NEW CAMERA!!!!!

[Itchy]

I'm now more excited to chase than I have been for a couple years, camera was falling apart so bad and picture quality becoming terrible! It was taking all the software editing skills i could muster just to get the picture looking respectable. I finally was able to get fund together and got a new Pentax K-30 weather resistant camera! I noticed video mode seems to be a big deal these days and the rebels seem to be focusing on it too much for my liking. This camera has decent video but not as good as the rebels new t4i but I really didn't care about that having my camcorder anyways, I used a camera in 2008 for going back and fourth video and pictures and it was annoying during a chase big time.

I've tinkered with the t4i and this and I have to say this pentax does a lot better at noise reduction of 400 and higher than the rebel making night photography lovers like myself as well very drawn to this camera as an option and I have to say it's amazing at night.


These shots have been zero processed by me and if I had done this with my rebel with would look......terrible, wish I could compare but I'm letting someone borrow it now. Anyways here are a few shots and this is a good camera for a chaser due to its weather and cold resistance. Just make sure you have a resistant lens too. Nikon has a weather resistant cam too now I think the d600 or 800 is.

These are hand held at 1/4 of a second so there is some blur here but impressive shake reduction







The lack of noise really makes me happy, it's nice not to have to work with a raw that looks sandblasted 0_o Nice colours too

[DarkSky]

Nice camera!

Just one thing - what type of Rebel are you using? I have a T2i and it takes absolutely beautiful low-light shots. Maybe your sensor was damaged??

Keep taking and posting photos - the more the merrier! You'll have to get a nice tripod to do some lightning photos .. not that we'll ever have any lightning again this year ... OH well, bring on the snow.

[Itchy]

It was an old Xsi that I bought near the end of 2008 for about a grand! Sensor was damaged for sure as well as it took crazy humidity changes etc.... so many times

I also finally have a trigger so I can just leave my shutter open until I am satisfied!!!! Cannot wait until next spring!!!!!!

[Itchy]

Hdr shot by camera, newer cameras can process HDR images themselves, what's the catch? They can only output the result in jpeg, still the result is surprisingly good and especially the fact you can make them even if you take the shot by hand!


Here is a handheld hdr shot processed by the Pentax K-30, zero editing and noise removal by me.

[DarkSky]

Originally Posted by Itchy

It was an old Xsi that I bought near the end of 2008 for about a grand! Sensor was damaged for sure as well as it took crazy humidity changes etc.... so many times

I also finally have a trigger so I can just leave my shutter open until I am satisfied!!!! Cannot wait until next spring!!!!!!

Yep. Remote trigger release is a must for long exposures. Grab a wireless one and a chair, kick back and watch the storms while shooting

[Derecho]

Somersby! Absolutely delicious.

[Itchy]

This Camera is horribly underrated in reviews, its noise reduction is fantastic at high iso speeds!!!! Not only that deals coming and going on ebay can be amazing with this camera!!!!Recently was given some older lenses to play with too by family. An old 50 mill film lens fromt he 80's, it goes down to f2.0!!!!











the lens



Now some shots with the 18-55 standard the camera came with. The old film lens is great but NEEDS filters for dealing with certain situations because it has a very old school coating. This modern lens from Pentax deals with hid and UV light effects well.











The K-30 is a heavy hitter for the price in my books, can't wait to see how it does with storms

[davefootball123]

Great shots. I believe the reason why it is so under rated is because in the past 10 or so years Pentax has lacked in the digital world which has created a very questionable system for them. As well, their lack of new crop and full frame lenses likely set them back as well when comparing to Nikon or Canon. Definitely a fantastic camera though, especially for the price

[DarkSky]

'Gotta love fast lenses Good bokeh and low-light shooting. I've got a 50mm 1.8 for my Canon.. $110. It's construction is cheap but image quality is very good. It was like $400+ for the 50mm 1.4, and the 50mm 1.2 is pushing $2000.

[Itchy]

Originally Posted by davefootball123

Great shots. I believe the reason why it is so under rated is because in the past 10 or so years Pentax has lacked in the digital world which has created a very questionable system for them. As well, their lack of new crop and full frame lenses likely set them back as well when comparing to Nikon or Canon. Definitely a fantastic camera though, especially for the price

Yea I checked what Canon offered for the same price range...... The new T4i has much better video features and quality but the stills were lacking compared to the K-30 and that was my main concern. The T4i created a more vivid image but the K30 created something more life like with finer detail and I liked that myself. Having a camcorder I decided Image was key and chose that. Had I no camcorder I may have been swayed to the T4i because the video quality. I don't think the T4i is weather sealed like the K30 though either and that was a HUGE motivator as well