Thank you Drew, you are a star!

I know there are lost of Pentax users in and around South Yorkshire, so I'm hoping we can get a few more aboard?

Cheers
David

Hi Everyone

I have an open invitation to two photo opportunity meetings coming up at the end of September for anyone in the South Yorkshire area, or further afield if travel isn't a problem.

First up:

T-fest 2015 - Saturday 26th September - Tickhill, South Yorks. link

This is a great local music festival, organised by an old school friend of mine! There will be lots to do on the day, especially if you like live music and lots of photo opportunities too. If anyone wishes to help out in a more 'official' capacity by being in the team of photographers for the event, please let me know. I have been asked to photograph proceedings (as I did at the last event in 2013) and currently have 2 confirmed helpers from this site, but a couple more would not go amiss. Please take a look at the T-fest website (link above) to get an idea of what will be going on. The 2013 gallery on the website features a selection of images from the last event, some by me and some by others.

You will need to buy tickets from the T-fest website for this one (£15 only), unless you are helping me with the photography in which case you will get in for free!


2nd up:

Pentax Get Together in Rotherham / Sheffield, Sunday 27th September
Venue 1 (morning): Magna, Rotherham
Venue 2 (afternoon): Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield

All local PU members and anyone you want to bring is welcome! Larry Sovitch (bobbinalorry) is coming up to stay with me and the family over the weekend as he is helping to support me on the T-fest shoot. I'm sure many of you know that Larry has moved over to the dark side (Nikon) but he is still most welcome!

Magna is a great venue for photography, quite challenging due to the low light levels, but very interesting. Bring a camera support and fast lenses for this one!

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is no less fascinating and gives a glimpse into Sheffield's early industrial history, as it started to grow into a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution.

We will be meeting at 10:00am at the Magna entrance, no need to let me know if you are coming, just turn up! The more the merrier for this one, it will be a great day out and offers something different to the norm.

Thanks in advance for your support, I hope lots can come.

Best wishes
David

It sounds as though the camera needs a service / calibration. Focus issues with K-5's are well documented, but usually if you get a 'good 'un' it stays good. It's nigh on impossible for anyone on here to say exactly why yours is not performing as well as it did.

My suggestion would be to send it off to a reputable repairer, I'm sure someone will tell you the best company for this.

Regards
David

The end result is very good and it doesn't matter if the DOF is 'real' or not. In any case, a camera lens renders DOF differently to the human eye, so you could argue that results straight from camera are fake anyway!

The important thing is whether you and your family like the image, which I think you do.

Regards
David

I have Photoshop CS3 but upgraded ACR to version 4.6, which I believe is the most recent version available with CS3. ACR 4.6 has no problem with K3 DNG files, it opens them without errors in the correct colour space and processes them perfectly.

I have a slightly different issue with K3 DNG's, not with PS or ACR, but with Adobe Bridge and all other viewers running in Windows 8.1. These will view/open the DNG's no problem, but the colours are completely off, all have a green cast. The same issue doesn't occur with K-5iis DNG's, these look perfectly normal. I've never bothered to try and resolve this as it doesn't affect anything I do.

Hope the above solves your problems.

Regards
David

Hi Graham

I particularly like the K-01 with my M50mm F1.4, but it also produces superb results with more modern lenses, e.g. XS40mm F2.8, Samsung 12-24 and Sigma 17-70. I suspect that with AF lenses, although the contrast detection AF is slow, it avoids the focussing errors that phase detection can introduce, so I am seeing results from all my AF lenses perfectly focussed, which probably isn't the case on my K-5iis or K-3.

Regards
David

I still like my K-01 too! There's something special about the way it renders images and I can live with its many foibles because of this.

Regards
David

I would echo the recommendation for a Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 HSM OS lens, the close focussing is pretty good and fine for everyday use on flowers, butterflies etc. No, it's not true macro but it's a good compromise. In addition, the lens itself is superb as a walkabout and is my most used lens. Good for landscapes, good for portraits, there's not much this lens can't do.

Regards
David

I do hope we're not going back to the 'K-5 vs K-5iis' debate again. I think the case has been virtually proven by so many K-5iis owners on this site and across the World, that the 'iis' does produce sharper images.

Regarding the original question in this post, I suppose it depends on the type of photography you will be doing. If it involves ever taking shots at higher ISO's, then upgrading to any of the K-5 variants (K-5ii or K-5iis are the best options) would be a big step up. If you never shoot above 400 ISO, then it's probably not worth upgrading.

Regards
David

Great stuff Stan, congratulations! Both images are great.

Regards
David