Practice Session PENTAX K-3 Mark III and D FA 150-450

[@nancyclarke6624]

😂 you sound like me “bird talking”…my kind of outing! 😊 Thanks!

[@loco0351]

Great idea on a new review ! Love the critter pictures.

[@matthewp7428]

Fun video Kobie. It's refreshing to watch a photographer on KZbin go on an outing like this and express their frustrations in the moment lol. Yes, an updated review would be of interest. I'd still like this camera+lens combo one day.

[@Beckkerable]

New review about the K-3 Mark III is very welcome! Pls go for it. Thank you

[@KobieMC]

👍🏽

[@suhailzubaid9192]

Just watched this video on my TV. I took shots with you, vicariously. I think this camera and lens combination will be great to take to national parks with a lot of wildlife, such as Yellowstone in the US, Saguenay Fjord in Quebec, New Forest in UK and in those safari parks in Africa.

[@uni-byte]

That's a red squirrel.👍

[@KobieMC]

I realized that after it was too late. Red squirrels aren't really common out here so I always default to Chipmunk if it's not black or grey lol

[@uni-byte]

@@KobieMC Yeah, they are not very common in Southern Ontario. They used to be very common up here in Muskoka. In fact the Eastern Grey (the black ones and the grey ones) squirrels were extremely rare, but now they are considerably more common than the Red Squirrels. Climate change?

[@doncoombez]

Fellow pentaxian from the UK, loving your work Kobie. The best tip I ever got from a pro nature photographer is try to take as much chance out of the equation as possible to capture small birds in flight. Remove all other food sources, set up a perch near to your food source and set your focus to that perch, ensuring the flight path to the food source will broadly be in the focal plane. You will reliably get more useable shots. The K3iii (which I also have with 150-450) is a little bit of a limiting factor, the fps and buffer are a hinderance. I used to own an em1x (60 fps) and it makes it a lot easier to find one acceptable frame! That said I just prefer shooting Pentax as it is what I'm used to, and the K3iii is good enough, I prefer the iq from it compared to the olympus - keep up the great videos mate!

[@barryhiggott9458]

Go for the review.

[@KobieMC]

👍🏽

[@nirsonnenschein6066]

Yes, I'd appreciate an updated review. Thanks

[@TheSquirrelMafia]

Yes. An updated review would be nice.

[@markodell5466]

Updated k3 iii review is a great idea

[@kblack3970]

Thanks again Kobie! I just came across a photographer by the name of Martin Castein and his take on Dslr Vs Mirrorless aided in my decision to maximize my current setup before upgrading. I'm off to practice!

[@scrptwic]

Kobie Those small birds are very challenging to photograph the 150-450 can give you more space to catch them on the ground in flight nearly impossible to photograph as they change directions multiple times. I try to stick to the larger birds Pelicans, Egrets and Osprey but occasionally I do photograph the smaller birds as I like there colorful plums. I recently photographed some small Hummingbirds and Egrets nesting in Palms. It is Egret nesting season in California

[@leehaze1]

Nice video and shots!

[@KobieMC]

Thanks!

[@paulvanekeren3069]

Hello Kobie, I enjoyed your video. Would appreciate an updated review of the K-3 iii.

[@Deano1967able]

Loving the 150-450FA. on my K3ii. Spot focus and AFC mode. with a spice of Back Button Focus. Cant wait for your Video with the 600mm. deff Gimble material. but on the k3iii with a TC. you might be into the digital zoom camera range.

[@Haybaryan]

Thank you very much for the video. It's like I personally went on a photo hunt.

[@KobieMC]

You're welcome! And I'm bringing back my original formula of trying to bring people out with me on my photo outings. I'm not sure why I stopped doing these to be honest. And the first person perspective as well. Thanks for watching!

[@FlyFishFairwx]

Absolutely that would be a great idea, a SBS from box opening to full set up for various shooting styles and modes

[@andrewgallup3890]

Entertaining watching the people who did not want to get close to the guy squatted down and talking to himself.

[@KobieMC]

Lol I know right? The joys of videoing by yourself hahahaha

[@jbp6759]

I don't burst much either and always shoot RAW but those birds on the table is the first time I thought to myself "I'd put it in JPEG." The K3iii has only two weak points in my opinion: no tilt screen and small buffer. But you'd be hard pressed to hit the buffer shooting JPEGs. They are surprisingly malleable in post too... I've played with that some. You should give it a try sometime if you haven't already. RAW is best of course, but jpegs can be pushed around a surprising amount. :)

[@ericmckillen2106]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't predict when a bird is about to take off. The camera is quick enough but my brain isn't! You're also right on what you say about the buffer not being big enough if you want to shoot continuous waiting for a bird to take flight. At 11 shots per second that would be 110 shots on 10 seconds, potentially thousands of shots over a couple of hours (I used to take 400 to 600 over a 90 minute football match with my K-50 sifting through them was torture to me) I'd rather gouge my eyes out with crusty spoon that go through thousands of shots like that :P . I want more keepers from less shots :)

[@Deano1967able]

they tend to deficate. to lighten the load before flight also they need take off into the wind for flight.

[@jbp6759]

I think another K3iii review makes sense since it has been updated substantially through firmware now.

[@PUTDEVICE]

Hi Kobie M-C. When and if you fine calibrate your 150-450 with or without 1.4 converter, what distance do you have to the calibration board. what focal length are you using. and what an aperture. can't really get a super sharp picture. but it could be that I move or that objects move a few millimeters.

[@KobieMC]

It's taken me many shots and tons of time. What I ended up doing was finding a spot where I can use the full 450 mm on a flat object (sign, house, wall, post, anything relatively flat) that's far enough away where I'm near infinity focus. From there, I'll use AF.S to get focus, then slowly adjust focus manually to see if it gets sharper in either direction. I use F/5.6 if I'm just using the lens on its own. When I stage the shot I make sure I have some ground in the shot, or other objects in front of and behind the subject. That way I can tell if it's front focusing or back focusing. Also pay attention to the distance scale on the lens, do one adjustment at a time based on if it's front or back focusing. Don't go -/+5, do it in 1 step increments.

[@charlesd2109]

@@KobieMC are you aware of any online tutorial on how to calibrate that you could link to? My K3iii + 150-450 combo so far seems hit and miss. I am fine tuning my AF settings based on your various videos, but I am wondering if I also need to calibrate. I have never done it before and have no clue how to do it.

[@KobieMC]

Here is the official Ricoh Imaging page about fine tuning autofocus. www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/explore/technic/001/

[@PUTDEVICE]

@@KobieMC Thanks. Now I know roughly what distance. approximately 15-18 meters. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow so it will be perfect to try.

[@2011spikel]

Hi, what's your experience with AF HOLD on the K3iii, do you use it ie leave it on low medium or high or off completely, I recently bought the k3iii and have the Sigma 50-500mm os lens but not had much chance to try it out yet as weather been very dull and unsure really which setting to use

[@KobieMC]

I do use AF hold, but only on subjects that are moving horizontally across the scene if there'll be an object between the camera and subject. AF hold is basically a pause system that temporarily stops the AF from moving for a second. So, it's not what you'd want to use if tracking something coming towards or moving away from you.

[@2011spikel]

What settings were you using for those shots as in shutter speed and iso settings

[@KobieMC]

The shutter speeds varied as did the ISO (TAv). Aperture was 5.6. ISO from about 160-640, shutter speed for the chickadees was 1/1600-1/4000.

[@2011spikel]

Thanks Kobie much appreciated will try similar settings when we get some sun fast shutter speeds to freeze those birds 👍

[@2011spikel]

I don't really know which Program Line to use either really I've just left it on Auto and hoping it works ok

[@KobieMC]

You can't rely on Auto on anything that moves. Your best option is auto ISO (TAv) and set your own aperture and shutter speed for the subject Let the camera deal with the ISO.

[@harrison00xXx]

Pentax still make cameras? Im wondering since literally ANY of their cameras are missing video modes and they look as if they are one of the first DSLRs/cameras...

[@KobieMC]

Just to bring you up to speed, PENTAX has had video in their cameras since 2010. And yes they're still making cameras. They just don't really advertise or do any marketing outside of Japan.

[@harrison00xXx]

@@KobieMC good to know, are they also owned by mitsubishi as any other camera manufacturer or "free" from Mitsubishis oppression?

[@KobieMC]

@@harrison00xXx They're owned by Ricoh Corporation.