K5 or K30

[lensk]

So sorry if this qn is ask before. Since i got my k5, i shoot with it once. When battery drop to 1 bar on top lcd while i was focusing in dim condition, it started to freeze. Is it common for it to freeze during 1bar? Any k5 sifu can recommend gd compatible battery? Is it good to get the battery grip since the price is cheaper than the battery(to me expensive) at webstore?

Thanks ! Still having fun with this mc and about photograpy!

Cheers!

Hi all,
I suspect the freeze issue i brought out few days could be the camera cannot find a good target to meter in the dark and while me being new to this ,thought that the shuttle did not fire was a freeze issue. It could be my problem while i still monitoring. The mentioned freeze and the battery indicator issues seems not to go hand in hand. Today while i was getting to learn more about my k5, i encountered the battery indicator drop from 3bar to 1 when i switch to LV. Before, i was using the viewfinder to try out many shoots and the battery indicator (on top lcd) shown 3 bar. But when i used back viewfinder, the indicator recovered to 3bar again after few seconds. I do not understand why and understand thru other forum that some people also encounter this issue.

It seems to me that the indicator and battery is not synchronising properly when in LV. I understand that LV used up alot of the battery however i just want to know if this the norm for all dslr that runs on LV. If not, could it be a battery or camera problem? Over here, does anyone encountered this issue and how did u resolve it? Tomorrow , i will test to shoot solely using LV when battery full and will see what happen.

 

[JohnTaylor]

Hi all,
I suspect the freeze issue i brought out few days could be the camera cannot find a good target to meter in the dark and while me being new to this ,thought that the shuttle did not fire was a freeze issue. It could be my problem while i still monitoring. The mentioned freeze and the battery indicator issues seems not to go hand in hand. Today while i was getting to learn more about my k5, i encountered the battery indicator drop from 3bar to 1 when i switch to LV. Before, i was using the viewfinder to try out many shoots and the battery indicator (on top lcd) shown 3 bar. But when i used back viewfinder, the indicator recovered to 3bar again after few seconds. I do not understand why and understand thru other forum that some people also encounter this issue.

It seems to me that the indicator and battery is not synchronising properly when in LV. I understand that LV used up alot of the battery however i just want to know if this the norm for all dslr that runs on LV. If not, could it be a battery or camera problem? Over here, does anyone encountered this issue and how did u resolve it? Tomorrow , i will test to shoot solely using LV when battery full and will see what happen.

Hi Lensk,

I'm a K-5 owner haven't encountered your 1 bar problem before.

However about your lack of focus issue, if the light is very very poor, you might find the camera will hunt a lot. And if you use the LV, it will hunt even more, because focussing tends to be slower when using LV, at least from my experience.

As for the battery, I bought a 3rd party battery for about $15 when I bought my K-5. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[lensk]

Hi Lensk,

I'm a K-5 owner haven't encountered your 1 bar problem before.

However about your lack of focus issue, if the light is very very poor, you might find the camera will hunt a lot. And if you use the LV, it will hunt even more, because focussing tends to be slower when using LV, at least from my experience.

As for the battery, I bought a 3rd party battery for about $15 when I bought my K-5. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

Hi john,

Actually, quite disppointed to hear that this is not a norm. I was enthusiastic to get the k5 as my first dslr but in the end have to deal with this quality issue. Anyway, what brand is your 3rd party batt?

Have a nice day!

 

[pinholecam]

Hi all,
I suspect the freeze issue i brought out few days could be the camera cannot find a good target to meter in the dark and while me being new to this ,thought that the shuttle did not fire was a freeze issue. It could be my problem while i still monitoring. The mentioned freeze and the battery indicator issues seems not to go hand in hand. Today while i was getting to learn more about my k5, i encountered the battery indicator drop from 3bar to 1 when i switch to LV. Before, i was using the viewfinder to try out many shoots and the battery indicator (on top lcd) shown 3 bar. But when i used back viewfinder, the indicator recovered to 3bar again after few seconds. I do not understand why and understand thru other forum that some people also encounter this issue.

It seems to me that the indicator and battery is not synchronising properly when in LV. I understand that LV used up alot of the battery however i just want to know if this the norm for all dslr that runs on LV. If not, could it be a battery or camera problem? Over here, does anyone encountered this issue and how did u resolve it? Tomorrow , i will test to shoot solely using LV when battery full and will see what happen.

Hi john,

Actually, quite disppointed to hear that this is not a norm. I was enthusiastic to get the k5 as my first dslr but in the end have to deal with this quality issue. Anyway, what brand is your 3rd party batt?

Have a nice day!

You are making too many assumptions at this point.
On top of that, John is making some wrong assumptions too regarding your queries, and leading you off the mark.


Your 'freeze' is just that the shutter/camera refuses to fire as it does not have a confirmed focus lock.
That is correct operation. Not a camera fault.
If you don't want this, you can turn this off in the menu to give shutter priority. (the trade off that if its not focused within the time you press the shutter, you may have a out of focus picture, but then that would be user discretion not camera fault)


Help yourself by helping the camera in low light focus. Try to focus on something on the subject that has better contrast. Failing that, try to focus on something on the same plane of focus as the subject if necessary. The camera is a silly dead object at the end of the day.
Nothing to do with brand (a more expensive 5DII will also struggle in low light, low contrast situations)

Battery depletion - LV will certainly drain the battery fast. (again the same on any brand).
The battery level indicator measures voltage level to gauge the capacity of the battery.
The battery under prolonged drain in LV will have a voltage drop significant enough to 'trip' it to the next battery capacity level.
Turn off and then on after a short while and you will usually see the level indicator go back up.
Again, this is the same on almost all devices.
Of course, make sure you have a properly charged battery

 

[SyncGuy]

Hi john,

Actually, quite disppointed to hear that this is not a norm. I was enthusiastic to get the k5 as my first dslr but in the end have to deal with this quality issue. Anyway, what brand is your 3rd party batt?

Have a nice day!

Well.... Sometimes when you order MacDonald's Happy Meal, they forgot to give you the toy. What happens next is to enquire.

At the end of the day, you'll still eat at MacDonald's again despite that coz it's so good and addictive! ;D

 

[wrx_sti_22b]

So sorry if this qn is ask before. Since i got my k5, i shoot with it once. When battery drop to 1 bar on top lcd while i was focusing in dim condition, it started to freeze. Is it common for it to freeze during 1bar? Any k5 sifu can recommend gd compatible battery? Is it good to get the battery grip since the price is cheaper than the battery(to me expensive) at webstore?

Thanks ! Still having fun with this mc and about photograpy!

Cheers!

It is definately cause by the battery when it is going to deplete.

 

[lensk]

You are making too many assumptions at this point.
On top of that, John is making some wrong assumptions too regarding your queries, and leading you off the mark.


Your 'freeze' is just that the shutter/camera refuses to fire as it does not have a confirmed focus lock.
That is correct operation. Not a camera fault.
If you don't want this, you can turn this off in the menu to give shutter priority. (the trade off that if its not focused within the time you press the shutter, you may have a out of focus picture, but then that would be user discretion not camera fault)


Help yourself by helping the camera in low light focus. Try to focus on something on the subject that has better contrast. Failing that, try to focus on something on the same plane of focus as the subject if necessary. The camera is a silly dead object at the end of the day.
Nothing to do with brand (a more expensive 5DII will also struggle in low light, low contrast situations)

Battery depletion - LV will certainly drain the battery fast. (again the same on any brand).
The battery level indicator measures voltage level to gauge the capacity of the battery.
The battery under prolonged drain in LV will have a voltage drop significant enough to 'trip' it to the next battery capacity level.
Turn off and then on after a short while and you will usually see the level indicator go back up.
Again, this is the same on almost all devices.
Of course, make sure you have a properly charged battery

Hi Pinholecam,
YOu seems very knowledgeble on the k5. You are right about the battery depletion on the usage LV. I guess I will not used that often from now on until the need arises. However, I jus tested on a full charged original pentax batt which I obtain around 200 shots with 20% LV shots. Is it normal to get 200plus shots for a full charge batt?

Like to check with you some other things. I got a this camera(ver1.01) with the da18-135mm. I find that the image from 18-25mm is not as sharp as from 25-135mm. Wonder any of u here experience this? Secondly, When I zoom in 11x in photo review, I can see that the shots are not as clean/sharp. May I know how mush you guys will normally zoom in to check for sharpness with all parameters like speed, av, iso ok?
I had set the clarity to the max,10M and set jpeg premium, used the dust cleaning mechanism and check for lens for blur but all of that doesnt seems to improve the sharpness. Or am i just too particlar about the sharpness? Do you have better ways to check for sharpness and correct focusing?

Cheers!

 

[felixcat8888]

Hi Pinholecam,
YOu seems very knowledgeble on the k5. You are right about the battery depletion on the usage LV. I guess I will not used that often from now on until the need arises. However, I jus tested on a full charged original pentax batt which I obtain around 200 shots with 20% LV shots. Is it normal to get 200plus shots for a full charge batt?

Like to check with you some other things. I got a this camera(ver1.01) with the da18-135mm. I find that the image from 18-25mm is not as sharp as from 25-135mm. Wonder any of u here experience this? Secondly, When I zoom in 11x in photo review, I can see that the shots are not as clean/sharp. May I know how mush you guys will normally zoom in to check for sharpness with all parameters like speed, av, iso ok?
I had set the clarity to the max,10M and set jpeg premium, used the dust cleaning mechanism and check for lens for blur but all of that doesnt seems to improve the sharpness. Or am i just too particlar about the sharpness? Do you have better ways to check for sharpness and correct focusing?

Cheers!

WHY are you pixel peeping? Just use the camera like it is suppose to be used. Once you use LV the battery naturally depletes faster.

 

[poseur]

Hi Pinholecam,
YOu seems very knowledgeble on the k5. You are right about the battery depletion on the usage LV. I guess I will not used that often from now on until the need arises. However, I jus tested on a full charged original pentax batt which I obtain around 200 shots with 20% LV shots. Is it normal to get 200plus shots for a full charge batt?

Like to check with you some other things. I got a this camera(ver1.01) with the da18-135mm. I find that the image from 18-25mm is not as sharp as from 25-135mm. Wonder any of u here experience this? Secondly, When I zoom in 11x in photo review, I can see that the shots are not as clean/sharp. May I know how mush you guys will normally zoom in to check for sharpness with all parameters like speed, av, iso ok?
I had set the clarity to the max,10M and set jpeg premium, used the dust cleaning mechanism and check for lens for blur but all of that doesnt seems to improve the sharpness. Or am i just too particlar about the sharpness? Do you have better ways to check for sharpness and correct focusing?

Cheers!

Zooming in till x11 is way too far to check for sharpness unless u using a true marco lens. typical recommendations is x4 to x6.
u need to check at what shutter speed u shooting. if u shoot at slow shutter speed or your hand are unstable easily cause blurness.

some zoom lens aperture change when the zoom range increased. have smaller aperture give increase DOF. As with most zoom lens it is good to know the aperture to give the best MTF on your lens. it should be usually 1 or 2 stop from wide open.

 

[pinholecam]

Hi Pinholecam,
YOu seems very knowledgeble on the k5. You are right about the battery depletion on the usage LV. I guess I will not used that often from now on until the need arises. However, I jus tested on a full charged original pentax batt which I obtain around 200 shots with 20% LV shots. Is it normal to get 200plus shots for a full charge batt?

Like to check with you some other things. I got a this camera(ver1.01) with the da18-135mm. I find that the image from 18-25mm is not as sharp as from 25-135mm. Wonder any of u here experience this? Secondly, When I zoom in 11x in photo review, I can see that the shots are not as clean/sharp. May I know how mush you guys will normally zoom in to check for sharpness with all parameters like speed, av, iso ok?
I had set the clarity to the max,10M and set jpeg premium, used the dust cleaning mechanism and check for lens for blur but all of that doesnt seems to improve the sharpness. Or am i just too particlar about the sharpness? Do you have better ways to check for sharpness and correct focusing?

Cheers!

I'm just sharing what I know (or think I know), not that I am knowledgeable regarding the K5.

Battery life - I think for your style of usage its probably reasonable.
Frankly, I have never bothered me to check my cameras like this.
I prefer to just use the camera in real life and see if that is fine or not (usually its fine).
I only know that it takes many shots and that the battery lasts 1 or more days of full shooting.
Coming from the days when digi cams used AA batteries, I am very stingy with my battery usage.
Rear LCD is OFF;
Off the camera when not in use for short periods;
Seldom use LV;
Never admire the photos using rear LCD during the shoot (check is ok; but not to use it to oohh...ah... over the photos; I leave that for later when I know I won't need the battery life anymore (eg. on the train home) or at home on the PC)

The higher capacity 3rd party batteries will provide longer battery life per charge.


18-135mm -
1. I usually check at x8, though some ppl use x4 and x6. x11 is definitely too much.

2. Don't read too much into the pixel peeping. Though its the easiest thing to do, IMHO, it adds very limited value to one's photography, beyond 'sharpness'.

2. Various zoom lenses are optimized to be sharper at various focal lengths, so your copy of the 18-135 may be sharper at the wider end. Stopping down can help. You may also be seeing less DOF at the longer focal lengths rather than actual lens sharpness (or the lack of )

I suggest you use the full 16MP and down sample at PP, rather than use 10MP off the camera. You are wasting the full potential of the 16MP right off by opting to use 10MP.
16MP captures more details, which can then be better downscaled on a computer with better processing power to make use of this additional detail in the downscaled version.

Post some samples if you are unsure about sharpness from your lens.
The folks here can help you out.



My rant on pixel peeping.....
Reviewing larger at x6, x8 is just to check that focus and/or DOF right.
Its has nowadays become an ugly trend for ppl to use it to justify that their gear is worth their money, while in fact those ppl who engage in this sort of pixel peeing very often got nothing to show for their photos beyond test charts, brick walls and text from wine bottle labels.

Such tests have their place, AS TESTS, not everyday photographs.

ok...rant over.

 

[CY_OH]

For K-5, when shooting RAW+JPEG, the zoom in review is on the JPG, not raw file. I set my JPEG to 16MP even though I would prefer to use 2MP for selection of images on computer.

This can be tested by shooting the same scene in RAW plus 16MP and 2MP JPG. The 2MP review shows more jaggedness.

Zoom in review of 8x is sufficient to check DOF in narrow DOF images, further magnification is not needed.

 

[lensk]

I'm just sharing what I know (or think I know), not that I am knowledgeable regarding the K5.

Battery life - I think for your style of usage its probably reasonable.
Frankly, I have never bothered me to check my cameras like this.
I prefer to just use the camera in real life and see if that is fine or not (usually its fine).
I only know that it takes many shots and that the battery lasts 1 or more days of full shooting.
Coming from the days when digi cams used AA batteries, I am very stingy with my battery usage.
Rear LCD is OFF;
Off the camera when not in use for short periods;
Seldom use LV;
Never admire the photos using rear LCD during the shoot (check is ok; but not to use it to oohh...ah... over the photos; I leave that for later when I know I won't need the battery life anymore (eg. on the train home) or at home on the PC)

The higher capacity 3rd party batteries will provide longer battery life per charge.


18-135mm -
1. I usually check at x8, though some ppl use x4 and x6. x11 is definitely too much.

2. Don't read too much into the pixel peeping. Though its the easiest thing to do, IMHO, it adds very limited value to one's photography, beyond 'sharpness'.

2. Various zoom lenses are optimized to be sharper at various focal lengths, so your copy of the 18-135 may be sharper at the wider end. Stopping down can help. You may also be seeing less DOF at the longer focal lengths rather than actual lens sharpness (or the lack of )

I suggest you use the full 16MP and down sample at PP, rather than use 10MP off the camera. You are wasting the full potential of the 16MP right off by opting to use 10MP.
16MP captures more details, which can then be better downscaled on a computer with better processing power to make use of this additional detail in the downscaled version.

Post some samples if you are unsure about sharpness from your lens.
The folks here can help you out.



My rant on pixel peeping.....
Reviewing larger at x6, x8 is just to check that focus and/or DOF right.
Its has nowadays become an ugly trend for ppl to use it to justify that their gear is worth their money, while in fact those ppl who engage in this sort of pixel peeing very often got nothing to show for their photos beyond test charts, brick walls and text from wine bottle labels.

Such tests have their place, AS TESTS, not everyday photographs.

ok...rant over.

Thanks pinholecam for your comment. Infact, im quite worry if i got a good copy of this 18-135mm which i find was quite soft/not sharp at all focal range. I try to compare to it with my old pns camera and was disppointing on sharpness. Do you guys have any idea the procedure to shoot to check for softness on the lens particularly on zoom lens that we buy? Since most of the times we do not have a similar lens to test, it is very difficult to say if the lens is of any issue or the camera just need calibration. That will make it difficult sending to service centre.

 

[detritus]

u might want to have a quick read - the author gives a pretty good overview of what to check for and how to check.

PENTAX DSLRs: Front or Back Focusing Problems? Free test (Lens Alignment) charts for Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Sony, Olympus.

i do wonder if it is a simple "expectation" problem or user error :dunno: we dunno what u're shooting, using what settings and what u mean by "not sharp". using words to describe a picture is just so painful.

if possible, maybe u want to provide some sample pix with 100% crop of the area that u feel is "not sharp enough" so we know what u're talking abt.

 

[felixcat8888]

Thanks pinholecam for your comment. Infact, im quite worry if i got a good copy of this 18-135mm which i find was quite soft/not sharp at all focal range. I try to compare to it with my old pns camera and was disppointing on sharpness. Do you guys have any idea the procedure to shoot to check for softness on the lens particularly on zoom lens that we buy? Since most of the times we do not have a similar lens to test, it is very difficult to say if the lens is of any issue or the camera just need calibration. That will make it difficult sending to service centre.

Put a photo that is "not sharp" here so that we can advise you. By just saying "not sharp", how can we know where is it "not sharp"??:think: Oh yes, How do you define as "not sharp"??

If you shoot like the DSLR is a PnS then I am afraid, you might as well use the PnS. For a DSLR, you need to set certain settings before you take a photo and you must know what are the settings you are going to use. Do not put into Green Auto mode and compare with a PnS . . . .

 

[felixcat8888]

Hi all,
I suspect the freeze issue i brought out few days could be the camera cannot find a good target to meter in the dark and while me being new to this ,thought that the shuttle did not fire was a freeze issue. It could be my problem while i still monitoring. The mentioned freeze and the battery indicator issues seems not to go hand in hand. Today while i was getting to learn more about my k5, i encountered the battery indicator drop from 3bar to 1 when i switch to LV. Before, i was using the viewfinder to try out many shoots and the battery indicator (on top lcd) shown 3 bar. But when i used back viewfinder, the indicator recovered to 3bar again after few seconds. I do not understand why and understand thru other forum that some people also encounter this issue.

It seems to me that the indicator and battery is not synchronising properly when in LV. I understand that LV used up alot of the battery however i just want to know if this the norm for all dslr that runs on LV. If not, could it be a battery or camera problem? Over here, does anyone encountered this issue and how did u resolve it? Tomorrow , i will test to shoot solely using LV when battery full and will see what happen.

If you are going to use LV a lot then you will have to expect that this will definitely drain the battery. As we have mentioned, using of Live View will definitely drain the battery faster than using the Optical View Finder. Using LV to focus in dim lighting will cause the K5 to hunt for a point to focus and this in turn will cause you to drain the battery faster. . . .

If your DSLR has an OVF, use the OVF. Why insist on using Live View and then coming here to complain about battery life going from 3 bars to 1 bar so quickly . . . ???

 

[felixcat8888]

Hi Pinholecam,
YOu seems very knowledgeble on the k5. You are right about the battery depletion on the usage LV. I guess I will not used that often from now on until the need arises. However, I jus tested on a full charged original pentax batt which I obtain around 200 shots with 20% LV shots. Is it normal to get 200plus shots for a full charge batt?

Like to check with you some other things. I got a this camera(ver1.01) with the da18-135mm. I find that the image from 18-25mm is not as sharp as from 25-135mm. Wonder any of u here experience this? Secondly, When I zoom in 11x in photo review, I can see that the shots are not as clean/sharp. May I know how mush you guys will normally zoom in to check for sharpness with all parameters like speed, av, iso ok?
I had set the clarity to the max,10M and set jpeg premium, used the dust cleaning mechanism and check for lens for blur but all of that doesnt seems to improve the sharpness. Or am i just too particlar about the sharpness? Do you have better ways to check for sharpness and correct focusing?

Cheers!

Are you sure you get only 200+ shots? I can get 1000+ on a full battery WITHOUT using Live View to shoot and it lasts about 3 weeks before I change to another battery. I only use the LCD to view after I shoot . . .

 

[pinholecam]

.

Thanks pinholecam for your comment. Infact, im quite worry if i got a good copy of this 18-135mm which i find was quite soft/not sharp at all focal range. I try to compare to it with my old pns camera and was disppointing on sharpness. Do you guys have any idea the procedure to shoot to check for softness on the lens particularly on zoom lens that we buy? Since most of the times we do not have a similar lens to test, it is very difficult to say if the lens is of any issue or the camera just need calibration. That will make it difficult sending to service centre.

Like what the others have mentioned, post a sample pict, so that ppl can help you out.
Even better, join the outings for better hands on advice and try out.
Somethings are much better shown and resolved with 1:1 hands on.
Also resolves some of the misunderstanding that may come about with just typing words on a forum.

(IMHO : try not to be just a name on the forum that no one can relate to

You can use Detritus's link for checking focus issues.

 

[lensk]

.

Like what the others have mentioned, post a sample pict, so that ppl can help you out.
Even better, join the outings for better hands on advice and try out.
Somethings are much better shown and resolved with 1:1 hands on.
Also resolves some of the misunderstanding that may come about with just typing words on a forum.

(IMHO : try not to be just a name on the forum that no one can relate to

You can use Detritus's link for checking focus issues.

Sure, trying to find time to get some shots and post here. Thanks anyway!

 

[lensk]

Are you sure you get only 200+ shots? I can get 1000+ on a full battery WITHOUT using Live View to shoot and it lasts about 3 weeks before I change to another battery. I only use the LCD to view after I shoot . . .

Think I need to confirm. Hopefully the new battery (Pentax original) was new and just need a few more charge to get to the 1000+ shots u mentioned.

 

[SyncGuy]

Think I need to confirm. Hopefully the new battery (Pentax original) was new and just need a few more charge to get to the 1000+ shots u mentioned.

Bro, think "street film"-style.. Unless you really MUST have that shot, then review on LCD after the shot.

If not, fire and forget... Don't even bother to look to delete photos.. Just go home and load it all up into your comp, cull from there..