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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-09-2015, 09:55 PM
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When I push the shutter release button on my K5 to the right in M mode I see the light meter in the viewfinder. Is there any other way to get to see the light meter in M mode apart from pushing the shutter release button to the right and holding it there? What I would really like to know is if there is any way to keep the light meter on in M mode all the time, so I donīt need to waste time pushing the shutter release button to the right every time I want to check the meter?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
05-05-2015, 02:49 PM
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Sure? If this is the case I for one am ready without hesitation to trade my Pentax K5 APS-C for a Canon FF but heck maybe I am the only one left on the planet (or at least on this forum :-/) with such a weird viewpoint?
+111! Unless you specialize in weddings in very small rooms, or remote villages where you have to carry all your gear in a backpack?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
05-04-2015, 09:23 PM
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you get a lot of bang for your buck but unfortunately the difference between aps-c and ff is more than spelling.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-03-2015, 02:40 PM
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yeah, I thought so too until I came across the explanation about half way through this tutorial yesterday about "capture sharpening" that also seems to make sense
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-03-2015, 07:56 AM
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Thanks Steve, until yesterday I didnīt have much of a clue what the anti-aliasing filter does and got quite flustered when I realized the big difference the different sharpening controls make to a RAW image even before creative considerations kick in. In my version of Photoshop noise reduction adjustments are on the same page as sharpening controls, so I thought I better give them some attention to them too for the same reason, though now can see they are quite a different kettle of fish.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-02-2015, 08:21 PM
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Good to see Steve you seem to agree with Adam ie start out with no or minimal NR and go from there depending on what suits the image, right?
Answering my own question is usually the easy part. What I find more difficult is figuring out if my answer is right or not :-)
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-02-2015, 08:16 PM
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thanks Adam for the helpful reply!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-02-2015, 08:03 PM
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I have come across a good suggestion for defualt sharpening settings to use as a starting point for adjusting raw files when importing them into Photoshop (50, 1.0, 50, 50) that I found to be very useful, but have not yet found any similar suggestion for default noise reduction settings, so a pointer to any thread where this has been discussed or suggestions based on your experience would be very welcome.
I understand there is no perfect solution that applies to all files, a lot depends on style and personal judgement, and also other factors such as type of subject, lens, iso, however I figure having some ballpark suggestion as a point of departure for further experimenting and adjustment may be useful, right?
Myself mostly I am interested in portraits with wide open lenses in low light that poses quite different challenges in terms of sharpening and noise reduction than say landscape photography. What about you?
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-30-2015, 11:12 AM
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My aps-c sized K5 sensor is 16MP. It is highly unlikely the FF sensor will be less than 20 something MPs and most likely will include a version with 30 something MPs, in which case some math is required to figure out if the actual pixels or whatever they are called on the sensor of the FF turn out to be bigger (less prone to shake?) than on my K5. Unfortunately I am no good at math. Anyway I hope so since the SR on the K5 is ok but could be better.
Apart from sensor size, the effectiveness of SR seems to have a lot to do with what type of SR system is used: mechanical, optical, X axis etc. One can hope that the SR system of the upcoming FF is a new and improved one and therefore gives more effective reduction of camera shake than on the legacy cameras, which is quite important if potential users like me want to be able to use the upcoming FF hand held in low light at least as comfortably as with the aps-c cameras.
Unless of course the FF comes with a built-in tripod instead of a built-in flash :-)
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-27-2015, 07:49 PM
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Thanks Adam for this tip. Until now I didnīt pay much attention to that little green hand (wonder if it belongs to one of Russiaīs little green men?), thinking only that SR was either switched on of off, but have started doing so.
I also attempted a more "scientific" test than I have done before, taking a series of hand-held photos of the same thing at roughly the same distance with the same old Leica-R Elmarit 28mm lens with and without SR at same aperture and 3 different shutter speeds. Pixel peeping at the photos at 100% enlargement in Photoshop the results of this unscientific scientific test confirms SR on my K5 with this lens seems to be working as it should:
No SR @ 1/60th second: good=1, usable=1, no good=3
With SR @ 1/60 second: good=5
No SR @ 1/30th second: good =1, usable=2, no good=2
With SR @ 1/30th second: good = 4, no good=1
No SR @ 1/15th second: usable=1, no good=4
With SR @ 1/15th second: good = 4, usable = 1
So now all I have to do is remember to wait up to 2 seconds each time I half press the button for that little green hand to appear & Bobīs your Uncle :-)
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2015, 07:27 PM
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Thanks now I understand what you mean. My hope is to be able to shoot photos for printing at about A4 size that if I figure right is about 3500x2300 px or three times bigger than that. But maybe the web is what most use their K-5 photos for these days?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2015, 06:03 PM
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Thanks Adam for the useful clarification. Excuse my ignorance but not sure what you mean by "scaled to web resolution"? When I open a K5 file in Photoshop I get an image size of 52.15 x 34.54cm @ 240 dpi. Is this at actual size similar to what you refer to? Or do you mean scaled to 72dpi that if I understand right used to be the maximum reolution a computer screen could handle?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2015, 08:32 AM
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I am getting a little camera shake at slow shutter speeds with SR turned on but not a lot and not all the time. It is about the same as I used to get with my Canon 5D that had no SR a couple of years ago. The only reason I can think of why is either I am too old to hold a camera still like I used to be able to do or I am drinking too much coffee. Unless of course the mechanical SR is not all it is cracked up to be and maybe the type of SR used in Pentax cameras does not perform the same as optical SR in other camera bodies ie it is better than nothing but not as good as other IS solutions. I donīt know that is why I am asking. Normhead you seem to say for you it makes a lot of difference, others say to them it does not make a lot of difference. So maybe this depends so much more on who is holding the camera than the mechanical bits inside it that there is no scientific way to answer my question apart from trial and error.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2015, 08:02 AM
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In theory this makes sense but in reality no two hand held shots can be replicated the same due to the variation in hand shake and doing such a test on a tripod is a different kettle of fish
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-26-2015, 06:40 AM
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It depends on what you mean by "decently" sharp doesnīt it? A problem is the only way to test this seems to compare images taken hand-held at different shutter speeds. My problem with this is when I am hand-holding there is quite a bit of variation from one shot to the next. I guess I just have to take a lot more shots of the same thing until a pattern starts to emerge that I can draw conclusions from.
Wow that is a big difference in cameras, even if the pixel pitch is roughly the same. Most of what I have read elsewhere suggests A7R is not a good candidate for hand-holding but maybe you have more steady hands than most? If not how do you explain that SR makes not much difference?
Correct me if I am wrong but there seems to be a big difference between relevance and working of SR with long lenses compared to short lenses. Also, one thing is to get a sharp shot once in a while, another is to be able to get consistently sharp images, right?
From what I had read here and elsewhere I had thought SR would give me consistently sharp (ie no camera shake) images at shutter speeds down to 1/15 sec with my 28mm lens (36mm equivalent on my k-5 but, like NPC says, am not so sure if that is correct. Maybe I am pixel peeping too much. But I figure even when the image is small like your beaut bird shot the difference that camera shake makes is still noticable, even if not so obvious.
Now I realise there is no magic wand, so I try to find out more about how it works.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-25-2015, 09:12 PM
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Is there any way to tell what effect if any the IS is having when it is on, apart from the IS confirmation hand signal icon in the viewfinder?
Also can having IS switched on have any (negative) effect on IQ when hand-holding at slow shutter speeds in low light?
I think I got better results using the in-body IS system of my former camera, a Minolta 5D, though maybe this was because the sensor was only 5mp?
Maybe I just need to drink less coffee?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-13-2015, 11:34 AM
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me too, at least for K-5 raw DNG files.
fortunately raw PEF files work fine and if I understand right I lose nothing worth worrying about using raw PEF rather than raw DNG files, so no need to get my knickers in a knot.
Just thought it odd that the raw DNG files did not work and was curious to know why not and if others had encountered the same problem.
Mind you I did get quite a shock when I first ran into this phenomena and it did take me quite some time to discover there was nothing wrong with my camera or the settings in C1. Such is life.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-13-2015, 07:12 AM
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I attach a few sample images to show the odd color behavior I am talking about:
Both are from the same K5 file (RAW DNG, color space: Adobe RGB) with no processing apart from export conversion to jpeg and reduction in image size.
The first is from trial version C1 6.3 and the 2nd is from Photoshop CS6.
---------- Post added 04-13-15 at 07:20 AM ----------
Thanks 77Me for this tip. Maybe you have found something in the fine print that I did not notice and the version of C1 I am trying is not compatible with Pentax k-5 DNG files?
---------- Post added 04-13-15 at 07:21 AM ----------
The color space on the camera is AdobeRGB same as C1
---------- Post added 04-13-15 at 07:25 AM ----------
Yes you are right that is what I wrote... if I understand right the K-5 is 4 years old?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-12-2015, 07:44 PM
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When I load a RAW PEF file from my K-5 into the Capture One software program it works fine that is to be expected as the release notes say the 6.3 64-bit version of the program that I am testing in trial mode supports the K-5. But when I load a RAW DNG file from my K5 into the same program the colors go crazy for example deep blue, bright red or magenta appears as an awful magenta or purple blotch that also appears when a Tiff file is exported from the program so it is not just an issue with the viewer.
The same PEF and DNG files open fine in Photoshop with no problem.
I tried reloading the C1 program and using different versions but it made no difference, so I am wondering what is wrong :confused: and if this is a known issue?
While dredging around on the internet for a solution I came across this explanation in a thread on another forum about a similar problem with files from a Canon DSLR on an earlier version of the C1 program that seems to make sense, even to an ignoramus like me:
Magenta cast in the highlights after RAW development is 99% of the times because of a bad saturation point considered by the RAW development software. So what you are experiencing here is a mismatch between your hardware and your software.
However it is surprising to encounter this problem in a reputable program like C1 that specifies in its release notes support for the K-5.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-12-2015, 03:55 PM
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thanks for the explanation!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-12-2015, 10:50 AM
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thanks for the clarification :-/
if that is the case then how it is possible to say the k-5 focussing screen will not fit the FF until the size of the Pentaprism etc is known?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-11-2015, 08:43 PM
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so the focussing screen is always the same size as the sensor?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-11-2015, 08:41 PM
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How much closer does stitching images made using sensor shift/composition adjustment on for example the K5 bring the size of the aps-c file to a full frame file?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-11-2015, 07:51 PM
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what I like about the split image focussing screen is you can be dead certain when the lines meet the subject is in focus, whereas with the rangefinder patch I find it harder to be very sure exact focus is achieved that is why i switched from rangefinder to a K5 with a katzeye split image screen that works fine for me
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-11-2015, 07:38 PM
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I just bought a K5 with katzeye split image focusing screen and Sigma 2.8 24-60mm zoom instead of Canon 5D that I used to have a couple of years ago and was very happy with... so far I find the K5 with the katzeye screen MUCH easier to manual focus than the 5D and appreciate all the modern features like image stabilisation, TAV, video, higher ISO etc etc but I do miss the gorgeous funkiness of the 5D files so am not sure if I was right to opt for the K5 instead of the 5D. Now I am waiting for a replacement lens mount to arrive from China so I can use my old Leica R lenses on the K5 and hope that these good old lenses will make a significant difference to the way the files look? Otherwise maybe back to square one and start again. Maybe the FF Pentax will combine the best features of both the K5 and the 5D though most likely the katzeye screen for the K5 will not fit the Pentax FF?
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