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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-10-2016, 03:44 PM
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:lol: Been there, done that!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-22-2015, 05:57 PM
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K5 is not that good about AF.... K3 is a mayor step if you compare it with the original K5.. for still shoots, portraits, etc, the K3 is amazing .. great camera and very accurate.. AF-C compared to other system might be slower, but it all depends what is your shooting style.. For example many people says that NIkons AF is faster.. but not that accurate.. I prefer accuarte AF than faster.. but, my shooting style also allows me that. Button line. if you are lookin for something better than your K5... the K3 or K3ii will be good choises.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-21-2015, 06:30 AM
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Don't know where the post is, I couldn't find it, but Norm wrote me an excellent reply some time ago when I was complaining about Pentax AF. It somewhat covered the mechanics of AF and how it relates to the lens used etc, which was very informative and it also addressed the cost factor of lightning fast AF.
We buy Pentax for many reasons, for me ...I just like the way they operate, the controls and the ease of operation, among many other factors including excellent image quality...not that I shoot much that is excellent, but I could with a Pentax if I was as skilled as others that continually post superb images here.
We also buy for value. I am currently shooting with a K5IIs and consider it a superior machine, the best Pentax I have ever owned.....and for about $500 brand new, it was more than a bargain, it was outright thievery on my part! Cost less than my little Fuji X20 Toy Camera! :D
As Norm pointed out, that lightning fast AF is expensive. If it was dirt cheap then every camera would be quick as a squirrel on a fresh roasted peanut! Bottom line is that you can have super fast AF anytime....anytime you want to pay for it!:)
I'm pretty happy with the AF of my K5IIs and I assume the K3 is at least as good, maybe better? It is the best AF I have ever used on a Pentax so far. For my $500 you won't hear me squealing!:D:D
Best Regards!:)
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 06:23 PM
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My k3's and I have 2 have not had any issue with auto focus. I use a sigma 18-250 as a walking around lens and am happy with the results.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 05:07 PM
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60-250 is quite slow focusing lens. I've used it for BIF with some success, but when I got FA*300 f2.8 and tried that with K-3 things improved a LOT. What I'm trying to say is LENS matters.
K-3 compred to K-5 are almost like night and day. K-3's autofocus is much more responsive.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 04:47 PM
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Both SDM (most DA* lenses) and DC (DA or DA limited) motors in the Pentax lens line up are considered 'silent focusing' feature as oppose to screw drive focus mechanism (noisy) in older lenses. In the Canon world, the equivalent term is USM.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 04:22 PM
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I can't comment on the Canon 70D with respect to auto-focus as I don't own one nor used one, but I am an event photographer and shooting along side with many who shoot Canon or Nikon. I don't feel that I miss any shots due to auto-focus, especially with the k-3. I also use a couple of lenses 18-135 and 20-40 with DC motors, they are not speed daemon (in Canikon folks standard)... but my percentage of "in-focus" shots are really high compare to these folks who shoot along side with me; and of course, I shoot in high continuous mode too.
Yes, as the saying goes "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence until you get to the other side"... :D
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 04:29 PM
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I have been happy with the AF on my K-3 and I am a picky person. My main AF lens with the K-3 is the Sigma 17-70/2.8-4 (C). That being said, I am not heavily dependent on AF for most of my shooting and seldom shoot action sports or birds in flight or small children running around with large dogs. When I have shot those subjects, the K-3 has been equal to the task within reason. Whether it is better than the Nikon 7100/7200 or Canon 70D, I can't say. My understanding is that it is not as good as the Nikon, at par with the Canon 70D and not as good as the Canon 7D mkII. My friends that shoot those brands are always cursing their AF, so it is hard to say.
Steve
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-20-2015, 04:18 PM
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Do not believe all threads. The K-3 AF is more than decent: "any enthusiast photographer that picks up the K-3 (with a silent-focusing lens) will not be disappointed"
Pentax K-3 Review - Autofocus | PentaxForums.com Reviews
I have used my K-3 for nearly 18 months and I am very happy with the K-3. I use some simple settings as suggested in the In-depth review, and I am happy.
I use also the DA18-135mm WR occasionally and the combo K-3 + DA18-135mm is a great one. I tend to prefer primes over zooms, hence the DA18-135mm is not always on the K-3.
Hope that the comment will help.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
05-05-2015, 01:31 PM
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Square & compass pub in worth matravers, studland beach, corfe castle, monkey world, Durdle door / man o'war. (Best bits of Dorset).
Most places along the coast of Devon/Cornwall (skip the bigger towns/cities).
Brighton if you like party towns with a bohemian feel.
Skip everywhere between Portsmouth and Southampton (there are a couple of nice places, but it's all very industrial/military around there)
New forest is pretty in parts, avoid on the weekends - it gets very busy! It actually has more horses and cows than actual trees :)
Stonehenge is smaller than it looks in the pictures (it's still cool to see, not sure it would be high on my list to stop at, but if all else fails you can drive past it!)
Winchester is a beautiful town if you need somewhere to stay the night. (I'd say the same about oxford - which is possibly a touch far north). Bath as well.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-19-2015, 11:47 PM
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[/COLOR]
Re the chain & padlock and subways (we call them the "Underground" or the "Tube"!): many of the cars (We call then "coaches"): many have vertical handrails near the doors, so you can attach the chains to those - but unlock the padlocks well before your target stops because the trains don't stop for very long or you will miss your stops!
NB: Transport for London ("TfL") has a website Home - Transport for London which has lots of train, Tube and bus maps and journey-planning info.
I also have a bicycle chain and padlock for when I go to airshows, so that I can secure my pack and/or collapsible chair to something convenient when I want to go walkabout without taking everything with me :D.
As for money belts, I use a neck pouch which hangs around my neck and inside my shirt - you can buy them in supermarkets or some drugstores (we call them "chemists") - never had one of those taken.
See
https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=neck+pouch+travel&....0.Hvm_sR3nJOc[COLOR="Silver"]
PS: our local language is English, but "English" English and there are quite a few differences between that and "American" English - but you will probably hear more other languages in London than you will hear anywhere else in the World as we have thousands (millions, in fact) of immigrants and tourists, so don't be surprised at the many and varied accents that you hear here!
---------- Post added 04-20-15 at 07:53 AM ---------- |
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-18-2015, 07:31 AM
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Scott, you will have a fabulous time in London! When we visited London, I used a camera "fanny pack", that secured around my waist to carry my camera equipment. When walking I had the pack in front. It was very handy to unzip the top, grab the camera & get my shot.
We look forward to seeing your photos of this upcoming trip, Enjoy!
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-16-2015, 01:21 PM
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Don't take a backpack full of camera equipment around London. London is a very tiring city. It's busy, noisy, and walking up and down stairs to get in/out of tube stations will tire you out. When you fancy a nice beer and a sit down, you'll find a pub ok, but you aren't likely to find a seat! You'll be standing outside in the sunshine, with that back pack on, all day long!
Pick pockets aren't that much of a problem. If they see an unattended wallet or phone, it'll be gone. But it's not quite as bad as other cities (Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris). Scooters and cyclists are more of a problem. (Don't walk around using google maps on your phone to navigate, someone will cycle up to you and grab it!)
Try to avoid looking like a tourist. Don't go around wearing your favourite baseball/American football shirt - you'll stand out like a sore thumb! Don't walk around with a camera round your neck all day (in most tourist places, eg southbank, soho, Westminster), you'll be fine (during the day/early evening). Later on though, you'd be better off bagging the camera, and only take it out when you need it. (Especially if you end up in a rougher part of town - which is probably unlikely!)
I tend to use a small camera bag (just enough for camera + lens attached), and keep that inside a normal backpack (with a spare lens or two in padded lens cases). When I want to shoot, the small shoulder bag comes out. When I don't need it, it can go back into the backpack and no one will know I'm carrying it.
In general though, it's a pretty safe city. The most likely problem will be a large pack pack taking a big whack on the tube, a tourist location, or inside/outside a pub. By all means take an assortment of lenses with you, but leave some in the hotel, so you can have a lightweight kit when you explore the city....
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
08-03-2013, 12:50 PM
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AF on my K-5 is more, than satisfactory for my photo work. I can easily catch buzzers in my garden using just AF-S with one center focusing point. Because 16.3 mpix is a sweet spot for APS-C format pixel sizing and I do not see any significant advantage of "graduating" to FX I do not anticipate any camera body upgrades in my lifetime ( I'm already 56).
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
08-03-2012, 03:55 PM
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I so something like that with 3 computers and a tablet. The 80,000+ picture library is kept on an external drive but its really a very inexpensive home server, the Synology DS111. I get 60MB/sec read/write to it over gigabit connections and about 20% of that with the 300mb/s wireless. The DA111 comes with many free server apps, one specifically for photos and thumbnails. It means letting go of the PE Organizer but I could not be happier with the results. A USB external drive backs up the server each night and I keep one of the 2 USB drives off site. This works so much better than keeping the libraries on the biggest desktop and always getting duplicates on the others out of sync. Dont let the word "server" throw you. Its the size of a big external drive and you just access it through your browser or map it as a drive letter. The speed is comparable to my laptop drive such that I cant tell if I am editing a pic on the server or the new laptop.
If you merely wish to share a USB or eSATA drive between machines, you can not have it connected to both unless you set up a network and share it through one of the machines that is always on.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
08-03-2012, 04:09 PM
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If you only want to share the drive between them (only one laptop at a time) that will work fine. Assuming no major differences in Elements 6 versus 10 when saving the file. Which might be a problem if 10 has a different file format (I have no idea I use 7 on both of my computers).
Lightroom requires the catalog to be on a local drive although the images can be on the network. A USB connected drive qualifies as local, but may be slower than an internal drive.
And you probably already know this but having all your images only on a single laptop drive is inviting disaster. It WILL fail at some point. So assuming you have a good backup strategy in place consider how the external drive fits into that. If you are going to move the library onto the external drive then how and when does it get backed up?
The ideal situation is some sort of home network with a server or dedicated file serving machine, like imtheguy mentioned. I am using Windows Home Server on a old machine I converted for the purpose. It has a RAID 5 array of 4 disks which contain the image library plus a 3tb internal drive for network backups. This is all backed up to rotating external drives one of which is stored offsite. I also use Synctoy to keep a copy of my current files on a smaller USB harddrive that goes with me on trips. I copy filled memory cards onto that drive each night and then can copy off to the server when I get back into the office.
Bottom line, unless you have two (preferably three) copies of anything you want to keep, you are living dangerously.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-02-2012, 06:59 PM
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DCIM is not the root file, It need to be directly at the drive letter
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-11-2012, 07:36 PM
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Yes, it is included.
That the camera didn't bump the ISO is not very surprising - the shutter speed is high enough to not require that.
What is surprising is that the images are underexposed even though you have applied positive exposure compensation. You used center-weighted metering, but I think that should have worked ok here.
The camera underexposes with this lens, but I am not sure why this would happen.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-20-2011, 06:39 PM
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Hi Golden,
They are my default setting now for most situation (from low light to bright sunlight) and I don't see any problem (if not better than default settings). Please see below for some example pictures in different light condition for your reference. All resized directly from K-7 Jpeg file without anh PP. Hope it help.
#1. In door - natural light skin tone:
#2. Under the sun - natural light skin tone:
#3. Scenery during clear day:
#4. Scenery under sunlight:
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
11-16-2011, 04:50 PM
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Export! (button in the lower left area of the screen in library mode)
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
11-16-2011, 05:09 PM
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Or from either Library or Develop module simply go to the File menu and choose Export, or hit Ctrl-Shift-E.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-22-2011, 03:07 PM
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The fact is that with the high iso skills of current DSLR, there is almost no need for a more speedy flash.
And the only people who may need it, most of time, buy external flash.
On board flash is just a "just in case" flash, nothing more.
At least, that's how i see it.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-27-2011, 06:09 AM
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My advice on the K-7 is as follows:
Use spot metering and master the Zone System. Exposure is very important with the K-7. It does not have the exposure latitude of some other cameras in its class. If you get exposure correct, then the K-7 can compete with the 7D and D300.
Use a top quality RAW processor. LR3.4 does a really good job with noise. I have Topaz DeNoise 5 and I really don't need it that often. The K-7 reviews that you read on line were all done prior to LR3 being released, and used an older version of ACR.
Buy fast glass that is sharp wide open. I shoot some concerts and with fast primes I keep ISO low. Lenses that have to be stopped down to F/5.6 don't do you any good, and super zooms pretty much a waste of money if you do any low light work. Look for glass that is F/1.4 and has usable sharpness at that aperture.
What is your final output? That is really important. What the shadows of the image look like at 100% crop is not really very important. Don't get overly worried about noise. Worry about making images that are interesting and provoke emotion of thought and nobody will give a rats-butt if the image has one stop more or less noise.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-04-2010, 09:21 AM
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Compared to the K-x and even K10, I had always been just a little bit disappointed with the out-of-camera noise found on higher ISO shots from my K-7, starting from ISO 400 and up. Out of boredom today, I sat down and fiddled with the in-camera settings and custom functions, and made the following changes:
In camera noise-reduction minimum ISO: changed from 800 to 400.
Noise reduction strength: changed from low to high
Today, I went to a dark indoor ship museum, and I must say, I was blown away by the effect of these changes. I was shooting at ISO 800, F2, around 1/10s, and on manual WB w/ the 85mm. The resulting photos were not only sharp, but also almost entirely noise-free! I'll be posting more of them within the next few days, so stay tuned. So, if you're pissed that the K-7 has a lot of noise, just make the above change :)
#3 is a 80% crop of #2.
Image 1 EXIF:
F2
1/45
ISO 800
Image 2/3 EXIF:
F2
1/15
ISO 800
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-17-2011, 07:31 PM
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It can happen any/every time you focus anywhere closer than infinity but you will notice it more on closer shots. To test it you can do a controlled test with a focus chart. Just search for "focus chart" and print one out (or you can do the battery test - I'll explain that after). Focus on the center line of the chart and view the photo on your computer to see if the front, back or center is in focus. The battery test - set up 3 batteries in a diagonal line about 2 inches apart, focus on the middle battery and again view on the computer to see which battery is in focus. Good luck.
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