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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-13-2024, 11:44 PM
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It‘s a while that I‘ve been to the Antelope Caverns. I recommend you book a photographer‘s tour, which gives you more time, and make sure you are there at noon, when the light falls into the caverns. Bring a tripod and be prepared for extreme dynamic range (half of my pics have blownout highlights).
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-02-2024, 02:24 AM
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+1
That would be my light travel kit.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
02-18-2024, 03:23 PM
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Owning the K3 III, the 150-450 and the 1.4x extender, I seldom use the extender for BIF (or flying dragonflies etc). First because you may need to crank up ISO by as much as factor eight: you loose one f-stop, you need a shutter speed twice as fast because of the increase in focal length plus you might need to compensate for the shallower DoF. Second I find it harder to keep a moving bird in the frame, especially using this combo handheld. Third I have the impression that focus is reliable, but not as fast with extender.
I resort to rather not use the extender, instead I crop the pictures. YMMV.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-26-2023, 04:03 AM
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I own both lenses and also K-3 II and K-3 III. One reason for me to get the 16-50 plm was that I was never fully satisfied with the (slightly decentered) 16-85. The 16-50 plm works fine on both cameras.
If your copy of the 16-85 is a good one and you‘re happy with it I don‘t see a need to go for the bigger, heavier, more expensive 16-50 plm. Unless you miss the wider aperture in certain situations - and even then you could pick a 50/1.4 or 35/2 or an other large aperture lens instead.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
11-20-2023, 02:09 PM
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I had a similar experience with the K-3 III when it came out. The explanation then was that the sensor size is slightly larger than the area my camera used, hence a frame with odd colors around the actual picture.
Since my RAW software couldn’t interpret the exif information correctly it showed the whole raw content. The fix was to add the camera information to the software when this update became available. After that the frame was gone.
With KF being quite new you might have the same effect.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
11-17-2023, 11:36 AM
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For two years - but it sure didn‘t feel that long - you have been my reason for thinking TGIF and look for your latest post at breakfast. Thanks for entertaining and educating.
Making something that reads and feels so light must have been a lot of hard work!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
07-22-2023, 01:25 AM
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I agree with the idea that a faster burst rate should help with aligning the pictures in HDR processing. Less deviation will help the software to correctly detect that certain elements are the same, e.g. branches moving in the wind.
As already stated flowing water with its fast-changing ripples and reflections would most likely not benefit from the faster burstrate. Here the magic done by Photomatix (which I use, too) and other HDR software is to pick the the water from only one shot in order to avoid artifacts.
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Forum: General Photography
07-10-2023, 10:38 PM
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First: take a lens as wide as you have and still be prepared to only capture part of the aurora.
Second: aim for an expose between 2 and 10 secs. Aperture around 4 is fine.
Third: autofocus won’t work. Either have the lens prefocussed on infinity or use a strong flashlight for focus on foreground.
Forth: take your time to check for correct focus.
Fifth: to make it a picture you need a scene / object to complement the northern lights. If you can, plan ahead and scout possible locations. A tree, mountains, water work well.
Sixth: a remote trigger and spare batteries help. Tripod mandatory.
Seventh: RAW helps, northern light pictures require post processing.
Good luck!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
07-04-2023, 10:40 PM
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I shoot a lot with the K-3 III and the DA* 16-50 PLM. Regarding AF accuracy I experienced Spot as the most reliable, SEL somewhat inconsistent and SEL XS more inconsistent, before and after firmware 2.0. (talking about AF-S). For me it seems that AF accuracy is quite good using SEL as long as the taget has significant contrast to focus on, especially true for the SEL XS.
As far as I understand the AF of the K-3 III it only allows certain AF points to be picked als SEL which are surrounded by a grid of AF support points used in addition to achieve accurate focus. I haven‘t found a description but I assume that SEL XS does make no use of this support points, so it truly relies on one single AF point. It seems logical that the chance of inconsistency increases with SEL XS.
As for firmware 2.0: I haven‘t noticed an impact on AF for AF-S, but this version is still quite new, so experience is limited.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
07-02-2023, 01:34 AM
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First of all be sure to install the latest firmware on your new camera. We are at version 2.0 already and performance - including AF - has significantly improved. AF being off is the most probable reason for soft pics.
Second the 16-85 can be a tricky lens according to my experience. Often the pictures are fine, but occasionally there is a softness to an area of the picture like there was „temporarily decentering“, like some element inside the lens tilted in the process of focusing. I suggest you do test shots for decentering at various focal lengths and check AF with a clear high-contrast target. This should give you an idea whether everything is fine with your copy or not.
As for the highlight weighted metering: I consider it a special mode for situations when there are actual very bright highlights (sun reflected by water, close-up of insects) and like you use the multi pattern metering as standard.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-18-2023, 01:53 AM
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May I add one question: do you need continuous autofocus? Usually that is only necessary in case of moving subjects. The quick fix to limit the noise is to switch to single autofocus (AF-S), the noise will stop as soon as focus is reached.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
06-08-2023, 02:33 AM
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Welcome home.
I can relate to changing brands along the photographic journey, only to end up where you started from… only wiser.
The one question that comes to my mind when reading about you recent Pentax gear: so you have invested in FF and APS-C (which usually means you have different use cases for each format) and in three lenses that cover similar FoV? That sounds quite redundant and makes me curios : why not one format and a wider range of lenses?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
03-02-2023, 11:49 PM
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Don‘t forget to test the camera by using it for your favorite motifs. In the end the camera has to perform for your specific photo needs, combined with the lenses you have.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-18-2023, 01:26 AM
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@clackers: your Beginners Tips are my reason to say TGIF! They are entertaining and educational - not only for beginners. I'm looking forward to the next one already ...
Just thought it's about time to say "Thanks".
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 12:11 PM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:35 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:34 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:34 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:33 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:32 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:32 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:31 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:31 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:30 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
02-09-2023, 11:30 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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