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Fun with images taken with the Pentax K1

Georg Baumann

Subscriber Member
Not being knowledgable in any way on the Pentax system. If you had to commit to a systenm with three lenses, which would you get to cover the biggest possible range?

I think currently there is nothing out there that would compare to my Sony G 70-400, and my Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 would that be right?

On the long end, the D FA 150-450mm seems to be an alternative, I wonder, on APS-C this would be equivalent to 230-690mm, can you switch that to APS-C and have the longer length available as well?

On the wide end the 15-30 looks a killer.
 
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Georg Baumann

Subscriber Member
Forgot one to ask, has anyone of you tested the shft/tilt capability of the sensor on architecture for example? They say 1.5mm shift and +/-1% tilt is possible. If you checked that out, how useful is that for landscape?

Thanks!
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Thanks, Michiel

Eliminate colour, all you have left is the truth...
I am glad my own eyes are not stucked with the truth....:p

But seriously these B/W images look good.
If you get a chance could you make an image in a village/town to
see how the lens handles architecture and straight lines?

I have a Pentax FA 20mm on the way. Seems to be good and small
I am now testing a Pentax-A 24/2.8 and A 35/2.8
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
I am glad my own eyes are not stucked with the truth....:p

But seriously these B/W images look good.
If you get a chance could you make an image in a village/town to
see how the lens handles architecture and straight lines?

I have a Pentax FA 20mm on the way. Seems to be good and small
I am now testing a Pentax-A 24/2.8 and A 35/2.8
I love colour but sometimes see things more clearly in mono.

Will try out the 15-30mm F/2.8 on an urban situation soon I hope. Here though are my thoughts about the combo so far.

First, I purchased the lens with the Lee's Tamron 15-30mm adapter to use their 150 filters. This further increases the size of the lens which is already large, to say the least. Lenses like the 21mm Zeiss Loxia on the Sony A7RII show just how good a well designed compact wide angle lens can be.

The Pentax version of the design has the exact same front profile and the Lee adapter designed for the Tamron lens is a perfect match. Lee were unaware of this, but I told them and they were grateful for the information.

The 15-30mm is well made. Intial impressions were good. However, it was thrown in to battle with a vergeance in the wet weather of a Cornish "summer".

Be careful with focussing. When I first received the lens, It appeared soft, with poor edges. It needed some lens adjustment with the K1, -7 in fact, then things snapped in to focus (literally). Better still, use live view and examine focus using focus peeking at 100% on the rear screen. The tendency is to focus too close - you need to focus very very near infinity for it to work as advertised. The lens will focus well past infinity.

Overall, sharpness is excellent particularly at F/10 which is optimum for sharpness and DOF.

However, a tad bigger than that Loxia...

EDIT: I'm not saying performance at wider apertures is not good - far from it. Reviews suggest that it is very good. It's just not my style, with a massive lens like this, to go street shooting with it. Once on a tripod, I would tend to use smaller apertures, up to F/11 or so.
 
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Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
Not being knowledgable in any way on the Pentax system. If you had to commit to a systenm with three lenses, which would you get to cover the biggest possible range?

I think currently there is nothing out there that would compare to my Sony G 70-400, and my Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 would that be right?

On the long end, the D FA 150-450mm seems to be an alternative, I wonder, on APS-C this would be equivalent to 230-690mm, can you switch that to APS-C and have the longer length available as well?

On the wide end the 15-30 looks a killer.
The 3 limited lenses (31, 43 and 77) are really good is the general concensus. The 100 macro is really good according to Quentin. But I understand you like to work with tele lenses then the D FA 150-400 would be an option.
Personally I will later on buy the Samyang 135/2. An MF lens, but that is no problem on the K-1. It gets really good reviews as being the best Samyang of their lens line. There is no reason for disdain.

APS-C size is just a crop function as I understand it so it just takes a smaller part of the image.
 

raycox

Member
To say that I am enjoying using the the K1 is an understatement. Getting to play with some old friends. This image is from a Pentax smc-m 75-150 zoom lens that I just purchased for $37. Is it going to set any resolution records, no. Is it fun to use, you bet. I have tried it in the studio and it creates a very nice portrait. The attached image is at 150mm 1/80 f11@ iso 200 Camera Raw +.45 exposure and 100% sharpening. No other adjustments.
 

Attachments

SeattleDucks

New member
WOW, that is an extremely fine composition and one of the best black & white landscapes I've seen in some time. The tones are delicious!
Did you convert in Lightroom?

Cheers,
Ross



Evening At Sandymouth



K1, Pentax 15-30mm @15mm, F/9, 4sec. , Lee .6 ND Grad, polariser, tripod, one shot.
 

Quentin_Bargate

Well-known member
WOW, that is an extremely fine composition and one of the best black & white landscapes I've seen in some time. The tones are delicious!
Did you convert in Lightroom?

Cheers,
Ross
Thanks, Ross. ACR (so effectively the same engine Lightroom) and finished in Silver Efex Pro 2 (but not too aggressively).
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
I know more about the surface of the moon than I do about Pentax lenses. Let us know your thoughts on the 28mm, Michiel.
I just started collecting some lenses from the A series which are better as the older M series.
I did learn a lot from the user reviews on the Pentax forums, because I didn't know a lot about Pentax lenses myself. They are probably a bit to positive because they are real "Pentaxians"
But still it gives a good general view.


The A series are from just before the FA series and many of them have the same lensdesign.
I like these because they have in camera aperture control (A) and are all metal in contrast to the later FA series which are black plastic or aluminium. And they look so good on the K-1!
And manual focussing is a breeze on the K-1
I have now the 24/2.8 which is quiet good, a bit weak in the corners but acceptable for me. It can flare also, but very little distortion.
The A 28/ 2 is very good and the best of the three wide lenses I have now. Very sharp. Still about 1/4 or 1/3 of the price of the 31 limited.
But if I were you I probably would buy the 31 limited which will probably be even better in about the same range.
And the A 35/2.8 is good lens as well. I'll include a picture.
The VC 40/2mm is a wonderfull, but rare, and sharpest I have for Pentax and will keep me from buying the 43 limited for the time being.

I have the A 50/1.4 on the way, it was a good deal and like new, although I actually I planned for the FA 50/1.4 because I like AF for portraits. (grandchildren etc :))
Also on the way is the FA 20/2.8 and I am looking forward to it. It gets raving reviews on the Pentax forum. I am much more interested in the wide side at the moment and I hope it will
be, together with that new Irix 15/2.4 lens, my small solution for wide lenses. But I will not exclude the 15-30 in a later stage. Size, weight and price is a bit of a problem.

I would like A * star lenses but they do collector prices so I forget about those.
My first newer AF lens aquisition will be the 77 limited. Any pictures yet with yours?

Citroën Garage in Londinières

A 35/2.8

 
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Georg Baumann

Subscriber Member
WOW, that is an extremely fine composition and one of the best black & white landscapes I've seen in some time. The tones are delicious!
Did you convert in Lightroom?

Cheers,
Ross
Besides post processing, not to forget excellent technique applied, .6 ND + Pol is a challenge I believe, which brings me to a question Quentin, how is focussing practised with that filter combination? I mean, the prism does not have enough light left for you to see and focus with that combination, right? So how did you do that with the K1?
 

anGy

Member
The Pentax 31mm has a great reputation, mostly for its use on aps-c.
I've seen some not so bad tests with it on FF Sony cam but also one test that shows a weak behavior out of the center of the frame:
La non mia Sony A7r con i miei obiettivi There is a warning before opeing this site, it did not arm my computer and so I publish the link.
I don't know how representative it is but I went for the 35mm sigma art K mount finally. A safe bet I guess.
 
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