Pentax Monochrome

Well, I did it. I just ordered the Pentax K-3 Mono! I just got the DA 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 AL WR zoom to go with it. I know I need something better. But I broke the bank already! They say it will come tomorrow, but with FedEx, I know it will be a day or so later. Now, the learning begins!
That Pentax kit lens is better than it deserves to be for the price. I've had a couple of them and while nobody would mistake them for a mega buck Leica lens the performance was surprisingly good when stopped down a bit. And when the hole in your wallet does fill up again there are lots of used K mount lenses out there that are good performers for less than a king's ransom.
 
That Pentax kit lens is better than it deserves to be for the price. I've had a couple of them and while nobody would mistake them for a mega buck Leica lens the performance was surprisingly good when stopped down a bit. And when the hole in your wallet does fill up again there are lots of used K mount lenses out there that are good performers for less than a king's ransom.

I had heard that, so I'm not too worried in the short term. I also know that I will be looking for some of the older lenses. I'll be asking for some advise when the time comes!
 
I had heard that, so I'm not too worried in the short term. I also know that I will be looking for some of the older lenses. I'll be asking for some advise when the time comes!
Preemptively, the FA 50 1.4 looks really nice on the Monochrome, especially the smooth, creamy bokeh. I got rid of mine in the flurry to actually be able to afford the Monochrome, but I got to shoot with the combo for a little while and I really liked the results. I was just going over some of my older shots, which is what reminded me of this.
 
Okay, I have a dumb question. I have the camera in Av mode. How do I change aperture? It is stuck on f8. Nothing I do works! The manual sucks.

Figured it out. Accidently pressed the AF Mode button. That changed the e-control to afc/afs mode. Which lost the aperture change function for a while. I just lucked into a fix that reverted it back to normal.
 
Okay, I have a dumb question. I have the camera in Av mode. How do I change aperture? It is stuck on f8. Nothing I do works! The manual sucks.

Figured it out. Accidently pressed the AF Mode button. That changed the e-control to afc/afs mode. Which lost the aperture change function for a while. I just lucked into a fix that reverted it back to normal.
I find the Pentax frustratingly complicated in comparison to a Leica Monochrom.
 
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I think it takes a combination of knowledge of Pentax DSLR methodology and Ricoh GRIII methodology to operate the K-3 III smoothly! There are a lot of legacy Pentax items, but overall K-3 III has the newer GRIII menu style.

I agree the manual is not much. The e-book over at Pentax Forums provides what is lacking; that community is really the destination for learning your Pentax.
 
K3M0003-BW.jpg


Third image from the new camera. Processed from the DNG file, using ACR, and Photoshop.
 
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