Pentax K1 Firmware Update! January 2024

Yep, the nearly eight year old Pentax K1 got an update adding two additional Astrotracer modes. What's that all about and do you need them? Let's discuss!
Pentax K1 Firmware Page: www.ricoh-imag...
Night Photography Workshops, Tours and More:
www.capecodworkshops.com

[@GeoffMoorePhotography]

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.

[@PentaxLife]

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

[@PaulSafford]

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!

[@HanoverJohn]

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.

[@CapeNightPhotography]

Thanks! Yes, it is nice to have the option. I did end up doing the update on one of my bodies after recording this video but have not had the opportunity to test the other modes yet. I will say that the camera does seem to be a little zippier, if that makes any sense!

[@kphotographyonline4537]

God I love this Camera!

[@PeterRattfeldt]

Update worked fine for me.

[@mgtraducciones]

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.

[@CapeNightPhotography]

I will be trying it and doing a follow up video! I did end up installing it on one of my bodies and plan to do some testing in February on all modes. More to come! And yeah, one of my bodies is slow to calibrate and often I have to try multiple times. The other one nails it pretty quickly on most nights. I use the 15-30 also. What you mention about the type 3 makes sense. I am also wondering if it will be affected by bright lights in the foreground like a blink light house, or even a passing car. Looking forward to finding out! Happy shooting!

[@MotoRich900]

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.

[@CapeNightPhotography]

Greta to hear about the Type 3! I am planning a follow up video after I can actually test the other two modes. Happy shooting!

[@christianlainesse4281]

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...

[@js2765]

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.

[@yoba4745]

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!

[@lloydshell3104]

Haven't updated yet. Not an early adopter.

[@tomsun3159]

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.

[@chrisgreni4335]

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).

[@douglasstemke2444]

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

[@duckfan7684]

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

[@CapeNightPhotography]

You can pick which one you want! It adds the other two options to the menu when you enable it. I will be trying them out next month. Happy shooting!