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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-26-2020, 01:12 PM
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IOS 14 did not solve this for me. Both my K1 and K3 report the card is not formatted after access using the iPad files program. I notice this does not happen when I use Filebrowser and share to lightroom. It seems especially deadly to open the file directly from the import of raw to Lightroom. This may be because Lightroom often stays working in the background, and there is no way to eject and force it to stop accessing the SD card, other that powering off.
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Forum: General Photography
07-08-2019, 04:42 PM
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I don’t doubt that it works better. The 150-450 is huge though, in comparison to the 300. It seems like little to ask that the 300 be updated a bit. It was unique among other offerings. Nikon only recently offered something similar—at twice the price. It is a great opportunity to keep this advantage, but I can’t say what the economics are for Ricoh.
---------- Post added 07-08-19 at 04:44 PM ----------
Let’s never have a thread where we ask for anything. The only thing that is leaking is venom from someone I once respected.
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Forum: General Photography
07-08-2019, 12:56 PM
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My favorite lens for birding, the DA*300, has SDM, and it has never been updated with a faster, more reliable version. It seems to be in the process of failing, as some of my other SDM lenses have. This is not history, but present. This lens is a huge winner with which I have taken tens of thousands of photos, but it needs updating with the newer DC focus and a focus limit switch would be nice, as well. The ability to acquire a moving subject is the camera, (K3) but it is difficult to tell how much of the AF speed issue is an SDM issue, even when it is working.
The expectations are the result of having used competitive products. Companies don’t survive by falling behind That being said, there are things I write about those products that are based upon expectations formed by using Pentax. I see nothing unreasonable about those expectations, either. I expect of myself that I will keep up with new developments.
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Forum: General Photography
07-07-2019, 09:02 PM
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I’m not throwing in the towel in Pentax yet (after 45 years) but using Nikon and Sony offerings under $2k does make one sigh about the AF. Part of it is SDM, which doesn’t get better with age. As a birder, I do wish the continuous AF could be addressed, because there are many things about Pentax I much prefer.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
07-07-2019, 08:46 PM
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I have had that happen on other cameras using the silent (electronic) shutter with scenes lit by LED. Some LED power sources flicker with the AC frequency. Electronic shutters "open" differently from mechanical curtains and interact with the flicker to cause the bands. The slower the shutter speed, the less noticeable it is.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-14-2019, 02:57 PM
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The last time I was in Granada, my kit was a Kx, DA15, DA 21, DA 40 and DA 70–very compact and excellent quality. The whole kit can go in a waist pack. That was a while back, and a few more megapixels wouldn’t hurt. I used a similar kit a few years later in Romania with a K5 II.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
05-20-2019, 05:39 AM
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So true. The K1 hits exactly the spot for folks shooting weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. The only pro I’ve seen with one said it couldn’t be beaten for the price, and you can actually make money with it. I see others using D800s with similar capabilities.
---------- Post added 05-20-19 at 05:46 AM ----------
Have you used a D500? I would have agreed with you until I did. There is zero advantage to any Pentax AF over that model IMO. Partly, it is the speed of SDM or lack threreof. The D500 and the Sony A7RIII give the photographer little reason to use anything but AFC, even for stationary subjects. Catching a BIF is so much easier, it feels like cheating.
For me personally, I have all the photos of birds around me on branches I need. I want to catch them in motion.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
05-19-2019, 10:35 PM
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Nice. Ours are swarming with birds in spring plumage as well. These days, I don’t take that many birding shots with my Pentax gear, though.
I’m OK with the low light performance of the K3, because the resolution suits me. The one thing that keeps my old favorite K3 out of my hands is the AF. The continuous AF in the K3 already couldn’t keep up with my old D7200, but the D500 AF is like Krell technology compared to a K3. Auto focus points swarm to moving birds. Please, Ricoh, bring SAFOX and SDM into this decade. The ergonomics on the K3 and K1 are a big advantage over Nikon and Sony, but the result still needs to be in focus.
---------- Post added 05-19-19 at 10:39 PM ----------
Godox now works with P-TTL, and it is pretty sweet having 200WS units mounted on your gimbal.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
01-02-2019, 11:19 AM
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I agree that the styling was not the main issue with the K-01. Though I bought one, the primary issue for me was the lack of any kind of eye-level finder. Everything else was no big deal. The problem for Pentax may have been that it was ahead of its time and did not have the market or the marketing to sell the concept of a mirrorless camera which will accept both new and legacy lenses. Sony has done that, and now almost every prominent manufacturer is in the game.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-02-2019, 09:01 AM
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Same here. Pentax has a unique place because it offers compact, APSC lenses and bodies which let you shoot birds and other wildlife without putting your camera and lens on a pack animal. A K3 with a sharp DA* 300mm lens is the same size as a high end Olympus M43 with that length lens. Add a TC, and you can have the same reach if you need it in a larger sensor, or you can crop to M43 and give up a few megapixels.
I don’t need another FF shoulder howitzer. Just give me a K3 that is in the ballpark for being as responsive as an Olympus, or even better, a Nikon, Sony or Canon.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-02-2019, 08:46 AM
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Some of it is age. I found when I got around 60, I almost never used DSLR live view any more. Presbyopia (which we all get someday) combined with myopia, which many of us already have, makes using a screen no fun. Readers get in the way. I don’t like smartphones as cameras for the same reason. I will never buy another camera without an eye level finder.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
12-10-2018, 09:56 PM
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I shoot a lot of birds, and I thought I managed just fine with my K3 or K1 and DA300. However the latest Sonys and Nikons make it hard to pick up my beloved Pentax gear for a BIF. The Nikon D500, which shares the D850 focus (but not the FF sensor) makes a BIF so effortless I almost feel like it is cheating.
I agree that for portraits and landscapes, I’ll take the K1, but for action, it’s the A73 indoors or the D500 outdoors.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
11-05-2018, 03:18 PM
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FWIW, I have not had much luck getting a Sony camera to transmit TTL flash control through an Sony X1 transmitter to a Sony X1R to a flash designed for Sony TTL. I have seen on other forums that my issue is not unique. The system is not perfect.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
10-24-2018, 07:00 PM
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Got my Xpro-P today. Without the firmware upgrade on my Flashpoint Evolve 200 and my AD200, there was no joy in P-TTL land. Under exposure was extreme. With the upgrades, they work just fine. I haven’t shot more than walls or tried at wide aperture where earlier firmware had problems on my Sony cameras, but so far this looks terrific. Being able to use my K1 alongside my A7III with the same light setup solves a big problem I had on locations where the portability of the Godox lights was essential.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
10-07-2018, 04:59 PM
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Honestly, when you write a lot of the criticisms I’ve read you post, you sound like someone who hasn’t tried a quality mirrorless. An EVF isn’t perfect, but it is light years ahead of ground glass at showing you what you will get. Maybe it it isn’t for you right now, but have you tried it to see? I’m a 45 year Pentax user and I can’t see this ‘60s technology with multiple mirrors surviving more than a decade. There are so many advantages to having autofocus and viewing work on the actual image, folks that diss it remind me of TLR users in the 70s. Canon and Nikon are going there, and it is a shame Pentax gave it up after the K01.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
09-22-2018, 08:28 PM
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Whether somwhat compressed or not, what you see in the EVF is still much closer to the result on the sensor than the ground glass which reflects zero issues with the dynamic range or exposure. Eye focus AF is also a thing of beauty that I have only experienced with mirrorless. Whether it is what you want right now or not, it is the future, with both Nikon and Canon on the bandwagon as of now. It is too bad the K01 went away, because Pentax was truly ahead of its time.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-19-2018, 11:54 PM
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I’ll add another vote for the Lensmaster gimbal head. It is high quality and cheaper than many other options. I use it with my old K500/4.5 + 1.4x when I am close enough to schlepp it all and can park it in a blind. It is about the same length as the DA 560, which I would have happily snagged in a heartbeat for that price. To the OP, good job!
I used to hold strictly to the monopod or tripod for long lenses, but for birding I found I was missing too many shots even with just a monopod. Partly that is because I am tall and birds are often in the air or in trees, so the angle doesn’t work without doing knee bends. I don’t know how well the Pentax IBIS works at 560mm, but I get good results with the DA*300 +1.4x or a Sigma 150-600 handheld (not available for Pentax) if I just keep the shutter speed above 1/600 and the shutter firing quickly. One of the shots in the burst will always be sharp down to the feather barbs.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-16-2018, 02:18 PM
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There is no Sony equivalent to the DA* 200 or 300. The Sony lenses performing functions similar to the three amigos (FA 31/43/77) are quite different. That is one reason why I have been posting on other threads for a restart of the K01 program.
I own 4 Sony E-mount bodies and a half dozen lenses. I have about 40 Pentax mount lenses and a dozen bodies. I can’t think of any Sony lens that isn’t more expensive than its Pentax counterpart.
However, the crop sensor bodies (my A6000 and 6500) are amazingly compact and high quality. The AF on all of my bodies except the A7R is superior in my experience to all of my Pentax bodies. The original A7R is an AF dog, but it is better with my old manual Pentax FF lenses than a Pentax DSLR. The low light performance and autofocus on The A7III are great.
The other issue is that third party manufacturers are supporting Sony and not Pentax. This includes a number of new lenses, but mostly flash. The Godox system will let Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Fuji use the same off camera flash with TTL and HSS. Pentax is not included.
That is a quick take. I still use both Pentax and Sony, as well as a Nikon body. The Nikon I bought because the Sigma 150-600 does not come in a Pentax or Sony mount, and neither does any other zoom in that FL range.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
08-16-2018, 01:54 PM
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It is all a trade off. There are things I like better about a pentaprism, and I still enjoy my Pentaxes. However, on balance, I’ll take the simplicity of seeing the actual output of the sensor, and I can’t use the back screen well without reading glasses. I also like the focus peaking and magnification better than manually focusing on ground glass without a focus aid. (So sorry Katzeye didn’t make it)
A DSLR basically has three focus systems in three locations and multiple mirrors, some translucent. This is a lot of unnecessary moving parts and chances for misalignment. I think ML is where the technology is going.
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Forum: General Photography
08-16-2018, 01:39 PM
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The RAVPOWER is at least faster than its competitors. It does not copy from the SD to its USB via your smartphone, like some others. When you start a copy using its “explorer” function, the transfer is internal and does not tie up your phone.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-16-2018, 01:35 PM
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I am not mistaken. My beef was that I did not get anything for those pixels I would have given up with the A7 or A7II. The difference is that with the A73, you do get an increase in low light capability for sacrificing the pixels. I it almost like a 24mp A7S. The dynamic range is also impressive.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-15-2018, 08:55 PM
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If the body doesn’t have WiFi, I tend to use an external device to read the SD and allow my phone to access the photos. I have given up on cards that get hot, have no range and behave with quirks.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-15-2018, 08:47 PM
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The A7 never interested me until the A73. The old sensor gave up pixels on the 36mp A7R/K1 and did not add sensitivity. It’s AF was not impressive, and it only had one SD slot. The A73 finally nails it on all these fronts.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
08-15-2018, 08:05 PM
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And if the K01 got a decent eye level finder, it is the best of all worlds. The system doesn’t need a new line of lenses. One of the things I like most about Pentax is the compactness. A K3 with a DA*300 + TC is no bigger or heavier than a quality M4/3 with the same reach. Pentax makes some great compact primes for APS-c, and getting those in an updated K01 with PDAF and an eye level finder would instantly be a jump ahead of the Sony system. It’s not likely to happen, but I’d love to see it.
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Forum: Pentax Mirrorless Cameras
08-15-2018, 07:57 PM
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I also think Pentax is missing the boat by letting the K01 die. The Sony concept is the future, and being able to use my 40 or so K mount lenses without adapters would be fantastic. I have 4 Sony bodies, and have never had overheating issues. The ergonomics are something you get used to. Pentax has the best, but you get to the point where putting down a Pentax and picking up a Sony is no big deal. I personally prefer the Sony bodies over my Nikon.
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