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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
01-10-2017, 09:26 AM
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I don't think calibrating the Astrotracer with eliminate the need to re-aim the camera over a time period of more than 900 seconds. It will only take care of the tracking during each 90 second exposure. You might not need to re-aim between each exposure, but you would surely need to do that several times over a 15 minute period. Also, depending on the focal length of the lens you will be using and the direction the camera is pointed, the astrotracer may not be able to handle 90 second exposures. It seems to provide about a factor of 10 improvement over the rule of 500. https://petapixel.com/2015/01/06/avoid-star-trails-following-500-rule/ |
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
08-15-2016, 08:28 AM
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I have used the GPS tracking feature, recording the position once per minute through 3 days of hiking, a total of 23 hours of tracking and took about 100 photos during this time and the battery had about 1/3 left after the trip.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
07-06-2016, 04:41 PM
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Forum: Winners' Showcase
06-02-2016, 05:33 PM
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
06-01-2016, 03:52 PM
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This is the reflective sculpture in Chicago called Cloud Gate, but AKA the bean. You can see me in the gray hat taking the picture.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-11-2016, 10:35 AM
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I think this is how it works. You set the time limit for how long it will log and then start the logging function. It will log for that time even if you turn the camera off. You can stop and save the log before it has run for the programmed time.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
03-06-2016, 03:08 PM
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One comment about the K3ii. Besides the Astrotracer capability the GPS also provides location information on each photo. When I opened my recent photos from Yellowstone National Park in Lightroom, by going to the Map tab I could show where each photo was taken and see what direction the camera was facing. I could then easily label the photos with which mountain or geyser was in each photo.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-15-2016, 09:03 AM
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From what I have read the best technique is to focus using Live View, i.e. contrast detection instead of phase detection.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-10-2016, 05:30 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-10-2016, 10:26 AM
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I am an electrical engineer, but my motto is "one data point is worth 10,000 expert opinions" so I got a compass and my cell phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) so see if the phone would affect the compass. I could get the compass needle to move when the phone was closer than about 10 cm from the compass. It would move the needle whether the phone was on or off. I would guess that the magnet in the vibrator motor is probably what the compass is reacting to. It seemed the end of the phone with the camera had more effect than the end with the speaker, so I am guessing it was not the speaker magnet that was moving the compass.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-05-2016, 08:23 PM
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It looks like the same card, but they do change the models frequently so you can never be sure if they have made some subtle change. The last digits of the part number on the one the testing site links to on Amazon is X46 and the one you are getting is C46, but maybe they have slightly different model numbers depending on what country they sell them?? It probably doesn't matter, in general they keep making them faster so if they are selling a slightly newer version it should still work fine.
I had a SanDisk card fail after a few months (not the model you are buying) and SanDisk is sending me a faster replacement because they quit making the slower unit.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
12-08-2015, 03:46 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-19-2015, 10:19 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-11-2015, 06:35 PM
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The EXIF info that my K-3ii generates shows the local time that the picture was taken. I have the camera set to use GPS to set the time. I have not traveled across time zones with the camera to see how it deals with that.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
09-22-2015, 06:10 PM
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When I tested Wasabi batteries for my K-30 they had about 75% of the capacity of the original Pentax battery. I used a battery tester that applies a fixed current drain and I plotted the voltage to determine the capacity of the batteries. The other aftermarket batteries I tested labeled Synergy had about 60% of the Pentax capacity.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
01-23-2014, 03:07 PM
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It can charge all three of the brands of batteries I tested. It is nicer than the OEM charger in that it has the plug built in so you do not need a cord for it.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
01-22-2014, 05:07 PM
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I tested 3 brands of D-LI109 batteries for a K-30. The Pentax and the Synergy brand batteries were purchased in April 2013 and have been used regularly since then. The Wasabi brand batteries were purchased in January 2014 and have very little use before the test. The testing was done with a Optim Engineering CBA III computerized battery analyzer. They were tested with a constant 1A load. It discharges them to 5.6V and then removes the load. The cutoff point is not critical because once it discharged to 6V it drops quickly after that point. This is obviously not very similar to the camera load, but it should be a good indication of the relative capacities of the different batteries. All units were charged and discharged twice. The results were very similar in both runs of each battery.
Pentax had a claimed capacity of 1.05 AH and a measured capacity of 1.0 AH capacity (cost about $48)
Synergy had claimed capacity of 1.2 AH and a measured capacity of 0.6 AH capacity (cost about $14)
Wasabi had a claimed capacity of 1.4 AH and a measured capacity of 0.8 AH capacity (cost about $27 for 2 and included a charger that works from both 12V and 110 or 240V)
So the moral of the story is that the Pentax batteries are somewhat better than the aftermarket batteries, but cost much more per AH.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
09-06-2013, 03:59 PM
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Taken on a recent motorcycle trip to Alaska. A longer lens would have been nice for this.
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