously consider the 28-105. It was attractive as it gives quite a bit more range, is 44% lighter (440 vs 787 grams), allows me to use almost all of my filters (62 mm), and it's almost 60% less costly. However, in my opinion the difference between 24 and 28 mm is quite significant and I know I tend to shoot on the wide side. This is confirmed by the fact that I shot the greatest number of pictures at 24 mm. If I went with the 28-105 I would need a high quality lens for the wider shots and I'd be changing lenses more frequently. The options for a wider lens (wider than 28) are not very attractive to me, are very expensive, or are very hard to find, unless I went with multiple primes, but I think finding a good 20 mm prime is challenging as I'm looking for one now. So while the 28-105 will be ideal for a lot of shooters, it leaves me struggling to fill the void wider than 28. I realize I've paid more for the F2.8, but that will be beneficial in a subset of my shots.

I did shoot JPEG only and there have been a few times I've regretted it in the past. I will shoot raw when I think there is a high likelihood that the pictures will be used for big enlargements. I have also used the "save as RAW also" option immediately after shooting a shot that I really like. I do rethink JPEGs now and then, but my disappointments in JPEGs have been relatively few and far between. As one who avoids post processing, I don't think I would utilize the advantages of RAW very often.


Last edited by dave2k; 07-04-2016 at 10:11 AM.
07-04-2016, 10:38 AM   #5
Pentaxian




Join Date: Feb 2015
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 12,175
QuoteOriginally posted by dave2k Quote
I think the combo of the K-1 and 24-70 tended to overexpose for me a little and I found myself shooting at -.7 to achieve the exposure I desired.
Yes, and it is due to the light transmittance (or aperture actual error vs theoretical ), which is approximately 0.4ev better than Tamrons 17-50 or 28-75. You have to keep this in mind, but other than that, it means you can shot at lower ISO. I compare the K3 and 17-50 to K1+24-70, not only the full frame offer less noise for the same ISO, but in addition, the iso on FF gets lower.
07-04-2016, 11:09 AM   #6
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Michigan
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 419
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
Yes, and it is due to the light transmittance (or aperture actual error vs theoretical ), which is approximately 0.4ev better than Tamrons 17-50 or 28-75. You have to keep this in mind, but other than that, it means you can shot at lower ISO. I compare the K3 and 17-50 to K1+24-70, not only the full frame offer less noise for the same ISO, but in addition, the iso on FF gets lower.
Thanks, it's good to know it's not just my imagination.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
camera, dslr, filter, full frame, full-frame, k-1, k-3, k1, kit, lens, lenses, mm, pentax k-1, screen, shot, shots, travel, trip
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The first day with K-1 and: 15-30, 24-70, 31, 77, 100 lenses braver Pentax K-1 & K-1 II 8 04-19-2021 11:40 AM
What was your first lens on the K-1 and what did you photograph with it? pathdoc Pentax K-1 & K-1 II 45 07-26-2016 05:54 AM
Abstract First walkbout with the samyang 14mm and K-1 melander Post Your Photos! 10 06-12-2016 03:34 AM
My first day with the K-1 Unregistered User Pentax K-1 & K-1 II 12 05-02-2016 05:00 PM
My first trip with K-5 II RonHendriks1966 Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 9 12-12-2012 03:30 PM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:01 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top