Yes, the K3-3 plus converter and long lens will make an excellent birding rig. As noted before I’ve gone to my K-3 for birding since I need longer reach following knee surgery. I tvwould bebperfect with the viewfinder and autofocus of the K3-3.
Paul > On May 22, 2021, at 3:55 PM, Stanley Halpin <[email protected]> > wrote: > > 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 > -- > %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- %(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
