Pentax KP
What do members think of the Pentax KP and the compact standard zoom
I know of someone who uses it and thinks it is an amazing camera.
The reviews praise it, what appeals to me is it's small for a DSLR and finally decent Jegs out of a Pentax, might look around for a used one
Although I've chopped and changed cameras a lot over the last 5 years, experiments into various Mirrorless Cameras and different brands, I've returned to owning a Pentax KP primarily for the optical viewfinder. Although I see the many benefits of Mirrorless, for me looking through glass just feels more comfortable on my eye, having said that I also make a lot of use of the tilt viewfinder in liveview too.
The KP is a solid camera and a nice size, it can play into both worlds of being a classically sized DSLR with larger lenses or something more discrete if you get a 40mm pancake lenses and use the small grip.
Regarding the DA18-55mm, I've had many copies of this lenses and pushed it to its limits. It's plenty sharp enough and generally good all rounder, although I feel it suffers from field curvature issues, you can point it at a brick wall and it's sharp corner to corner, but out in the field often it can suffer from soft edges no matter what focal length or aperture. I feel the DA18-50mm which I've also had is slightly better than the DA18-55mm, although I pushed the boat out and bought the DA20-40mm as my go to lens for travel/landscape.
The KP is a solid camera and a nice size, it can play into both worlds of being a classically sized DSLR with larger lenses or something more discrete if you get a 40mm pancake lenses and use the small grip.
Regarding the DA18-55mm, I've had many copies of this lenses and pushed it to its limits. It's plenty sharp enough and generally good all rounder, although I feel it suffers from field curvature issues, you can point it at a brick wall and it's sharp corner to corner, but out in the field often it can suffer from soft edges no matter what focal length or aperture. I feel the DA18-50mm which I've also had is slightly better than the DA18-55mm, although I pushed the boat out and bought the DA20-40mm as my go to lens for travel/landscape.
Thanks Rick, I grew up with manual SLR's with optical view finders,, Praktika, Pentax Spotmatic, Canon, Minolta, so its a welcome change to see a DSLR with a decent OVF. all credit to Pentax.
My old Sony A 57 had a curvature straightening program plus distortion correction etc.
I guess it always pays to get the best lens you can afford, Yes, i'm a bit lazy when it comes to PP so the camera must produce good Jpegs, like the Olympus, Canon etc. DP Reviews said the image quality was top class and the Jpegs were excellent which was a change from the rather poor Jpegs in previous Pentax cameras.
What about 3rd party lenses as a standard zoom,such as the Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 which is highly thought of, but not sure if they do a Pentax mount. I'm still in the process of some research into this camera and lenses and your input has been of great help. possibly look for a used one. Most of my work is landscape/general/ museums/ vintage car rallies etc.
My old Sony A 57 had a curvature straightening program plus distortion correction etc.
I guess it always pays to get the best lens you can afford, Yes, i'm a bit lazy when it comes to PP so the camera must produce good Jpegs, like the Olympus, Canon etc. DP Reviews said the image quality was top class and the Jpegs were excellent which was a change from the rather poor Jpegs in previous Pentax cameras.
What about 3rd party lenses as a standard zoom,such as the Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 which is highly thought of, but not sure if they do a Pentax mount. I'm still in the process of some research into this camera and lenses and your input has been of great help. possibly look for a used one. Most of my work is landscape/general/ museums/ vintage car rallies etc.
Personally I don't find processing from RAW enjoyable, preferring minor tweaks if needed to the out-of-camera JPGs, in my case using Photoworks which I find very rapid.
The KP provides a lot in-camera JPG control, Custom Image - Bright/natural/muted/saturated etc, each that can be then adjusted and stored to your taste. Dynamic Range, Clarity, Skin Tones, plenty of JPG enhancing features too. In addition, all your preferences can be stored as User configurations that you can switch to just using the main dial, so you can store your preferences named as your choice for example Landscape / Portrait / Long Exposures and dial them in when the situations arise.
I've not used any third party lenses recently so can't help on that front, all the lenses I currently have are Pentax branded, although the standard lenses are very good, the Limited Primes (and the 20-40mm zoom) are definitely superior as you'd expect.
The KP provides a lot in-camera JPG control, Custom Image - Bright/natural/muted/saturated etc, each that can be then adjusted and stored to your taste. Dynamic Range, Clarity, Skin Tones, plenty of JPG enhancing features too. In addition, all your preferences can be stored as User configurations that you can switch to just using the main dial, so you can store your preferences named as your choice for example Landscape / Portrait / Long Exposures and dial them in when the situations arise.
I've not used any third party lenses recently so can't help on that front, all the lenses I currently have are Pentax branded, although the standard lenses are very good, the Limited Primes (and the 20-40mm zoom) are definitely superior as you'd expect.
RAW PP can be very time consuming and just trying to get it right is a bit of headache. I PP my Jpegs on the Sony Alpha play memories site, seems pretty good. and achieves the desired effect. The best 2 cameras for out of camera Jpegs are Fuji and Olympus, they hardly need any tweaking. I have an old Olympus E-600 4/3 with 14-54 f/2.8 Zuiko and its only 12 mp but the out of camera Jpegs are stunning, or as one review site said we were blown away.
When Ricoh hiked lens prices by quite a bit some time ago the photo press were very critical and Pentax owners were none too happy. Hoya used to own Pentax and it was rumoured they made some of the Pentax lenses and still do apparently. Not sure being owned by Ricoh was/is a good or bad thing. I shall keep looking for used as new the KP is a crazy price
When Ricoh hiked lens prices by quite a bit some time ago the photo press were very critical and Pentax owners were none too happy. Hoya used to own Pentax and it was rumoured they made some of the Pentax lenses and still do apparently. Not sure being owned by Ricoh was/is a good or bad thing. I shall keep looking for used as new the KP is a crazy price
One of the considerations with RAW (these days) is that you don't get the benefit of in-camera distortion correction as you do with JPEG.
This can matter, or not, depending on the device being used.
I do shoot RAW with my system camera but, although it has the capability, I certainly don't bother with RAW on my smartphone.
This can matter, or not, depending on the device being used.
I do shoot RAW with my system camera but, although it has the capability, I certainly don't bother with RAW on my smartphone.
Yes, with RAW PP everything has to be processed and adjusted, as the word RAW implies, its what the sensor sees without any interference.
Still this KP camera seems to be a vast improvement Jpeg wise and I like its size, reviews say the battery life is not very good, so a spare would be a good idea. I'm looking now for a used one.
Still this KP camera seems to be a vast improvement Jpeg wise and I like its size, reviews say the battery life is not very good, so a spare would be a good idea. I'm looking now for a used one.
