What lens will you be using?

Will you be printing any images or are the results likely to be posted on social media or as email insertions or attachments

Rgds

I have had both; the Tamron is a good lens but eventually it was clear that the extra 65 mm does what it always does, stretches the optics too far.

The 18-135 Pentax never ceases to impress, iI think it is simply underrated/understated and not to overstate it's optical prowess it is not optically as good as the 50-135 DA* but in good light at optimum aperture it can hold it's own with that lens and the 16-50 DA* - the Tamron can't

I am probably sounding boring on PU in respect of the 18-135 but. I use it as my walkabout/travel lens and it is just a lovely lens.

Read the last part of John Riley's Review that was published back some time ago on PU and I think you will recognise this is not by any stretch the usual kit lens as regards capability

Sharp ? . Check out the cat portrait (from my portfolio)

https://www.pentaxuser.com/photo/user-9424/coco---on-the-18-135--75190

Landscapes ? Most of them in my portfolio are taken with the 18-135

Pentax are discontinuing this lens so there are some great bargains around at the moment.

It is the best general purpose lens I have owned and coupled with the great little K5 II s you will never be left wanting when you are out and about

Thanks Peter

Rgds

Cropping The FF sensor based on the 4.89 micron photosites should result in a 15.495 mp resolution so the APS-c size image should be more or less like the K5 as Smeggy says but that assumes it will be done as a simple crop.

However it might be done another way too, as I said yesterday , but we won't know until it arrives ; which is why i refererred to it as a muse yesterday, because that is all it is at the moment ; an interesting muse.

John, I would be happy to achieve the same goal on a 16mp "FF K5IIs" if you know what I mean.

Regards

See video below;

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2014/07/30/lets-cut-the-crop-zack-arias-on-...

As Percy as pointed out the photosites on the FF sensor will be the same as the very efficient K5 , 16mp APS-c sensor ; 4.8 microns wide

However regarding the FF sensor in "cropped mode"; We don't yet know how a lens is mounted on the FF (ie. dimension from the rear element / lens mount to the sensor) so for simplicity if we consider the reduction in sensor coverage when the 1.5 x crop factor is applied (as a reciprocal) we should be able to calculate the number of photosites utilised in "Cropped mode" on the FF

Thus applying the reciprocal of the crop factor (1 x 3/2) the image circle should cover 66.66% of the FF sensor which is 24mp of 36mp.

ASSUMPTION;
It is assumed for the purpose of the comparison below that the dimension from the rear lens element to the FF sensor is the same as on any other K Mount DSLR

Comparison of 36mp FF in "croped mode" to K3 APS-c , 24 mp sensor;

The K3 is configured with photosites that are 3.9microns wide so theoretically / arithmetically the cropped image on a 36mp sensor should be 24 mp x 4.8 micron photosites whereas the K3 is configured with 24 mp x 3.9 micron photosites.

If that turns out to be the case then the FF in crop sensor mode should outperform the K3

So we will have to wait and see wether the lens mount / FF sensor is dimentionally re-configured or crop mode is achieved by simply processing (cropping) the image in the camera, which could be a little easier I suspect .

A very interesting muse to say the least.

For sure Greg the older Standard and telephotos lenses should see a similar improvement but as we go increasingly wideangle then likely the improvement will correspondingly diminish (but still be better than on a cropped sensor(APS-C); so for sure FF should bring an advantage to the older lenses too whether film era or non-FF digital era lenses.

Also consider a possible 2nd FF variant with a 24mp FF sensor ; Photosies would be around 50% larger than on the APS-C format - imagine the low light improvement not to mention Dynamic Range and noise levels .

It's all good (FF)

I am looking forward very much to the FF which I am sure will be a significant forward development that will not be overshadowed by the comparative competition , and for sure I will get one.

However I am also very interested in the performance of DA* lenses in the Cropped sensor mode (CSM) where arithmetically we can expect 24.7% bigger photo-sites on the full frame sensor configuration.

So apart from the obvious improvements from FF technology with dedicated or compatible FF Lenses, in CSM, projecting the the cropped image circle on to the much larger photosites on the FF sensor should give a better cropped image performance than the same cropped sensor lens on a K3 sensor, which is already pretty good.

So in Cropped sensor mode (CSM) we should get improved noise levels, better High ISO performance and improved dynamic range on existing lenses

I don't think shutter count is going to be zero on all new bodies but I bought a K3 in early 2014 together with a newly released Pentax HD1.4x AW converter; however on setting up the K3 it was showing over 130 actuations.

Despite the camera being boxed up as new and received from a very reputable major UK retailer I did wonder how that could be, but then I further discovered some days later that someone else's name had been embedded in the copyright field non the camera.

I rung the retailer who was as bemused as me and didn't recognise the name, but there was no visible signs that the camera had been used or been tampered with, based on the status of internal packaging and no visible evidence of use.

We concurred that maybe the camera had been legitimately subjected to sampling/testing procedure, but it was fully guaranteed and the retailer reassured me they would change it then if I considered it as unacceptable, or at any time in the guarantee period.

I used the camera for a couple of weeks and with the more complex fuctions and features on of the K3, I put down some "anomalies" to my learning and familiarization period.

However it got "curiouser and curiouser"; I scheduled a day to test the Pentax HD DA AF 1.4x AW Rear Converter which after several hours at Wildfowl Centre proved to be very dissapointing in terms of focus speed and performance.

I did some further comparable testing at home against a Tamron 1.4 x converter which I had used for some time and found that they were both somewhat erratic on the K3.

I also concluded after fairly well controlled testing they were identical optically as regards IQ, so I returned the Pentax HD on the basis it was not giving me any advantage over the Tamron, which I assumed might not be idealy compatible on the latest K3.

Some weeks later I was shooting Puffins on Skomer Island and found that the K3 was struggling to focus on BIFs using my DA*s (300,200, 60-250) and actually was being outperformed by the K5IIs which was my back-up body.

Within days the K3 started having display failures and strange focus anomalies; it was exchanged by the retailer without question.

The second K3 was entirely differnt and simply superb compared to the first one and it dawned on me that maybe I should try the Converters again; I still had the Tamron, which tested faultlessly on this K3 so in order to get AW capability I reordered the Pentax HD 1.4x AW ; sure enough it worked faultlessly on the this K3 too.

The moral of the story in hindsight is that I didn't join up the dots very well regarding the first K3 and the erratic performance of the two well respected converters.

But am I missing a potential relevant issue yet again, regarding the fact that that first K3 Silver Edition came with another Photographers name embedded in the copyright set up on the camera ????

So check other parameters not only actuations and if there is any doubt send it back; that is the real moral of the story .

Ps: THe K3 is a great camera despite patchy focussing on challenging subjects such as BIFs but I found the AF set up data supplied from a link posted on PU some weeeks ago definately improves it to an acceptable level.

Thanks Greg, I always say shots like this are really about Luck and Light once you are in position with some decent equipment in your hands.

By the way I am reaching for my flashes more often and where I wouldn't normally, now I have ingested your guide fully.

It really makes it very simple to get optimal results in not so simple situation .

Thanks for that