K-5 manual moan

Is it just me, or do others also need a minimum of three hands to operate the K-5 and its manual at the same time?

It's thicker than a thick thing. Clearly designed to fit in its compartment in the box rather than for a user that might read it.

Thank heavens for the PDF....

Talking of the manual, I note that they're even more assertive about not using SR on a tripod than they were in the earlier ones, yet no more illuminating as to why:


I hereby serve notice that I shall continue to ignore such nonsense

Especially since they've taken away the switch and buried the command in the menus. As if I'd be any more likely to remember with it there...

I might even do some experiments in search of the only thing in the universe harder to find than Dark Matter or the Higgs Boson - a stationary Pentax with a wobbling sensor.

Apols for the poll, btw, the battery's charging so I'm bored.

I hardly use a tripod so i ain't bothered either.
When i do use a tripod, i can simply use the 2 second delay or use the remote, those options kill the SR automaticly.

Heh! I don't clainm to be an expert in this, but I gathere the SR does 'expect' some movement so the motor may move the sensor unnecessarily when the camera is mounted on a tripod. Simple way to disengage it is to use the 2 sec. timer, which you ought to do in order to lock the mirror up before the shot anyway.

Not anymore, the K5 has a mirror lock-up option.
1 click locks the mirror and you need to click again to make a photo.

That's just crazy

The whole point of locking the mirror up is to prevent the vibration from mirror slap.

So they tell you to press the button again with the mirror up to take the picture? Barking, I tell you.

By all means lock the mirror up and then use the remote, but poking the button with a finger is guaranteed to cause shake.

I'll be trying that next, once the battery's charged.

Forgot to mention it only works with the remote

It's one of the settings you can pick when chosing the shooting type, it's under the remote option.

No, there appears to be two settings... p149.


Mirror-up with the remote seems to be separate.

Have not read the manual, working it out as I go. Picked up a K-5 and 18-135 today from a local shop and traded in some unused bits.

I did think he manual was a bit of a silly size though, especially as there is loads of room in the kit box that includes the 18-135.

Going to leave SR on myself, too much effort to menu mine to find the setting.

Thankfully I didn't have to charge the battery at the nice man at LCE charged it while I went home to get my trade in gear. Been shooting the America's Cup with K-5+DA*300 and K10D+18-135.

Just out of interest what do you think of the 18-135mm Chris?

And Dan come to that (although I doubt you have tried it much).

Love the handling.

Really compact, barely longer than the 18-55 when closed up. Quite quick and quiet to focus, quite a stiff zoom, but smooth.

The MF ring is a little strange to start with, up against the body as it is, and it doesn't have a stop at either end of the throw, which was momentarily disquieting. It gets slightly stiffer, and then keeps rotating.

Too early to say really, on the IQ.

So far, I've mostly been finding my way around the menus and making sure it all works, which it seems to.

I'll report back on the 18-135 when I've got something to judge by. So far, the camera feels very comfortable, but I still feel like a novice with it, and that it's got me on probation

Shows that i haven't read the manual

I read that to mean press the shutter release button on the remote or cable switch for mirror up, not the shutter release button on the camera.

There are two separate settings under MUP on the Drive Mode menu (the one above the Ok button, where you select single/continuous/timer etc).

One of the two MUP modes has a little 'remote' icon.

They both work the same way - one click (on either the shutter button or the remote, respectively) to raise the mirror, and another to take the shot.

I can't see any way of locking the mirror up, taking several shots, and then releasing the mirror.

I suppose you get a bit more control over exactly when you take the shot with the separate MUP mode, but since the mirror has to come down after each shot, as far as I can see, it means you can't take a succession of shots with the mirror coming down only after the last one.

Not entirely sure why they bothered, to be honest, unless I'm missing something. The '3s delay' method of locking the mirror up before taking a shot still works the same way as it did with the K10D.

Edit:

I only have the single button Remote Control F. There's a new one it seems, from p349. It has 3 buttons by the look of it. Any idea what they do?

I would have never bought the 18-135 except that it was in the shop as part of the kit and I thought I would have a look.

First impressions were very good. Build quality as good and as my DA* lenses. Smooth zoom ring, stiff at first but loosened after a bit of use. It is still fairly stiff, no creep bit no longer required extra effort to zoom. It is compact, sealed, fairly light, I would say they got the ergonomics just right.

Image quality seemed good in camera, bokeh is pleasing. Sharpness probably isn't that good but it is quite a zoom range and very compact.

AF is fast silent and accurate even in low library on the K10D. In fact, seems to focus better in low light on said K10D than the faster DA* lenses, possibly due to extra DoF.

K-5 focusing though is amazing, especially CAF and Live View. I can imagine hat paired with the 60-250 it would make a very good sports camera.

Both the K-5 and 18-135 are very good.

If the 60-250mm had the motor of the 18-135mm then I would say yes but as it stands the DA* focus speed is too slow.

Better with the Sigma 100-300mm f4.