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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
06-14-2019, 06:57 AM
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I have been happy with the DA 18-270 ED SDM, find it covers about everything I want on vacation. Wide angle allows city street views or mass plantings at gardens and tele gives good views of architectural features, flowers, odd things a way off. It was about perfect for a visit to Kew Gardens last month, although sometimes I wished for an even shorter focal length; vast vistas there. Having the convenience of wide angle through tele on without having to change lenses makes up for any defects compared with prime lenses, gives me the opportunity to compose scenes without having to stop and change lenses. I also take along the WR 18-55 kit lens for those days that are damp, can always zoom and crop images with some quality loss.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-23-2018, 08:10 AM
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I bought some generic 2900 mAh 190s in April from an Amazon seller, ecost. They came in boxes marked LI-90, but the batteries were marked D-L190. They have three contacts and seem to have at least the capacity of the OEM battery. No issues to date with either battery.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
06-15-2018, 07:20 AM
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Well, that is not good news, had hoped to get a better quality camera body by buying a K5. Maybe I should have my K50 repaired to have a spare body, just in case. I would try fixing it myself, but my skin chemistry corrodes things I touch, chewed right through a plated brass watch case in a couple weeks..
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
06-13-2018, 06:38 AM
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Now you have me concerned. I recently got a K5 iis to replace a K50 that developed the aperture solenoid problem. My hope was that the K5 would not have inherent problems, just want a reliable camera, the way Pentax film cameras used to be.
Is the lens release button failure common?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-26-2018, 07:14 AM
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Thanks for all the replies. The primary culprit seems to be distortion correction, not resolution. RAW and 4-star JPEG seem to take pretty much the same time. 3-star JPEG is a little faster. My K50 is a bit faster, but has the aperture problem and is currently unreliable. . The K5 is a replacement, like it better for taking pictures and it feels a lot better in hand, reminds me of the way my old Olympus OM-1's felt.
My walk-around lens is a Pentax DA 18-270 which really needs distortion corrections, pretty obvious on wide angle shots. I have not been using the Pentax software, just been moving files into Picasa, an obsolete program from Google that works well for display. I will have to install the Pentax software and see if that solves my issues. If I could turn off in-camera distortion correction, then have it done simply on my laptop, that will be a good solution. Now to find that disk.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-25-2018, 01:52 PM
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My K5iis seems to take a while to write RAW image files to a 32 GB Class 10 U1 PNY SD card, so I bought a 32 GB Class 10 U3 Sandisk Extreme Plus and gave it a try, really good sale at Microcenter. It did not seem much faster, still takes a long time for the preview image to show up. (Long time is relative. When you are staring at a screen 3-4 seconds is a long time.) When the write quality is reduced to 3 stars, it is nearly instantaneous. I prefer to keep full resolution; memory is cheap.
Does anyone know if the internal electronics in the K5 are limiting the write speed? Any suggestions other than reducing write quality?
I did a search on the K5 section, but did not see anything. I have the latest firmware installed, according to the Pentax site, made sure it was the K5ii version.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-07-2018, 01:33 PM
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Wild guess on my part, but does the camera return to normal if you set the mode dial to green (auto)?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
04-27-2018, 12:51 PM
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Guess I got lucky, picked up a "used" K-5 IIs body for just over $350 on Ebay. It came with all the parts listed in the manual's packing list and was in a box with matching serial number to the camera. Shutter count was 820 when I sent a photo to the Pentax site. The seller claimed it was most likely a store demo, can believe that. Battery was about dead, do not think it was ever re-charged; charger cable still twist-tied up.. This body replaces a K-50 that developed the dreaded aperture block failure. Looking forward to years of happy photos.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
04-21-2018, 01:57 PM
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My K-50 just started to act up while on a vacation a week ago. First photo after being turned off for a while was very underexposed, most others after that were OK. I use NiMH AAs for power. I tried the aperture exercise method using the RAW/FX button and that seemed to help, got through my vacation with minimal issues, but dreading that it would soon fail completely. I did not have any manual aperture lenses with me, so I would have been out of luck. The camera had about 8000 exposures when the problem started. Camera manufactured May 2014. A failure this early is wholly unacceptable.
I just ordered a used K-5 IIs to use as a prime, will think about replacing the solenoid in the K-50 with a white once after I am comfortable with the "new" body. I have K mount lenses that I like for general walk-about, particularly happy with the Pentax 18-300 zoom as a vacation lens, especially for gardens where I vary from taking vista photos to looking into details of tiny flowers. Hope the K-5 holds up better or I will have to replace the whole system. I was spoiled by years of using Olympus OM-1s where I never had a failure. Even my Praktica Super TL never had a failure, despite being made in East Germany and having a terrible reputation.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-23-2015, 07:11 AM
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I am agreeably happy with the number of responses. Yes, I have a 55-300 Pentax DA, was part of the kit package for a K-50 and 18-55 WR at a sale hosted by Ricoh at Hunt's Photo in Massachusetts. The kit price was ridiculously low, got me back into DSLR with mirror cameras. The 55-300 does seem better than the Tamron 18-200, but I found that on visits to botanic gardens, zoos and walking around cities, I was changing lenses frequently. 55 is just too long for a short end, similar to what I used to have as a portrait telephoto back in 35 mm days, for general walkaround. The 18-55 WR comes with me for rainy days.
The cost difference I have found between the Tamron and Pentax 18-250 is not all that much, would prefer to have in-camera distortion correction, so will be on the look-out for a Pentax before my next trip, might even buy a new one.
Dave
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-22-2015, 07:41 AM
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I recently purchased a Tamron 18-200 to use on my K50 and found it to be very useful on a trip to the American Southwest. Wide angle essential for vistas and tele for animal and flower shots. it made a nice walkaround lens, eliminating the need to change lenses frequently. I also brought along my 18-55 WR for the less than nice days. I got the Tamron used at KEH for under $140, thought that was low enough to take a chance.
Although generally pleased with the results, I would like a slightly longer zoom. I would also like a slightly wider short end, but it seems as though there are few lenses with a short end much less than 18 mm that still have a long tele.
Does anyone have comparison experience with the Pentax 18-250? I thought about the 18-270, but the cost is quite a bit more than the 18-250. I have not eliminated it, but the 18-270 would cost more than my K50 cost with both the 18-55 and 55-300 lenses.
The advantages I see for the Pentax lenses are that they will have distortion correction in the camera, useful for me, and slightly longer telephoto. The disadvantage of the Pentaxes is that I would have to pay for another lens, perhaps with no real improvement in IQ.
Comments positive and negative are welcome. I would even consider compelling reasons to go for the 18-270. My timeframe for deciding is the next couple months, have another trip planned in September and would like to have any replacement in hand about month before to get used to it.
Thanks in advance.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-23-2014, 07:38 AM
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Sunny 16 rule worked for me too. In case no one but the poster and I know about it, the sunny 16 rule, a relic of film days, is that for normal sunlit scenes, the shutter speed is the inverse of the ISO rating with an aperture of f/16. Halve the shutter speed for each brighter traditional f/stop detent - f/11, f/8, f/5.6, f/4, f/2.8, f/2. As an example, using ISO 100 and f/8, the shutter speed with be 1/2 x/1/2 (2 f/stops) x 1/100 or 1/400 second. Stop down for bright scenes, such as snow or sand and open up for cloudy scenes. Many times I use manual mode with the aperture and shutter set to sunny 16, making tweaks as the scene seems to call for it.
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-13-2014, 05:35 PM
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Yes, Ii confirm that I want to be in the drawing
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-09-2014, 07:52 AM
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Have I won yet? If so, it would be the first time I have ever won a random drawing.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-05-2014, 03:58 PM
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If your lens is a WR, you want the PH-RBC 52 mm, not the RBA. The RBA will not fit on a WR, although it is the right hood for the non-WR. Weather is not supposed to damage the front element. On the other hand a filter up front is likely to introduce ghosting and scatter, especially if it is not kept scrupulously clean.
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-03-2014, 07:39 AM
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Oh yes, I want one of these. The Tokina 28 mm has been a disappointment, but this looks fantastic.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
12-01-2014, 11:58 AM
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Kind of an old thread, but I just bought one of the Ebay diagonal split focusing screens as I use manual focus a lot. The screen was not terribly useful with higher f number lenses, such as the 55-300 zoom. With a 2X teleconverter, I had to position my eye very carefully to see any focus indication. Luckily the focus sensing red squares showed up the same time as I thought I had best focus. The split section and microprism ended up being a distraction for me, so I put the original screen back in to get rid of the viewfinder clutter. Luckily higher f numbers are not all that focus sensitive. I had similar split/microprism screens on my Olympus OM-1 and found them very useful, but I did use faster lenses with that camera.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-14-2014, 11:38 AM
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I got my kit at Hunt's Photo in Melrose, MA. They had a Veteran's Day sale for that package for under $500 after rebates.
The Tokina is in shipping, anxious to get my hands on it.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-14-2014, 09:18 AM
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I am new to Pentax, was a rabid Olympus OM-1 user prior to converting to digital photography about a decade ago. In the last several years, I have been using various compact zoom cameras and have never really been happy with the results. Manual over-rides were cumbersome and I lost many shots when the automated focusing and exposure picked something other than I wanted.
The kit I got has the 18-55 WR zoom and a 55-300 non-WR zoom. In my first several tries, I was very happy with the automatic setting, but have since been playing around with more of the manual features. I like that in manual focusing mode, the auto focus indicators show where there is good focus and I can decide which is the appropriate one for the show. The RAW button is now programmed for depth of field preview, something I expect to use a lot.
I ordered a Tokina 28mm, f/2.8, had a much earlier version on a Praktica 30-odd years ago and loved it.
That is about enough for an intro.
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
11-10-2014, 08:05 AM
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My experience with a Canon camera is that the OEM works for many more charge/discharge cycles than third party ones. I have tried 2 different brands of aftermarket batteries and they had initial good lifetime in the camera, but began to degrade after a couple dozen cycles. I am brand new to the K-50 and have ordered an AA adapter to keep in my camera bag as a spare battery pack with 2700 mAh Nimhs. I might also pick up a Wasabi kit as I think its charger seems easier to pack than the Pentax one.
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