[Jimillian]

I have a K70 ,K3 and K1 and have acquired a F*300mm f4.5 and the K70 Is streets ahead in sharpness. Have no idea why

[pjsaure]

The only rational explanation I can think of is AF fine tuning. Did you perform it on your K1 and K3 with this lens?

[Fogel70]

If you shoot jpegs, it could be that K70 is using color profile "Bright" and K3 and K1 is using "Natural", which process jpegs with lower sharpness, saturation and contrast.

Without any sample images it is difficult to say what is the cause.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

The only rational explanation I can think of is AF fine tuning. Did you perform it on your K1 and K3 with this lens?

I noticed this too. If I put the 20-40 on the K-3II the result is good and sharp with good colours. If, however, I attach it to the KP the result is much sharper and more colourful (brighter?). The colour profile is the same. If I attach the DA* 55mm F1.4 to the K-3II the result is better than when attached to the KP. Perhaps it has to do with the processor unit? Somewhere during the introductions of the Mark III it was stated in one of the video's that the KP was the camera to use with the Ltd's and the K-3's with the star lenses. Maybe it has to do with the tuning of the processor? My K-3II was produced in one of the first batches on May 15, 2015 and was a demo item from Ricoh/Pentax UK and the KP is from one of the last batches (October 2020) of the KP. I can imagine that there have been tweaks within the camera that go beyond an update of the firmware, so maybe first and last batches for any camera may differ? (Specifications may change without notice, as they put it?) And it is of course very subjective. I will give it a try with my favourite 18-135 as well.

[volley]

I have a K70 ,K3 and K1 and have acquired a F*300mm f4.5 and the K70 Is streets ahead in sharpness. Have no idea why

Amazing how much confidence people have in the expertise of forum members
But without knowing "what you are doing" it is more or less impossible to answer your question "what am I doing wrong".
Please share some shots (with Exif) to demonstrate the superior sharpness of the K70.

Without a doubt the K1 has the potential to deliver significantly sharper shots than the K70 and K3.

[UncleVanya]

I have a K70 ,K3 and K1 and have acquired a F*300mm f4.5 and the K70 Is streets ahead in sharpness. Have no idea why

Are these shot using viewfinder focus or liveview? What distance?

[AfterPentax Mark II]

Amazing how much confidence people have in the expertise of forum members
But without knowing "what you are doing" it is more or less impossible to answer your question "what am I doing wrong".
Please share some shots (with Exif) to demonstrate the superior sharpness of the K70.

Without a doubt the K1 has the potential to deliver significantly sharper shots than the K70 and K3.

It is not that people have confidence in the expertise of forum members, but they have confidence in their experience with this camera brand!

[Jimillian]

Hi, Thanks in advance.
I have tried fine focus adjustment with moderate success. The only usable solution so far has been to use focus select and move indicator to the to of the grid. Does not work for small birds.
Have attached 4 photo's 2 x K70 and 2x K3. For comparison. the 2nd k-3 photo shows what could be achieved by the k3 if I could find a permanent solution. I think that the sensor focus may be off.

[pschlute]

I am not seeing any difference in those photos.

I think you are confusing sharpness with accurate focus. To do a proper AF Fine Adjustment per lens you need to get the camera on a tripod and use a focus test chart like the one at the end of this article http://www.kscameraclub.org/docs/pdfs/focus_test_chart_edited.pdf

[tokyoscape]

I guess it miss focus or shutter speed is too slow.
My K3 miss focus all the time day or night when use autofocus with Optical Viewfinder, but keeper rate go up significantly when use with Live View.

[Jimillian]

Thanks for the advice. Have taken over 500 photos trying to sort this out. Yes I've calibrated lens using calibration tool, tripod and timer to make sure there is no vibration. I have done this for many lenses on K50, K70, I would call myself competent at the task. Missed focus, not every shot. Calibration has been taken to -10 so no more adjustment and I think it needs -5 to -8 more to achieve acurate focus. At this point one would suspect the lens is damaged in some way. On the K70 no need for any adjustment. I guess thats why the K3 was a good price shutter count 3900 included battery grip Tamron 90 macro and Tamron 17-50 2.8 and flash 700 aud. I have included photos that are to our standard, taken with the K70 and F*300mm no pp

[pschlute]

Calibration has been taken to -10 so no more adjustment and I think it needs -5 to -8 more to achieve acurate focus

This with the K3 ?

How do other lenses perform on the k3 ?

[AfterPentax Mark II]

Jimillian, There is perhaps a slight difference between the two sets of pictures, but I notice that you did not use the same settings to compare. With the K-70 you use F8 and the K-3 I see F4.5. That slight difference may be the result of the different settings you used, especially when the focus range is close. But I also note that the leaves in the fourth picture at the bottom are sharper than those of the second picture, it is a minimal difference, but it is there. I do not think you can honestly compare them and say the K-70 does a better job. You did use different metering modes and exposure modes as well. I tried the KP and K-3II and with the same settings they gave exactly the same results, (be it that the KP is a bit brighter but with the same colour setting: natural), sharpness and detail of both are exactly the same. My advice: try it again (if necessary) and use for both camera's exactly the same settings. So the same ISO, F and shutter values, metering modes and so on. You can also use this method for calibration: https://testcams.com/blog/2015/09/22/dottune-autofocus-fine-tuning-in-under-5-minutes/. It actually works very well. And avoid close range, because it makes it so difficult to get it right, just a mere whisp of wind gets you an un-sharp picture, you might not even have noticed it. Or use a static object to avoid movement by wind of flowers and branches with leaves.

[Jimillian]

Jimillian, There is perhaps a slight difference between the two sets of pictures, but I notice that you did not use the same settings to compare. With the K-70 you use F8 and the K-3 I see F4.5. That slight difference may be the result of the different settings you used, especially when the focus range is close. But I also note that the leaves in the fourth picture at the bottom are sharper than those of the second picture, it is a minimal difference, but it is there. I do not think you can honestly compare them and say the K-70 does a better job. You did use different metering modes and exposure modes as well. I tried the KP and K-3II and with the same settings they gave exactly the same results, (be it that the KP is a bit brighter but with the same colour setting: natural), sharpness and detail of both are exactly the same. My advice: try it again (if necessary) and use for both camera's exactly the same settings. So the same ISO, F and shutter values, metering modes and so on. You can also use this method for calibration: https://testcams.com/blog/2015/09/22/dottune-autofocus-fine-tuning-in-under-5-minutes/. It actually works very well. And avoid close range, because it makes it so difficult to get it right, just a mere whisp of wind gets you an un-sharp picture, you might not even have noticed it. Or use a static object to avoid movement by wind of flowers and branches with leaves.

Thankyou for the great advise, and apologize if my frustrations got the better of me. The 4 uploaded photos are no where near as sharp as the originals, probably compression. I used the dot method and it worked at -9 the 300mm is once again awe inspiringly sharp. The K3 will stay. Yes the photos used to demonstrate the difference were not a fair comparison, due to setting differences. We did take over 500 shots trying to sort this problem and I will be throwing the calibration pyramid out and use the dot tune method for other lenses. Once again thankyou for the help and advice it is truly appreciated.
Jim

[AfterPentax Mark II]

Thankyou for the great advise, and apologize if my frustrations got the better of me. The 4 uploaded photos are no where near as sharp as the originals, probably compression. I used the dot method and it worked at -9 the 300mm is once again awe inspiringly sharp. The K3 will stay. Yes the photos used to demonstrate the difference were not a fair comparison, due to setting differences. We did take over 500 shots trying to sort this problem and I will be throwing the calibration pyramid out and use the dot tune method for other lenses. Once again thankyou for the help and advice it is truly appreciated.
Jim

Glad to be of help!