Official Mike's Stupendous Pentax K-1 and K-3 III thread

It really does look very good, Pentax doing their old trick of taking the Sony sensor and out-doing Sony and Nikon with it.... wouldn't mind seeing that 42mp sensor from the A7rii/iii in one of these!
Could you imaging that! ... I do find being a K1 owner its like a dirty little secret in a good way :)
 
Always wanted a Pentax since I found out about the astrotracer function.

I've gone from DSLR to M43 now though so I guess I'll have to lurk here.

Looks a lovely camera.

Something to be said for not following the crowd.


My father always wanted a Pentax LX but had to be content with the ME and ME Super.
 
I've finally got a LX and I love it! (Also a MX and a dodgy ME, that I bought from new in about 1978!)
 
Not my pic but I do think its a very sexy camera to look at!

cca126b9de7fba57742ce6d945da9ac7--pentax-reflex-camera.jpg
 
I have joined the thread as I have purchased a Pentax K1 today and got the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 on Order which will be with me on the 5th June.

I will be getting a couple of primes for the wider shots or maybe the 28-105 which has excellent reviews.



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I am hoping I have made the right decision coming from the other side Canon/Nikon even though lens choice is much less. I am very surprised how the Tamron performs on paper and for £529 with 5 years warranty is unbelievable really when you compare it to what Canon or Nikon want for their 2.8 Versions.

Yes I have read the 28-105 is also excellent which would be ideal as a walk about as you stated, I would want a little wider also for Landscape and inside buildings shots and the search continues as also looking into MF lenses which also take advantage of the 36mp sensor.

This Photography game can get rather expensive and just got to convince the wife we don't need to spend as much on our holiday next week.
 
Not owning a Pentax before would the Pentax DA 35mm F2.4 AL Lens fit the K1.
 
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I am hoping I have made the right decision coming from the other side Canon/Nikon even though lens choice is much less. I am very surprised how the Tamron performs on paper and for £529 with 5 years warranty is unbelievable really when you compare it to what Canon or Nikon want for their 2.8 Versions.

Yes I have read the 28-105 is also excellent which would be ideal as a walk about as you stated, I would want a little wider also for Landscape and inside buildings shots and the search continues as also looking into MF lenses which also take advantage of the 36mp sensor.

This Photography game can get rather expensive and just got to convince the wife we don't need to spend as much on our holiday next week.

I was quite surprised by how good the Tamron 70-200 was on the K1, especially considering its the “older” one as the new USD/G2 ones were never made available to K Mount
The 28-105 is an outstanding lens considering the price, yes the usual caveat of its not as wide as the 24-70 but its very sharp, many of the more “reasonable” priced Pentax lenses have long been known for good IQ.

Not owning a Pentax before would the Pentax DA 35mm F2.4 AL Lens fit the K1.

Officially its not compatible as its a lens intended for APS-C Crop cameras however there is a fair bit of user feedback which suggests that the lens works ok on the K1 actually, a little vignetting at f2.4 but that can be corrected in Post Processing.
 
Some good lens choice for the Pentax it's surprised me what's out there in terms of lens choice for this camera. You say the Tamron 70-200 is good and @£500 ish for F2.8 throughout it's range is awesome, but look at the Tamron 70-300mm F4/5.6 DI LD which is less than £100 delivered, looking at YouTube comparisons its even sharper but loose the f2.8. The image stabilised system is that good on the Tamron you get a further 4-5 stops.
 
Some good lens choice for the Pentax it's surprised me what's out there in terms of lens choice for this camera. You say the Tamron 70-200 is good and @£500 ish for F2.8 throughout it's range is awesome, but look at the Tamron 70-300mm F4/5.6 DI LD which is less than £100 delivered, looking at YouTube comparisons its even sharper but loose the f2.8. The image stabilised system is that good on the Tamron you get a further 4-5 stops.

Having used the Tamron 70-300 I wouldn't agree, its again the older variant of that lens - the newer one (which by itself is 4-5 years old) the 70-300 USD is outstanding, but not available for Pentax Mount.
 
I could have made a BIG mistake here also as always had Canon and my last camera was the FF Nikon, I like to photograph Cars & bikes also and reading a lot of reviews that the pentax K1 is not the best for focus speed but the MK11 is better.
 
I could have made a BIG mistake here also as always had Canon and my last camera was the FF Nikon, I like to photograph Cars & bikes also and reading a lot of reviews that the pentax K1 is not the best for focus speed but the MK11 is better.

I think its fair to say that while the AF on the K1 is decent enough its not designed for sport - personally when I had one it was mainly used for landscapes and travel shooting which didn’t need much speed, I know the marketing suggests the K1ii has better AF but I’ve yet to see much in the way of real life comment from people.
 
I wouldn't use the K-1 for sport (or cars/bikes unless they are static), AF tracking is not Pentax's strong point and the buffer is very small compared to other makes which is why I also use Canon. From what I have read the K-1 (II) has slightly better tracking ability but AF speed is much the same howeverI haven't really tried it that much but am taking mine to RIAT this year (weather permitting) paired up with the Pentax 150-450mm.

Saying that I am also taking my Canon and either the 100-400mm MKII or Sigma 150-600mm sport (just to be safe) ;)

For anything not needing fast autofocus though I honestly think it is right up there with the best..
 
Here is a few Pics from today at Oulton Park with my mates K1 and 100mm Macro, not the best combination for sports photography but got quite a few excellent pictures. I reckon if he owned a 70-200 a big improvement would further be seen.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmmD4iWi
 
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surely zone focus is the best method for motor racing anyway? Short of a car doing something unexpected like spinning off into a gravel trap, you know exactly where it's going to be as the track layout is static.
 
First time I had my hands on the K1 and the menu is that involved I didn't know what half the features was for if I'm honest. I know the shutter needed to be a little lower but my success rate was non so 160th/sec I was getting a few keepers until I develop the panning technique a little better. It just shows the camera can do motorsport especially if a complete novice like myself can get decent images what can a Pro do?.
 
Looks like I'm all alone again .... they come, they go but in the end it's just me.

But fear not K-1 fans (all one of you) I will keep posting :D

In another thread it was stated that any lens with a focal length of more than 5X is basically a waste of time ... so here are a few from this morning with my Sigma 50-500mm DG OS HSM all cropped and shot at 500mm.


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by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


IMGP7822_DxO
by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


IMGP8038_DxO
by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr
 
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