Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
01-30-2018, 10:15 PM   #1
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Things I wish I knew then

Hey everyone. So I'm excited. I just ordered a shiny new K70 along with the 28mm 2.8, 40mm xs, and a 50-300mm. The camera will be here a week or so before the lenses start showing up. But that's a week of reading the manual with the body in my lap. So that can't hurt.

This is my second real camera system. The first was a Nikromat with a pretty extensive set of lenses. But that was half my life ago when people knew what a Nikromat was.

I managed to get my hands on a Sony and a couple lenses so I was able to reintroduce myself to things like the exposure triangle, hanging by me legs off a bridge to get the shot, and pleading with my kids to sit still for one G.D. minute so I can take this.

This is my first Pentax and the first time with an SLR in quite a while. And I was wondering if anyone has any real world tips or tricks? Or those (sometimes stupid) little things you found the hard way? I really would appreciate any help.

Oh yeah, shooting style. I'm the dad with the camera at events, so that. Plus I love hiking and will be bringing it with me into the forest. And anywhere else I might go that might maybe warrant a picture. Rank amatuer stuff, as you've probably gathered.

Anyways, thanks again everyone!

01-30-2018, 10:41 PM   #2
Otis Memorial Pentaxian
Otis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis FanOtis Fan
Loyal Site Supporter
clackers's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Melbourne
Photos: Albums
Posts: 16,394
You should browse through these, RookieGuy: Resources | PentaxForums.com

Generic YouTube photography tutorials will apply to your camera, too.
01-31-2018, 05:44 AM   #3
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
macman24054's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Axton, VA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 461
Don't let the back of the camera fool you. I have often looked at it and think that photo just sucks only to get it on my computer and find it is not a bad photo at all. Use your histogram and that will help with the camera screen fooling you. +1 on the Youtube videos. Welcome to the forum and to Pentax. The K70 is a great camera and will give you years of use. Beware of LBA (lens buying addiction) and GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).
01-31-2018, 06:26 AM   #4
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Central Florida
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 6,033
QuoteOriginally posted by macman24054 Quote
Don't let the back of the camera fool you. I have often looked at it and think that photo just sucks only to get it on my computer and find it is not a bad photo at all. Use your histogram and that will help with the camera screen fooling you. +1 on the Youtube videos. Welcome to the forum and to Pentax. The K70 is a great camera and will give you years of use. Beware of LBA (lens buying addiction) and GAS (gear acquisition syndrome).
LOL...
Great advice I wish you'd mentioned earlier this week as I've suffered a recent bout of GAS myself.

RookieGuy, I've been where you are and not all that long ago. As Macman said avoid picking up "extra" gear before putting in some extended time with your K-70. A lot of the stuff you'll see claimed as essential filter/flash/lens/attachment/accessory in various photo blog articles around the web are not, more like cool to have if you're a bottomless pit of money and then use said essential thing once/twice/never. Done that. The folks here can be your 10-step support group if needed. We've all had our moments of weakness.

A new camera can be like buying a new boat...

01-31-2018, 06:50 AM - 1 Like   #5
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: South West UK
Photos: Albums
Posts: 1,493
1) Put it in M.
2) Go shooting every day
3) Keep going until you can get the image you want without having to think about settings

Then there is just the small matters of light, composition, artistic merit....
01-31-2018, 07:00 AM   #6
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
twilhelm's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Florida
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,369
Great choice of camera. Get to know the camera and lenses you have before jumping into anything else. Buy a couple of good, name brand SD cards. As mentioned, you tube has some good tutorials, but there are also some good blogs. Start with the fundamentals of photography, nothing camera specific. You’ll want to learn, or have a refresher in light, aperture and shutter speed. But most importantly, just have fun with it.
01-31-2018, 07:19 AM   #7
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Original Poster
GAS is a malady I've suffered from before. I figure with the 28, 40, and tele zoom, I should be able to do everything I need done. And the limiteds or *s will be there when I'm ready. And until then, Mrs. RookieGuy is usually pretty good about keeping me grounded. Although, recently I was able to talk her into a new camera system.
I've learned my lesson on following what the latest photoblog says. That's how I ended up with a Sigma 19mm DN for my Sony. And my Sony.
Clackers, the resources forums are great. And I've been leafing through them. But sometimes you're not sure exactly what your question is so the answer can be hard to recognize
VictorMeldrew, shoot until you can do it without thinking, that has to be the best advice I've ever gotten.
Thanks everyone!

01-31-2018, 05:55 PM   #8
Junior Member




Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 37
QuoteOriginally posted by RookieGuy Quote
Hey everyone. So I'm excited. I just ordered a shiny new K70 along with the 28mm 2.8, 40mm xs, and a 50-300mm. The camera will be here a week or so before the lenses start showing up. But that's a week of reading the manual with the body in my lap. So that can't hurt.

This is my second real camera system. The first was a Nikromat with a pretty extensive set of lenses. But that was half my life ago when people knew what a Nikromat was.

I managed to get my hands on a Sony and a couple lenses so I was able to reintroduce myself to things like the exposure triangle, hanging by me legs off a bridge to get the shot, and pleading with my kids to sit still for one G.D. minute so I can take this.

This is my first Pentax and the first time with an SLR in quite a while. And I was wondering if anyone has any real world tips or tricks? Or those (sometimes stupid) little things you found the hard way? I really would appreciate any help.

Oh yeah, shooting style. I'm the dad with the camera at events, so that. Plus I love hiking and will be bringing it with me into the forest. And anywhere else I might go that might maybe warrant a picture. Rank amatuer stuff, as you've probably gathered.

Anyways, thanks again everyone!
There's lots of good resources on youtube.
I like watching Thomas Heaton for landscape stuff, although perhaps this is less for the beginners. Nevertheless, videos are nice to watch
For gear reviews, there are a ton and a half of websites, the big ones are digitalrev, froknowsphoto, kai wong, and tony+chelsea northrup. I also like Dustin Abbot's reviews, although they are mostly about canon stuff. All those channels occasionally also talk about some photography, in addition to gear.

Then there are websites that collect images, e.g. 500px, which are good if you are trying to see what is interesting to photograph around where you live, and get some hints on what looks good in the pictures.

Lastly, MIT OCW, which has photography courses with some of the material. I took a documentary photography class there a long time ago with B.D. Colen, and there were a few good exercises to get you 'going' on street photography. Could be worth a try if you are having a creativity block.
02-01-2018, 09:14 PM   #9
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Original Poster
Everything came today, all much earlier than expected. So I spent the afternoon taking pictures of, well, everything I could see that would stand still long enough.

So far I found I really really like back button autofocus. And I need to practice more using focus highlighting. So far I some very crisp clear pics of the baby's nostrils while her eyes are a bit fuzzy. Probably just need a new lens to take care of that 😉.
02-08-2018, 01:55 PM   #10
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Original Poster
So I was able to get out last weekend to my local state park despite the cold temperatures. I thought somewhere I'm familiar with would help. Anyways, I had a great time learning to use an optical viewfinder. But it turns out my dinosaur of a computer can't read raw files. Oh well. Back of the camera they looked... It's a new system for me. The pics in auto looked acceptable. The ones where I tried to be smarter were a mixed bag. The joys of learning.

Something I found that has helped me this past week was leaving the camera with the zoom by the window looking out at the bird feeders. And every day I've been able to try for sparrows, cardinals, finches, doves, and woodpeckers. All under 50 feet away from me. All while in the comfort of the sofa.

Steve Martin, the wild and crazy guy he is, once gave some advice. He said you can't play [your banjo] if it's in its case. Turns out the same applies to (re)learning photography. Funny that. So by keeping it out, I'm getting better at manual focusing, as well as getting better about keeping the feeders full and window clean.

So far I like my lens selection. That's a great way to combat GAS. I think my rig will serve me well for quite a while.
02-10-2018, 04:59 PM   #11
Senior Member




Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 146
If you change the file type of your photos to DNG you are likely to be able to read them on your dinosaur computer.
02-11-2018, 10:16 AM   #12
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by Tigs Quote
If you change the file type of your photos to DNG you are likely to be able to read them on your dinosaur computer.
Thank you, Tigs. I'll give that a try. Is that like raw where it's lossless?
02-12-2018, 05:19 AM   #13
Senior Member




Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 119
DNG is adobe's propriety RAW file- I would suggest that your RAW files would benefit from some processing, including amongst other things, levels, contrast, sharpness.
02-17-2018, 03:38 AM   #14
Pentaxian
shiner's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: N GA USA
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 2,124
When I went to DNG I never switched back because of the convenience.
02-18-2018, 08:01 PM   #15
Senior Member




Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Mid Atlantic region
Posts: 127
Original Poster
I wish I could use raw. There's part of me that why's to pick up a buncha lotta (a lot of bunches) cheap memory cards and fill then up for the next however many months until the oldest Rooklet can convince Mrs. Rookie she needs a computer for school. But probably a more realistic way to go would be to use my time trapped in JPEG as a learning experience to get it right in camera.

I know a cheapo Wal-Mart computer would probably work, but after talking Mrs. Rookie into knee getting the setup I have, well, I'm not pushing my luck just yet.
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, k-70, k70, lenses, pentax k-70, week
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Alas, my poor 40mm Limited... I knew it well. khardur Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 19 05-29-2017 04:57 PM
Long gone users... don't you wish you knew the rest of the story? UncleVanya General Talk 155 02-08-2017 11:38 AM
Obama and Reagan had the same official photographer, who knew? normhead General Photography 29 07-12-2016 05:26 PM
I knew samsung wasn't well... bertwert Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands 2 03-25-2016 08:11 AM
3 things you wish you knew when you started umeuph Photographic Technique 86 11-13-2012 08:33 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:52 AM. | 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