[Thagomizer]

Thagomizer: you have very clearly shown what that lens "can do". All those shots have great clarity.

Thanks! It's a nice all-in-one single lens choice for most of my needs when I'm travelling.

[BruceBanner]

What a clever composition, Bruce. The leaf looks like it is hanging in space - a lone living thing lost in the cosmos!!

Love it.

Thank you

[northcoastgreg]

South Humboldt Bay Bird Refuge, with the DA 21:

[skierd]

KP + 55-300PLM

backyard testing w/KP & plain, vanilla "nifty-fifty" 50mm f/1.8 "kit lens" (!).

[skierd]

Caribou along the Park Road, Denali National Park June 2019. Pentax KP + 55-300 PLM

Kantishna-3624 by David Dawson, on Flickr

Kantishna-3646 by David Dawson, on Flickr

Kantishna-3648 by David Dawson, on Flickr

Kantishna-3657 by David Dawson, on Flickr

Kantishna-3658 by David Dawson, on Flickr

Kantishna-3661 by David Dawson, on Flickr

---------- Post added 07-19-19 at 10:59 AM ----------

What's everyone's take on the rear screen on the KP? I absolutely love the color and detail and user-friendliness out of the files from this camera once I've seen them on a computer. However when I invariably end up chimping during a session and review the images on the back screen to see if I've gotten a shot many many times I've found that what I initially rejected as "missed" when I reviewed in-camera have look great to spectacular once imported to Lightroom. Are there settings to make the screen better or is it just what it is and I have to re-learn trusting my instincts as a photographer.

...Are there settings to make the screen better or is it just what it is and I have to re-learn trusting my instincts as a photographer.

My suggestion would be the latter. There's no way to see detail on that screen, so to some extent you're already trusting your instincts; it may be more of a "self-realization thing". So it's a matter of realizing (making real in the mind) the fact that you already know what you're doing, and you're good at it (or else you wouldn't be using Pentax, right?), so just do the best you can with what you've got and move forward with confidence.

One wrinkle in my own technique is that I tend to use manual settings exclusively, and I get excited and involved in what I'm looking at through the lens and forget to adjust the settings when I move the camera away from the last shot. Invariably, I have a few on the memory card when I get back that are either all white or all black. So I need to get better at checking the screen, myself, I reckon. Yesterday I experimented with using Av mode and hitting the green button after every shot. That worked pretty well, but I still don't trust the computer in the camera to make good decisions. And I've always hated the green button, because it's always in the way and I've never bothered to learn how to use it effectively (assuming arguendo, that there IS an effective way to use it).

[BruceBanner]

My suggestion would be the latter. There's no way to see detail on that screen, so to some extent you're already trusting your instincts; it may be more of a "self-realization thing". So it's a matter of realizing (making real in the mind) the fact that you already know what you're doing, and you're good at it (or else you wouldn't be using Pentax, right?), so just do the best you can with what you've got and move forward with confidence.

One wrinkle in my own technique is that I tend to use manual settings exclusively, and I get excited and involved in what I'm looking at through the lens and forget to adjust the settings when I move the camera away from the last shot. Invariably, I have a few on the memory card when I get back that are either all white or all black. So I need to get better at checking the screen, myself, I reckon. Yesterday I experimented with using Av mode and hitting the green button after every shot. That worked pretty well, but I still don't trust the computer in the camera to make good decisions. And I've always hated the green button, because it's always in the way and I've never bothered to learn how to use it effectively (assuming arguendo, that there IS an effective way to use it).

Why would you use green button in Av mode? All it does is toggle you in and out of Auto ISO. Green Button is for Manual mode more than Av I would say. Curious to know what yours is doing. With Av mode yer supposed to be able to not have to do much thinking at all about the shot, just shoot and every shot is decently exposed etc.

[skierd]

i believe you can change what the green button does in most modes, so it doesn’t have to just toggle auto-ISO in AV mode. I mostly use it in P and with manual lenses in AV mode for stop down metering.

Why would you use green button in Av mode? All it does is toggle you in and out of Auto ISO. Green Button is for Manual mode more than Av I would say. Curious to know what yours is doing. With Av mode yer supposed to be able to not have to do much thinking at all about the shot, just shoot and every shot is decently exposed etc.

I am still having trouble making the adjustment to "everything is manual" and the smell of acetic acid. I'm curious to know what it's doing, too! That's why I'm playing with it.

[Editing prior statement, should have said "adjustment FROM 'everything is manual".]

[robtcorl]

This chair is taken!

[ehrwien]

However when I invariably end up chimping during a session and review the images on the back screen to see if I've gotten a shot many many times I've found that what I initially rejected as "missed" when I reviewed in-camera have look great to spectacular once imported to Lightroom. Are there settings to make the screen better or is it just what it is and I have to re-learn trusting my instincts as a photographer.

My experience (with the K-S2, that is) is actually the exact opposite. Many shots that I chimped and was excited about turned out to be not quite in focus when I looked at them on a large monitor, even when I zoomed in on them in the preview... I'd rather have it your way!

[BruceBanner]

What's everyone's take on the rear screen on the KP? I absolutely love the color and detail and user-friendliness out of the files from this camera once I've seen them on a computer. However when I invariably end up chimping during a session and review the images on the back screen to see if I've gotten a shot many many times I've found that what I initially rejected as "missed" when I reviewed in-camera have look great to spectacular once imported to Lightroom. Are there settings to make the screen better or is it just what it is and I have to re-learn trusting my instincts as a photographer.

I think that's quite normal, across a lot of camera brands. K-1 is the same for instance. Basically the back of the LCD is not high enough quality to really inspect sharpness, focus etc. Only a proper computer screen can manage that. What I do is zoom in on the focus part when checking the shot at the time, it's one of those reasons why a touch screen could be a welcome feature on the next Pentax (double tap the area of the image in review that is in focus to zoom in etc, super quick painless way of checking the shots).
It's also why you see a lot of cameras tethered up to computers in studio environments, like I said it's quite common across all brands that the rear of the screen can just lack sufficient feedback.

My advice is to get out of the habit of culling via in-camera. Use the review/playback screen to gain simple feedback at the time, chimp to check that the exposure is ok, no 'red blinkies' are firing etc, zoom in and check that you are semi satisfied with focus, but never to delete or cull.
Once you have done the shoot put the SD Card from the camera into the computer and then use a program like 'FastStone Image Viewer' that will show immediate (no waiting time) Jpg Previews of the RAW files (if you shoot RAW that is), and allows for tagging of the files. I do this as my first wave of culling, tagging all the files from the SD Card I deem as being keepers. I have also learned to lean on the side of being not so ruthless, the Jpg Preview of the RAW is never as good as the actual Lightroom version (once imported properly in), so if you come across a file that you're not sure about just tag it and import it to LR anyway, typically it does improve substantially when imported properly.

Excellent shots by the way!

i believe you can change what the green button does in most modes, so it doesn’t have to just toggle auto-ISO in AV mode. I mostly use it in P and with manual lenses in AV mode for stop down metering.

I am still having trouble making the adjustment to "everything is manual" and the smell of acetic acid. I'm curious to know what it's doing, too! That's why I'm playing with it.

With the Av mode and green button, you'll want to visit Menu 5 in the camera settings>Button Customisation>Scroll to Page 2>E-Dial Programming>Move down to Av>Press Ok>Press Ok again and from here you can select the different set up for the dials and green button. With Av mode the green button can only be a ISOAuto, or off (ie does nothing). From this same area you have more choice in Manual mode for example, being able to bind the Green Button to either Tv Shift (give you correct Shutter speed) or Av Shift (give you correct aperture) for the given exposure you are seeking (pls note it takes into account your EV +/- compensation values).

[bkpix]

KP with 15 Limited on a hot afternoon.

[Lambert07]

A shot of the harbor at sunset