Pentax How do you like your Pentax K-5? And please show us some of your photos!

[BBW]

Armando you are pretty much The Prince of GAS, and I believe your legal training adds to your abilities to justify things, as well.

 

[Armanius]

Armando you are pretty much The Prince of GAS, and I believe your legal training adds to your abilities to justify things, as well.

I'm keeping the camera manufacturing industry alive. Or trying to anyway. Hopefully, they'll remember me when I go bankrupt.

 

[BBW]

Oh, I'm sure they will Armando. A special fund, no doubt!

 

[vincechu]

Lovely colors from that 31ltd! Was the K5 set on natural or did you use a different profile?

It was set to vibrant with +2 in contrast. Sometimes I feel its too punchy tho so i just use "bright" these days.

I love my Micro 4/3 kit and can in no way justify adding a Pentax K-5, and yet I find myself strongly drawn towards buying a Pentax K-5, most likely with a 35mm f/2.4 lens.

I've been noticing, especially over at getdpi! The 35mm 2.4 seems a great lens, though no the fastest, it's great optically - sharpness, colour and contrast are all spot on. Bokeh nice, tho when you stop down it becomes hexagonal.

 

[Armanius]

Hello everyone! Hoping all of you are having a wonderful weekend. Three photos are with a FA35/2. Still testing it out. Seems pretty sharp wide open.

Anyhow, here are some pics!

FA35/2, F2, ISO100

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FA35/2, F2.8, ISO3200 - inside the parking garage at night - no NR applied in LR3.3

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FA35/2, F2, ISO3200 - my standard non-paid model (a.k.a. girlfriend) - no NR applied in LR3.3

View attachment 34778

 

[vincechu]

Thanks for sharing Armando. You seem to really like that coffee!

I'm seeing some serious similarities between the rendition of this lens and my 31ltd. The sharpness and bokeh seems very similar, though the 31ltd's bokeh seems a bit smoother - mine seems to have the ability to turn anything insanely smooth. The 31ltd also has a slightly more 3d look to the photos, but one major plus I've noticed in your photos is no CA, unless you've removed it in post? :S

The 31ltd is quite bad with aberations and fringing, even with correction in camera turned on! and has it even in bokeh, though it tends to be green in bokeh and less noticeable.

The 35mm seems a great buy, especially at 1/3 -1/4 of the price of the 31ltd here in the UK and its lighter. Your photos are making me think of selling the 31ltd and getting the 35mm. Then putting that extra money towards the 15 or 21!

 

[christilou]

Nice and sharp with smooth rendering. Very nice lens indeed. How did you manage to keep the reds in check. I seem to be blowing my flower reds really easily!

 

[Amin]

My dad tried my GH2 and K-5 today and is already thinking to sell his Canon 5D II and L lenses to switch to Pentax.

 

[BBW]

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I'm all for extolling the lens and camera's virtues, but I also have to say that I love the intimacy of this portrait of the young lady in question. She is lovely - and so is this moment you caught, Armando.

 

[christilou]

K5 - 35mm 2.8 macro Limited

Took this one yesterday. Not a keeper but just snapped it anyway. I didn't really think that the lens would be long enough to make a good picture. I was surprised by how much detail there is in the crop for such a short lens.

 

[vincechu]

Amin, I've seen so many posts of people giving up their full frame cameras to switch to the K5 and Pentax for the smaller size, weight and price tag and comparable IQ. The majority are very happy but some miss the large range of longer focal length lenses that Canon have over Pentax. It would be interesting to see the next generation of fullframe cameras, with similar though probably better technology to the K5 sensor! Guess they'll be ISO 1 million and something with crazy dynamic range.

My dad tried my GH2 and K-5 today and is already thinking to sell his Canon 5D II and L lenses to switch to Pentax.

Christilou, seems you're really enjoying the K5 - I saw some nice shots over at your flickr. How does the K5 and 35 macro compare to the GXR and macro? I've still got the GXR in my head, especially as my girlfriend is in Hong Kong and can get the GXR and macro for around £500GBP (think the UK price is usually £750 off the top of my head)

 

[christilou]

Vince, I think that the Ricoh macro just tops the Pentax 35mm 2.8 macro. It has slightly shallower dof and a less busy bokeh. The only problem with the Ricoh is that it hunts quite a lot during macro mode but on the other hand it's easy enough to use the manual focus. The more I use it the more I love it. Not to take away from the Pentax k5 but it's a totally different beast and one that is very portable and not embarrassing to bring out anywhere! I think if I had to choose I would choose the Ricoh just because I would be happy to take it anywhere and the controls are spot on. I paid about £750 for mine I think. I would also get the viewfinder now as the weather is turning bright and sunny.

 

[vincechu]

Thanks, the points you made about the portability of the GXR are exactly my thoughts. From what I've seen online it makes a fine, rugged travel/street photography camera with IQ comparable to the best APSC dslrs. The upcoming Leica M mount unit sounds very attractive too as I'd like to get into shooting film Leica M (or Voightlander M mount equipment in the future).

I don't mean to get off topic, but did the latest firmware which adds special effects filters help improve AF speed?

 

[Miserere]

I could tell everyone what I think of the K-5...or I could link to my review. Is that rude of me? Admins, feel free to delete my post if so; it's just a lot of words to condense into a short post

Review – Pentax K-5 | Enticing the Light
Review – Pentax K-5, Part 2 | Enticing the Light

It's an amazing camera that would have become extremely popular had it been released at $1,300.

 

[BBW]

No, no...not rude, Miserere - glad to have you link to your site, anytime.

 

[christilou]

Miserere, I've bookmarked your review. I've already learned something about the K5 that I didn't know and look forward to digesting more in due course

I've been using the K5 most of the time lately but today have tried out the GH2 again with Zuiko 50mm macro. I've got to say that I'm liking it less and less now. I don't know if mine is faulty but the thumbwheel used for changing the aperture/ev compensation is REALLY starting to annoy me. It's just not smooth at all and really hard to make it alter the right element that I need to alter, be that the aperture or the ev compensation! I'm also now completely sold on the Pentax colours and dynamic range, the smooth shutter and the ease of the thumbwheel. I think it may be time to say goodbye to 4/3rds finally. I have the GXR 100 that I love as my backup so I don't really need the GH2.

 

[Armanius]

There should be plenty of takers for the GH2 out in the market. Might even be able to sell it at a profit! Or at least no loss.

But, I wouldn't give up on the GH2 yet. I'll be writing something in the near future about using the GH2 and K5 side by side.

 

[vincechu]

Armando, I think here in the UK there's more supply of the GH2 so used prices are likely to be lower. I've always thought that it was strange how there's supply shortage everywhere for the GH2 but lots in the UK (I've actually never seen it out of stock!), looks like Panasonic need to rethink quantity shipped to each country? I also just did a quick search at BH photo on the GH2's price, kind of strange how the GH2's price in USD when converted to GBP is pretty much the same as the UK price.

Edit: adding UK tax on top its £100GBP or $160usd to buy from the states! Normally it's quite a bit cheaper even with UK import tax on top. Pehaps its a ploy by Panasonic to make more money in the states?


Can't wait to see your write up about the GH2 and K5 side by side, I was thinking about doing a piece of reflective writing covering gear and its relation to photography, with a lot about my thoughts on the K5 and how it's influenced me. But unfortunately it'll have to wait as I'm stuck with my studies :-(

 

[Amin]

Boston marathon comes straight through our neighborhood:

We were at kilometer 25. I was surprised to see some of the older participants:

Kids of all ages were out with their families to watch and cheer:

Saying "Hi" to the kids:

... and as always, some strange characters:

All images with K5 and 21/3.2

 

[Amin]

A few trees and flowers on the way home from the marathon (K5 and 35/2.4):