Official Stupendous Pentax K-1 and K-3 III thread

I'm awaiting delivery of a mint, low shutter count K1 (1300 activations), bought from a PU forum member. It's the first edition, but that's not a problem for my use.
I'm going to be using some lovely F & FA primes, as well as some fabulous M42 SMC Takumar and Zeiss Flektogon lenses - I'm really looking forward to seeing how those lenses perform on a full frame body.
For my wildlife/birding I will still be using my M43 gear, at the moment I'm not going to be acquiring any long lenses for the K1 or K5iis. (Although looking at some of Mike's 150-450mm images I don't know how long I will be able to resist!).
I leave next Monday for a 5 week holiday in South Africa - the dilemma being 'what gear to take'. At the moment I think it's got to be the M43 due to size/weight considerations as there are some longer lenses required.
Anyway, hopefully after the next month or so Mike will have some company!
 
Last edited:
I quite liked the exclusivity but it will be nice to have some company :)

Personally I would only take the K-1 on a wildlife shoot (I imagine that's what you will mostly be doing in South Africa) as a last resort, long lenses are just too much of a pain when travelling, M43 was built for that sort of thing I imagine (and macro). I had a K-5IIs when I first got my K-1 and vowed I would never sell it (best sensor ever in any crop camera IMO) but the K-1 is like a IIs on steroids in crop mode and gives better performance.

Anyway, have a good holiday :D
 
They are a couple of super images - I particularly like the Marsh Tit.
 
I'm back from South Africa and posting this to celebrate the ownership of the K1.
Just a quick shot, whilst out for my one allowable (!) exercise this morning, of my local church.
Shot with the F28mm f2.8 - cost me £120 on the PU forum, and is sharp as a tack. The vignetting is down to me fitting an inappropriate Super Takumar lens hood!

I'm trying to come to terms with the K1, and being used to Pentax menus etc. is a great help.
My initial impression is very positive - but there seems to be a tendency to underexpose a lot of images?

St. Peters Church - Kineton by Malcolm Fisher, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Mike.P said:
By much? If anything mine tends to go the other way ... I normally shoot with -0.5 exposure compensation.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to wait before making any real judgements - the little shooting I've done so far has been in this very bright sunshine over the past few days.
 
Kit refreshing programme continues in earnest.....

Whereas 9 months ago I had:

K-3 plus 12-24, 16-50 and 60-250 and K-1 plus FA*28-70 and FA*80-200... I decided to rationalise...

So now I have K-1 plus 15-30, 24-70 and 70-200; the latter the most recent...... am I pleased with them? oh yes! For telephoto I have to amuse myself with the DA*300 for the time being.....

I love that camera more than the D810.
 
well! who is going to buy the new 21mm Limited? It looks gorgeous in black, the silver would suit a grey K-1 body better...

As I have the FA*85 I won't be rushing for the D-FA* version..
 
If I'm honest I am quite undewhelmed with Pentax/Ricoh these past few years and I doubt I will buy the new 21mm, 85mm, 16-50mm or the new APS-C body.

I am more than happy with the K-1, 15-30/24-70/100/70-200/150-450mm (and a few primes) which works great for tha majority of my photography and perhaps I will look elsewhere next year when the air show season restarts.
 
Pentax K-1 & 150-450mm WR from this morning. Again huge crops, mostly around 80%. As much as I hate the small file size left it shows how good that Sony sensor is in the K-1 (and how sharp the 150-450mm is)

Bit bored with birds now, may be time to dig the macro lens out.


IMGP6623_Jpg by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


Canadian Geese by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


Egret by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


Tern by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr
 
What cards are we all using in our K-1s?

Thanks to my recent pre-Covid-19 visit to Cuba where I opted to buy a pair of 64GB Sandisk Extreme Pro 170 mb/sec cards to use in my D810/D500 combo rather than lug a hefty VAIO plus numerous HDDs, the pair new sit in my K-1. Currently nothing sits in the battery grip tray as I don't expect to be able to make use of that capacity for quite some time, guess it will take a lot of shooting to fill them up.. I also got some UHS-II cards for the D500 and the 16/32 Gb SD cards are relegated for use in the D810...

I was able to photograph some red beetles that are devouring some lilies in our garden yesterday. I will post them once I get myself organised.
 
Quality not quantity Mr Pursey ;)

For the D500 I do wince at the prices for the XQD cards,,,,,, gets to the point that the priority card is the SD...
 
I've not really had chance to use my K1 yet - for the record I've got a couple of 64GB Lexar Professional 1667x cards in the slots.
Keep staying safe!
 
c22w1 said:
In my film days (the 70s) I shot mostly Pentax, never had a Pentax digital body though, don't know why.
Perhaps I should dip my toe....
Click to expand...

Go for it - you know it makes sense!
 
My first DSLR's were Pentax, only changed because at the time I wanted longer faster telephoto lenses.
Colours were excellent and the lenses very good too, just a bit limited for choice in certain areas.
 
Marvellous, somewhere for me to explore, it's not that far away from here. Thanks Mike.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top