Pentax Monochrome

shawn said:
The other sensor that can do something similar (for monochrome) is the Foveon. First level is basically full spectrum and can be used for monochrome with the second and third layers to recover highlights. The other layers are reduced in signal by the design itself. Iridient Developer took advantage of this for Foveon Merrills with their Sigma XDR Monochrome processing mode.

Hopefully Sigma is able to release their FF Foveon camera at some point.
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All due respect to these cool old sensors, which I have followed in the past, I think the modern BSI CMOS without a Bayer array offers such razor sharpness at such a huge ISO range that I doubt you'd get any improvement from implementing these technologies.
 
I really love the tonality of your B&W images Vitaly. How much post processing are you doing on these, and what program are you using?

Best,
-Tim
 
agentlossing said:
You are hitting on probably my biggest problem with the camera. I'm not even complaining about Pentax specifically here; every system which has APS-C cameras that share a lens mount with full frame cameras frustrate me, because APS-C is a really awkward crop for full frame lenses. If you like telephoto, especially short telephoto, great. And I actually really like the 70-75mm range. But it's simply not versatile enough to stick a full frame 50mm on APS-C and call it a day. I did that for years with my Nikon D40 when I could only afford one Nikkor 50mm prime. It's a sometimes awesome combination but also often frustrating and impossible for close quarters with people.

Now, Pentax does have some really nice APS-C lenses, especially the DA Limited line. Most of them aren't as large maximum aperture as you mentioned, so if you really must have the shallow DoF all the time, then they're not great replacements. But if you stop down at all, then they're equivalent lenses, plus you can shoot crazy high ISO on the Monochrome no problem. The 15mm and 21mm DA Limited lenses, and then the cheap 35mm 2.4 would be a nice kit.

But back to my problem: I have a K-1 II, and I love it. But I'm forced to think of these two Pentaxes as two different formats. The only lens I own which is actually versatile on both is the FA 31mm Limited, which is a great lens, but it's expensive and according to my calculations, it would have to be sold in the short term to keep the Monochrome, which defeats the purpose. The other lenses I enjoy on the K-1, the 35-105mm 3.5, 35-70 3.5-4.5, couple of 50 1.7 versions and 50 1.4 are not useful everyday lenses for the APS-C. That's really frustrating. I owned the FA 35mm f2 for a while, but it's not really sharp enough optics to function as a good nifty fifty equivalent on the APS-C.

If I sacrificed other gear to keep the Monochrome I wouldn't be able to afford the 15mm and 21mm DA lenses just for the Monochrome. I could get the 35mm 2.4 but then I'm putting a very budget lens on a high-end body for a while.

Oh yeah, if you want to consider the Monochrome with a standard equivalent fast lens, the FA 31mm Limited is your best bet for really nice optics, the older SMC version isn't horrible.
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It's deeply puzzling that, despite almost every camera manufacturer having extensive experience making APS-C cameras, Fujifilm has been the only one to have made a serious commitment to APS-C lenses. Nikon, Canon and Sony, after having put their chips on full frame sensors, at least have the excuse that they want to put their customers on an upgrade path towards full frame. It's an awful excuse but Pentax/Ricoh doesn't have that! They've only made two variations of a single 24x36 body and everything else has been APS-C or smaller. And they still have a very limited selection of APS-C prime lenses. Very little coverage and even less that's fast.
 
Evergreen States said:
It's deeply puzzling that, despite almost every camera manufacturer having extensive experience making APS-C cameras, Fujifilm has been the only one to have made a serious commitment to APS-C lenses. Nikon, Canon and Sony, after having put their chips on full frame sensors, at least have the excuse that they want to put their customers on an upgrade path towards full frame. It's an awful excuse but Pentax/Ricoh doesn't have that! They've only made two variations of a single 24x36 body and everything else has been APS-C or smaller. And they still have a very limited selection of APS-C prime lenses. Very little coverage and even less that's fast.
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I agree with you that Pentax's assortment of APS-C lenses is limited and I am somewhat surprised that Sigma and others have dropped out of the market for k mount lenses given the Pentax gaps in lens selection. From personal experience as a working pro, for events I work with f/2.8 zooms since they are more than adequate optically and are very convenient. In my studio where I shoot a lot of artwork I use 3 Pentax macros (35/2.8, 50/2.8 and 100/2.8) as well as a Sigma 70 /2.8 and an Irix 150/2.8. All of them are optically excellent and do the jobs that I need them for. I personally don't need f/1.4 wide angles and wouldn't pay the price for them if Pentax made them, but I realize that everybody's needs are different and these might be essential for others.

Fuji has clearly differentiated their market to APS-C and medium format, so having a full line of APS-C lenses makes sense for them in a way that doesn't quite work for Pentax, since full frame sensors have come down considerably in price from where they started, and all of their DSLRs share a common lens mount. Nothing stops me from using full frame lenses on my Pentax APS-C DSLRs, and most of the lenses that I own cover full frame even though I was a late comer to a Pentax K 1, although a long time user of Pentax 35 mm film SLRs.

I have frequently had students ask for advice about cameras and sometimes they will hesitate to get into a system if the long fast telephotos needed for pro sports photography aren't there even if they aren't interested in pursuing that type of photography. My advice has always been to pick the system that has the lenses that you need now available now and not to depend on future plans that may never come to the market. It is also important to identify real needs as opposed to wants if you're going to be a working pro. Capital investments have to pay off to maintain and grow a business. Hobbyists have the luxury of buying what they want regardless of whether it makes money.
 
Ultimately, I decided to bid farewell to the K-3 III Monochrome. If I had a lot more money earmarked for new photo gear, I'd have kept it and bought a few DA Limited lenses, but I don't. And I also need to keep the FA 31mm, because it's actually one of the few Pentax wide angle primes which performs really well on the K-1. There are some others but most of the ones I'd be interested in are manual focus primes which command a pretty high price due to being rare. I'm also really pleased with the way the 31mm performed on APS-C, so maybe at some point I'll pick up a cheaper Pentax crop DSLR as well. Maybe in the future I'll be able to revisit the Monochrome, because I do really, really like it.

But my experience reiterated what I already know: the K-1 mark II is a splendid camera. I bought a small Domke bag which just fits the camera and a lens, so it's a bit easier to lug it around now.
 
Timmyjoe said:
I really love the tonality of your B&W images Vitaly. How much post processing are you doing on these, and what program are you using?

Best,
-Tim
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I'm using the gimp after importing the raw file (dng) through rawtherapee. Basically using a succession of adjustment tools (exposure -> levels -> curves -> brightness/contrast...). The overall effect I'm after is something analogous to that of "silver-rich" film/paper materials -- lots of depth and gradation of tones in the shadows. A few times I've tinkered with combining layers with different exposure values, though so far that process hasn't been consistent. The monochrome files are fun to work with, very clean, tons of information, rather amazing what you can pull up.
 
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