|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
09-10-2015, 01:53 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-16-2015, 10:44 AM
|
| |
I've covered a few soccer matches and the first thing is that it is really difficult to get shots in focus because the players are running all over the place so it is easy for the camera's autofocus (AF) to pick the wrong thing. I set the AF to just use the single centre focus point and try to keep it on the player I am interested in. Even then I consider myself to be doing well to get 50% of keepers. I set the lens aperture to f/2.8 or f/4 because this makes the action you are focused on stand out from the background. I use a shutter speed of 1/750s to freeze the action and eliminate shutter speed. This combination should avoid using high ISO sensitivity as long as you are shooting in daylight.
The key here is to keep practising. Once you're getting more photos in focus then the next thing is try to get your timing right to get the peak of the action.
I've tried to attach one of my images taken at f/2.8 and 1/800s under weak floodlights that required ISO 6400 but it was really gloomy.
Roy
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-31-2013, 06:42 PM
|
| |
I took just over 600 shots at the football (soccer) match and it used about 50% the battery so possibly you'll get the same 1200 SHOTS as with the K-5.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-31-2013, 06:34 PM
|
| |
Yes, I start to see noise at ISO 800 but grainy rather than horrible chroma blotches and I find it cleans up easy.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-31-2013, 06:28 PM
|
| |
Well these end up on the club's website and sometimes in the local newspaper. You could print the cleanest images taken at ISO 100 in our local paper and it looks like ISO 6400. At the price point of the K-3 with it's weather-sealing (although I wish Pentax would do a 70-200mm F/2.8 WR lens) and low light AF performance I don't think there are many options.
If I only had the K-5 I would be sitting by a warm fireside rather than sitting in near-freezing conditions lierally trying to stop myself shivering as I take each shot with no sensation in the end of my fingers. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to buy the K-3!
Happy New Year!
Roy
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-31-2013, 02:54 PM
|
| |
The floodlighting is pretty poor so even at 6400 ISO I probably under-exposed by a stop so had to lighten in post-processing and this doesn't help noise. For journalistic sports images I don't think it makes too much difference and is certainly better than a camera that cannot focus. When I posted these pictures on the UK Pentax forum people actually liked the gritty, grainy effect. For subjects other than sport it may be a different story. I've never used my K-5 in the same circumstances but I still have it ,so at the next match I may well use it just to do a comparison of noise. I suspect no camera is going to be great at 6400 ISO though and we all have the option of NR plug-ins / programs.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-30-2013, 10:31 AM
|
| |
These are images taken with my K-3 and Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 under the meagre floodlighting available at Knaresborough Town FC - the sun had set about an hour before I took these. Both images are at 6400 ISO and no more than 50% cropping. The noise was pretty ugly when viewed on my 27 inch screen, however the noise does clean up very well using Topaz DeNoise.
What I was incredibly impressed with was the K-3's ability to lock focus under such low lighting (1/800 sec, f/2.8, ISO 6400). In fact the focus lock behaved exactly the same as it did in the early part of the match when there was some daylight. I used a single point so no AF matrix tracking.
 |
|
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
05-30-2012, 03:14 PM
|
| |
Thanks for the welcome. I've ordered the Sigma and waiting for it to arrive but I'm itching to use it. I fear I may need to work on my technique also. If I ever produce any good shots I'll post them!
|
|
Forum: Photo Critique
05-30-2012, 04:11 AM
|
| |
That's weird! I even picked up my laptop and turned it upside-down to check. It must be that we are so used to light sources from above (i.e. the sun) that we interpret the inverted image differently. I know I am very careful with abstracts as even turning some images by 90 degrees can make them look somehow wrong if there's a strong light source.
Roy
|
|
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
05-30-2012, 04:00 AM
|
| |
Hello all,
I'm a long-time lurker (sorry!) but have decided to be more active. I've been using the Pentax SLR system for a good few years now for all sorts of subjects but have just purchased a Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 to get into sports photography (mostly soccer - football as we call it here in the UK) and really want a K-5 because of the AF improvements over my K20D.
Roy.
|
