While it certainly hasn't been mainstream at all, this year Pentax had a bit of buzz surrounding the release of a much-anticipated full-frame body. On paper, this body looked extraordinarily capable - and I had owned some Pentax gear in the past and was really impressed, but I thought it fell a bit short for professional use.
I finally justified buying one when I purchased my ticket to Burning Man this year. I needed a weather-sealed, beefy camera to brave the playa dust and after watching a guy just trash a couple Pentax bodies while deployed in Afghanistan and see them work just fine, I pulled the trigger.
The problem was, when I actually got the K-1 in hand, I loved it. I started using it for pro jobs right and left. The 77mm Limited was extraordinary for portraits, and I actually rather liked the 31mm as well. Their pro-level zooms were unwieldy, but got the job done. The AF was good, but not blazing fast.
But the files. Oh man, the files! They were as good as or better than my D810, and somehow smaller, and also natively DNG format for quicker importing. Check DxO - if this camera had a lower base ISO, it would be simply one of the best FF bodies out there right now.
So I wimped out. I bought an OM-D EM-1 kit to take to The Burn, which performed spectacularly. (you can check my Instagram for shots from The Playa if you're interested - my Insta handle is at the end of this post) I decided to get the Pentax system a "real" shot. Purchased even more kit, two of Pentax's newest flashes, a couple more lenses. Then finally, a backup body. The K-1 hadn't left me wanting for much in the professional realm, but this was mostly with slow-moving commercial/studio work, and on-location portrait stuff. I was apprehensive at using it at a wedding, but enthusiastic at the same time. I upgrade the firmware in both bodies, customized to my liking....
...and packed my bags for Mexico. This wedding in particular was on location in Playa Mujeres, Cancun. I was slated to shoot a boat trip, candids and lifestyle around the resort we were staying in, and the ceremony/reception itself.
Apologies for the random assortment of photos, but wanted to have a spectrum of different shots to display here. This is what I found about the camera.
In high dynamic range situations, this camera just crushes it. It's so easy to recover shadows (and even highlights, to an extent) and the files don't bog down my MacBook Pro like a D810 file would. I don't know why, but that's the case. On the boat, the camera was particularly awesome in broad daylight with harsh direct sunlight. However, I found myself being frustrated with the AF system, even early on the first day. It just wasn't intuitive, and didn't catch focus very quickly. Another frustration was the camera would enter "standby mode" periodically (I had it set to the longest possible delay going to sleep) and when it woke up, it would take a considerable amount of time. In a fast moving situation, this was just unacceptable and beyond annoying.
In a dark(er) hotel room, I tried my hand at using the DA* 55mm f/1.4 that I'd grown rather fond of for portraits. (I also adore the Nikon 58mm f/1.4G so this was a no-brainer to acquire). The 55mm was essentially worthless in low light. It'd hunt, miss focus, and was just too cumbersome to use. The Limited glass (31mm and 77mm) were indispensable in these situations. However, I began to notice a major annoyance that didn't strike me in slower-paced situations - even though the Limited glass is beautiful in rendering, relatively quick to focus, and all around gorgeous in general - it is 20-30 year old tech and uses the camera's screw-drive mechanism. This is infuriating when shooting quickly on-the-fly with the grip, because occasionally your hand will be against the barrel of the lens and will either hinder the AF itself or tweak the camera in your hands when you activate AF. I became excruciatingly aware of how bothersome this was early on in the wedding day.
The wedding was on the beach that day, with the sun low in the sky - forgiving shadows and beautiful tones. I was excited to be able to dual-wield two K-1's and really capture every moment as it happened.
It's a good thing I had two cameras. The K-1s proved to be subpar in their buffer size and frame rate - to the point of sheer frustration. With fast UHS-1 memory cards, writing was still slow and I'd get 4 frames before the camera locked up and wouldn't take a photo. There were one or two occasions with posed wedding guests that were just straight-up embarrassing as I switched bodies or fiddled with the camera. I blame myself here for not really exploring this prior. I guess I've just been spoiled by Nikon.
The reception continued to be frustrating, as the only lenses that seemed somewhat reliable again were the Limiteds - 31/77mm. The TTL flash performance was also strange, every 30-40 frames I'd get a totally blown out frame when the flash dumped all its power for no apparent reason. I fumbled through the reception and got decent content, but it wasn't effortless like it was with a Nikon system.
In conclusion, (and also before you rip me a new one :D) I'm dubious to recommend the K-1 for real wedding work. This was a relatively low-pressure wedding, and I'm not by trade a wedding photographer (I shoot perhaps 3-5 a year for the last half dozen years) so please take what I say with a grain of salt.
That said, it is a beautiful system that really would excel in many categories. The weathersealed body instills confidence every time you pick it up, it makes the D750 feel like a toy. The level of customization is absolutely fantastic. The dedicated dial is a godsend, especially since you can assign them on the fly. There were a few occasions where the Shake Reduction allowed me to shoot still scenes at an ISO that was just ridiculous given the light, shutter speeds of less than 1/30 of a second with sharp files (at 36mp!)
While I couldn't sing the praises of the Pentax system to anyone who, I'm not sure I'd ever count on it again for fast-paced, gotta-get-the-shot situations. I hope that this is helpful or at least amusing to anyone interested in the system.
This was my kit:
Pentax K-1 with D-BG6 (x2)
Pentax AF 360 FGZ II (x2)
Pentax 31mm f/1.8 Limited
Pentax 77mm f/1.8 Limited
Pentax DA* 55mm f/1.4
Pentax DA* 200mm f/2.8
Pentax D-FA 24-70mm f/2.8 WR
Pentax D-FA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 WR
Rokinon 24mm f/3.5 Tilt-Shift
Please feel free to fire me any questions you have an know that although I may seem critical, just wanted to be transparent with how everything performed.
If you'd like to follow my work or support me, I post to instagram regularly with updates on gear and travels: @kevinmsutton |
