Three parts, skip to #3 if you like.
[1] = background on my camera stuff;
[2] = philosophical musings on why do I have this stuff and how am I
using it; and
[3] = link to small gallery of shots comparing 3 Pentax bodies, each
with one of three Pentax macro lenses. Oh, and then
[4] = my lessons learned and thoughts about what’s next.
[1] My name is Stan and I am a camera equipment addict. Current inventory of
DSLRs includes 2 @ K-1ii, 1 @ 645Z, and 1 @ K-3iii. I will leave aside the
GRiii and K-01 and Q-S1 and WG-5 and WG-M1 at this point.
[2] In my defense, I don’t just buy stuff, I use my cameras and I even
sometimes sell cameras and/or bodies which I am not using. Also, since almost
forever, I do not like to be in a situation where I am without a decent camera.
Which mens that, when I travel or when I go out for a day to hunt flowers or
birds or barns or whatever, I like to have 2 camera bodies with me, just in
case one stops working. And, yes, I carry spare batteries and spare SD cards.
[Side story. 1998. There I was, in a dugout canoe, being taken across a
large lagoon in Panama on the way to a native tribal village for a visit and
likely interesting photos. My reason for the Panama trip was work-related, I
did not know I would be able to get any time on my own for a side trip like
this, only took one camera, my relatively new Pz-1p with FA 28-105. A
alligator/crocodile popped his head up to watch us. I took a quick snap,
realized that I had just used the last shot on that roll of film. Quickly
rewound, pulled out another roll, opened the camera back, pulled out the used
roll, started to put in the fresh roll, the canoe rocked a bit, I put my thumb
through the cloth shutter curtain. I really really hate it when I don’t have a
backup with me.]
I think of the K-1 as my main cameras. The 645Z is just very special. I bought
my first 6456Z a few months before a long trip in Alaska, planning to use it to
replicate some of Ansel Adam’s views of Denali. I later sold that body,
primarily because it doesn’t have SR except unless you buy a newer lens with SR
in the lens. And those newer lenses cost almost as much as the body. Then
fairly recently bought a used 645Z and 90/2.8 SR lens at a very attractive
package price. I got the K-3iii a few weeks ago, primarily attracted by the
stories of super continuous AF, great for moving targets like birds in flight.
My thought was to sell one of the K-1 bodies, use the K-3iii as my “back-up”
camera when traveling. With the added advantages of good AF and the APS-C crop
factor to help on longer shots.
The dilemma. An Azalea bush and a Rhododendron bush or two are flowering in our
yard. I headed out to do some macro shots of the buds and flowers. First
thought was to take the 645Z. But wait I have this super new camera, I should
use that… I have since done a bit of dithering and “test” shots, culminating
this morning in an evenly lit breeze-free opportunity to do four shots (/5.6,
/8.0, /11.0, and /16) with each of the following (all at ISO100, manually
focused): a) 645Z with D FA 90/2.8 Macro ED AW SR; b) K-3iii with PK-A 50/2.8
Macro; and c) K-1ii with D FA 100/2.8 Macro WR.
[3] The gallery:
https://adobe.ly/3fwx4wc
In order these three shots, all at f/8.0, are 645Z, K-3iii, and K-1ii.
The 4th image shows the set up for the shots. All of these are unprocessed,
straight from the camera except for a square crop on all in part for
composition and in part to provide roughly equivalent views of the subject. If
anybody wants to pixel-peep, compare settings etc, I would be glad to share the
rest of the set (images shot at /5.6, /11.0, and /16.)
For those that want more of the gory details, the long edge, before and after
cropping: 645Z 8256 -> 5824; K-1 7360 -> 4908; K-3 6193 -> 4128
[4]
a - I’ve said it before, but I don’t think Pentax has ever made a bad
Macro lens.
b - I don’t understand why the K-3 image seems too bright particularly
in the highlight areas. Maybe it is “more accurate” than the older sensors?
Maybe I have some random setting set wrongly? Is it a metering thing due to
using a PK-A lens on this one rather than a D FA as on the others? In any case,
I prefer the tonality of the other two.
c - I do miss having a flip-out screen on the K-3iii for composing and
focusing.
d - the wonderfulness of the viewfinder on the K-3iii was much hyped
and acclaimed in Pentax publicity and early reviews. They are right, it is a
fine viewfinder.
e - But, so what? Do I keep the K-3iii and sell one of the K-1 bodies?
Ironically, my main usage of the K-3iii APS-C with wonderful viewfinder and
wonderful tracking AF would be to use this body paired with my DA* 300/4.0 and
optionally including the DA 1.4x teleconverter. So, a good bird-shooting rig. I
say “ironically” because the SDM on my 300/4 died a few months ago. So I can’t
really try out the camera in the way I had intended.
f - I probably should get the 300/4 SDM issue taken care of. I presume
Precision could do that. However, since I am much more likely to do street or
macro or landscapes than to do birds-in-flight sort of shooting, and since I
find i do miss the fold-out screen, and since the out-of-camera look of the
images from the K-3 are less pleasing to me than the other two, I may not wait,
but rather just sell the K-3iii.
Any thoughts are welcome as always!
Stan
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