[redmenace]

Gobsmacked by your results, khardur. Your words convey a thorough assessment of the tool, and your images show that you wield it well.

[mcleoud151]

Okay, here's an update:

I'm now up to almost 40,000 clicks on the KP, after a bit over a year with it.
I have not regretted a moment.

The live view with focus peaking is fantastic for those situations where you have the time to use it.

I still actually use my K5-iis for most of my newspaper work, simply because the file sizes are smaller and I need to get photos processed. (and the newspaper does not need large file size, in fact when I first started freelancing for them in 2017 they asked me to downsize everything because they didn't need that quality. LOL)

Anyway, 3 weddings, countless photos of my kids, engagement sessions, senior sessions, almost all of it is 100% good. The KP does have struggles with the 55mm f/1.4. Though I guess that could be most cameras. But I find once I tuned the focus on the K5-iis, it was spot on, all the time. With the KP, there are times it struggles. I could have the focus tuned and it hits 100% in natural light, at close head/shoulder portrait distances, then at full-body length it just blows the focus. (when I'm not using the live view / focus peaking).

That's my one gripe, is that with that lens I want to use it mostly wide open, that's what it's for... I don't want to stop down to 2.2. lol.

Here's some wedding stuff. Oh I've pretty much ditched the Cactus gear, now that Flashpoint (Godox) supports Pentax and HSS. I hate to be like that, but I wanted something with more power. Cactus had been working on that project but the funding never made it, then Godox came out with triggers compatible with the Pentax system and it opens up a whole new world for less-expensive flashes. (and some really top notch gear).





Oh I did screw up my wrist though, carrying the camera+grip+L-adapter+Flash mounted on that adapter. With one hand, for most of the reception. Ugh. That was in January. It's been on and off ever since.
I play ice hockey though too, and that doesn't help. (playing goal/holding the goal stick with that hand also).


There's this new night club that opened up, literally a block away from my house. It's fantastic, and I know the owners, so they have no problem with me shooting. I'm working on gathering enough material to do an exhibition somewhere, maybe even there.







those LED lights though... IT DOES take a lot of finagling in post to get these usable. LED lighting systems are so not camera friendly.
of course they also are easier on the artists/doesn't make it 90 million degrees on stage as older hot lights do.


This woman had a voice, I fell in love with her just because of that. (I'm joking, but her voice was amazing. I do have a bunch of their albums now. Arc Iris is the band.)




Oh, I cracked my screen. I think I had a loose Limited lens in the same pouch as the camera. Oooops. The Limited won.
But, it's only a minor crack, hasn't started leaking throughout the panel yet, so I'm good for now.

Did a sunset bikini shoot for a friend of mine. She was very happy. (this is safe for work)


Then I take my kids out sometimes and do special shoots for them.
My daughter loves faeries and all things nature.

She's the best.

Then there's some portrait stuff I've done


This guy is a freight train.


This is not straight natural light. I have a flash going to his left, Flashpoint AD200.


Another senior, we did some standard stuff, then a few maybe more artistic shots.


Oh I shoot for this festival that I've been involved with for the past 4 years now.
There are some amazing performers. This crew does fire breathing, it's amazing, and difficult to shoot, in the darkness and the sudden exposure changes due to the fireballs. It's amazing fun to shoot though!

This is the end of the fireball


and here's an amazing finale they did


I still go out and shoot for fun.








That's the year in a nutshell. I haven't been on the forum a lot since last year, with the day job, this side work, and my kids, it's hard to find time to get on here.
I have to go read on the talk about the upcoming new APS-C..

Great stuff! I love the snowy S-Road!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------- Post added 12-09-19 at 10:28 AM ----------

^ hmm that's interesting. I don't suspect I have some sort of secret methods here, I'm just using the Lightroom noise reduction.

I have a couple presets I made just for noise reduction when I do high ISO work, I'd be glad to look and send you a screenshot of my LR noise reduction settings if there are any ones in particular that you want to see settings for.
(I'm not saying I'm doing anything special, but maybe the combination of amount + threshold + detail works a little better)

I'm curious. Noise Reduction is a part of LR PP I really, really, need to study up on more. Always more to learn!

[khardur]

Thanks for one year retrospective, also I enjoyed the pictures a lot - especially the people/club shots.


Don't waste your time. Other than the models shown by Ricoh, there aren't any facts out yet.

^^ agree!
Paid reviewers have time to look at basic features, but don't normally have time to put it through the rigors of actual work and workflow.

---------- Post added 12-09-2019 at 10:10 PM ----------

Your iso 3200 looks so much cleaner than mine do, and I seldom use 6400. It looks like we both use Lightroom, so you are much more talented with managing iso than me. Excellent work.

okay, here is a good example -> high ISO image with noise reduction in LR

ISO: 8000


1:1 crop:


LR settings on this one:

[fsge]

^^ agree!
Paid reviewers have time to look at basic features, but don't normally have time to put it through the rigors of actual work and workflow.

---------- Post added 12-09-2019 at 10:10 PM ----------



okay, here is a good example -> high ISO image with noise reduction in LR

ISO: 8000


1:1 crop:

LR settings on this one:

Thank you for sharing these settings

[Fotus Tuus]

Very useful, thanks,

[khardur]

Here's another update:
My son and I went down to the grocery store just after a storm passed through and saw godrays. I said "wanna go up on the mountain for sunset?" "YESSSS" he says.

It was. Epic.



another view:


I hung out with a friend at the base of Mt. Greylock trying to spot the comet a few nights later and I got this shot.


Then I got the comet a few nights later. This is two shots, an astrotracer shot of a minute and a half combined with a non-AT shot for the foreground.
Cosmic snowball, anyone?


I do have to say this: The astrotracer: Does anyone else find that, even though it may say up to 5 minute exposure time is possible, it's best to keep it as low as possible.. like... pushing two minutes gives me too much movement. I mean it's still much better than not using the AT if I'm trying *not* to get star trails... but I felt like on the K5-iis it worked better.

Maybe I was less picky?
I'll post a few more later, and a shutter count.

[normhead]

After seeing these, if the K-new isn't what I hoped for, this will be a great fall back. The part about the buffer clearing quicker is a big plus. It's a constant gripe of mine. "Waiting for the buffer to clear so I can micro adjust the settings." Who knows, I might even find the smaller faster clearing buffer more to my liking. If there's not a tilting back screen on the K-new, I'm going to give it a serious look. I shoot a lot of macros, mushrooms and stuff, I'm so used to the back screen on my K-1, I won't use the K-3 anymore, even though more pixels in the crop area is a definite advantage.

---

Last edited by normhead; 07-23-2020 at 01:01 PM.

[khardur]

So I finally shot a photo in Jpg mode and checked the shutter count, up over 46k shots in just about 2 years.
Not too shabby, not my all-time high, but certainly not my lowest numbers either.

I've been working on off-camera flash technique lately. Today I had free time, and my daughter had her choice of things to do today: She wanted to do a photoshoot.
So we rocked it. Here are a couple photos. Taken with the 55mm f/1.4 and the KP, + the Flashpoint (Godox) Li-Ion manual flash. Specs shown here, and setup. I have a Flashpoint EVOLV 200 (Godox AD200) and an AD600 as well, but that power wasn't needed for this shoot. Plus again, light weight is a plus.

Also used a magmod MagBounce. And I'll tell you what, for individual portraits? those things rock. Because I can have them on a light stand and not worry about weighing the light stand down with a sandbag. It may not seem like much, but seriously the weather here? There always seems to be gusts, even on the calmest of days. And the more weight you have to carry? The less spontaneous you can be. Which isn't always a bad thing, but isn't always good either.
I can get them up really close to people's faces (to soften the light as much as possible) and it still renders a very pleasing light pattern / not harsh if I don't want it to be.



It started raining while we were shooting. I had a ziploc bag with me.
(Actually this is a pretty good downpour, we almost had to make a run for it, but it let up about 30 seconds after this pic was taken). You can see the droplets... 1/1000s plus a flash.








Here is some star trail work I've been doing with the KP. I just finally started nailing focus on these. (my problem, not a camera problem.) and I'm very happy with some early results here. I have a feeling the next six months are going to be huge for me for doing star trails.


And another:


I think this fall I probably won't be freelancing for the newspaper anymore. I totally still enjoy it, but it really doesn't pay a lot, and with COVID-19 still bouncing around the US I have a feeling events are going to be called off at random, and I can't see the newspaper needing me for much of anything this year.

Anyway, if there's still anyone on the fence about owning a KP, have no doubts it is a capable machine.

[MarkJerling]

Lovely shots, great update. Thanks for posting!

[kypfer]

I do have to say this: The astrotracer: Does anyone else find that, even though it may say up to 5 minute exposure time is possible, it's best to keep it as low as possible.. like... pushing two minutes gives me too much movement. I mean it's still much better than not using the AT if I'm trying *not* to get star trails... but I felt like on the K5-iis it worked better.

Maybe I was less picky?

My experiences have suggested a couple of reasons for non-optimal astrotracer exposures :-

The documented effect regarding which area of the sky you are photographing does make a difference. The stars "move" fastest at the celestial equator, slowest around the pole, unfortunately the camera seems to make a "best guess" only based on geographical location without factoring in the angle of elevation, direction etc. The camera has 'tilt' and 'roll' sensors and a built-in compass, so it should be possible ... maybe it does but doesn't mention it anywhere.
Less well documented is the slight mis-calibration that can be invoked by the presence of magnetic/electrical interference in the vicinity of the camera. I now make it a rule to calibrate and set up my camera at least 10ft away from my car when out in "the field", (often literally!)
Adjacent buildings or other metallic features, garden tables, balcony railings etc. also appear to have an effect. I've no known experience with power-lines, overhead or underground, but would anticipate an issue.
I've taken to making a test exposure in the approximate direction of my anticipated final exposure(s) and making a critical examination of this. Any un-anticipated trailing would invoke a re-calibration, a repeated issue would encourage me to reposition the camera/tripod by at least 10ft and start again.

I'll emphasise at this point that first time success is far more frequent than multiple failure. It is quite practical to park the car, grab the camera and tripod, set it all up and be back on the road within 10 minutes, with a couple of good pictures "in the can"


Good luck

[Makx]

Good job

[robgski]

Great review, great results. Now I want a KP.

[le0n]

KP or k33?

[Thagomizer]

I've already got a KP and I'm seeing I could get even more out of it than I thought! Excellent work.

[MTNcycler]

Great review and excellent work. I have a KP and agree with the OP that it's fine for sports. I'm also mainly using AF-S with rear button focusing (usually attached to DA* 60-250). The buffer really does clear fast. I need to start exploring more of its capabilities, and get more clicks on it.