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Forum: General Photography
09-10-2017, 09:16 AM
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I shoot weddings and at some point I gaffe taped my logo as well.
My main reason is to prevent people stopping me DURING a wedding and striking up a conversation about "why Pentax and not Canikon?".
Other reason was during sessions the couple, or more specifically the guy, would constantly stare at the logo. Blacking it out actually brought that down giving me smoother sessions.
There's also the mystery of "I wonder what camera he's using" and surprisingly I have had a person or two still ask me if it's a Pentax and what lens I was using (rather than is that Nikon or Canon as eluded to my first reason).
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-25-2017, 12:22 PM
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Just when I'm about ready to buy another K-3 because, imo, it is the best APS-C camera... decisions, decisions.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-17-2017, 03:23 PM
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If you end up selling it you can sell it to me for said reasonable price! (semi serious but really depends on what tax refund looks like) :)
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-11-2017, 11:39 AM
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-21-2016, 07:47 AM
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The recycle time is something I could benefit from.. although I don't see this model being a real upgrade.
Have had occasional issues with recycling times at 1/16 and maybe this "upgrade" would allow me to be more comfortable using 1/8 power and higher.
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Forum: General Photography
12-16-2016, 08:51 AM
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I have began shooting weddings because I truly am passionate about them. I get a certain sense of meaning when photographing and documenting people's emotions in such an intimate way.
I realized after working Full-Time almost 10 years in a field for something I went to school to do (with 2 Master's Degrees for crying out loud) that I rather do something I truly love doing. The waking up at 6:30am and coming home at 7pm every day became meaningless to me pretty quickly. But when I go through photos and relive an important part of someone's life I get a certain sense of accomplishment about it that is always unique and special.
And that my friend is why I shoot.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-16-2016, 09:26 AM
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I honestly would prefer that Pentax actually design and manufacture their own lenses... if they wanna compete with the big boys they should play like the big boys..
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
10-27-2016, 06:24 AM
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I wasn't saying that you can't. What I was trying to say is that it didn't seem as accurate. In my experiences anyway, it seemed to properly expose for me on my K-5 and K-7 in P, Av, and TAv most times. I actually never bothered trying it with my K-3 though.
In short, I have learned to shoot my flashes in manual :/
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
10-26-2016, 08:48 PM
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If I'm not mistaken, doesn't P-TTL work more accurately when shooting in P mode?
At least for me anyway. When I shoot in Manual mode I don't want to trust TTL at all and go full manual with the flash as well due to experiences similar to yours.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
10-26-2016, 08:42 PM
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Welcome! I'm right down the road from you near DC.
Interestingly enough, I've been very intrigued with Micro 4/3 lately and considering adding it as my second system to Pentax. But of course only after when the budget increases..
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-26-2016, 08:37 PM
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Wait so you disassembled the base to get it off? Hopefully everything is back together without a hitch :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-25-2016, 01:08 PM
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I shoot weddings with my K-3 and K-5 and seem to be doing so successfully. I guess I'll still be an amateur until I switch to Canikon?
On a serious note, your gear is just the tool to get the job done. Professional photographer = paid photographer. Skills in photography is another discussion, which is often confused with the term amateur photography.
Don't let the gear you use be the final deciding factor...
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
10-15-2016, 10:02 PM
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Fly me out to shoot her wedding!
Not kidding either :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-01-2016, 12:45 PM
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I think Pentax bodies are solid and well built. Reliability is stellar.
However, I do have a K-7 that is starting to have sudden issues. I notice on some of my lenses, particularly the FA 50mm 1.4, the images come out very blurry when shooting wide open. But stopping down to about 2.8 seems to fix it. Never had that issue before. One thing I can say is there were days at a time this summer that I've left the camera in the car or in the trunk, something I've done to it for years.
Other than that I think Pentax gear is built to last.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-01-2016, 12:40 PM
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I can't comment on the K-1 but the 50mm 1.8 focuses pretty poorly on my K-3, unlike the 35mm 2.4. The focus ring on the DA50 is a little long imo, which probably causes the performance "issue" you speak of.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
08-29-2016, 07:04 PM
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So I already own 2 V6 triggers and looking into getting a V6 ii (or 2). For those that have both, can they trigger each other? For example, could the V6 ii in TX mode trigger a flash (non-HSS) to a V6 in RX mode and vice versa? Sorry if this has been answered as I couldn't find it in search nor a definitive answer on some reviews.
Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2016, 05:25 AM
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I first learned on a K200d before upgrading to a K-7. I still miss that camera sometimes.
Anyhow, since you have a K-3, my opinion is you could get a body similar to its layout in case your son picks up photography well. Doing so you can switch out cameras rather easily when you two are together at any given time.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-17-2016, 06:30 PM
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Unlike many of the responses here I would totally LOVE a joystick for controlling the AF points..
Now that I am shooting more paid events I can't afford to screw up on getting things in focus anymore or accidentally changing WB, switching to flash settings, or messing with the color settings. Been there done that.
I don't mind controlling the AF points with the 4 way buttons, sure.. but a joystick would be great for me personally. Center focus and re-compose works too but I still wouldn't mind new ways focusing on moving subjects either..
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
08-04-2016, 10:40 PM
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Not really an answer to to your questions but I'm glad to see another DC area user on the forums!
Anyway, and this is subjective, but I think the K-1 comes out looking "cleaner" and looks like a file that is easier to play with. A fair comparison probably would be a K-1 vs Nikon's D810 or a Sony camera. This probably comes down to what you're seeing as a product of Canon's sensor at play.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-04-2016, 12:33 PM
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I keep my K-7 around probably more as a novelty item. If I ever do use it is outside and outside only.
After having the K-5 and K-3 I will never use the K-7 indoors for anything. The ISO performance is "terrible" past 1600 and AF is also slow, as confirmed by others. With that said, the K-7 is still a fine camera even after all these years
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Forum: General Photography
05-25-2016, 09:23 PM
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I wouldn't include Subaru simply because they are not priced aggressively like Pentax in their respective market.
Among car enthusiasts I consider the Subies more like Nikons. Very popular and more features equals more money. Toyota is more like Sony with its technology/parts in other manufacturers vehicles. Canon is like Honda in the sense that their vehicle updates are minimal and seemingly predated with little effort to be innovative but yet they remain one of the popular brands on the road.
In my opinion, Hyundai is more like the Pentax of cars. I have Hyundai cars because I've paid less for more features in comparison. They weren't as popular before but their reliability and best bang for buck has given them great press and a true niche following. Although many car enthusiasts will laugh at us thinking their more expensive cards are better.
AWD is where they lacked in the sedan/flagship and much like Pentax and a lot of us had been clamoring for an AWD Sonata or Genesis and some of us fan boys turned to other manufacturers (Subaru) for that reason. Then the AWD Genesis finally came. More followers.
And for no particular reason I cannot include American cars in these comparisons..
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Forum: General Photography
05-20-2016, 12:14 PM
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I would have gone the b&w route also. However, my clients threw a clause in the contract to do no b&w photos whatsoever. Fine by me.
Thanks for the other points too! Now that I think about it, going wide and getting close would have been a nice touch for the reception. I stuck with the DA35 for the most part because it worked well enough for me to continue with it.
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Forum: General Photography
05-20-2016, 07:17 AM
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Link in signature to see the blog for the wedding (as well as previous work).
About 3 weeks ago I had the chance to shoot a wedding for the first time and overall I thought it was a great experience. I did want to get some things off my chest though.
For this event I used a K-3 and K-5. I also had a K-7 in the bag but ended up not needing it. For lenses, I rotated between the Fantastic Plastics, DA35 and DA50, as well as the 18-135mm. I do have a DA* 55mm but I was reluctant to use it because of autofocusing issues I've experienced after dropping it a few years ago. I had some other lenses but I was happy with the fantastic plastics enough that I stuck with them.
One of the things I know I'll need is a Macro, particularly for the ring shots. The DFA 100mm is on the list. I wasn't terrified of taking ring shots without a macro but with the DA35 I was comfortable with stopping down some and satisfied with the results.
The weather was supposed to be thunderstorms all day. The couple was about 90% committed to keeping the wedding outdoors, which of course I was prepared for. Luckily, the sky cleared up some and allowed us to have a mostly dry time (although the grass with muddy). The cloudy sky also made the highlights awful on the couple when shooting Av priority and even -1EV was not helping. Although I am fine shooting Manual, I would have preferred to go Av priority for the wedding. It seems that both cameras weren't able to meter correctly under such conditions.
As my luck would have it, I was forced to shoot the wedding with 2 Cactus RF60s and a V6 on both cameras. I had the AF540 and AF360 but managed to break both of them in separate incidents prior to the wedding. Since I'm starting out and not making much profit off my photography yet, buying a new flash was out of the option so I made due with the 2 flashes I had. I would have loved to have another flash on the body to bounce but didn't want to risk anything and left the lights setup in the reception hall (the groom was literally on the dot with the itinerary and emphasized we needed to hurry for almost all our shots). So I ended up shooting a lot of wide open and high ISO. This affected my indoor shooting in poorly lit rooms for the getting ready shots. In hindsight, I would have gone back to the reception hall and grab one of the flashes and bounce it. Oh well.. It turned out fine for the most part - except for when the flashes overheated at the wrong time during the reception
I was shooting the RF60s at 1/64 to start off and not going too crazy on the trigger. But for some odd reason they both overheated and wouldn't fire and it happened right at the bouquet toss and the garter removal and continued with this behavior for several more minutes. I found it frustrating that I had to power them off and back on and get them to work again. I even stepped them up to 1/16 and 1/8 with even more shutter action and they were fine the rest of the night. Kind of inconvenient. And if I had it my way, I would definitely have 4 flashes and 2 backups.
I know the K-5 has been regarded as a great low-light camera. That was not the case for me. The room was nearly pitch black and the K-5 hunted all night with whatever lens I put on it and even with the green beam it would just hunt all night making it useless for much of the reception. In other events I've shot at where there was some light I had no issues but this wedding was a learning experience for that kind of lighting environment. Good thing is that the K-3 had no issues focusing at all whatsoever. What an amazing camera on that note.
I could go on but I'd be complaining and being critical about myself. Rather, I hope to get some good constructive criticism out of you guys and will appreciate it a lot. This was a great first time wedding for me, nonetheless. The couple was awesome and so friendly and it couldn't have gone any more perfect for a first time. I have 4 more weddings this year to shoot and looking forward to them. This first one was a good learning experience no doubt.
Wedding aside, I now need to figure out some things on the web side. I do notice some compression and it's more noticeable than I am comfortable with (and that goes for all my photos). Anyone have suggestions on exporting from Lightroom? Feel free to critique my work either way. Thanks
Hope you enjoy.
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
05-17-2016, 07:07 AM
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I don't have a K-1 (yet) but none of my cameras rattle when I shake them while they're off.
But when turned on, my K-3 does "shuffle" a bit when moving and I'd have to stick my ear up close to actually hear it.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-10-2016, 05:45 AM
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External flash using P-TTL will drain the battery. At least in my experience.
I've started using Cactus V6s and RF60s (on K-3) and notice the battery doesn't deplete as fast.
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