PENTAX K-3 Mark III Custom User Mode and why it's AWFUL!!! PENTAX... YOU NEED TO FIX THIS!

[@loco0351]

I am no where near getting to play with those yet. But I have hope right now am trying to learn how to program it to use a manual lens. I just bought an old Osawa 400mm 1:5.6 that is in perfect condition. After seeing this video I think once I learn the setting to use it well I think I will be putting it on the user setting. Once again thank you for the great content.

[@pamelahooper7851]

Thanks Kobie. I’ve only just started to program the User Modes, but do like them. So far I only use 3 modes, so it’s not a bind. It would be nice if it was simplified to use all of the user modes more easily. In the meantime I’m enjoying. Keep well.

[@KobieMC]

It is fixable but I doubt they'll put resources into it unfortunately. For me, just using the control panel and leaving the dial on U1 guarantees I'll know exactly which user mode I'm using. I guess I don't need more than one user mode assigned to the dial which seems like a waste of the dial lol. Which again (to me anyway) shows they didn't really think this part through to the end.

[@willdsie]

Thanks for this “how to” on user modes. Pentax needs to bring you in as an expert user to advise. I do see the point of putting even 5 user modes on the dial to bring up your “top 5” even if control panel gives you a deeper access to all 10. Hopefully a firmware update will bring up the labels with the dial setting and all will be good for me.

[@KobieMC]

Firmware 1.80 fixed the display issue 🙂 and thank you for the kind words!

[@dragangrasic1328]

@Kobie You're right that there is no label besides the U1-U5 slots on the status screen, this would indeed be very helpful to have. However, you do see the labels when you cycle through your stored memory slots (Boxes) when you're re-assigning the U-slots in control panel view. I can't imagine a real life scenario where you would need more that 5 User memory slots to choose from. So switching between 5 with the wheel makes sense, because it's quick. If you forgot what Box you put into your User slot just press the Info button: with the "Recall User Mode Setting" Control panel selected it will show up! So no big deal. But I agree it would be more useful to have the User slot (assigned Box) label visible at all times on the status screen. But boy, what a entertaining video! The most interesting part is to see you get really emotional here. You found something that you don't like, but does that make the camera less capable? I don't think so, it's just a personal inconvenience. While I had my own glitch and criticism of the K-3 mark III control panel view icon display (that weirdly doesn't seem to bother anybody else), the way User Setting are implemented is a non-issue for me here. Why? Because I use them the same way as on the old K-3, using only slots U1 to U5 and that's it! I'm happy about two more slots on the wheel, no problems at all. I even use the same or similar settings on both the Mark III and the old K-3 to be able to switch bodies and not screw up anything.

[@deanroslynmengel5575]

Just Realized Kobie that the set parameters only show up on the top beside U1 etc when in Live View. Could we please have USER NAME show up in OHV mode - seems to be room.

[@tedtbc4261]

Based on your feedback from the last video, I did contact Ricoh and let them know what I thought about user mode displaying on the screen. I did get an acknowledgement... Contact Ricoh: us.ricoh-imaging.com/contact-ricoh-imaging/

[@theharper1]

I raised the issue of the mode not being displayed when I got the camera last year. The naming of custom modes is pointless if the camera never displays them. It was such an obvious thing that I hoped a firmware update would address it, but no.

[@KobieMC]

I hear you. Such a simple (from our end of things) thing to fix with an overlay display of the user mode name that toggles on when you move the mode dial and turns off when you make a setting change or half press the shutter. Done.

[@theharper1]

@@KobieMC well, it should just display the name for a second then go away, as on the original K3. :)

[@mariodrechsler2618]

You're right, the name of the user mode should be visible. All the names of the predifined modes stand there too (P, Av etc.) Not to forget to mention that you have to make the BOX button visible on the info screen by editing it under C5-Control panel There you can edit the content of every field. BOX is not per default, I think. But man, we are moaning on a very high level. The user editing possibilities of Pentax are unreached. Sadly Pentax is more and more an enthusiast niche product. As I just now be in Tokyo I can tell you, that the K-3 and K-1 is not to find in the big electronic department stores like Big Camera or Yodobashi. I saw only the Ricoh GR....sad!

[@SummersSnaps]

Yeh it's not intuitive. The whole Box and User thing confused me at first as well. With the K-1 they have a similar issue with not displaying the name I think, but you can hit Info or something and it will display the User Mode name, or it splashes it up briefly when you toggle between them (I forget). I only tested it briefly with the K3III, but it looked like you could get into trouble with it (perhaps)? For example, if say you created 10 different configs, saved them to the 10 boxes, but then you HAVE to have 5 of those as User Modes as well right? What happens when you want to swap one out? Do you delete it accidentally? Box 1/U1 = Wildlife Box 2/U2 = Landscape (pixelshift) Box 3/U3 = Landscape (bracketing) Box 4/U4 = Portrait Box 5/U5 = Motorsport Box 6 = Running Box 7 = Concert Box 8 = Street Box 9 = Macro Box 10 = Astro Under this imaginary config, say you want to bring Box 10 Astro out and make it U5, what happens to Motorsport (set currently to U5)? Does it get wiped or automatically replace with Box10? I thought Box's were 'fixed' things, so it wouldn't be replaced with Box 5/U5 Motorsport, but actually perhaps just wipe out Motorsport and you'd end up with Astro being duplicated twice, once (still) in Box 10 and now again in Box5/U5 etc. I dunno... I had a brain fart with it all and it felt a little confusing. I love the idea of having additional entries, because I often wanted more than 5, but how it's done feels confusing. Perhaps the Mode Dial should not say U1-U5 like you say and instead just say 'Box', and when you rotate the Mode Dial to Box you then use the dial of the S.Fn to select which Box to use (maybe hold an additional button down as you rotate the dial and that toggles you quickly between boxes). Something like that might make more sense... I dunno... You could make more than 10 Boxes, or just have 3 Boxes, it would basically rotate toggle through the amount of Boxes you've created and a long press of a button would automatically save current config as a new config or be prompted if you want to replace or create a new one etc.

[@KobieMC]

True. I mean, all they really need to do is out overlay text up when going into the U modes to display which one you've named and then if you make a shooting parameter change or half press the shutter, it disappears and goes back to the shooting info screen. Or something like that. It's all software tweaks but again, how did nobody tell the engineer/programmer when to stop? Lol

[@dragangrasic1328]

@Eddy Since you asked, it's all pretty simple: the 10 Boxes are static and dedicated to whatever configurations you choose them to, imagine them as drawers where you put your stuff (settings) inside and label them in a clever way. Then each time you re-assign the hardware call (U1-U5) the Box you choose makes the U-slot jump over to that box. So in your particular case, when you decide to bring Astro (Box 10) to the hardware call U5 it would do just that, U5 would jump down to the Box 10 and Box 5 (Motorsport) would be without a hardware call. It's straight forward and logical, I dunno how you would want to make this any simpler as the way it is.

[@Jeeerrreeemmm]

Couldn't agree more. They need to display user mode name on the screen, seems so easy. I was even thinking that right after I bought the camera, it WAS doing that, but I'm not sure about it. (But I do like having the 5 user modes on the dial though, it's faster than going through info screen).

[@KobieMC]

It is great having the 5 user modes but the camera can store 10 which can all be accessed in the control panel with the mode dial in any of the 5 user modes which makes the whole idea of having 5 unnamed user modes on the dial useless since you can get to all of them with names in the control panel. If they added a toggle (S.Fn) for 1-5 and 5-10 to switch between all 10 on the mode dial with the names then it would so much better!

[@deanroslynmengel5575]

Kobie the User Mode set up is Brilliant IMO but agree there is this hicup re the name allocated to the dial is not showing. After watching your video I think I know why. There is no room because all the parameters set to the user mode are shown across the top of the screen! This is admirable but I would prefer to see the name and I think you would agree with me. It would be nice to have both but for me the NAME is more relevant.

[@KobieMC]

But, they can do a text overlay to still show it temporarily then default it back to what was there before. Or once you press the shutter half way or make a shooting change the name disappears and goes back to the shooting settings.

[@deanroslynmengel5575]

@@KobieMC Yes any of those suggestions would solve it. Initially we need the NAME to come up at least.

[@jongugin9621]

I can see how that would be frustrating based on how you are using the user modes. I think if they change it so it displays the current user mode name it would help your situation. Also maybe if they could make it so the "boxes" could be drag and drop in the menu so you could shuffle them into the 5 wheel modes. As it is now you just have to overwrite them I believe. Seems like they didn't quite flesh out the extra "box" concept. I use my k-3 iii user modes a little different so I haven't run into the same issues. I just use boxes 1-5 (assigned to the wheel) and put them in order of speed. U1: landscape / product U2: portrait U3: wildlife slow U4: wildlife fast U5: video The fact that it doesn't display the user mode name doesn't bother me but I think it's a bit of oversight. One thing that does bug me is the way the menu acts when you save custom user modes. It brings you back to the naming screen which I find odd. Easy to accidentally overwrite a mode.

[@KobieMC]

Very easy to wipe out an existing mode by accident. Took me a while to realize that there is no actual "confirm by clicking OK" lol

[@jongugin9621]

@@KobieMC yup me too lol. I wiped out a couple of my custom user modes that way.

[@danilotavecchio8558]

@@KobieMC yes, this is even more stupid to me ! I do not have the need to use more then 3 or 4 user mode so it won't be a big deal to remember what they are for but i am always entering OK to confirm, AAAARRGGHHHH !!! In any case I think they cannot fix it easily: see your video 5:21 there is the shutter mode icon after U1? That Icon is always in that position and same for all the other icons. In other words they cut the screen in pieces (frames) and assign a specific space for a specific information with a specific number of pixels. Introducing the user mode name there , that could be easily quite long name, will shift all the other icons to the right and i think there is not enough space. I see three ways to fix it: 1) reduce the size of the informations, at least on the very top line, but I am sure this is a compromise that will upset the most. 2) let the user choose which info display in the panel per each mode dial any case I agree with you : not a clever setting.

[@mjp29]

I"m more upset that they didn't include an articulating screen than things about user modes....

[@KobieMC]

Seeing as it was designed as an action camera the lack of a tilt/articulating screen doesn't bother me since I'm shooting OVF 99%. I do hear you though.

[@glen-draketoolworks7186]

I'm ready to return this frigging camera based on the incomprehensible mess that Pentax calls its User Modes. I haven't seen crap like this since the early days of personal computers. Pentax needs to hire someone who's first language is English to write their English manual. If anyone wants to know why people prefer their iPhone for taking photographs, all they have to do is pick up this doorstop and try to understand it. From the menu structure to the 2-column glasses- required landscape manual, it's hours and hours of confusion and aggravation. To test the output, I plan to shoot RAW in Manual Mode, ignoring everything except exposure and use Lightroom to make any adjustments that I might want to make.

[@x4rd]

What they also changed they way to shoot bracketing. In the old K3 you could set a 2 second break between each bracket shot, which were done one after another, with a single push of the button. In K3 3 you cant do this, the only solution is to trigger every shot manually.

[@KobieMC]

Bracketing or interval shooting?

[@x4rd]

@@KobieMC bracketing with interval shooting

[@KobieMC]

I'll have to double check this but I've been able to shoot with automatic intervals on the K-3 III.

[@GlassRestoration]

Hooking up with Bluetooth could be much easier as well. Why not just do it the way everybody else does it?

[@KobieMC]

What do you mean? I haven't had any Bluetooth issues

[@GlassRestoration]

@@KobieMC maybe it's me. It hasn't remembered my phone several times and had to go through the setup process multiple times. No such problem with my other Bluetooth connected devices.

[@KobieMC]

@@GlassRestoration Are you going through the image sync app or Bluetooth on its own? I've also heard there's differences with Apple vs Android (I'm on Android). I never pair using the app.

[@GlassRestoration]

@@KobieMC through the app on Android. The app may be the weak point.

[@KobieMC]

I never use the app to connect. Even on wifi I use the phones settings and pick Pentax then I open the app. Never had an issue that way. Trying to go through the app for the connection is a nightmare (I've tried, many times).

[@slimphotog]

Once I get past three things to remember, forget it. :)

[@KobieMC]

I totally hear you lol