I bought a Pentax K-1

[Andrew Reid]

There is just... something about it...

https://www.eoshd.com/news/a-look-at-the-pentax-k-1-why-im-not-over-dslrs-for-photography/

[independent]

I get it. Never getting rid of my 5D iii

[hyalinejim]

1 hour ago, independent said:

Never getting rid of my 5D iii

Ha ha! I've done a couple of photo shoots with my S5II and it works pretty well. But shooting with the 5D3 is like wearing a second skin.

And one thing I've noticed is that the Adobe RAW profiles (Color, Standard and Neutral) for the 5D3 give almost perfectly realistic colour reproduction, unlike the profiles for newer cameras. I think in the old days the Adobe guys who designed the profiles worked hard to get accurate colour, at the expense of sometimes getting colour warping or banding in extreme coloured lighting, like a stage show. Newer profiles seem to err on the side of caution in that regard, but are a little less accurate, and certainly slightly lower saturation. 

[hyalinejim]

"a much more satisfying and crunchy shutter mechanism"

@Andrew Reid the most fun shutter I've experienced is the superb whack of the film EOS 1 series. It's a proper belter!

[QuickHitRecord]

I think I get where you are coming from. I never made the switch to mirrorless for photos. I tried taking photos with my EOS-R, G85, and even my GH1 and I'm just not into it. I find that my trusty old 5Diii is still more satisfying to use. I even picked up an Olympus e500 and Sony A350 because they are so inexpensive right now. They are also a lot of fun and offer great character. I have particularly been enjoying the A350 at ISO 1600:

I for one would be more interested in learning more about your adventures in still photography. With the exception of one regular client, I've managed to keep photography as strictly a hobby. Compared to a medium like video, still photography levels the playing field for capturing something interesting.

[alexcosy2]

Yep ! I just got back a DSLR for photography (and actually some family video stuff, quick and easy, no extensive grading etc)
After something like an 8 years gap... I was a Canon guy before that, and actually got a Nikon D780 because I had a few manual Nikkors that I wanted to shoot natively on a Nikon digital camera (I shot them on a film Nikon, and adapted on mirrorless, but adapted is just not the same). And man... Do I not regret it... I love taking pictures with it, I can't get enough.

[MrSMW]

This is a topic I have also been giving some thought to…just not Pentax. That thing is FUGLY 😜

I keep going back and forth on Leica (or Hasselblad, but that REALLY is beyond my budget!) in rangefinder M format (but could I really be bothered) or SL2, but in the end, keep coming back to the same conclusion which is…

…at this moment in time (since 2021, all ‘22 and what will be all ‘23), the Lumix S1R with Sigma Contemporary glass, is my ‘Leica’.

I’ve made a business case for all kinds of slightly left field cameras for my stills work from Fuji X Pro3, through Leica CL and Fuji X100 and Sigma FP plus various Leica’s, but keep coming back to the same conclusion and that is for my work and needs, S1R is where it’s at.

The only viable current option I am considering is maybe chopping in my pair of S1R’s for another S1H. If I make any change this year, that would be it. Prices are dropping on them now, especially since the S5ii pitched up but other than the AF, the S1H still kicks it’s arse in all departments.

Z9? Had a business case for that and if I only needed to shoot stills, D850. Easily.

My choices are always defined by 2 factors: work + needs for that work.

I just can’t justify toys. I’ve had a GRiiiX in and out of a shopping basket so many times it’s a sickness.

Must go check MPB for used S1H’s… 🤪

[MurtlandPhoto]

I knew it at the time, but especially looking back my Nikon D3S is best shooting experience I've ever had. The weight and feeling, the huge and bright viewfinder, the mirror slap, the straight out camera colors, the GRAIN. Everything about that camera was perfect to me.

Perhaps it was just the time frame of my career in which I used it, but I benchmark everything about my photos now based upon how that camera would have performed. The punchy colors I like... based on the D3S vivid profile. The grain texture I like... D3S. The emptiness I feel from my Sony's wimpy shutter... spoiled by the glorious D3S mirror slap and shutter. Even the low 12 mp resolution just feels right to me. It still feels awkward nowadays when I edit at 100% in Lightroom and it zooms wayyyyy into my image. 

That camera was magic to me.

[hyalinejim]

26 minutes ago, MurtlandPhoto said:

12 mp resolution

Ha ha! Even 6 is enough for most uses. During lockdown, to give myself a project I bought a few 300Ds and 400Ds on eBay and sent them around the country, asking people to take self portraits which I then edited.

[MrSMW]

1 hour ago, MurtlandPhoto said:

spoiled by the glorious D3S mirror slap and shutter

I ran a pair of them for a couple of years and they were beasts…but the noise they made was horrendous in a quiet church where I’d squeezed the priests bollocks for permission to shoot on the basis I was discrete.

I never had one, but I think the Canon equivalents were even louder?!

I’m a big fan of damped shutter buttons and sound these days and the S1H is sublime in this regard.

And people think the S1H is big. Not compared with a D3s it isn’t!

[PannySVHS]

Darn. This reminds me of my flickr browsing days @hyalinejim Great shots! They are all selfportaits?  I won´t promise to post one i did with a 500d and a Meyer Görlitz 50mm M42 some years ago. Shot wasn´t even in focus but still looked great, because passion was great back then. I would post it but my data management is awful. Haven´t even sent you the pink blotches on my GH5 Vlog footage. 🙂 I even adore some shots with my 4Mpix Powershot. And I adored those old flickr browsing days.

@QuickHitRecord lovely photographic Gestalt. Colours, grain, luminousity. Last term reminds me of a website I used to love to browse ten, fifteen years ago, legendary luminouslandscape.

I enjoy taking pictures with my GX85 and with my bargain S16 and 16mm TV and film lensens, like Fujinon 12.5mm or Angie 75mm. Love the output and love the experience. Few weeks ago I snapped a 5DII for 150 EU for the body. Less than 30.000 shutter, great cosmetic conditon. To me it felt like a new camera. Did a few snaps with my 512MB CF card I had left from an obscure compact camera I bought many years ago. Crappiest camera I ever owned. Got a Sony DSC W1 afterwards, which was a relief. But that´s another story. Anyway, holding a the 5D2 and snapping a few photos with it was so enjoyable. Cool thing, the seller typed me a few weeks later to give a way a plastic fantastic nifty 50 away for free. So that was 150 for a 5D2 plus a lens! Cannot wait to get out and take some pictures with my own first digital DSLR ever.

[Andrew Reid]

3 hours ago, hyalinejim said:

Ha ha! Even 6 is enough for most uses. During lockdown, to give myself a project I bought a few 300Ds and 400Ds on eBay and sent them around the country, asking people to take self portraits which I then edited.

This first shot is spectacular.

Bet it looks even better in full res with the fine noise texture.

@QuickHitRecord mentioned a Sony A350 above.

This was my first ever non-Canon DSLR back in 2008.

I now have two. My advice to everyone is go and seek one out before they're gone forever.

It has one of the final Sony CCD sensors ever made, and is pretty high res for the era - about 14 megapixel

Image quality is just flat out gorgeous AND it has live view AND phase-detect AF in live view 🙂

It is better than the Leica M8, has even more mojo.

And it is $90!

[hini]

Pentax K-1 is a great underestimated camera. The only problem is slow af. But if you are lucky you can do someting like this:

[ND64]

OVF is lovely... until its dark. 

[btnapa]

On 3/13/2023 at 7:49 PM, hini said:

Pentax K-1 is a great underestimated camera. The only problem is slow af. But if you are lucky you can do someting like this:

Fantastic image. I am a former K1 owner. Slow focus and no 4K video was the reason I switched to Sony. The feel of K1 is unmatched. The problem was that I had too many missed shots due to the focusing system.

[mjp29]

All Pentax have in body image stabilization and are weather sealed - even their mid range dslr's.  All have big optical viewfinders also.  Pentax decision to stick to DSLRs has helped them create a niche for themselves in a digital camera industry that is going all mirrorless.  For those that prefer optical viewfinders and IBIS, then owning a new Pentax also allows the user to buy manual Pentax lens going back to 1975 when their K mount was invented.  Kudos to Pentax and bring on the shutter sound !

[tupp]

Ricoh just announced a monochrome version of the Pentax K-3 Mark III DSLR.

Evidently, it is 25.73MP, and it shoots up to 4K 30P video.

Here is a video showing footage and stills from the camera.

[mercer]

I just picked up an old Pentax DSLR for stills, film is just too expensive to keep shooting regularly. Hopefully, the magic of CCD will give me a little of that filmic image quality I fell in love with while shooting negatives.

@Andrew Reidare you still planning on starting a photography sister site to eosHD?