Using the Pentax K3 mark 3 I use the type 3 planes. Don't seem to affect it, but clouds do.

Just found that discussion today, as a Pentax user (K70, K3-II, K1-II) interesting to hear your thoughts and to compare to my own thoughts. Most of the thoughts require a massive faster computational power, its not just to programm a feature you need the needed computational power on hand. More resolution? i really changed my mind beggin for 50+ MP resolution, do we need a higher resolution i highly doubt if you make prints its usually not higher than 300 dpi and usually smaller than a garage door. If you need really a higher resoulution there are medium format cameras available (and i doubt a 60 MP K1-III would be much cheaper than a Fuji or Haaselblad MF, and i doubt you will be satisfied with the current lenses then due to lack of resolution). A faster Autofokus, eye-focus, higher Burstrate, faster saving (necessary other storage format), with keeping the lovely screen (perhaps as Touch), keeping Batteryformat, perhaps a Joystick like the K3-III, K-Bajonett and persuading the 3rd-party lens manufacturers to come back. Resolution perhaps the sensor of the D850, as it seems to be problematic to get the 36MP sensor anymore. And perhaps a K1-III Mono. Larger Battery why? are the two batteries not enough when using the Batterygrip?

18:53 Hello mate! I have bought k1 ii , i see absolutelly no difference in image quality between mark 1 and 2, except for mark 2 has less noise, improved focus tracking, and its agile operation. As for purple tint k1 ii produces in shadows at iso100 (tested dynamic range by "the CameraVille" guy, here on youtube), you just bump up iso to 125 and the purple tint is gone. Would i recommend to upgrade? - NO - if your are just a landscape / astro shooter.

What about meters? Would Astrotracer 3 have issues with that?

Hi brother I was wondering is this camera better than others in night photography ? I want to get pro camera for star shooting and deep space photos 🪐but there is a lot of options Sony , Nikon , canon and of course Pentax .

I wish you solved your Irix 11mm problem 1:49 already. I have K1m1 and this lens, and I have exavtly the same issue.

宾得

Anyone try the Pentax 24-70 for Astro?

i didn't upgraded my K1-II so far, its on 2.31 as it was delivered last autumn, i wasn't quick enough to install the 2.40, and as i was in the mood the alarm was allready there. Currently i have to do some other things so i didn't upgrade yet, but spring is coming. I think especially with heavy lenses Type 3 could be a good option, with smaller lenses (e.g. Sigma 18-35/1.8) on my K70 with O-GPS2 i had no callibrating issue tue to handling too heavy equipment.

I use the same technique and it works extremely well. If a night photo is a full moon star trails photo and has no stars as pinpoints and the image has the little white dots only in the very dark areas, I sometimes will use Lumenzia (luminosity mask) and create a Layer Mask to solely target the dark areas of the image and leave the rest untouched.

any chance of a video about the tracer and eclipse??

❤ some awesome shots.

Great video guys love the pictures. Some nice ones there.

I am new to astro tracer. I gave it a go a few weeks back and couldnt figure it out despite following all the steps. I really wish there was a sinplified guide with some extra info on lenses. I was trying with a manual focus M 28mm f2.8 and I couldnt get it to do the long exposure with tracking. I guess I need to go back to the drawing board.

Never tried star trails but after seeing this video I really need to give it a go. I'll wait for my next coast trip though as there is just too much light pollution where I live. My K1 has been sitting in a cupboard for the last 3years as it was getting a bit heavy to hold after an arm injury and I started using Fuji X-T2 / 3. Armed with a new sturdy tripod and my 3 favourite Samyang manual lenses - 14mm F2.8, 20mm F1.8 and 35mm F1.4 - it's time to get out with it at night again!

Hello there! I tried it a week ago to take a few shots of M42 (Orion Nebula) with my sigma 150-500 f5-6.3. For some reasons, my GPS is no longer functionnal on my K1-II Body (a shock probably broke it), and I was sooo eager to use astrotracing again with Type 3. It worked really fine (similar to what I remembered with GPS) and works without the calibration which is a real pain IMO. But it takes an extra calibration shot, which takes a bit more time during the shooting process. There are some limitations still: 1-You have to focus really accurately (not an easy task manual focusing a @500mm in the dark!) and ensure your aperture/ISO settings are not too drastic. I suspect that if the system cannot recover accurate stars images from the preliminary shot (and differenciate them from sensor noise), it fails to calculate the star's movement and gives you a calibration error message. For instance I tried to plug in my 1.4x converter added to my 150-500 and I was unable to make a single shot: calibration shot failed each time. Maybe also something to do with the bad IQ given by the lens wide open + doubler combo? or maybe the sturdyness of the tripod? (At 750mm, even walking on the ground nearby generates a lot of movement, and I was not in the best place for this :p). Anyway, even with GPS, a shot in those conditions would have been bad, so overall, I'm really happy with what I get! 2-Also if taking sky objects with a long tele, it takes more time with the preliminary shot, shot, and "sleep time" from the camera. Then it requires to reframe between each single shot and think about star positionning (stars are moving sooo fast @500mm!). So overall, really happy with it, and eager to test it further :) And thanks Pentax for the nice update!

I’m really new to Pentax k1 I’ve the mark 11 I have limited hand movement so I was watching your custom setting being new to Pentax and Astro tracker can you recommend a few setting to get me started that will really help me and can you recommend a few links to your videos what can explain more

I installed the 2.40 then went on a trip in the caribbean, could not get astrotracer to work at all in any of the 3 modes... but maybe I was in a high magnetic area? In any case, I updated to 2.41 and I'm waiting for clear night skies...

I updated the 2.40 version and noticed the issues, K1ii worked fine but the issues were annoying. Installed 2.41 and issues all went away, I have not had a chance yet to try the new astrotracer modes, but this experience won't deter me from future updates, if they offer something worthwhile (more than some new picture profile mode for instance).

God I love this Camera!

Haven't updated yet. Not an early adopter.

Type3 and the limitation on the clouds and possible aircraft is only a consideration on the preliminary shot where the camera determines what's moving in the frame, in what direction and at what speed for the exposure time required. Once that's known and calculated the the imaging sequence to be undertaken, either a single timed exposure or an automated sequence of X shots over X time, aircraft/clouds entering the frame wont make any difference, as the sensor is moving at the calculated speed/angle regardless at that point.

I like your philosophy - if it isn't broken, don't fix it... And thanks be to Pentax to decide on continuing support for the camera's firmware!

Update went well. In response to the question….yes you can select which type of astrotracer is active. I too have had good luck with type I but I hope type 3 will be better with long exposures and longer focal lengths. Great video. I follow regularly and really appreciate your work here.

Thanks for this timely videoTim, I'm thinking I maybe do this update, a friend has type 3 on his K3 mark3 and it works really well.

I hope you try it out and share your experience! I have updated my K1, but have not tried the Astrotracer 2 or 3 yet (live in a big city, no clear skies). An interesting thing of the type 3 is that it works with interval shooting, so making a tracked timelapse of the sky is possible. In that case it takes 1 calibration shot and all previous shots are tracked. Personally, I have not had much luck with the precise calibration and frequently just ended up turning on the GPS and relying on coarse calibration (I use the Pentax 15-30 f2.8 and a Sigma 35mm f1.4 Art, and just stuck around max 2 minutes exposures with wide-angle and 40 to 50 seconds with the 35 mm). For type 3 the limiting factor seems to be how much landscape / foreground is in your composition (according to what I have seen in user reviews). I absolutely love the K1 and its cool that it stil gets feature updates.

If you install the update, can you choose which Astrotracer to use (type 1, 2, or 3)?

Update worked fine for me.

Yes! Would love to see a K1 mark III with eye focus! Better video functions would also be welcome.

My real introduction to Pentax came with the K3 Mk.iii Monochrome. I love Monochrome Photography and it’s features and price point made me take a chance and add another system to my kit. It’s been a joy to use and the lenses also made a very positive impression. My experience with this has impressed me enough pick up a K1 Mk.II two days ago. I love my old D810 and this builds on it with remarkable features. I’m really looking forward to putting this camera to good use. It will compliment my existing kit very nicely.

It is unlikely that there will be any K1 successor. Lenses are also issue. Tamron discontinued all DSLR lenses recently, so even those DFA15-30, DFA24-70 and DFA70-210/4 will disappear like DA18-270 did while ago. AF540FGZII and AF360FGZII flashes were discontinued already. And somebody wants new FF camera with such environment? For who? Who will pay for some $3000 DSLR with obsolete spec? K1 owners? haha. That would be another Ricoh attempt to kill what remains of Pentax. They need to get rid of obsolete KF and introduce some new low-end affordable body and then ASAP rework K3III from 2015 standards into K3IV with 2025 HW standards and price if worst equal to Fuji X-H2. Because currently they are selling XT-3 level camera for more than what last XT-5 cost. Or rather trying to sell.. there are barely any Pentax sales. Most of the money come from Ricoh GR hipster base. The reason why K1 is still on market is exactly the problem with that whole project. It was old already when launched being barely D800 level with IBIS but without comparable AF or lens support. There was initial boom, but after 1/2 year most demand was satisfied and those things are barely selling when compared to any other DSLR. Also while doing that, they totally reduced any APS-C development during 2012-2016 and lost large amount of such market. So they ended up with incompetitive FF camera system and dying APS-C that used to feed the money bags before. Then cost cutting measures took place and now we have what we have. If at least some APS-C survives, we can be happy... I still hope for some K3III rework with better live-view functionality, articulating LCD and tuned firmware, that should not be too expensive or time consuming to achieve even with reduced team. And also to kill KF and replace it by real new entry level camera that would be both affordable and provide up to date hardware. They need that to gather some customers. Being last DSLR producer it might have some chance. OR Switch to new ILC mount, prepare K mount adaptor and make new cameras. Preferably something comparable to X-H2 There is new department director now, so that old glue might be removed..

Very helpful. Thank you so much.

I Ike that camera too. In fact I have the K1 and KP. Though I noticed one of this nights when making a pixel shift foto with the K1 at night and chose a low iso 100 f11 with 10” of exposure time, the result foto has noticeable hot pixels. What you think is the reason for that? Thanks in advance.

How did it take me this long to find this channel??? Thanks for the tips, I think I will be leaning on your channel to get into all that my K1ii can do!

I can't find the night vision setting in my K1 menu 😢 how am i missing this??

I’m doing back to Pentax, specifically K1, having wondered off into several other worlds and finding the grass was not greener. In the process i found your channel and even though it haven’t yet attempted night photography. You inspire me and i will soon go out there and do it.

I have the K-70, and besides the quality, what impresses me most is it's versatility. Excellent for day & night photography, has 4K time lapse vid capability as part of the in-camera intervalometer, composite stacking, Pixel Shift resolution, stand alone astro functions. And it does great with a T-ring adapter and 2" nosepiece plugged into my 120ED telescope. Forgot to mention all the old legacy K mount lenses I've collected (dirt cheap). Though some functions are unavailable on these older lenses, they have excellent glass. Especially as the APS-C crop sensor in the K-70 only uses the best part of the lens, most of these are better than they were on a 35mm film camera.

Thank you explaining the two bulb modes. Because I did not test out the electronic cable and bulb combo prior to shooting summer fireworks, I was puzzled and did not fully enjoy the firework show. BTW, Bulb mode type 2 was called "T" mode on some film cameras and view camera lenses.

Whatever it is, I hope it comes out quickly. It's tough to wait. I'm a fan of Pentax, but I wouldn't say I like the slow development and few updates.

Focus stacking in camera

Thank you for this! Clear and concise. All the best to you!

Superb, thank you!

Great video and the recognition is well deserved.

Nice video. I've never used user settings myself on any camera I've had, but I'm thinking about it now because I'm planning on buying a K-1. I've been missing using a proper DSLR since I had a Canon 5D many years ago but eventually downsized to M43, and then to just a single Panasonic FZ1000 when I didn't do that much photography, which I think still might be one of the best all-in-one cameras ever made, with a lens that is sharper than a superzoom should be allowed to be, and it also does an amazing job for video. Image quality wise, it also outperforms many later more expensive and higher-rated cameras. The K-1 flew under my radar a bit since I wasn't looking at cameras when it came out, but to me it seems very close to being the perfect camera for many occasions.

I admire your talent for putting together this kind of talk. The Q&A give-aways are a great idea.

Nice job Tim. I learn something new every time I see one of your presentations.

This was awesome! Thank you for posting it!

Nice job, Tim, congratulations on the pictures being developed that big.