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06-28-2016, 09:33 PM   #1
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Upgrade to K-3II and what next?

Got an "itch" and found a reasonably priced brand new K-3II to upgrade from K-S1. To be honest, there's nothing wrong with my K-S1, I'm really pleased with the image quality, rounded up the lenses I found to be useful starting with DA 50mm F1.8, Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro and Tamron 70-300mm Macro, replaced the 18-55mm kit lens with Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 (HSM) and have one Sigma 28-300mm telezoom around.
My main reasons to buy the K-3II body would be faster continuous jpg shooting (8.1 vs 5.4), built in GPS (saves me 200€ additional expense) the pixel shift feature, longer battery life, dual card slots and if I'm right, some weather protection.
If, or let's say, when I buy (guess I already made up my mind) the K-3II, should I sell the K-S1 or would it make sense to sell my daughter's Canon SX50HS which actually makes very decent images even though it has a really small sensor, has a tilting screen and is very lightweight with a 50x optical zoom which is really practical for light traveling. My daughter is about to turn 14 soon and she can easily cope with the small Canon not sure how she would deal with the K-S1 with a bigger lens attached. OTOH, K-S1 makes so much better images than the Canon...
Anyway, will have to sell one, not sure which is better to keep: the really small and light very practical Canon (excellent battery life and great zooming capability at hand) or the K-S1 so she can have a chance to really learn how to handle a real DSLR and get much better result. She likes to take photos, but not on the same level of addiction as I am, and I'm not sure if she would be so happy to fiddle with all the limitations that come with the lack of some features that the compact prosumer Canon has... The fact is that I'm teaching her now to begin to love the process of making pictures. Picking the wrong tool might be wrong... OTOH, I can keep all the three in the house, but I'd rather sell one to compensate partially for the K-3II...

06-28-2016, 09:56 PM - 1 Like   #2
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Weather protection will need weather resistant lenses and none that you listed as owning are ... just saying!
06-28-2016, 10:25 PM   #3
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sell the ks1 and the da50 1.8 combo
she should learn straight from the K3ii
and use the canon for fun with her friends
06-29-2016, 02:53 AM - 1 Like   #4
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Well ask your daughter what she wants. (keep both probably .

06-29-2016, 11:22 AM   #5
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Well, the K-3II will be mine, mine, mine... and I think no one else will have access to it. Not as long as I am able to defend it

QuoteOriginally posted by calsan Quote
Weather protection will need weather resistant lenses and none that you listed as owning are ... just saying!
To be honest, that was the last thing on the list as I'm not one of those guys who willingly go out doing anything when it's raining ... However, I might get me one of those WR lenses in the future...

QuoteOriginally posted by D1N0 Quote
Well ask your daughter what she wants. (keep both probably .
Well, she will have to work with the K-S1 first, to be able create an opinion. She might get to like it as I grew to like it (most of the reasons why K-S1 got to crash and burn on the market don't mean anything to me as I found less than a single reason to complain about) It seems that I'm about to "wait and see" and make decisions later...
06-29-2016, 12:59 PM   #6
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Body come and go, lens forever, so I guess you should start collect lens as you need ex: landscaper -> Ultra Wide, macro mania -> macro lens, etc

PS: please don't LBA
PS: please don't BBA
06-29-2016, 09:32 PM   #7
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I think that I already got to the point where I'm content with the lenses I have. There's only something in the area below 17mm and above 300mm that I could look at in the future, but I still don't find the 10-20mm lenses to be worth as much to me as much as they cost, and the lenses with 500mm (and alike) usually come at a different kind of price to pay, either cheap, small with mirror or big and clumsy or extremely expensive. Buying the K-S1 was strictly based on two points: it was extremely cheap (300€ with the 18-55mm DAL kit lens) compared to any other brand new DSLR (Canon D1200, D100 or Nikon D3200 for example) and at the same time, offered so much better image quality at it's price point. I was looking at Sony A6000 as it has great IQ but more than twice the price as well...
At first it was only the price tag and the echo of the Pentax name from the time I was a kid (back in the seventies and early eighties) that draw my attention, but after a short investigation I realized that even though there are better cameras than K-S1, with my current budget (at the time) K-S1 is in fact, the best of them all. And for the price, it still is.
Anyway, for me, it's time to move on. I was about to pay 200€ for the Astrotracer but somehow it was a bit way too much (for me) and once this K-3II popped out (brand new for 700€) and K-70 was announced as an entry level DSLR for 700€ with pixel shift and everybody seems to be focused on it's video performance (which BTW means nothing to me) I realized that for the same money I get two different bodies to pick from. For me, K-3II wins, no contest. The lack of built in flash doesn't mean much as I either shoot in daylight or on places (theaters, concerts, churches etc) where the use of flash is actually either forbidden or unwanted. Have a dedicated macro lens, an excellent walk-around 17-50mm Sigma, and a cheap, but good macro zoom (70-300mm) which I don't really use much, mostly for close-ups, shooting insects that can do nasty things if they get disturbed... Of course, sometimes I enjoy going around with the DA 50mm F1.8 just shooting everything that draws my attention. And everything looks "just right" with that lens, so it's a keeper...
That's all what I'm sure of, the dilemma (back to topic) is what to do with one excess camera or is is excess at all?

06-30-2016, 01:27 AM   #8
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K3II is for sure heavier than K-S1, so if you don't mind to bring heavy thing all the time you can sell the K-S1 but If you want to bring something lighter some times just keep the K-S1
07-02-2016, 07:37 AM   #9
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And as it happened, changed my signature picture accordingly...
07-02-2016, 08:00 AM   #10
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Have you tried any macro images with Pixel shift? I'd keep the K-3II just for that. That Tamron 90 macro is an amazing lens and PS should give you some amazing images. I have the K-3 and I'm just itching for a PS capable camera.
07-02-2016, 12:40 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by D1N0 Quote
Well ask your daughter what she wants. (keep both probably .
Best possible advice. It would be a shame if your daughter lost interest in photography because she found the size, weight and interchangeable lenses of a dslr system just more than she wants to deal with. Travel zooms do serve a useful purpose. She's getting to an age at which she might be traveling independently. A convenient take along sized camera she knows how to use and get good pictures with may well be a better fit for her right now. Unless you urgently need to sell one soon, why not let her try the K-S1, then hear her opinion about what suits her?
07-02-2016, 02:03 PM   #12
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Didn't get the chance to fiddle with the K-3II yet, at least not much more than to charge the battery for the first time, insert a memory card, attach a lens and make two shots just for the sake of doing so Of course, had to set all the initial settings first, date, time, menu language etc. Need to read some instructions first as it's sufficiently different than the K-S1, and just for the record, I'm not one of those who think the operating manual is not written to help you using a device but to find what where the heck did you screw it up.
As for my daughter's choice, we'll see as she still doesn't know a lot of things and to have an opinion, one must try first... Her interest in photography is still relatively mild but growing as she doesn't really shoot everything but has to get some sort of motivation, an idea ... I don't want to push her as it may blow up in my face, I'd rather let things go slowly, let her find out the excitement and beauty in recording things...
07-06-2016, 05:31 AM   #13
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Here are a few observations I have since upgrading from K5 to K3II. For most work, autofocus is pretty similar and acceptable. K3 acquires more quickly and the screw drive moves the lenses more quickly. I bought the AF210 flash at the same time, and it's very nice to put in your pocket in case you need it - though it charges slowly and drains the two AAA batteries fairly quickly (no surprise there). It is both more powerful and more flexible than the onboard flash.

Macro without the AA filters is a big step up. Big. Combine with flash for sharper, more isolated images and you've got a winner. I took the Sunpak ring flash with me last time at Fermi and the results were excellent.

It seems every bit as solid as the K5, and considering how much abuse that put up with I have a lot of confidence.

Compared with the K5 it seems to underexpose a little bit. I'm shooting RAW so I'm comparing directly. It does seem to deal with reds better than the K5.

Your daughter might turn out to be a camera person. Does she have a place to share her photos? Even setting up albums in Facebook can be creative.
07-06-2016, 12:31 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by TER-OR Quote
Your daughter might turn out to be a camera person. Does she have a place to share her photos? Even setting up albums in Facebook can be creative.
At this time she's rather occupied with her wolf pack (in a game called Feral Heart) but she gets out with the camera occasionally... We'll be more together from next week when I'll finally get to be away from work and she we will certainly go much more out shooting... She's a bit shy about her work even though it's nothing to be ashamed of... But it takes time to gain confidence...
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