It's two months now since I've got my K-3 together with the DA 18-135 mm
lens and the Pentax flu-card. We're back from our two-weeks holiday in
the North of France and here's a short report on things so far.
On the way out, I've acquired the HD smc 55-300 mm, the smc DA 1.8/50
mm, and the smc DA 2.4/35 mm lenses at acfoto* in Aachen, Germany. Very
nice and friendly staff and very well stocked with almost everything
Pentax - including both 645s.
The K-3 is far more of a progress over my former K-5 than I had
expected. This goes for its picture quality as well as its handling. The
autofocus has been substantially improved over that of the K-5, the
shutter noise has been damped even further, and everything feels a
little better and more responsive. The flu-card is great for having a
closer look at photos just taken, on the iPad. Far better than the
camera's display.
Just a few pros and cons in no particular order:
+ the diopter control that used to be a real PITA is at last easy to
operate
+ the autofocus is faster and more reliable, especially in low light
- the switching between normal exposure and bracketing has
become more complicated
- bracketing in M-mode with chipped lenses still varies time *and*
aperture unless you find the one setting deep down in the menu
to stop this nonsense
- no fault of the camera, but the larger files put such a burden
on my trusted old Macbook Pro that it's getting painfully slow
with the K-3 files in Lightroom. Way more than I had expected.
I have already published first impressions and a few shots with the four
new lenses, on this list. My trusted old M 2/35 mm, M 1.4/50mm, the
4.5/80-200 mm, the DA 50 - 200 mm lenses, and my hefty Pentacon 4/300 mm
lens have all been retired because the new glass is at least as good or
better. Altogether well over three kilograms of glassware.
One more positive side effect: with all the newly bought DA lenses I'll
be a lot less tempted by any new Pentax FF body. :-)
Ralf
*) www.acfoto.de
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - Köln/Cologne, Germany
Blog : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Web : http://www.fotoralf.de
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