First 'go' with the K-50, Oh! Dear!
Posted 23/10/2014 - 00:13
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Unfortunately my working and home life doesn't afford me much time for photography, much less for perfecting BIF skills. One day, when I have more time to myself, I will dedicate myself to becoming an expert wildlife photographer as I feel I have an aptitude for it. This thread has been very informative and I agree with many of the points made, especially those by the acknowledged experts in this field.
I don't think I will change to another brand, my goal will be to gain the knowledge and expertise to successfully shoot BIF with Pentax equipment. This may be more difficult than with other brands, but as Alan Wennington has pointed out I think it has more to do with the skill of the photographer than the equipment used. Clearly the equipment can give an edge, but it can't take the photos for you.
Regards
David
I don't think I will change to another brand, my goal will be to gain the knowledge and expertise to successfully shoot BIF with Pentax equipment. This may be more difficult than with other brands, but as Alan Wennington has pointed out I think it has more to do with the skill of the photographer than the equipment used. Clearly the equipment can give an edge, but it can't take the photos for you.
Regards
David
Posted 23/10/2014 - 01:03
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walt wrote:
My K-30 hasn't been my most reliable Pentax either. I had a problem with the mirror stopping half way up/down and the camera would just lockup every now and then. SRS sent it back for me under warranty and the mirror/shutter assembly was replaced along with some system board and johnstons photopia (the UK pentax repair centre I believe) did a great job recalibrating.
richandfleur wrote:
Out of interest, what were the faults please?
Mine has suffered from a weird mirror half lockup fault, twice now, very odd and cleared by shooting a few shots with no lenses attached.
The aperture motor has failed and was replaced under warranty. This was a full blown hardware fault which got progressively worse and worse.
And the camera randomly stops during the few times I've set up an interval shooting session for timelapse work. No error given, it just stops firing.
The last two above have turned out to be quite common unfortunately. I know other brands have issues, but for contrasts sake my K100d had no issues ever, other than a tendency to back focus a lot which I put down more to simply the stage of autofocus technology of the day. By contrast the K-30 focusses perfectly for me, given the right conditions, (ie not flying birds for a start!)
Quote:
Daronl,
Your post is of immense importance to myself. Yesterday my camera manifested two faults.
Daronl,
Your post is of immense importance to myself. Yesterday my camera manifested two faults.
Out of interest, what were the faults please?
Mine has suffered from a weird mirror half lockup fault, twice now, very odd and cleared by shooting a few shots with no lenses attached.
The aperture motor has failed and was replaced under warranty. This was a full blown hardware fault which got progressively worse and worse.
And the camera randomly stops during the few times I've set up an interval shooting session for timelapse work. No error given, it just stops firing.
The last two above have turned out to be quite common unfortunately. I know other brands have issues, but for contrasts sake my K100d had no issues ever, other than a tendency to back focus a lot which I put down more to simply the stage of autofocus technology of the day. By contrast the K-30 focusses perfectly for me, given the right conditions, (ie not flying birds for a start!)
My K-30 hasn't been my most reliable Pentax either. I had a problem with the mirror stopping half way up/down and the camera would just lockup every now and then. SRS sent it back for me under warranty and the mirror/shutter assembly was replaced along with some system board and johnstons photopia (the UK pentax repair centre I believe) did a great job recalibrating.
Interesting, someone else has had the mirror half lockup issue too. I chose not to return mine to be fixed as once it had sorted itself out the fault couldn't be replicated. At a significant cost to return for servicing I didn't want to risk a 'no fault found' outcome, even though it was still under warranty at the time.
I like my K-30 but I don't feel particularly confident in it's reliability, having paid for the aperture motor return already.
Yes, if you don't lock in a single ISO value, then you're actually in TAv mode, because you're asking the camera to meter and pick an appropriate ISO value for you.
Specify an exact fixed ISO figure and it will be M mode. So, not really a fault I suspect, but if it gave you leverage to make your return/exchange then all good. I like Pentax a lot, but I'm not going to stand up and defend it in areas I know it doesn't perform particularly well. People chose a camera for personal reasons, and if your main subject matter is a particular weakness of a brand, then you'd be silly not to look elsewhere. The grass is not always greener, but then sometimes it just is. I wish you all the best with your endeavours.
Posted 23/10/2014 - 17:27
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davidstorm wrote:
Unfortunately my working and home life doesn't afford me much time for photography, much less for perfecting BIF skills. One day, when I have more time to myself, I will dedicate myself to becoming an expert wildlife photographer as I feel I have an aptitude for it. This thread has been very informative and I agree with many of the points made, especially those by the acknowledged experts in this field.
I don't think I will change to another brand, my goal will be to gain the knowledge and expertise to successfully shoot BIF with Pentax equipment. This may be more difficult than with other brands, but as Alan Wennington has pointed out I think it has more to do with the skill of the photographer than the equipment used. Clearly the equipment can give an edge, but it can't take the photos for you.
Regards
David
Unfortunately my working and home life doesn't afford me much time for photography, much less for perfecting BIF skills. One day, when I have more time to myself, I will dedicate myself to becoming an expert wildlife photographer as I feel I have an aptitude for it. This thread has been very informative and I agree with many of the points made, especially those by the acknowledged experts in this field.
I don't think I will change to another brand, my goal will be to gain the knowledge and expertise to successfully shoot BIF with Pentax equipment. This may be more difficult than with other brands, but as Alan Wennington has pointed out I think it has more to do with the skill of the photographer than the equipment used. Clearly the equipment can give an edge, but it can't take the photos for you.
Regards
David
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Indeed, as they used to say to me on these stupid americanised management courses - it's not a problem it's a challenge
Posted 23/10/2014 - 18:30
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This thread https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/red-kite---bellymack-hill-farm-51496
shows what you can achieve with good technique
shows what you can achieve with good technique
Posted 06/11/2014 - 02:31
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nice thread....
Posted 06/11/2014 - 13:35
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I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to this thread, i've found it very informative as i've been struggling to get a good in flight picture, i'll certainly be having another go now, so again thank you
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1204 posts
15 years
Laindon,Essex
Dave