k30

[PhotoHeron]

Those that are using a K30 what has been your experience with the camera. Are you happy with photo quality.

 

[saralecaire]

Shooting with the K-30, you can easily get images on par with the higher end cameras like the Canon 7d, Nikon D7000, etc. The sensor manages noise much better than those cameras and you get better dynamic range when shooting in RAW format. Not to mentioned the 6fps burst rate which makes it as fast as the 5D III, fast enough to catch candid moments during parties/events.

With all that, it's got weather proofing, light weight, and in-body sensor stabilization means third party lenses are quite a bit cheaper than those which require VC in-lens. Couldn't ask for a better camera!

 

[drummercam]

I uploaded 2 recent K-30 shots for your perusal. Full-size, 2 different kinds of subjects, little to no PP. I haven't even straightened up the river shot yet (it was on a makeshift "tripod").

 

[Niccum]

Very happy! Check out some of my gallery if you want. Im no where near a pro but I feel im getting good shots for my skill level.

 

[britcam]

PhotoHeron wrote:

Those that are using a K30 what has been your experience with the camera. Are you happy with photo quality.

Photo quality is excellent, as other have said. The K30 is full of features, with great handling, WR and FP, - offers fantastic value. Focusing is quick and accurate.

The two buts .... are: 1) short battery life, and 2) noisy shutter (especially compared with the K5)

 

[Walt_A]

It's a very good camera that I enjoy using a lot. Picture quality is top notch, more than adequate for me with very good higher ISO. AF is much improved over my K100D/K10D(GX10) setups, AF micro adjustment is hardly needed on my lenses, which is crazy as I needed adjustment on nearly all lenses with my K100D/K10D/K-r and those only had global adjustments where the K30 has multiple.... I guess those lenses correcting for chromatic and spherical aberrations really do work and were not just marketing blurb. Focus peaking is great for my close-up and macro work. Live view AF is pretty fast for a DSLR. Overall a joy to use.

As some have mentioned short battery life compared to other dslr's, so I just carry spare batteries. My biggest problem is the flash sync of the internal flash which tries it's best to forever do fill in flash rather than just stick to 1/180's as I want. Switching to manual corrects this but then the live view screen won't brighten up to see the image and just shows a dark screen (this is really annoying and something I have never had problems with other makes of camera, panasonic, fuji, canon [all live view cameras though]). Please pentax a quick firmware update could sort this.

Oh yeah and live view button is in a daft place, return it to the K-r location please.... Otherwise highly recommend by me.

 

[eddie]

Love it, good value for money. Video just good enough but for me video has little value, for that I get dedicated video camera.

 

[ASR45]

When i did have it yes, the DRS is crap though.

 

[Simon Devlin]

britcam wrote:

PhotoHeron wrote:

Those that are using a K30 what has been your experience with the camera. Are you happy with photo quality.

Photo quality is excellent, as other have said. The K30 is full of features, with great handling, WR and FP, - offers fantastic value. Focusing is quick and accurate.

The two buts .... are: 1) short battery life, and 2) noisy shutter (especially compared with the K5)

 

[britcam]

According to DP Reviews, the K30 gives 410 exposures against 980 for the K5II - quite a difference, and its very noticeable if you have used the K-01 or the K5. If you chimp a fair bit, it means you really need to take two batteries along with you if out for any length of time, or use AA's.

I'm ok with the noisy shutter, but for those who plan on using a K30 where noise could be a problem, such as music concerts, recitals, plays, or birding say, I think they do need to be aware. Out under the wild open skies by yourself obviously its not a problem .....!

-- -
Kind regards
britcam

 

[FinDERP]

Hi, I have to say the photo quality of the K30 is very good indeed, I briefly owned a Canon 650D before this and the Pentax absolutely destroys it in every way - especially in high ISO noise. The K30's noise is actually very pleasant and natural looking, it has a very fine film-esque quality to it and only really shows up when you step beyond ISO 1600 in Raw without any noise reduction!

There are many other reasons beyond good image quality that the K30 is a real beast of a DSLR though, I personally absolutely love the ergonomic grip (and I have massive hands), as well as the beautifully bright and massive viewfinder. It is a joy to use with a lot of intuitive and intelligent features, I mostly use old manual Pentax-m lenses and the 'magic green' button that will allow you to meter even without having an automatic aperture lens is so very good indeed that it doesn't even matter that I am forced to use manual mode with these very outdated but still excellent lenses. The menus also are very well laid out, I especially love being able to turn the screen permanently off with just 3 button presses, this feature along with the excellent ISO performance makes for a very smooth and satisfying experience shooting at night.

Anyway.... I'll stop now before this turns into a full essay. Suffice to say I love the damn thing, and would not consider buying a different camera for a second if I had to make the choice again. Weather sealing is the icing on a VERY tasty cake!

 

[DDoram]

any APSC DSLR on the market. I also have the K5IIs and in some instances prefer the output of the K30. IQ is not a limitation with this camera, just our own imaginations.

Dale

 

[Simon Devlin]

Around 400 exposures is more than plenty for me. Lately I am trying (and succeeding) to reduce my count. Last Sunday I took 88 exposures. This was plenty and most of them could be keepers. I find taking more photographs only wastes even more of my life in Adobe Lightroom!

I'm starting film photography so this is good training!

If I needed more than 400 exposures I'd just buy another battery which is good to have for backup anyhow. OR 4 AA batteries (another class touch of the K30 design!)

I honestly cannot fault it, I just love the K30! The depth of detail you can pull back in shadows using RAW is astounding (which I used for my silhouetted foreground sunsets last night!)

Happy Snappy

 

[PhotoHeron]

Thank you everyone for your input, it will help in my final decision making choice.

 

[Brad99]

I've had over 1000 shots using AA Eneloops. That's with no video and about 40 flash shots.

The image quality is superb, especially in RAW. There's so many user custom adjustments as well, and it can be tailored to suit your shooting preferences, even all the different WB settings can be tweaked, button & wheel operation etc.

 

[minzaw]

--

http://i35.tinypic.com/11bngox.gif

webmastermauk

Explore webmastermauk’s 1,365 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[iTrax]

ergonomically great, IQ great, compact body + AA batteries = perfect for traveling, I love it

took with K-30 around 8k pictures during last 12 months, some of them:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/itrax/sets/72157630797782022/

K-5 is being just used occasionally

kind regards

jack

 

[Nipan_51]

The new sensor gives a higher resolution with less noise (re. to my previously owned K-x). You may gain higher IQ also, thanks to the more consistent AF, OVF with AF indicators and AF customization per individual lens.

 

[Gary Martin]

Yes, I'm very happy with mine. Although I've discovered, from reading in this forum, that 16 megapixel images are now 'obsolete,' and it now takes 24 to be relevant. I guess the Megapixel War will continue to rage on.

 

[Simon Devlin]

Gary Martin wrote:

Yes, I'm very happy with mine. Although I've discovered, from reading in this forum, that 16 megapixel images are now 'obsolete,' and it now takes 24 to be relevant. I guess the Megapixel War will continue to rage on.