The video rig is nice, it makes manual focusing much easier especially on the 16-50 which has a short distance from close to infinity on the focus ring, it also helps make the video much more stable due to having more contact points. I use a LCD loup also to make the screen easier to see and adding another point of contact.

I had fun taking the image of the k5 in the video rig too .

The video link should be working now, I had it set to the wrong setting.

As for Graded/ungraded its just raw footage that has yet to be tweaked.. just like if you shoot a raw image and then adjust settings in lightroom to get the look you want. When shooting video I try to capture as much detail/dynamic range I can then my friends tweak the image later to match the other cameras or the look they are going for in the film.

I don't know for sure if the shadow/highlight adjustments work in video but when I was starting out testing settings I couldn't really see any difference between the photo mode with them activated and the movie mode when I switched over so just assumed they worked, I will have to do some more testing and get back to you all about that then.

As for the k-01, I've not used one for video but I did read a lot about it, the MovieSR uses digital stabilization and has to crop the image to do so (to free up space to move the image around). The MovieSR is good because it dosn't cause any noise when recording film but it increases the jello effect when panning from what I read as well as sometimes causing artifacts.

The k-01 has the advantage of using H.264 giving much smaller files, longer recording times and doesn't overheat that im aware off but the H.264 mode comes at a cost.. in that the video is more compressed, you can switch to AVI like the k5 I'm sure giving a higher quality video but at massive memory usage.

The k-01 and k30 have one major advantage over the k5 though and that is manual video mode, I'm always having to fight with my k5 to make the video match that of the gh2's and im never exactly sure of the shutter speed the k5 is using, although I know it's not too high due to using the gh2's and having a light meter (a high shutter speed in video causes juddery movement.. I try to keep it around 50fps on the gh2s to get some motion blur.

On a side note... the gh2's we use are hacked to have better video (upto 42mbps) and my friends are still ok with the footage from the k5 and are having no trouble at all mixng the footage from the different systems. The gh2 is still better (although has less dynamic range) as it resolves a bit more detail and is less prone to moire.

*note*

The video I put up of the ungraded k5 footage had been down sampled to 720p as I was sending it to someone as they wanted to see a little bit off the footage, but its mostly to show the look you get from the settings I use.

I've been shooting video for a little while now with my K5 with some friends making a movie and I thought I would share some of the things I have learned.

1) Pentax camera's look pretty nice in a video rig, and the rubber on the focus rings of the da* lens work without any addon for follow focus (as the gear's fit into the gaps). *the bellow image had the rubber gear ring added.




2) Image stabilization on the k5 is pretty nice for handhold video work as long as you are recording sound externally, the k-01 and k30 use a digital stabilization which crop's the image (even when not using it) and is prone to artifacts, some lens such as the da* 16-50 f2.8 can't use the lens hood in video due to it showing when the sensor moves.

3) The k5 series has a bug that when started in video mode and recording the pixel map feature isn't activated, This leaves me with around 9-12 stuck pixels (green and red) and the video is unusable. (pentax never heard of this bug and don't plan to fix it in a firmware, they did offer to replace my sensor for free)

You can fix this by going into a photographic mode and activating live view then switching to movie mode, the pixel mapping will now take effect until you power off, going into sleep mode dosn't affect this and you can turn the sensor off in movie mode by pressing the LV button (saves power and overheating while setting up different shots).

4) You can increase the dynamic range of your captured video by changing camera settings, the video won't look as nice (its very flat) until graded but gives you much more to work with and the AVI files although big hold a lot of detail.. infarct with out a fast SD card you can have your video stop way before the 4gig file limit and buffering times can be long between shots even if they are only 20+ seconds long (we learned this from a sandisk ultra)

To get the most out of the video I use +4 high/low key adj, -4 contrast, -4 contrast highlight adjust, +4 contrast shadow adjust as well as Highlight and shadow correction.

A short clip from some horses I recorded using the da* 16-50 and the video rig imaged above.. its not my best videoas I was crapping myself at the very large clydesdale horses and the movie stuff I can't show yet, this is ungraded footage from the camera.link

Anyway I hope some of this info is useful to you all, I don't know when the film will be finished (its being recorded using 2x gh2's and my k5.. mostly using Pentax Lens on all bodys even some pentax auto 110 lens and just rarely with the Panasonic 14-45, 14-140 and 20mm f1.7 so most of the footage even if its not from my k5 will be from pentax lens. Once its done Ill try post a link here although it would only be for a trailer as they want to send it off to festivals, have a premier and sell dvds to help fund the next project.

A raw ungraded frame from the movie..although this scene has been re shot and she plays a different roll now.

Zombie Scare by usuqa, on Flickr

Another one from this shoot, just having a bit more fun this time..

Lighting is the same as the other one but with a second softbox (with the diffusers kept in place) to add some fill light my sister.


zombie scare by usuqa, on Flickr

The Great Vault. by usuqa, on Flickr

My son got his first pair of shoes so I thought it was only fitting to shoot him in them, but I wasn’t happy with just going outside I took a 400w/s strobe with me.. and old 85mm f2 and a variable ND filter so I could shoot wide open.

Trying to manual focus wide open is a bit of a pain with the stock k5 screen and using a ND filter to block a lot of light doesn’t help but we got there in the end, The reason for the variable ND was to allow me to keep the lens wide open and bring my shutter speed down as it was really bright outside.

I had a few shot’s of him.. some with massive smiles.. others where he was interested in other things but this is the shot I like the most as it look’s like he’s vaulting the wall

*lighting*

I use a 400w/s strobe with small brolly to the right and the sun to left.


the great vault by usuqa, on Flickr

I have a metz af50 and while the build quality is great I hate the fact it can't act as a dumb slave, it always needs a pre flash.

The sigma 530 dg super I have on the other had can work as a dumb slave.. (with or without pre flash) and it is more advanced... I really wish I didn't get the metz af50 and got another sigma instead.

Also.. do you need p-ttl? if not I'd grab a few Yn's (check on ebay)with radio triggers.. I much prefer manual flash's myself but p-ttl is handy if your doing an event or just want to camera to do everything for you.

It might be a bit late but check out http://www.lencarta.com/lighting-store/flash-heads

I got there 3 smart flash setup around 1-2 years ago now and I have had nothing but a great experience with them.

1sec refresh rate at 200w/s(full) power, full down to 1/16 (4 stops of control) as well as a 150watt modelling lamp.

There are ways to use HSS on flash's that don't support it but how good it works depends on the flash, studio lights tend to be ok since they have long pulse durations.. speed lights not so much but I did manage to pick up the flash from my metz af50 at 1/8000 although it was very dim.

Doing this requires that you have some way of ignoring the pre flash optically (the metz can do this) and you then use your strobe as a normal light that is affected by shutter speed.

I've seen people use this to good effect using AB's in the states to freeze action and over power the sun but as with any hack its sort of limited.

As for radio triggers I got one that came with my Lencarta studio lights and I've never had a problem with it indoors (I'm guessing its based on ebay triggers) and I also have some bowens pulsar triggers that have been doing me great out doors... I haven't tried the max range on them but they always seem to fire.

The radio triggers I'm really interested in is the new pocket wizards that give you control over 4 groups, I would love the ability to turn strobes off/on using the trigger (if I could adjust the power even better). I'm not a fan of P-ttl since I cant seem to get it to do what I want (when trying to be creative) but with manual flash's its very easy .

It's been a while since I posted here but I wanted to share one of my latest headshots



Zombie Head shot. by usuqa, on Flickr

I took my lights down to my camera clubs studio room and my sister and her friend came down.. we had some good fun

My sister is studding make-up just now so she did her pal up as a zombie.

Model: William Cruickshanks
Make-up: Pamela Monaghan.

*Lighting*

a softbox front left ( without diffusing panels) and a gridded strobe back right.



zombie by usuqa, on Flickr

Ive been thinking of selling my sigma 24-60 to get the da*16-50 but from this review I think im just as well to keep it and try get something a bit wider.. I feel the sigma just isn't wide enough at times.

I don't get it though, Pentax is known to make nice glass and there da* 50-135 and da* 55 f1.4 are known to be good lens so why is there da* 16-50 getting out done by the tameron which I can pick up for around £240?

I know the build quality and WR of the Pentax are good features but the * lens should be up there for there glass as much as anything.

I just wanted to share two shots I took with it recently.. and I really need to get myself a magnifying eye cup (had one before and lost it.. ).

I like the lens.. but wide open it suffers really bad from blue fringing which can be quite large too at time's.. I had to do selective coloring on the leaf image below because of this.

I'm going to order myself a magnifying eye piece and also try use the lens some on my gx10 witch has a split prim installed and play around with it more, I would love if I could afford to get the samyang then test both together but such is life ... How much dose the 85mm f2 go for these days? I checked ebay there and seen one for around £200?

Anyway onto the photos.



Autumn by usuqa, on Flickr



Grumpy. by usuqa, on Flickr

I missed focused slightly on the last image but I still love it