|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
07-06-2022, 06:40 PM
|
| |
^ This.
I think one of the reasons there was such a backlash to the K3III pricing (and the DFA glass) is because it felt like a significant price shift from recent times and perhaps actually since... forever for the brand (I won't claim to be firm on that however, my Pentax history is trash).
In 2018 I bought a K-1 new from a physical retailer in Sydney, $2300AUD. At that time all the competition was significantly higher, many Canikony FF systems were $3-4k, Pentax was your way into a full frame digital platform system at the lowest cost possible. Not only that it was a great camera packed with perks that the other systems lacked. For sure the AF, fps and buffer was behind the competition but for slow shooters this was a great camera choice.
KP, bought for $900 new. Again, terrific value.
FA 77 and 43 are excellent primes, compact, render beautifully and priced reasonably (FA31 is a bit steep for what it is). It didn't feel like you had to spend too much to get into professional IQ at great value.
Fast fwd and DFA50, DFA85 and K3III marked a new trend in pricing from Pentax. I'm not saying they are not worth the pricetag they have, they are excellent lenses etc, I'm simply saying its pricing that is quite substantially different from their previous offerings and limits the current Pentaxians financial ethos that exists in the market. I am sure I am not the only one that bought into Pentax a few years back based around value and cost.
So how we have to face the fact that even if a K-1iii is on the road map, if the K3III retails for $2900AUD... how much will a K-1III cost? Surely not the same, surely substantially more, and that gets to a whole different category of money spending, people will start looking at other systems. The K-1III could have all the bells and whistles, but staying with the mirror will guarantee some issues that some will deem deal breakers for such a rich pricetag. Your K-1III for instance will never do video as well as whatever else is going at the time at a similar price point, you really need to ditch the mirror to move forward on that aspect (which apparently is very popular feature request for customers these days, many care about the hybrid nature of their cameras vs just a pure photography experience).
A year ago I picked up the XT4 new for $2kAUD, I wanted to experience the best MILC had at a budget offering. I couldn't afford Canikony A7whatever, and I didn't want to choose a lesser Fuji body, I wanted to experience a flagship MILC offering from a brand to get the best first impression possible. In a way I feel Fuji has now replaced Pentax as the value brand.
I dunno what Pentax's future looks like, but it really feels like I didn't leave them, they left me. I really draw some limits on what I spend on gear. $2k for a lens or body is kinda the max. If I am spending a lot I want it on a system that perhaps supports me more, AF, video etc etc. I need to feel like I am deriving more value out of that higher price tag.
I think it's ok for Pentax to boost prices, become Leica-like, they should do whatever they need to survive. I'm a big boy, I can accept I am (broke) and no longer their clientele, I just hope they haven't made an error and realise that actually a significant percentage of their user base joined Pentax from a value perspective and when they lose it they lose their 'loyal' customers. Can Pentax survive on a few rich old Japanese buyers? When they die... what next?
The problem feels like all Pentax's plans feel short term.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-08-2021, 06:40 AM
|
| |
I watched the GR Night event this evening, where the camera was described in detail and three professional photographers talked through some of their work with the cameras.
The samples look very good for a surprising range of photography. I'm not going to summarize what they said, because I'm sure it will come out in other articles soon, and I don't have the time for it today.
One thing that was explained was the teleconverter. The reason why it is described in that odd way as 75mm equivalent in crop mode is that to keep the lens compact, it does not cover the full frame. When attached, the camera goes into the crop mode. So you get a 15mp image at the 75mm equivalent FOV. One of the photographers showed some portraits with it and they looked very nice. It is quite odd to see such a small camera produce such short tele images with nice bokeh. When I think that my K-5 IIs is 16mp, the crop doesn't seem such an issue.
In fact, the lens looks very good in all the usual ways (sharpness, borek, flare), just like the 28mm equivalent one in the GR III.
By the way, the X stands for "Extended", meaning both that the focal length is longer, and that the camera extends the definition of what GR cameras are.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III
04-25-2021, 03:05 PM
|
| |
The new meetering ability with older lenses (Pentax-M) in either AV or TAV mode is terrific. Attached are two using my Pentax-M 85MM at F11 with ISO 16000 being very usable, The first (ISO16000.jpg) straight JPEG from RAW via LR and the second (ISO16000DN) is with some Topaz Denoise applied after exposure adjustments in LR
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-05-2021, 09:44 AM
|
| |
Exactly. Except that I'm usually happy with what I get with DeepPrime at the magic-wand default levels, so no need to unduly sacrifice detail at all IMO. All three shot with my K-3 at ISO 5000:
That said, can't wait to see what will be possible with the K-3 III in the high-ISO department ... :)
|
|
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
08-19-2020, 10:33 AM
|
| |
Articulating screen and GPS.
|
|
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
08-18-2020, 12:28 PM
|
| |
I think now that I have a bit more experience with GRIII, I notice the differences with K-1 files much more. Dynamic range is probably the biggest thing. K-1 files are so flexible, it's crazy. It's hard to take a photo that's impossible to recover imo. +1/-1 has no impact on noise, +2/-2 are pretty minimal as well. You can pull shadows to +100 and see little to no impact.
GRIII gives me beautiful shots, especially when I get my exposure spot on, but RAW's are less flexible overall, plus I've noticed that at least with GW-4 I get less resolution on detail. Looking at it in a browser, or in my file manager, it's less obvious, but I do notice it when I'm working on files (zooming in and out to work on different parts of the image etc). Maybe that's just the GW-4 though, I need to compare to shots taken without it.
I'd be interested to play with K-new raw's when someone will share them, to see how they stack up to my K-1.
|
|
Forum: General Photography
08-03-2020, 04:36 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: General Photography
08-03-2020, 10:43 AM
|
| |
I used to liven up my commute by taking pictures. Usually with a Samsung NX100, K mount adapter. Lenses would depend on the mood or whatever I had that was new(est) to me on the day - see above for the reasons. The two stalwart that saw the most use was the SMC Pentax M 28mm f/2.8 and the SMC Pentax M 20mm f/4. When I look at the crazy prices that the latter fetches these days, I wonder how good an idea that was. Here is one of my last keepers:
And then lockdown happened and I started working from home. I am still doing that. While I love not having to do the commute, I miss the photography part. I have done some snapping in and around the house but it got old. I am now struggling to get back into the groove. Here is some mad bokeh from my Takumar 35mm f/2.3:
To cheer me up, I got myself an SMC Pentax AF Adapter 1.7x. There are some shots taken using it with various lenses that I should get round to editing, but the muse seems to have left me. :(
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
06-13-2020, 06:03 PM
|
| |
With matrix metering, you should not have to be going through all that effort. At least that has been my experience in the last 6 years and 3 months shooting with the K-3. Just put the camera in TAv mode and let the ISO float for you desired combination of apeture and shutter speed. The 86K pixel sensor allows the camera to determine extent of max and min brightness with high precision and calculate a decent balance between the two.
If that is your preference, use spot metering in TAv with +2 exposure comp and AE lock. Doing so is equivalent to your method minus the extra steps.
Addendum: Alternatively, go back to M mode using spot metering and +2 EC and use the green button (configured to Tv shift in M mode) to get shutter speed for your chosen aperture.
FWIW, I carry a gray card for incident measurments in difficult light, either that or I use spot metering to place exposure to important shadow detail. If there is a wide range of values in the frame, I bracket as the basis for a merge in PP. That way, my highlights are bright, my shadows have detail and I have options in PP.
Steve
(...learned with the zone system on film...perfect is when what you wanted is actually captured...perfection is when what you captured translates to what you wanted to create...)
|
|
Forum: General Talk
05-05-2020, 11:23 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-12-2020, 01:17 AM
|
| |
Not a new picture, but I think it does fulfill the biggest thing and mortality, certainly. Not so sure about the critical style thing, though... Maybe a critically low viewpoint as it was taken from a canoe :p
 Circle of life in black and white by -savoche-, on Flickr
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-03-2020, 12:16 AM
|
| |
For Pete's sake, can we back off from the FUD? The K-new has not even been officially announced. There can not be a delay if there is no release date.
Ricoh/Pentax will take as much time as necessary to get it right. That's exactly why PentaxIsNotDoomedTM |
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 05:49 PM
|
| |
+1 on shooting in 'bright' custom image setting; you get a little boost in saturation and contrast. Actually, try some of the other settings too, like 'reversal film'. Different lenses DO render colors differently. You notice this in people's comments in the lens reviews. A good quality polarizing filter can enhance colors in many circumstances. You don't have to rotate it to its full effect; sometimes a little is all you need. Different camera sensors render colors differently also. Here is a sample of a shot taken with my K10D camera. Its CCD sensor is older technology than the CMOS sensor in my K-5IIs, but it really nailed the colors of this Hydrangea. The only PP was a little sharpening.
From the front yard - Apet-Sure's Album: Nature-K10D - PentaxForums.com |
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 05:44 PM
|
| |
Some comments from one who does tend to oversaturate things.
Calibrate Monitor for colour and brightness. Numerous hardware and software options are available for this.
Use an IPS monitor for colour accuracy and better viewing angles.
Operate in a slightly darkened room
I use Lightroom almost exclusively so these remaining comments relate to that program but my also apply to other applications.- Crop, clone and level
- Adjust overall exposure if necessary
- Adjust white balance only if necessary
- Adjust overall contrast only if necessary
- Set White point
- Set Black point
- Adjust image overall brightness Note: for this and the above two steps, I follow a technique of dropping the Highlights slider to -100, boosting the Shadows slider to +100 and then setting the white and black points.
- Go easy on Texture and Clarity controls.
- Adjust Vibrance in preference to saturation slider especially with skin tones.
- Go easy on Saturation. Use this sparingly.
- Use local edits, Graduated Filter, Radial Filter and Brush to correct problem areas.
- Keep an eye on the overall image as you do any of these steps. It is easy to get carried away on one particular area.
- Noise and sharpen
Most important, walk away from the image for at least 1/2 hour, preferably overnight and look at it again with fresh eyes.
There are a great number of You tube videos with details of these techniques. Chose some presenters you like and follow their examples.
Good luck
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 04:19 PM
|
| |
I don't disagree that you need good color and light in the scene. Good raw materials are absolutely essential. But take good raw materials and process them in a ham-fisted way, and you get clown-puke. (I know this from experience because the latter described my photo-cooking AND food-cooking skills for some time.) So yes, necessary, but no, not a silver bullet.
---------- Post added 12-24-19 at 04:24 PM ----------
I got that from one of Michael Freeman's books: The Photographer's Mind, I believe. Local library had it (yay free knowledge!).
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 04:16 PM
|
| |
Looking at the two artists work I can see they have maintained good control of the tones of their work especially the highlights.
If you try too hard to get bright colours it is easy to starting clipping the main colour and that allows the secondary colours to catch up which will lower the impact of the main colour.
For instance in this quick screenshot detail of one of Art's work the strongest yellows have the red values very near to full channel
I put a dropper on it in 8bit Gimp and found a RGB of about 250 230 200
If you tried brightening or increasing saturation of this once the red got to 255 it would stop increasing but the other 2 colours would keep getting brighter so overall lowering the perception of redness in your colour.
Your artists understand the cause and effect of clipping colour.
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 04:15 PM
|
| |
The silver bullet is good light and colour in the scene. You dont pp a good photo into existance.
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 03:44 PM
|
| |
Calibrate the monitor color could be a good begining, But from what I learned, the so call "realistic" is very subjective. I used to try that but care too much of what another see as realistic is not for me right now. I changed to focuse on communicating what I "feel" when I shoot that particular image via color, light and composition and I am happier now.
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 02:39 PM
|
| |
I don't know much about this aspect but I always shoot with the Custom Image setting on 'bright'. From there, with a jpeg image I usually fiddle a bit with contrast sliders in Microsoft Office Picture Manager to get the image I want. I rarely adjust the colour. If working from a RAW file (where the Custom Image setting is not relevant), my only PP is Adobe Photoshop Elements (my version is a few years old). With the K-3 I usually set the Temperature at 5100, increase the exposure a bit, and fiddle with the other settings to suit my eye. Clarity might be set at 35, vibrance and saturation a little lower. I try for what I consider a 'natural' look. It is what I prefer in my images for personal consumption. Some of my images are used to illustrate magazine articles (I write occasionally for Australian outdoors publications) and the natural look works best for those as well. I do not know what it takes to get the 'pop' that a professional Leica shooter achieves in Leica advertising. But I know it is not the camera or the lens.
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2019, 03:25 PM
|
| |
For me, the way to get better colors is local edits. For example, if there's color in areas of the image where I don't want to draw attention, I sometimes use slight desaturation (and complementary saturation) in addition to dodge/burn. This creates contrast and makes the colors I care about look better, because there's less distraction from the uninteresting areas.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-11-2019, 01:53 PM
|
| |
Low light hand holding is a tough situation to really hit technical perfection in. But, there are a few ways to get better results.
Remember that blur from camera shake increases in magnitude as focal length increases. A 24mm lens can be happily hand held at 1/15th but a 135mm (generally) cannot. While faster apertures may let in more light, the focal length still has a role to play.
On the flip side, you can shoot a 24mm at 1/15th and get a steady shot, but if you're taking a photograph of a person and they blink, or move their head, or wind catches their clothing, or any other movement takes place on their part, you'll not have a uniformly sharp photograph. Here higher shutter-speeds are still important, so faster apertures are a boon.
Finally, as focal length increases and aperture size widens, depth of field conversely decreases (shallow DOF). Trying to nail focus in low light with a slim depth of field while being perfectly still is a tough proposition for any photographer. Lots of people boast about their technique in this area, but the physics don't lie. Your technique is only as good as the stillness of your subject.
Thus, my argument as to what lens you should add to your bag would be to get something that balances out the the three factors of aperture value, shutter speed, and focal length:
A FA 31mm f/1.8. Why? It's focal length is shorter thus better supports longer exposure time with less visible blur, it's aperture is fast to keep shutter-speed high for subjects that aren't inanimate, and it's DOF is slim but not razor thin (unless you make it so, by shortening the distance between you and your subject). On a K-3 it's a normal field of view, and it supports film and digital full frame should you want to expand to these other areas. Also, it's just really really really good, even wide open and is fairly svelte so you'll actually take it out and walk around, unlike my next recommendation, the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 which is twice as heavy and more than twice as large.
If you're stuck on a portrait length lens though:
I'd argue that the FA 50 1/4 and the DA* 55mm 1.4 are pretty similar, but priced quite differently. Both are great at f/2, both are weaker at f/1.4 (unsurprisingly). The FA works great on full frame if you ever go that route, but the 55mm doesn't quite cut the mustard in the corners of the bigger sensor.
All the best.
|
