[deckroid]

Hey everyone.

So, after 2 years of debating and fence sitting, I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a new K3. Whoo HOOO. I feel like I cyber stalked the K3 for a long time before buying it. Almost like a relationship from an online service. We talked, we found common ground for the relationship before we both decided it was a good decision for the K3 to move in with me. Hahahaha... anyway...

First, lemme say that while my K3 and I are still in the honeymoon stage (ok, this analogy is getting creepy...), I can tell that I will love this camera. I have only done a few test shots with my Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 but coming from my slightly damaged K20, this is just a fantastic piece of equipment.

Now... I need some assistance from all you K3 owners for settings in the menu. What have you found to work, not work and personal preferences. Example. I didn't like the auto ISO. While not a control freak, I do like a certain amount of say on how I capture my shots. I also turned off the beeps. I can see the red flash in the view finder to say, yup - you got it in focus. But are there any settings that you might have found to be essential? And not just for portrait work or landscape but any and all.

Thanks!

George

PS - Also anyone know of a way to reduce CA on a zoom? I have yet to take the K3 out for a stroll but my kit 50-200mm ed has .... issues? at anything over 150mm.

[wizofoz]

Hi Deckroid. Congrats on the new camera. Have you updated your facebook status??

You make an interesting point about white balance, but one with which I must disagree. I find the multi auto white balance to be almost magically accurate. If I recall correctly the K-3 was the first camera to have this feature. I encourage you to check it out.

As far as lens corrections - have you tried the 4 settings for lens corrections available on the K-3? One is specifically applied for lateral CA

[enoeske]

Hey everyone.

So, after 2 years of debating and fence sitting, I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a new K3. Whoo HOOO. I feel like I cyber stalked the K3 for a long time before buying it. Almost like a relationship from an online service. We talked, we found common ground for the relationship before we both decided it was a good decision for the K3 to move in with me. Hahahaha... anyway...

First, lemme say that while my K3 and I are still in the honeymoon stage (ok, this analogy is getting creepy...), I can tell that I will love this camera. I have only done a few test shots with my Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 but coming from my slightly damaged K20, this is just a fantastic piece of equipment.

Now... I need some assistance from all you K3 owners for settings in the menu. What have you found to work, not work and personal preferences. Example. I didn't like the auto ISO. While not a control freak, I do like a certain amount of say on how I capture my shots. I also turned off the beeps. I can see the red flash in the view finder to say, yup - you got it in focus. But are there any settings that you might have found to be essential? And not just for portrait work or landscape but any and all.

Thanks!

George

PS - Also anyone know of a way to reduce CA on a zoom? I have yet to take the K3 out for a stroll but my kit 50-200mm ed has .... issues? at anything over 150mm.

I usually set my program line to MTF so that it tries to keep it in a sweet spot for sharpness. I use back button auto-focus, so I usually go in a set that up. I have some manual lenses so make sure to enable aperture ring in the custom menu.

[commongrounder]

I think Deckroid was referring to Auto-ISO rather than Auto white balance. In the menu, one can set the auto-ISO range to as narrow a value as you feel comfortable with. I have mine limited to ISO1600, but I am an Av mode user, so it doesn't come into play very often for me anyhow.
Congrats on the new camera. I have a K3ii and am very happy with it.

[robthebloke]

Whilst you're playing around with the menu options, go to the C(4) tab, and change option 25 to 2 (save the menu location). That'll let you play, and return to where you are.

Next up, C(1) tab, set option 2 (sensitivity steps) to 2, and it'll open up some more ISO settings (640, 1000, etc).

If you want to double up on memory, then leave the memory card with the 1 setting. Once the first sd card is exhausted, it'll silently switch to the second. If you want to be super cautious, choose 1&2 (copy to both).

If you shoot raw...

First camera tab, AF assist light on; everything else off. Second tab, everything off.3rd tab, shake reduction on. 4th tab, instant review on 1sec or off. The e-dial and button customisation menus are worth playing with to set the controls up as you like. I turn everything else off.

If you shoot JPEG, then the last set might not be your cup of tea, but I find they help extend the battery life (I prefer to set up my presets in Lightroom). Pressing the info button a few times will let you turn the back lcd off (I find the glare annoying in low light, and again it helps with battery life)

The 'play' tab. Auto image rotation (take a shot, press play, and rotate camera to look at portrait/landscape shots on the lcd). I like it on, others like it to be fixed.

Spanner(1) -> sound effects, everything off. Annoying as hell. LCD display, and change the menu colour scheme. The display settings will let you change brightness of the lcd.

[deckroid]

Thanks for all these tips! This is why I love this place... everyone is quick and helpful.

As for AWB... I am a firm believer in keeping AWB on, but I shoot in raw and develop in LightRoom.

I have the Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 that has onboard SR and I read in the review of that lens to keep it on and the camera's off. I will switch back n forth when I put on my 50-200mm which honestly isnt that often.

[robthebloke]

In the button customisation menu, you can assign the raw/fx button to image stabilisation

[cpobuttons]

Thanks for all these tips! This is why I love this place... everyone is quick and helpful.

As for AWB... I am a firm believer in keeping AWB on, but I shoot in raw and develop in LightRoom.

I have the Sigma 17-50mm 2.8 that has onboard SR and I read in the review of that lens to keep it on and the camera's off. I will switch back n forth when I put on my 50-200mm which honestly isnt that often.

as you mention that you shoot raw and develop in LR iso settings have no effect...only on jpeg...also take a look at the forums in depth review of the K3...there is a pretty good write up on recommended settings

[wizofoz]

What Rob says is very interesting. On my K-3 it is item 24 which allows 'save menu location' and C1 item 1 EV steps I have set to 1 for 1/3 stop increments, thus allowing finer adjustments. (either Robs K-3 and mine have a different menu, setting or one of us is reading them incorrectly)

I detest the AF light, so I have it off. As the K-3 can focus down to -3ev I have found I don't need it even when the Canikon folk beside me are struggling and their pesky AF lights are destroying my exposure settings. I shoot raw+ so one card holds raw images and the other the back up jpegs.

I guess the point is that the incredibly customisable K-3 can be set up any way one wants it. Just play and experiement with the settings

[UncleVanya]

as you mention that you shoot raw and develop in LR iso settings have no effect...only on jpeg...also take a look at the forums in depth review of the K3...there is a pretty good write up on recommended settings

Are you meaning white balance settings? ISO affects raw.

[robthebloke]

What Rob says is very interesting. On my K-3 it is item 24 which allows 'save menu location' and C1 item 1 EV steps I have set to 1 for 1/3 stop increments, thus allowing finer adjustments. (either Robs K-3 and mine have a different menu, setting or one of us is reading them incorrectly)

Yup, typo on my part, 24 changes the menu save option.

As for EV steps, I'd leave that on 1 personally. It's *sensitivity steps* that I have set to 2 (And that is option 2).

[cpobuttons]

Are you meaning white balance settings? ISO affects raw.

sorry my bad...I thought he meant noise correction settings...

[audiobomber]

The user modes on the K-3 allow more settings than previous bodies. I have mine set for Action, Flash and Tripod, with suitable settings in each for shooting mode, ISO, metering, SR, AF point, AF mode, etc. I can quickly change from shooting a bird on the shore to a bird in flight just by rotating the Mode dial. When I mount a flash or tripod I immediately have most of the settings exactly the way I want them, so I never forget to change something, or forget to change it back when I'm done.

[DavidOliver]

I'm a new K-3 II owner, too, and need to try out setting these user modes, etc.

One default setting I was surprised by was multi-bracketing needing the shutter release button to be held down for all shots to be taken. I found a setting related to it and now it only needs one push to set off the full series of bracketed shots.

Oh, and I like back-button focusing when using auto-focus.

[gaweidert]

I own a Tamron 70-200 f3.5 lens. I have had it for a long time and really like it. I have found that the best way to control CA on it is to keep it around f 5.6 to f8 or so. Higher f-stop is better.