Hi there folks! I'm Matthew Saville. I suppose that is obvious by my username though.
I am new to Pentax, in fact I have yet to even purchase one. However I review DSLR cameras for SLR Lounge, so I've at least handled pretty much everything under the sun. I know both Nikon and Canon like the back of my hand, and usually I prefer Nikon for their controls and their overall philosophy and track record of delivering what photographers want most. (D700, D800, affordable pro-grade primes, continued backwards compatibility with the entire history of lenses, etc.)
However lately I have been falling out of love due to the fact that Nikon has clearly given up all hope of serving the pro DX crop-sensor market. My D300 was a killer camera in its time and the D300s was a good step in the right direction, but who knows if we'll see a D400 and even if we do, Nikon hasn't made a pro DX lens since their first three that they made like what, a decade ago?
But I digress. The Pentax K-3 has definitely caught my attention. Especially given my new found interest in astro landscape photography, and adventure photography in general.
So, with this introduction, I have a few questions that I hope some people who already have a lot of experience with Pentax, specifically the K-3, can answer. Here goes nothing!
1.) One thing I love about Nikon is that many of their cameras allow choices for RAW bitrate and compression. So for night timelapses for example I can chose 12-bit RAW with lossy compression, and save nearly 50% on card space. Does Pentax have anything similar to this? From what I can tell, the answer is NO, however I'm still wondering if anybody knows the average file size of the K-3 for example, and if the DNG format offers any options or if it is the same as the PEF (?) format.
I know it may sound like sacrilege to any die-hard RAW shooters out there, but honestly I have done test after test and cannot see a real difference in the RAW picture quality, and when all I'm doing is making timelapse frames it seems a shame to waste so much space recording 14-bit un-compressed RAW all the time.
2.) Another thing I really love about many of the newest cameras is the ability to quickly zoom to exactly 100% during image playback and review, usually with a single click. Digging through the Pentax K-3's manual online I can sorta tell that there is a feature / customization along these lines, however can anybody explain this in a less "user manual" sort of way? How exactly does it function? It seems like there are two different options but I can't figure out what they actually are. Maybe I should just go down to a local shop?
3.) Jeez, that 'ol Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 is SO DANG HARD TO FIND in the Pentax mount! I own the original mk1 in a Nikon mount, and it has been a bread-and-butter lens for many seasons as a wedding photographer. And IMO when Sigma introduced the stabilized version of this lens, it defeated the whole purpose because it was heavy and expensive. But, ta-da, Pentax has built-in stabilization!
This was one of the realizations that I had recently, with regard to my current situation and Nikon's own foot-shooting future. For example, the arrival of a Nikon D400 is still highly in question, while the K-3 is already here and offers features that Nikon and Canon simply will never bother competing with. Namely, in-body stabilization, and that GPS tracker thing that allows for (modest) star tracking. That, and those tiny little Pentax primes look amazing for walk-around shooting.
I think this realization is what is going to push me over the edge to Pentax. Even if Nikon delivers a stellar, ground-breaking D400, ...it will probably cost $1800 and I will never be able to enjoy stabilization on fantastic lenses like the Sigma 50-150 or their new 18-35.
Of course I was originally very dismissive of Pentax for my hobby of adventure and astro landscape photography because Tokina never seemed to get around to delivering a K-mount 11-16mm f/2.8, however the arrival of the Rokinon 10mm f/2.8 (non-fish) and other lenses like the Rokinon 16mm f/2 or the Sigma 18-35mm have me convinced that I could fill 100% of my needs with just a couple / few thousand dollars.
The crazy thing is, I actually own multiple full-frame Nikon bodies and flagship f/2.8 Nikon zooms, for my job in wedding photography, and yet I'm almost tempted to try using the Pentax K-3 for this as well, and not just for my hobby of adventure photography. Maybe, maybe not; but for the meantime I'm considering just selling off all my Nikon DX gear to fund a modest Pentax adventure kit.
So, what do you think? Have I scared everybody off? Is this the worst introduction thread, ever? Okay fine, I'll share some of my misc. recent work to make up for it, even though it's all Nikon stuff.
Hopefully soon I will test out a K-3 for SLR Lounge review purposes, with a focus on adventure and landscape / astro photography. Any tips or suggestions before I do? Thanks!
Take care,
=Matt=
From a recent trip to the American Southwest:
From another recent trip to the Eastern Sierras:
Andromeda and the winter Milky Way, over Rhyolite:
Just one reason why I really prefer to have weather-sealed bodies, lol:
...Of course, my day job is portraits and weddings: