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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
09-07-2016, 09:09 AM
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I want another K-50 like the one I had. It got more comments (mostly positive) than any equipment I ever used.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-26-2014, 09:41 AM
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Well adwb, not in these parts - home of Costco. The combo may appear in some online stores, but not at that price. In past winters, Costco offered the K-50 combo (black) for $800. I see the deal is off on 5/4/14, so fence-sitters need to consider when it's opportune to purchase.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-25-2014, 08:16 PM
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My newest online Costco circular advertises a Pentax K-50 combo (including both kit and 50-200mm lenses, a bag, and an SD card) for $649.00. True, it is offered in only 4 colors, but for those who are on the fence about waiting for the right price, this may be the deal-maker. It's a limited time offer.
Pentax K-50 2 Lens Weatherproof DSLR Bundle |
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-25-2014, 08:13 PM
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I had a similar problem of soft focus with the 18-50 kit lens. After many checks, sequential photo settings at different adjustment values, test targets, and the like, I determined that my kit lens (and my older legacy lenses, except for my Tamron 100-300mm) required a setting of -5 to be satisfactorily focused. The Tamron does fine at no adjustment.
Understanding that kit zoom lenses are not a paragon of focus acuity, I must wonder if it's the camera that is not properly calibrated. That is, because my Pentax 50mm prime also does best at a -5 setting. Would you suggest that Pentax service should be involved in properly calibrating this new camera, or should I just suck it up and leave the (to me, high) calibration setting?
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-10-2014, 06:47 AM
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There are indeed several useful videos regarding manual flash as a main or supplemental lighting technique. Being able to review the results immediately and make appropriate adjustments certainly does help these days. Of course, knowing what speedlite features mean is essential. The owner's manual for the camera or flash gives some valuable hints, but it was a video that explained to me that the power setting on the flash (1/1, 1/4 or whatever) was not the shutter speed required to take a well-lit photo!
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-05-2014, 08:04 AM
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Thank you, Elliott! Valuable info for those of us who have been sliding along using the onboard flash on auto setting and praying that it won't blow out the subject matter. I haven't used a manual flash for the past 10 years, hence my innocent inquiry.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-04-2014, 10:04 PM
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Thank you for the hint. That did it - the flash works in all modes but on Auto, so long as I have it set at 1/80 or below. The flash unit itself shows 1/28 as the max, so do I need to dial down the shutter speed accordingly? What is the effect of having the camera at the faster speed?
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-04-2014, 06:22 AM
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After doing some research on external flash units for my new K-50, I settled on the Yongnuo YN560-III as the best alternative. The unit is sturdy and has all the features for a non-PTTL flash. I was excited to use this new equipment on an assignment next week. However, there seems to be a setting I haven't discovered to activate the flash for the K-50. Looking at the manual, all it discusses is using the over-priced Pentax flashes (as might be expected).
Also, I can't find any discussion on this forum about using an external flash and having it recognized by the camera. Is there some setting that I missed? The flash itself works fine, as I tested it on another camera. I don't intend to use it as an off-camera flash either, but I would like to have advice on how to use the proper mode for such flashes.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-19-2014, 09:33 PM
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Thank you for the hint. This 18 min. video was very helpful (as were the comments by other forum members who recommended Live View to calibrate the kit lens (and others in my collection). From another website I did download the EIA Resolution Chart 1956 some time ago, but I found its use not as helpful as lining up batteries as recommended and then taking a series of photos of these at different settings. My error there was that I did that indoors, so the lens was pretty well wide open. See sample photo shot on tripod with Pentax kit 18-55mm.
Although zooms do have a deserved reputation for softer image generation, I always had been satisfied with my Sigmas - used often for macro photography - and my long-barrel Tamron. It would really disappoint me if I could not use a kit lens as intended, since I figured that these would be best matched to my new K-50.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-19-2014, 12:19 PM
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Correct - the test with the sunflower plaque was one that did not involve tripod, perfect lighting, or a cable release. And as one of you surmised, one photo was shot earlier in the morning, when the sun fell on that side of the fence. I needed to see if the handheld camera on auto, using the viewfinder, would give me different results. The small focal distance variation is thus understandable; it should not have affected results all that much.
My acid test here was shooting on tripod, with cable release, all 20 options of AF fine adjustment capable by the camera. The photos were taken in wan sunlight (it's Seattle in winter after all) at f11 and 1/100. Please compare these five and tell me your impressions. Having both vertical and horizontal lines (as well as the shingle detail) in the photo gave me some ideas where I should set the AF. The focus always was on the tower-like structure of this residence. Note also the sign on the bottom corner for image sharpness. Although reducing the file size considerably due to the forum limits, I believe some photos indicate which way I need to go with Fine Adjustment.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-18-2014, 08:44 PM
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You are correct - a wide open f-stop isn't a good way to establish proper depth of field. However, I wanted to give this a start by going fully auto, and then seeing how the lens performs. I have a good number of test photos I took (both inside and outside in bright light), all on tripod with cable release. I will post some of these since my first effort to establish front or back focusing didn't satisfy. For those I used two test targets I downloaded from dpreview.com, and then used a recommended method where you line up 5 AA batteries at a 45-degree angle to the camera. Each battery is the same distance from the other (3/4 in.) and the test should be conducted with the lens quite open. It did reveal differences among my several lenses. The third effort involved focusing on a more distant object at F8 and 100ISO. For each photo I made an AF adjustment by just one point. The only result I found was that the 50mm Pentax was sharpest at zero AF adjustment, while the two Sigma zooms (28-70mm and 28-80mm) checked in at -5 and +5, respectively.
This is a new world for me, since I had been using a Fuji Finepix 7000S prosumer cam for years that never had such a focusing problem, And so I got lazy and used a lot of auto settings, since this one handled it so well. A point well made: we used to look at 35mm film and slides that were crisp and sharp until they were enlarged. Now we have a large photo on the monitor and can see every imperfection quite large.
Next, I will post a small selection of sequential test photos to have you take a look at my contention that this particular kit zoom is less sharp than it needs to be (or that my lovely K-50 has a similar problem with autofocus.
---------- Post added 02-18-14 at 09:48 PM ----------
The four photos of the sunflower plaque also were hand-held. I didn't expect crystal sharp images (except for the one shot with the Pentax 50mm), but I also wanted to be assured that I didn't need to go manual every time a photo opp presented itself.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
02-17-2014, 04:42 PM
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I bought the SMDV cable offered by Amazon.com. The cost ($16) is quite reasonable, the cable is much longer than the Pentax original, and it also can lock for those long exposures. Worked quite well on my K-50. There are several of these of a similar appearance, so feel free to pick a favorite.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-16-2014, 11:45 AM
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Knowing that I needed absolute sharpness, all photos were shot on a tripod using a cable release (non-electronic). All in viewfinder mode. Usually these were shot in bright daylight, ISO 100, and I ran through the entire gamut of AF options. So there should be absolutely no difference in focus, other than the lens.
The standard included here is a Sigma 28-80 mm on the K-50 body, then a Sigma 28-70mm (S70), the prime Pentax 50 mm (P50) and the new Pentax 18-55mm.
No AF adjustments. Hand-held photo in all cases
I can provide comparison photos done on a tripod with cable release, if that helps.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-16-2014, 10:25 AM
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After many months waiting for Pentax/Ricoh to come to its senses, I finally jumped into the pool just before Christmas and purchased a red (!) K-50 at a very good price via an Amazon vendor. I am still learning to use all of its well-regarded features, but one stands out: the kit 18-55mm lens is quite soft in AF-S mode and Auto. When compared with my other Pentax or K-mount lenses, it's quite apparent. My Sigma 28-70 and another Sigma 28-80 lens are sharper, and so is even a Tamron 100-300mm! For the past several weeks I have tried everything to maximize the focusing capability of the kit lens. The AF Fine Adjustment for the lens seems to settle on -5 as the best image (I magnify the images in Photoshop to 600% or more). My other lenses check in at other values: Tamron zoom goes at 0 (no Fine Adjustment needed), and the Sigma zooms run to around +2. The best focus is achieved with a Pentax 50mm prime, a kit lens from some time in the SF1N era. It also needs noFine Adjustment. I have downloaded two different lens testing images, done the 5-battery lineup described elsewhere as the easiest way to check focus and - of course - use a tripod and a cable release. I do want to find the best autofocus setting, but I am hesitant to assume the problem is with the camera itself. What do you think?
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
01-07-2014, 09:31 AM
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A lifelong Pentax user, I joined the digital crowd in 2004, but with some misgivings. Since the digital Pentax cameras (ist) ranged in stratosphere pricing ($1700 for the body!), I opted for a prosumer Fuji S7000. It has served me well for 10 years, but the small LCD screen, lack of flash firepower, and - of course - inability to use my lenses OR even filters, made me consider a DSLR. After watching the excitement over the K-30, I waited in vain for price drops. When the K-50 appeared, I figured that Ricoh would follow market traditions and sell its predecessor for a nice price; that especially, when Canikon entry-level DSLRs were offered by many stores between $350-650.
Not so, Ricoh. Not only did only few Pentax dealers offer either camera, the advertising for these very full-featured K-series DSLRs was nonexistent, despite great reviews. So I patiently waited for special pricing before the holidays. And since I had my heart set on a Pentax red cam, choices were even fewer. Mostly on Ebay, with prices for the K-50 always at $600+. I was just about to give up and wait for the February sales period, when on Amazon a vendor offered the camera with kit zoom for $579. So I bit - less than a week before Christmas! My wife was certainly relieved, since all I had under the tree up 'till then was a turtleneck sweater.
The camera arrived on Christmas Eve (it was sent Priority 2-day, although I didn't specify it - and at no additional cost). My red Pentax gladly accepted all my lenses, incl. a 45-year old K-mount Mamiya I bought in Japan back then. I am still figuring out things like the Autofocus custom setting for each lens (can you help me here?) but already I was able to do a shoot at New Year for our Polar Bear Plunge with generally good results.
Anyone wanting to buy a Pentax is well-advised to look at brief specials running on Ebay or Amazon (see the sidebar with other vendor associates' offers). Maybe some of you then can explain to me why these sites also offer the same camera at wildly different prices - sometimes $300 more than what I paid.
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