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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-19-2015, 04:17 AM
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Yes I do admit I didn't research this part when deciding on a camera system. So yea I can't really fault anyone but myself. It didn't really cross my mind for DSLRs, given that they are not point-and-shoots, and geared toward the photocentric and pro crowd.
I have accepted the idea of Ricoh likely not prioritizing a fix for this. As I said, they stated it was intentional for exposure accuracy, and while I can hope for positive things to come in the future, without droves of users sending comments to them, I do not expect much.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-18-2015, 09:03 PM
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Thanks for the link to the web form. And indeed a surprising response from Ricoh. I, too, would have thought they received more complaints. It seems like a pretty significant issue imo.
When I contacted Ricoh Japan, I mentioned the multiple reports from Pentax Forums, as well as from a Japanese site (well-known site but not Pentax specific). And you know how that went. I'm sure it's got to be addressable through FW. And why do we have to compromise between accuracy and responsiveness? Canon/Nikon do it, I don't know about Sony or Fuji or other manufacturers, but I assume they're not as bad either.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-18-2015, 12:47 PM
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I did not pursue it any further, no. The impression I got from the emails was that they will review it but it's not a priority. I don't think multiple requests will have really gotten anywhere. They acknowledge the delay is there and that it's intended. In their eyes nothing is wrong, and I suspect the majority of users accept the delay as-is. Not sure if they'd put in the resources to address it in a FW update for people like us. :hmm:
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
10-21-2015, 09:39 AM
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I got the Extreme Pro 95mb/s and it is as good as everyone here says.
My wife had given me a Toshiba FlashAir when I had my Nikon D5100 because it was simple to transfer pictures onto my phone when I wanted to. When I upgraded to the K-3, the file sizes and burst capabilities really slowed things down. Most slowdowns went away after getting the SanDisk. Anecdotally speaking, it felt like write time went from 10 seconds to 3 or so for certain occasions.
So now, I've got SanDisk in slot 1, Toshiba in slot 2, and if I ever want to send something to my phone, I just resize and save to slot 2 and send by wifi. Love having 2 card slots, it's working out well for me!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-21-2015, 09:29 AM
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Thank you so much everyone for all your experiences and suggestions.
I have tested the center focus point per amoringello's procedures, and found that the center point for my K-3 covers almost exactly inside the ( ). Top and bottom coverage is kept within an imaginary straight line drawn from the ends of the parentheses.
I can see now that with the picture I took, the center point focus area actually covers the farther vents on the cable box, even a little bit of the Playstation. So I can understand why it decided to focus there, being that the contrast is greater. Also, because the setup is indeed on a receding plane, minute vertical differences in where the camera decided to focus resulted in a drastic distance change. Consequently, I tested with adequate lighting on the front side, and the focus hit about 90% of the time where I intended it, and not as far off when it did miss. So a backlit scene with not enough front lighting also affected its accuracy.
To summarize,
- a backlit scene with relatively little front lighting
- a wide focus point coverage area
- less relative contrast within the focus area
- subject being on a receding plane
all contributed to not being able to focus where I intended. But I do wish I had my old Nikon with me to compare.
On a side note, while researching to see if this was something that was experienced by other systems, I ran into a 7D Mark ii review and found this snippet sort of interesting (from the-digital-picture.com):
"An apparently undocumented attribute of the outer AF points (at least in single AF point mode) is that they all can use contrast information under the next AF point toward the center, causing the adjacent AF point to functionally appear as a focus assist-like point. When contrast becomes weak (or even non-existent) on a selected outer AF point and the next point down/up (for top/bottom AF points) or left/right (for right/left AF points) has good contrast, the 7D II will auto focus using the position of that particular assist point."
Of course the 7D Mark ii has one of the best AF in the business so I'm not directly comparing, but in essence, it sounds like this is happening to me but just within the focus point because of the coverage size.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-20-2015, 02:05 PM
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Yes it appears that the focus always ends up being past it, thought the focus point is not above the closer vents. I guess I will test with the lighting in front, but would appreciate more input as well.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-20-2015, 01:44 PM
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Hi all, I've been testing focus a bit today with some shots inside the apt. I would like to confirm something.
So the first picture is the overall shot, and the second is a 100% crop. Shot on the DA 50mm f1.8, using AFS, SEL1 center point.
I apologize if this is a noob question, but I cannot get the K-3 to focus on the cable box on top of the table. I put my focus point on the gray area, with a hint of overlap with the vents closest to me. However, this will happen even when the focus point is squarely on top of those vents.
What would be the assessment to be made here? I feel like there is enough contrast that it should be able to focus accurately. I know the lens does focus accurately in other situations so it does not back or front focus otherwise.
Thanks in advance.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
10-20-2015, 12:10 PM
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As Michael posted, you should keep the original proof of purchase. Sorry that wasn't clear in my first post. There's no drawbacks to having all the original documentation in my opinion.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
10-16-2015, 07:39 PM
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I had the same question and asked Ricoh live chat. The rep said no registration required for warranty coverage, just proof of purchase when you need servicing.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-03-2015, 04:20 PM
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Ahhh I think I understand. Makes sense. My previous understanding was different from your explanation. Appreciate it.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-03-2015, 03:03 PM
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Are you saying that the Program Line setting is only applicable in P-mode? But then why is there a P Line setting for the green button in TAv and M modes? Or perhaps I misunderstood...?
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Forum: Photo Critique
10-01-2015, 05:43 PM
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I don't have a K-30 but I assume the following can be done. Put the camera into AF.S mode, and use single point focus. You can do one of two things. Focus on the girl first with the center point, don't let go of the half-press on the shutter button, recompose the scene with the car in the center, shoot. Or you can move the focus point to the girl (as long as it can move that far) without having to recompose the scene, focus and shoot.
You can decrease the aperture to f8 like Mojoni stated to increase depth-of-field, which would be good for a shot like this. But because it's a dark-lit scene, unless you've got the camera stabilized on a tripod or use a much higher ISO, that'll be difficult.
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Forum: Photo Critique
10-01-2015, 06:06 AM
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Oh god...is that a boxelder bug? Because my house was plagued with hundreds of those clinging on the exterior. It was a nightmare.
Awesome macro but I don't like it. :P
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-30-2015, 07:37 PM
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I think the duration of the light is tied to the metering, no? So I think 3, 10, or 30 seconds. I could be completely wrong though...
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-30-2015, 12:44 PM
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I admit the ISO performance of these cameras have improved significantly. So perhaps I need to accept high ISO shots and improve my PP skills.
Also, I reconsidered your suggestion to shoot Av mode without ISO limits. I started to realize maybe I missed what your point, and that that is indeed the simplest way to accomplish what I want. While I'm still dubious about shooting a scene at, say, 16,000 ISO or something, I will be able to tell what ISO and shutter speed the camera needs instead of just a blinking number. And I am able to override the ISO easily enough to set the shutter speed and ISO that I am willing to accept. Even setting the auto ISO with a high end that is several stops higher than what I'm willing to accept will actually tell me how much I need to compensate. Is this basically what you were trying to get at?
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-30-2015, 04:55 AM
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So I just recently used the flash for the first time, and noticed this lag. With some informal tests, I can see it's about a 0.2 second delay. (This is with the pop-up flash btw.) Given how so much emphasis is put on fast focus times and speedy performance, a 0.2 second delay because of flash (pre-focused) does not seem acceptable.
I contacted Ricoh Japan about it because I can't seem to find an email address on Ricoh US. Support links just take me to Ricoh Connect and I can't find a way to sign up...?
Anyhow, I asked whether they are aware of this phenomenon, if it was normal, and if they would be updating this behavior in a FW update. In case anyone still cares, I got the following reply (roughly translated):
"Compared to previous models, the K-3's flash has been designed in a way where the user will experience a slight lag. This was done to increase the metering accuracy with P-TTL, and the algorithm has been modified. Therefore, there are control constraints which cause this time lag.
We will take your feedback and notify the proper department for future reference."
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-29-2015, 11:00 AM
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Well for my scenario, I want to be able to specify shutter speeds for the given conditions and have aperture locked. Also, no limits on auto ISO would degrade image quality. I'd say it's a compromise, not necessarily a workaround.
Regarding the green button and program line, what I've noticed is that even when I've set it to the high speed program, it does not always give me what I want. In other words, it can be unpredictable. And I'm looking for predictability. Is it just me? Maybe I'm doing it wrong? But I've seen it set on high speed program line, and it has still dropped the ISO down to 200, shutter speed 1/8, for instance. If I'm doing it wrong, please do advise.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-28-2015, 06:49 PM
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Thank you for your input Dave. Regarding your first point of advice, that's what's difficult, for me at least. In a hurried moment, I'm likely going to be flicking the control dial as fast as I can to bring the shutter speed down. Finding that point where the ISO 1600 stops blinking would be easy with a live EV meter on the viewfinder. Is it just me? :-X
I think I agree with you about using the manual mode. Maybe that is my solution. Thankfully M mode on the K-3 is easy to manipulate. But if there was a way to make it easier with the other modes, that would be even better. I suppose I need to spend more time with it and try and see what works best. I mean hundreds of thousands of other people have been making it work for years right?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-28-2015, 09:05 AM
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Sorry to resurrect an older thread, but I have a question pertaining to this and didn't want to create a brand new thread.
I recently got a K-3, and I understand that outside of manual mode, there is no active EV meter shown in the viewfinder. Instead, the automated values will blink if proper exposure cannot be attained. I've found that it can be difficult to find the right setting quickly and precisely for proper exposure. I am requesting for some tips on how you all set things up without wasting time.
For example, say I'm in TAv mode, shooting wide-open, 1/200, auto ISO range of 100-1600, no exposure compensation. The current scene is good at ISO 800. I turn around and see something I want to shoot before it disappears. Now the camera is blinking the ISO, and I know that the only thing I can do is lower the shutter speed. But I want to get the highest shutter speed at ISO 1600.
Question 1:
What is the quickest way to accomplish this? My thoughts are:
--> With the green button set to P-line, it'll change my TAv settings for the right lighting, but I want to keep shutter and aperture static at 1/200 and wide-open. So this may not really help me.
--> Turning the shutter speed dial as quick as I can will likely overshoot the settings, and before I know it may end up at something like 1/25 and ISO 400. Now I need to increase the shutter speed until it's at ISO 1600.
--> Change green button to Tv shift, and then ramp up the shutter speed until I hit ISO 1600. This seems the most forgiving, as I can at least see where I'm working up towards, rather than coming down to an unknown value where the ISO value might stop blinking.
--> Have M mode set up at ISO 1600 before I start walking around with the camera, and switch over from TAv in such a scenario?
Question 2:
What do you do if you are willing to accept a +1EV, -1EV, etc. exposure?
What I mean by this is, for my scenario, if the new scene was underexposed by -1EV, I may be willing to accept that shot without changing the settings, in the interest of just getting the shot. I don't think setting the exposure compensation to -1EV to see how the settings react wouldn't really help though, since the ISO value may still be blinking.
Is shooting manual mode the only way to go? I will say that this camera does make shooting M very easy and fun, and that's a testament to how well it is setup IMO. But regardless, I would really appreciate some advice on this.
Thanks in advance!
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Forum: General Talk
09-27-2015, 07:06 AM
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Guilty... If people hate me for it, it is what it is
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-25-2015, 07:58 AM
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Ok so quick update...the red focus lamp does come on immediately but the actual focus doesn't get started right away. So in that sense, ramseybuckeye's description makes sense. Soooo the camera is getting started with the focus but just evaluating before moving the lens because of the scene I guess. I think the focus process is initiated before the lens moves so I will accept that as normal.
I am very sorry for the wrong description of the issue! Embarrassing and complete noob of me to do that... No more worrying, will just shoot!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-25-2015, 02:14 AM
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I am using the single point focus SEL 1.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-24-2015, 07:07 PM
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Hmm well, the thing is that the red AF point in the viewfinder doesn't come on immediately either. So referring to my examples above, for scenario 1, I hold the AF button, then immediately the AF point lights up and the lens starts to focus. In scenario 2, I hold the AF button, but nothing happens for about 0.2 seconds, then the red focus point lights up and initiates the AF. It's almost as if the camera is spending some time evaluating whether or not it needs to start focusing. If what you stated is true, I'd assume the AF point would still light up immediately?
I just want to make sure that this isn't abnormal, and also if it seems body or lens dependent. Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-24-2015, 04:50 PM
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Hi thanks for the quick response. After posting, I realized I could have worded it better. I understand that low contrast scenes are definitely harder for the camera. However, the actual reaction of getting the AF started is delayed is what I meant.
So for easy focus targets:
Press AF button - Camera starts focus ---- Finish focus
Hard targets:
Press AF button ------- Camera starts focus -------------- Finish focus
Dashes indicate time or delay.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-24-2015, 04:28 PM
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A quick question if I may. I have the K-3 and only the DA 50mm f1.8 right now so I can't compare with other lenses. But anyhow, I was just wondering, it seems like when I try to focus on a less contrasty subject, the focus pauses a split second before activating. If it's any other subject, it reacts immediately. Just wanted to know if this is normal operation? And is it a camera or lens thing? Thanks!
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