Are the K-5II or the K-3 still worth it?
Quote from grover on July 25, 2023, 11:24 pmI have a K-5 II, K-3 II, and a K-1 II
I still use them all. In terms of output I can rarely tell which camera took which photo. That's not to say there is zero difference but in practical terms they are all very capable.
All my Pentax bodies have been reliable. The models I own aren't plagued with any known issues. In fact they have no issues.
Not much to add really but just to hammer home the point, don't expect good video or fast auto-focus. The newer the body the better the auto-focus. These are frequent criticisms about Pentax ( up until the K-3 III ) but honestly for the type of shooting I do I'm more than satisfied with the auto-focus and I never record video.
I haven't checked what the going price is for these bodies but if the K-3 isn't much more then I would go that route. I can get 13x19 prints out of my K-5 no problem but I have more "crop-ability" with my K-3. My K-3 II has GPS and my K-5 II has a built in flash and those two differences is basically what decides which one I'll use. If I had to pick one, I'd prefer built in GPS.
I don‘t do Video so that‘s no problem for me. If I do, my phone is enough or I borrow the Lumix G7 from a good friend of mine. (However, I have not needed this yet haha)
The K-5II is around 250€ while the K-3 costs around 400€. So yeah, it‘s not that big of a difference but I thought, that I could use the money that I saved by buying the K-5II for getting more or better lenses.
For Pentax APSC I have a Sigma 17-50 f2.8 and Sigma 10-20 f3.5. Both are HSM (auto focus motor built in) lenses and both are excellent. My 17-50 in particular is very, very sharp. Otherwise, I have a collection of Sigma and Tamron full frame prime's and zooms. The Tamron 70-200 is probably my most used lens on either APSC or FF. Don't expect to buy any new Tamron or Sigma lenses for Pentax because they abandoned the mount. The Sigma 50mm EX macro f2.8 is cheap and bloody sharp.
These lenses seem like they could be interesting in the future. 🙂
Do we know why Sigma and Tamron have stopped development for the K-mount? (Probably because of poor sales?)
I know what you mean about "feel". The K-1 is my favorite camera ever but the small APSC bodies ( K-7, K-3, K-5 ) have the best ergonomics of any camera I've ever held ( IMO ). They K-1 has a tilt screen and is slightly bulkier which is an acceptable trade off for me.
Over the years I've concluded that no single camera is perfect at everything. I consider Pentax to be my favorite though and I'll grab one of my Pentax bodies before anything else if it suits my need ... which is to say: non-action stills photography where I'm prepared to carry around the bulk of a DSLR. For everything else I have another camera ( Olympus OM-D EM-5 II and Sony a6000 ) but I don't invest heavily in those systems.
Good luck!
Thanks for that input!
I'm already pretty convinced of the change, just by all the great experiences you've shared with me. 🙂
Quote from Resiema on July 26, 2023, 12:24 pmSo you could do some macro with the 16-45?
When converted to screw drive AF, are they much slower than with the faulty SDM?
I wouldn't call the 16-45 a macro lens. But the 28cm close focus distance is a nice to have. I just compared the 16-45 at the long end with the 16-85 at the long end for the resulting object size in the viewfinder at the closest focus distance: the objects with the 16-45 are clearly bigger, despite the shorter focal length.
The screw drive converted SDM lenses reportedly are not slower in regards to AF, but noisier. Please keep in mind that "fastest AF" at no point in time was a Pentax feature. For me the AF speed of screw drive lenses and the SDM is sufficient, but the fastest objects for my images are moving at the speed of plate tectonics. @red5isalive has much higher demands for his motorsports photography.
E.
Quote from Resiema on July 26, 2023, 12:14 pmQuote from red5isalive on July 25, 2023, 7:58 pmThe K5 series are known by being a classic camera, they work great (I have a K5 since 9 years ago) and the Iso 80 capability plus how they manage shadows make them great cameras. (my dad an a friend also picked one copy after me recomending them this model). Now, is it particulary fast for sport? It's not. Is it capable? It is. But is not a Canon. Is it capable of doing landscape? Certainly but it's an APS-C body, with a 1.5x crop sensor, so it's not similar to shoot with a FF camera.
That’s great to hear! It seems that the 16MP Sensor is really nice.
Thankfully I don’t do sports neither do I shoot other fast moving objects like that, so the rather slow won’t be annoying.
Now, can I ask why do you think about those 2 models specificaly? From the K5-II I have heard the "good one" is the K5-IIS, and from the K3's there's little to no difference between a K3 and a K3-II but I think my K3-II was slightly faster or more accurate in AF than the K3. Not by a big margin thought.
I ask about these two models because they seem to be really good price-performance wise. I always really liked their design and the images they produce. I asked about the K-5II and K-3 because I think they would fit well in my price range. (With the K-5II I would be able to focus more on buying good lenses and the K-3 for the more modern body)
If you are looking for a mid telephoto lens or a big big telephoto lens I can reccomend the Pentax DA* 50-135mm f2.8, produces great images even stop down and yes the SDM motor is known fail BUT this lens (the 16-50mm I think is the exception to that, but please correct me if I am wrong) you can pass it to screw-mount AF and so you can still use and enjoy it.
That could be a lens that I would add to my purchase list, but I don’t need a tele for the start.
I will throw the Pentax F series here also because there are great to superb lenses (i'm rthinking the F 50mm, the F28mm, the F 100mm, also the F 15mm (but the 135mm bang for the buck is the manual M 135mm f3.5) ) and zooms and very cost effective lenses in this fakily (like the 35-70mm) . But @James knows more than I do about the F Series and he even has some video/s about it (you can check it out here: https://www.snappiness.space/my-odd-obsession-with-pentax-f-series-prime-lenses/ and James will provide the video I hope)
That seems like another great option! I like using old manual primes, using them takes patience sometime, but it is worth it IMO. (I will definitely check out James‘ video about them)
I'd say two more things:
- First of all is before jumping into Pentax please remember that there are fewer available options than in other systems, i'm talking about lenses and bodies, specially newer ones. But for example long telephoto lenses are quite hard to find (I know by experience) or expensive.
- ANY (or almost any) information on lenses and bodies you can ever need you might most likely find it in Pentaxforums in their database. It has helped me A LOT during the years. Really. https://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/
So I hope this kind of helps in some way.
All the best!
Yes, you can see that Pentax is a bit of a niche player. But I personally don't mind, I even see that as an advantage, because you can get the equipment cheaper
It definitely helped me! Thank you very much
Your welcome 🙂
But just to clarify the F series are AutoFocus lenses 🙂
They are made out of Manual lenses, usually the M Series, but those have AutoFocus 🙂
Quote from EckyH on July 26, 2023, 8:51 pmQuote from Resiema on July 26, 2023, 12:24 pmSo you could do some macro with the 16-45?
When converted to screw drive AF, are they much slower than with the faulty SDM?
I wouldn't call the 16-45 a macro lens. But the 28cm close focus distance is a nice to have. I just compared the 16-45 at the long end with the 16-85 at the long end for the resulting object size in the viewfinder at the closest focus distance: the objects with the 16-45 are clearly bigger, despite the shorter focal length.
The screw drive converted SDM lenses reportedly are not slower in regards to AF, but noisier. Please keep in mind that "fastest AF" at no point in time was a Pentax feature. For me the AF speed of screw drive lenses and the SDM is sufficient, but the fastest objects for my images are moving at the speed of plate tectonics. @red5isalive has much higher demands for his motorsports photography.
E.
That‘s really cool. So it seems like the 16-45 is really great and capable lens in a “cheap” housing. I will definitely buy one as my first lens, since it seems like a great deal.
I know that Pentax has not the fastest and best Autofocus in the world, but It’s more than enough for me, as I don’t shoot very fast objects or animals. 🙂
Quote from red5isalive on July 26, 2023, 9:13 pmYour welcome 🙂
But just to clarify the F series are AutoFocus lenses 🙂
They are made out of Manual lenses, usually the M Series, but those have AutoFocus 🙂
Oh, I didn’t know that! That sounds interesting, manual lenses that were equipped with autofocus.
The DA 50mm f1.8 and DA 35mm f2.4 are both cheap, plastic, but good IQ.
As far as zooms, I like the DA 18-135mm. Some of the Tamron/Sigma 70-300ish zooms are pretty good too, and pretty cheap.
I liked the DA 12-24mm as well. Not a perfect lens optically, but still good enough and nice results.
Affordable manual lenses I've liked are the M series 28mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.7.
A third party wide angle manual I liked is the Rokinon/Samyang 14mm f2.8. Nice and sharp and wide on APSC and still cost effective.
