Sports Photography Settings For The Pentax K3

[@LeeIveson]

Let me know any other settings to try for action shots! And if you try mine, let me know how you get on with them. Cheers

[@krustysurfer]

I shoot 1/3 stop under exposed so the camera can shoot at a higher shutter speed and not lose the details in blown out highlights keeping them as I lift the detail in the shadows post production which artificially effectively gives me perceived higher dynamic range and sharper saturated images 😉

[@danigonzalez4299]

Thanks Lee. Next race (in a week) will try the dissassociate AF button first day. Also the expanded AF points (never ever knew how to do that, and always work on one single point) and User modes. I just set 3 (two "experimental") and the normal one I am comfortable with. I don't like TAV i found it taking huge differences in light mettering while on a burst. I rather go for TV + Auto Iso if needed, or I set it up when I know which one I like. a part from that the main difference is I do use a different light metering system. (maybe that also messes up). I do also give Menu Option 16. Value 1, and 18. Value 4. I think this should need to go like that. Also 17. In position 2. It works for me :-P And yeah I never ever let just 1 shoot, I need to follow my subject because at Circuit, anytime any meter can be different. So I keep the tracking until its gone. But that is what works for me. BR

[@LeeIveson]

That's the thing we all have our own go to settings, mine have changed over time & i'm sure I'll add to them going forward, its all about trying stuff out to see what works the best for the given situation. Thanks for giving me a few different things to try out for next time. Cheers

[@danigonzalez4299]

@@LeeIveson Yes exactly! Thanks to you too. Sharing is caring :)

[@toddm6999]

Those are clear clean setting configuration and menus. very easy to use ...fer sure

[@LeeIveson]

The menu system is clean! So easy to use.

[@KobieMC]

You've covered it all man. Same settings I use. The only difference since I shoot alot of birds in flight so I need AF hold to be on for when I have to shoot through tree branches while panning.

[@LeeIveson]

AF hold is great for that scenario, I'm just thinking . . . would AF hold be something similar to a lens with a focus limiter option?

[@KobieMC]

@@LeeIveson Not really. With a lens focus limiter, you're just limiting the lens from focusing closer to you. You're telling the lens to keep the minimum focus distance further away etc. With AF hold, once it locks focus at a certain distance it will temporarily hold that distance so no matter what gets between the camera and the initial subject, the focus will remain locked onto the target. Say there's 2 or 3 bikes but you want to focus on one of them, AF hold will maintain the lock on the one biker while the others can be in front and behind (say you're shooting from the side of them) the one you want in focus will remain in focus and the camera will ignore the other bikes.

[@LeeIveson]

@@KobieMC I get ya, I'll have to give that a go, panning using AF hold focusing on 1 rider, now all I need is the riders to play ball lol

[@longanddeadly]

Thanks for putting out pentax vid guys.

[@haenzelv6287]

This is exactly the way I shoot action shots. Coming from manual focus SLR, I know how to anticipate movement and getting it right with one shot. (And I learned to be mindful of the number of shots I fire...) A DSLR is also limited in shutter life so I didn't let go of this behaviour. Nice video with valuable info!

[@LeeIveson]

Thanks! 100% You've got to take care of that shutter they don't last forever!

[@scrptwic]

I set my K3-11 the same way as it works for me on bird photography on the beach. If want everything in focus I use F-11. If I'm tracking a bird I use F- 6.5 on my 55-300 PLM lens

[@LeeIveson]

That's the one! its really easy to change shutter or aperture values on the fly to get the result your looking for, I think this way of shooting will really shine on the new K3 iii, I already know my ISO is fine to go up to 6400-8000 on the K3 & 12800! On the K-70 using TAV, I cant wait to see what ISO the K3 iii is good for! (Dark woodland shots here I come . . . when I can afford the new body lol)

[@stephenobermeier8374]

Thanks for sharing that Lee

[@LeeIveson]

No problem :)

[@Climber485]

TAv mode, one of the unsung reasons to shoot Pentax 😊👍

[@LeeIveson]

Its class, I use it all the time for moving subjects!

[@CampanelliCMP]

Hi Man. What I have in my KP as "SPORT" (USER MODE 5 renamed) is also TvAv mode, but the difference is in "Auto ISO" setting. There, I adjusted program mode for "running man", set auto ISO between 100 and 3200 and limited my shutter speed to 1/125. Every time I push "green button", my shutter speed is 1/125. With telephoto lens that allows me to quickly swith into some kind od SUB-USER 5 mode, which I call (in my head) "the panning mode", bacasuse most of the time I do panning with DA*50-135/2.8 and 1/125 is suitable in whole range. I also switched off every exposure nad lens correction, apart from "noise reduction with high ISO". I left it on "AUTO". With regards my friend. The Fan.

[@CampanelliCMP]

Ps. I switch-off all corrections becasue that also affects the fps.

[@LeeIveson]

This makes total sense! This would work really well for me too as I'm often switching between freezing the action & panning shots! I will have to try this (hopefully I can do it on the K3) Thanks for the info!

[@LeeIveson]

@@CampanelliCMP I thought as much, I wasn't sure as I'm not the most technical.

[@CampanelliCMP]

@@LeeIveson so do I :):)

[@LeeIveson]

How do you limit your shutter speed to 1/125 when pressing the green button?

[@sdhute]

Can you use the back button focus when using the OVF? Do you need to keep the back button pressed down while hitting the shutter button ?

[@LeeIveson]

Yes I hold the back button down for continuous AF while tracking the subject & firing shots off.

[@cdmikelis]

You're doing similar than me. I take one by one images. I have impression that regardless how much FPS a camera have (3, 5, 7, 11) perfect shot will always be in the between the frames taken. So I rather take one shot and "f**it" if I missed. :) Also I tend to crop a bit, or nothing, mostly just for perspective correction or something. ON the other hand I'm videographer and joke that modern cameras are video cameras already with 20 fps+ and it's not fun to cull image from seconds of "footage" of 50 megapixel raw files. Time is money! I have NVMe drive, 32 GB, 6 core Razen and what not, but even loading time from SD card, regardless if 90MB/s is waste of time. Pentax forced me to act like photographer not videographer. Premare, prefocus on area, check settings ans wait. One can get approaching F1 car like this. And from distance DOF is just enough to hold whole vehicle in focus. Pentax have fabulous AF feature called Catch-IN-Focus. It can nail perfectly anything even at F-1.4 on M lense. I use it a lot. I use M lenses as AF lenses. Just I need to turn focus ring instead of motor and lock is not in 1/4 second, but in one second. Let say approaching bride from isle, it does not matter how "slow" or sloppy I am, camera will fire when object in focus, and than reaction is instant, so no missed focus at all. If only I could reliably hold center AF point where I need it.

[@LeeIveson]

I love the catch in focus feature, like you say it nails the focus for you! I only wish that the focus point could be moved from the centre, but a little crop never hurt anyone 😆

[@cdmikelis]

@@LeeIveson I figured out the only center AF point is with old M lenses. All modern lenses that have proper MF switch, all AF points can be used. My only lens as such is Sigma 18-15 Art. All other lenses either have no MF switch (DA lenses, where focus ring turns during focusing), or stupid clutch system, which only disengage focus ring, but camera still focuses internally (Tamron 70-200). So with modern lenses that have MF switch /the one that signals the camera not to focus even if AF knob on body is in AF position, those lenses will allow you all AF points. For me Pentax-M 50/1.4 is very lovely lens, but center AF often means odd framing of people, so either I need to be further away from them, which defeat wanted tiny DOF, or I reduce angle of view if I crop top 1/3 out and is good only for portraits. ... So with old lens only center AF, while most recent lenses does AF good and no need for CiF.

[@LeeIveson]

@@cdmikelis Thanks for the info, I've never tried it with a modern lens with a manual switch on the lens, I'll have to take a look at my collection to see if I have any, like you say the AF on the modern lenses is good so no need for catch in focus, unless for a specific reason.

[@cdmikelis]

@@LeeIveson welcome. Sigma 18-35 is pretty slow so I used that rather than "gamble". Also kids moving even when you say they should stand still - back and forth, just enough to mess AF on Pentax into constant catch up (at least on K5ii). So CiF Is good for very precise portrait when you set AF point to eye pupil and than it does not matter if person moves forward 2 cm or not. It will take shot when desired part is in focus.

[@takuan650]

What a joke to shoot action with. I could barely get a shot in focus in any mode with mine. I put my K3 away years ago and got cameras that actually focus properly.

[@LeeIveson]

Sorry to hear that you couldn't get the shots.

[@pafaccount4454]

The lens is more important than the camera. My 100mm Vivitar is inconsistent, while my Pentax 35-80 is snappy.

[@samsaunders3856]

Another video going too fast

[@LeeIveson]

Hover over the player and click Settings . Click Speed. Select the speed at which you'd like the video to be played 👍

[@Mr.Thermistor7228]

Motocross is big in the uk eh? Awesome images man, im getting a k-3 soon and watch your videos to learn thank you

[@LeeIveson]

Well it's not as big as it is in the states but yeah it's a thing haha! The MXON 2024 is in the UK next month, really wish I was going with the camera 😪. I still have the original K3 a great camera 📷 thanks for watching. Cheers

[@XXX-vy6xv]

With all the comments about settings in your last video I was hoping this one would follow. Thanks a lot.

[@LeeIveson]

Yeah I had a lot of people message me about my settings too! Hopefully it helps out. Cheers