[kypfer]

I'd always been under the impression that the KP was a little "power hungry" … I'd often needed to replace the battery under circumstances where I felt my K-70 would have kept on going.
However, yesterday, under different circumstances, I had occasion to make over 700 bracketed exposures in a 40 minute period and the camera was still showing the (previously fully charged) OEM battery to be just "one green down" from full at the end of it
All exposures were made using the ovf, a/f with a screw-drive FA 100-300mm f/4-5.6 and relatively slow (1/4 to 1/15sec) shutter speeds.
Conclusion :- there's rather more to "estimated battery life" than just numbers of exposures!

[ajpps]

It is eating battery fast if to shoot in live view mode. OVF shooting mode is far less power consuming, I would say it is normal level if to compare to other Pentax cameras.
Adding battery grip alows to shoot in live view for longer time.

[acoufap]

Wouldn't it be nice to have an USB-C port on the KP to attach a standard power bank when doing extensive live view work in the field by example astro photography, time lapses or capturing movies?!

At least I'd be very happy to have USB-C on all of my Pentax DSLRs!

The coming Pentax KF has it and will be delivered by Ricoh/Pentax. With this "upgrade" the very good K70 techonlogy will survive in the future and puts something IMO important and high value for practical use on top. My perspective.

There seem to be different priorities - as always. Again many people complain because their personal expectations for a new camera aren't met ... naming, AF technology, ... - when I look at images I made using the K-5 ten years ago, I'm always astonished how good they are ,,, it's still a very capable camera!

[Terry C]

Wouldn't it be nice to have an USB-C port on the KP to attach a standard power bank when doing extensive live view work in the field by example astro photography, time lapses or capturing movies?!

At least I'd be very happy to have USB-C on all of my Pentax DSLRs!

The coming Pentax KF has it and will be delivered by Ricoh/Pentax. With this "upgrade" the very good K70 techonlogy will survive in the future and puts something IMO important and high value for practical use on top. My perspective.

There seem to be different priorities - as always. Again many people complain because their personal expectations for a new camera aren't met ... naming, AF technology, ... - when I look at images I made using the K-5 ten years ago, I'm always astonished how good they are ,,, it's still a very capable camera!

I have the battery grip on my KP which of course can take a K1 battery. This combined with the standard battery in the body gives VERY long battery life. Far better than a power bank !

[acoufap]

I have the battery grip on my KP which of course can take a K1 battery. This combined with the standard battery in the body gives VERY long battery life. Far better than a power bank !

Battery grip is a possibility. But I very much doubt that this is better than strong power banks that you in addition can switch seemlessly while doing hours of making time lapses etc.

Addition: Battery grip is discontinued, bulky and isn't a broad standard solution to cover more battery capacity that also can't in addition be used for a lens heater, phone etc. ...

[AfterPentax Mark II]

Wouldn't it be nice to have an USB-C port on the KP to attach a standard power bank when doing extensive live view work in the field by example astro photography, time lapses or capturing movies?!

At least I'd be very happy to have USB-C on all of my Pentax DSLRs!

The coming Pentax KF has it and will be delivered by Ricoh/Pentax. With this "upgrade" the very good K70 techonlogy will survive in the future and puts something IMO important and high value for practical use on top. My perspective.

There seem to be different priorities - as always. Again many people complain because their personal expectations for a new camera aren't met ... naming, AF technology, ... - when I look at images I made using the K-5 ten years ago, I'm always astonished how good they are ,,, it's still a very capable camera!

Well, the KP does not have a USB-C port and it is discontinued. The follow up of this camera has that port, the only thing you need to do is buy a K-3 Mark III, that will be much cheaper than upgrading your KP (if that were possible) .

[acoufap]

Well, the KP does not have a USB-C port and it is discontinued. The follow up of this camera has that port, the only thing you need to do is buy a K-3 Mark III, that will be much cheaper than upgrading your KP (if that were possible) .

Many thanks for that hint.

I know that there are a lot of people thinking they need the K3 mk3 specs and tortured Ricoh / Pentax for some time to develop such.

I made great photographs of my children many many years ago - with my Pentax ME Super and a Canon EOS 100 - analog SLRs. For years I photographed fast Taekwondo action in sports halls with the K-5. Never felt missing something ... I work what is there and develop techniques that help to get the best possible. I like such.

What I realise is that many people always search for greatest convenience - advert driven? That is, everything automatic. Not thinking too much, not preparing too much, not building up too much knowledge and experience ... about anything. That's not my way, never was. I'm really nearly not interested in what Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic, OM / Olympus (did I miss some great advertisers?) etc. do and don't compare them with Pentax. All in all I'm happy with what I have.

I only will add something from these brands if I have a special interest. For video vey example I chose the small Sony ZV-1. Nice little camera with good image quality but I don't feel any joy using it for photorgraphy. On the other hand I'm always curious what Leica and Phase One do - they are niche players ... and seem to do well at the moment. For me they seem like North Stars - unreachable, especially for street and landscape photographers. Ricoh / Pentax should develop such a North Star as a successor of the 645Z. Would be important IMO.

In short - IMO I don't need the specs of a K3 mk3 with tilting/moonlander screen missing. If I buy something expensive like this camera, then it has to be FF or if money shouldn't play against it a 645Z follower - I think dreaming is allowed.

Apart from missing USB-C I'm pretty happy with my K-1, KP and K-5 as backup! At the moment I'm more interested in modern optical devices ... that doesn't exist yet (FF TC1.4x, DFA 70-300, DFA *1.4/35 maybe).

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Last edited by acoufap; 11-13-2022 at 07:48 AM.

[UncleVanya]

I'd always been under the impression that the KP was a little "power hungry" … I'd often needed to replace the battery under circumstances where I felt my K-70 would have kept on going.
However, yesterday, under different circumstances, I had occasion to make over 700 bracketed exposures in a 40 minute period and the camera was still showing the (previously fully charged) OEM battery to be just "one green down" from full at the end of it
All exposures were made using the ovf, a/f with a screw-drive FA 100-300mm f/4-5.6 and relatively slow (1/4 to 1/15sec) shutter speeds.
Conclusion :- there's rather more to "estimated battery life" than just numbers of exposures!

WiFi and liveview can eat my KP battery rather quickly. Ovf without a lot of reviewing shots helps extend shots made on a single battery. I’m unclear if screwdrive or internal motor lenses fare better.

---------- Post added 11-13-22 at 09:05 AM ----------

Battery grip is a possibility. But I very much doubt that this is better than strong power banks that you in addition can switch seemlessly while doing hours of making time lapses etc.

Addition: Battery grip is discontinued, bulky and isn't a broad standard solution to cover more battery capacity that also can't in addition be used for a lens heater, phone etc. ...

I agree that’s a nice to have feature. A dummy battery is an alternative that could be useful and won’t require a replacing the KP. But if I recall someone had issues using such a device for Timelapse. I can’t recall if it was on the KP but it feels like it was.

I got my KP grip new long after it was discontinued. There still may be one or two around.

[acoufap]

I agree that’s a nice to have feature. A dummy battery is an alternative that could be useful and won’t require a replacing the KP. But if I recall someone had issues using such a device for Timelapse. I can’t recall if it was on the KP but it feels like it was.

There still may be one or two around.

Some time ago I thought about getting a grip but decided against it. 249,- € is a lot and takes away the compactness that I like so much.

When I do timelapses I don't use the camera internal function. This function has some downsides. I simply use an external intervalometer to take interval shots without specifying the number of shots. So it can run as long as necessary and if there is a break, all shots until that moment are stored already. Once the battery ran empty and I managed to change it quickly. I think I only lost five images or similar. You can recognise it within the timelapse video if you know about it. ... If I would have used the camera built-in timelapse function, all captures would have been lost and no movie would have been created - if I remember right. Shooting regularly raw in intervals you can create much higher quality timelapse videos - of course yielding much more effort.

[kypfer]

I've got the Pentax D-AC168, bought for my K-70 (with included "dummy" battery) and used also with my K-5 and KP. With a bit of a hack it'll work in my K-01 as well … having to buy yet another power adaptor, for my K-3iii, is something I hadn't considered and don't anticipate any time soon! Maybe I'll change my mind if ever I feel the need to make 4K videos
The problem with "standards" is that there are too many of them!
See also the differing USB and HDMI cables for the various Pentax DSLRs!

A dummy battery is an alternative that could be useful and won’t require a replacing the KP.

Just for reference, the "dummy" battery supplied with the D-AC168 doesn't fit in the KP directly, the battery latch is in the wrong place to hold it in … by accident or design I'm not sure!

[Wingincamera]

In "live view" the KP does have a hunger for batties. I do a lot of product photos for my wife's wood-turning craft using my KP in Live View on a tripod. I have five OEM batteries and just keep them charged. I do have the battery grip for the KP, but only use it when out in the field.

[biz-engineer]

Conclusion :- there's rather more to "estimated battery life" than just numbers of exposures!

For digital cameras, the number of exposures is simply the wrong metric to assess a camera. The consumption associated to taking a picture is a current spike that only last for 250 ms during sensor readout and processing image data until stored in memory, then sensor supply current goes back to very low levels when idle or during exposure. However, as long as the camera mother board is powered with image processor , user interface and AF system ready to take user orders, current is continuously drained from the battery, which mostly defines how long a fully charged battery will last. Practically, Pentax K-1 can be up and running for no more than 6 hours on a fully charged battery, without taking any picture. It can also be take 2000 pictures for 5h30 hours (without flash , without intensive lens AF), which means 2000 exposures take no more energy of 30 minutes of running the whole camera system. The metric better than CIPA rating is simply to check the specification of how long the camera stays awake on a fully charged battery.

[kypfer]

For digital cameras, the number of exposures is simply the wrong metric to assess a camera.
The metric better than CIPA rating is simply to check the specification of how long the camera stays awake on a fully charged battery.

Totally agree!
For the record, the KP will "stay awake" for around 4hrs with no power saving and intermittent use.
Both the K-70 and the KP can just about manage four consecutive 25min videos at HD resolution on a single fully charged OEM battery.

[jgnfld]

Battery grip is a possibility. But I very much doubt that this is better than strong power banks that you in addition can switch seemlessly while doing hours of making time lapses etc.

Addition: Battery grip is discontinued, bulky and isn't a broad standard solution to cover more battery capacity that also can't in addition be used for a lens heater, phone etc. ...

I disagree here. The KP grip uses the large Pentax battery which puts it right up with top of the line Pentax cameras (though it can also use the smaller battery as well and at least gives you a second battery immediately). I don't bother with the grip in the summer as I tend not to take more than a few score shots in any one session. But I do find I need the battery grip in the winter where my K-70 body would work for much longer (@ -3C to -10C or a bit more) even for my normal not very huge shooting sessions.

[acoufap]

I disagree here.

I'm not sure with what you disagree.

When I visited Berlin in summer three years ago, one day I needed 3.5 batteries! If it would have been cold I surely would have run into problems since I only had 3 in addition to the one inserted in the KP. But usually I only need max. 2 batteries a day. It simply depends strongly on live view usage and making (short) movies. It's pretty clear the D-Li90 would be much better and thus using the battery grip would be a big advantage or if you like an insurance that no disaster happens especially in strong cold winter.

I was talking about hours of making photographs stationary in the field - timelapses, astrophotography or movies especially with extensive usage of live view. There a camera attached to a powerbank via USB-C port like this one I own

https://eu.omnicharge.co/products/omni-20-intl?variant=39246864089168 ("Power for all your devices")

is perfect and of course you can charge your camera whereever you are and whenever you want - without additional specialised pentax chargers or AC/DC adapter. These kind of special charging adapters with their cables make travel bulky, especially if you travel with a K-1 and KP. The above mentioned powerbank I can even charge using a solar panel. It gives you more independence and you can use it parallel with other equipment like a lens heater. Simply a whole different story than yours.