Severely underwhelming K-3ii

barbakane wrote:

There are a lot of great suggestions, and I'll calibrate the lenses tomorrow, then make a list of all the things I gotta do to get things dialed in. I know this will take time, but I want to be sure to get great shots in Colorado, cuz this may be the only oppotunity to get there.

regarding calibration when you calibrate a zoom lens there is a chance that the calibration at a focal distance then does not work that well at a different one for instance you calibrate the lens at 300mm then maybe at 60mm it might not work as good so is a balance that you might need to find. That's why imho you better stay off of that and then try to first get the basics.

About the trip, there is always chances that photos don't goes as expected, it happens to me a lot, to my friends ( i don't know if the same for others here in the forums or me and my friends are just a band of fools ) so know your gear, try different settings be careful with the dialed things as you change scenarios you could end up leaving the wrong params set in the hurry, review your shots time to time, use jpg +raw at least, and also composition is a powerful tool too.

Again IMHO, if is a more instant satisfaction what you are looking for, I would said you might find better results out of the box with an FZ1000 or other kind of camera of that category which boasts a nice sensor a veeery useful telephoto lens, built in flash, better video and a more pleasing out of the box auto mode and costs half and weights even much less of all the gear you have. Everything has it's trade of.

Next year I plan on going to Arizona, and my best friend, a photographer, lives there. He can definitely give me some tips.

for sure in a year with frequent usage of the camera you could gain A LOT of experience and also learn to develop raw files if you do not know, so you might be able to make even better use of your time there in Arizona.

again, good luck!!!