It’s a big change, but I think it's the right one. After 50 years of taking photos, I’ve gone back to film photography, and black and white is what I spend most of my time on. Best of luck with the channel.
Congratulations on joining the club, PENTAX and on your first video! I'm a Pentax user and I use the K-3iii. The sample photos of K-3III Monochrome released by PENTAX mostly show street photography in cities, and there are fewer examples of bird or wild photography using telephoto lenses. I'd like to see more of your work!
My journey has been similar to yours, and this camera has delivered what I was looking for. I hope that this product marks a turn of fortune for Pentax. Pentax should communicate the message that "We sell high quality, not technology for the sake of technology". Of all the photography companies, Leica is the only one that has taken this approach, and it has worked exceedingly well for them.
I've been shooting Pentax since the K10D. I use a K-5II now. I'm interested to see more photos you get with the K-3 III Monochrome. Looking forward to see more from you.
Agree totally with your reasoning. I have sold all my Fuji gear (X and GFX) and got a Pentax 645N and have a Pentax 645D on the way. I love the rendering and experience of vintage glass.
This resonates with me a lot. I've also essentially migrated all my personal photography to the k-3 mono (mixed with some film). I love the rendering you can get out of that monochrome sensor both with older film glass as well as the modern Pentax lenses.
Excellent choice! I love my Pentax K3 III monochrome. It forces you to think about the shot, and think about how it will render. I also shoot full spectrum IR, and taking the moment to consider helps to improve the art. B&W is a lot of fun.
Wonderful narrative and story! You hit a couple thoughts I’m processing that include reducing gear inventory and going monochrome for a while. I rented the Pentax monochrome body and really struggled with all the options. However, the quality of the images and convenience of digital are amazing! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I’m subscribing! Good luck!
Oh nice, I shoot with olympus om1, Pentax K3iii, K1 and 645z, but have never thought about the monochrome for wildlife... oh dear.. I feel another purchase coming on
@@doncoombez I was tempted by the Olympus system, the pre shot and focus stacking almost won me over. But I don't regret getting the monochrome, it's very unique for sure. I think if Pentax released a monochrome 645 I'd quickly sell my K3iiiMonchrome, the images would be out of this world!
@@i.like.pixels yeah I largely went with it for the lightness of om1+300 pro, silent shooting, and the bird tracking (most useful low down). Still have and use the Pentax cameras, not just because of the lenses I own but I love the way they feel and button placement. The 645x I picked up by mistake, but a speculative bid on ebay and got it for £1k, which allowed me to scratch that itch. Images from it have such a lovely look - I agree monochrome from it would be amazing
You know what? I feel the same say. I look ay my former flagship full frame Nikon images and as myself is this all there is? I'm considering doing exactly what you did. I've been with Nikon cameras and glass for 53 years. I know my way around a darkroom and you are correct - it's totally fun but I don't have a darkroom any more. Pentax monochrome is my next adventure. Look forward to seeing more from you. Best of luck to us both.
I can't wait to see what you come up with. I love the dragonfly image. I picked up the Pentax monochrome myself not too long ago. I think I bought it mainly for my nostalgia for my days shooting b&w film, but having said that, I really like this camera. I'm using it mostly to take pictures through my microscope. I have to get out of the house more! Good luck with your channel.
@@i.like.pixels many things you look at through a microscope really have no color so this camera gives me a great high resolution image. I have the older KP that has similar resolution in color. To get a high resolution b&w image with that camera I have to use pixel shift which works, but is an extra step.
I have a similar journey to this camera. Ended up selling my Fuji GFX 50sii to fund the purchase of the k3iii mono. Felt like such a gamble at the time but surprisingly enough I’m happier with the images I create with the Pentax than I ever was with my Fuji. I still shoot film but I’m more selective nowadays due to the cost.
Fantastic video, man! Film photos that you showed are stunning, imperfections add so much character to them. K-3 photos look nice too! Good luck with your chanel and new gear, you gained yourself a new subscriber.
This sounds like the perfect kit for your uses! I've gone to full pentax two separate times, trying out the K1 when it was first released, then K1ii, KP, but never got ahold of a K3iii. I'd probably ditch my Nikon d810, d4s, d700, for Pentax a third time, if they released some new APSC primes that weren't screw drive... The motor whirl on the 100mm macro made me go mad. hah The monochrome APSC image quality/sharpness almost competes with full frame! Looking forward to more of your monochrome impressions.
@@ericfore I've also been tempted by the k1 ii, looks like such great value for it's features! Yes the screwdrive is a little unique, I like to think of them as manual lenses but with af as a side feature. I've been putting the k3monochrome through it's paces for about a month now, and I'd agree it's basically as good as full frame. Truly exceptional!
You certainly make your Monochrome sing. Those samples are amazing, particularly considering how little time you had to get used to the new camera. Pentax is probably not the worst system to try when you're looking for that little extra in rendering. Microcontrast, dynamic range, 3D pop, vibrant yet believable colours - all of these can often be unlocked in spades from the RAW output - without that much force. You might even like what you would get from the regular colour version of the K-3 Mark III for that matter. Enjoy your journey!
I've yet to try any raw files, I'm not a huge fan of photo software. But once I get a decent memory deck sorted to handle the larger data size I'll give them a try.
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am looking forward to seeing your further updates! Concerning the 5D image: I for one like the fact that the wings are out of of focus (at least on the screen here). It gives the picture a more natural look in my opinion. All these pictures taken at 1/10000000000000000000000th may well freeze the image but often lack 'life' in them, I find. Greetings from Belgium
@@l.nauwelaerts195 I never considered it like that. When I look back at my favourite photos their rarely perfect, like you say a frozen image lacks life.
Interesting video - I’m concentrating on video at the moment (another world, of course) but when I was taking stills, the thing that I noticed was the making of a very high quality B&W print was much easier in the darkroom than using - even a high spec - home printer. That’s possibly not a consideration with yourself (if you’re not going back to having a darkroom) and - of course - there are some specialist B&W digital printing services delivering impressive results - but a second hand enlarger can be got dirt cheap these days and - so - it’s tempting to think “wet processing” again !
@@Digibeatle09 I agree b&w printing in the darkroom was surprisingly easy, my experience with digital printing at home has been disappointing as well. Thankfully I had a great local printing service for my b&w canvas, however like many media businesses they closed doors in recent years. Such a shame! I won't completely rule out returning to the dark room one day, it just requires so much space. And housing in England makes it impossible without significant wealth, but purhaps one day I'll dust off my enlargers and rediscover the joy of the darkroom.
Though I am just a hobbiest, but my feelings are exactly the same. I consider colour primarily for documentation and to record. Always believed aesthetic richness of B&W...Sold all my accumulation of Canon gear, and gladly fully switched to Pentax, purely due to Monochrome K3 miii camera. Leica Monochrome, though existed for decade, but is beyond my wildest dream/more appropriately, nightmare.
I used It for about a year, shot monochrome only during a six month period. I have sold it now, good camera. For my needs I needed to move another camera, hence sold it.
Okay, first love your personal take on photography. I do have a totally unrelared question though. I'm in the Ststes and have visited Europe several times and birder hard there. I have yet to see a European Kingfisher. Where are you seeing your subjects?
Unfortunately their numbers have suffered for the last 5 years, so sightings are much harder in my part of England. However it's always worth trying the wildlife trusts around Britain, they tend to have great knowledgeable staff that can point you in the right direction.
Interesting video (well set of videos in fact), I have looked enviously at the Leica monochrome cameras, but the justification of spending the eye watering amounts of cash to not only buy a body but lenses as well, were just not on my radar (I would be headed for divorce 3 if they were). But sadly this Pentax is still way above what I could justify price wise, plus its a fairly hefty beast to lug around, 800+ grams for the body. So whilst the dynamic range, sharpness etc are without question fantastic, I will stick with my faithfull XT3 and convert in NIK Silver Efex.
XT3 is a great camera, and if it gets you taking pictures all the better! I would say after the three months of using the camera, I'm not sure I'd buy it again. Its a big investment just to get the edge in quality, the subject always wins.
@CP23798 i haven't really found a normal lens I like yet, I use the basic 50mm f/1.8 on the k1 currently and really like it. But I haven't settled on an apsc standard yet, I think maybe the 20-40 would do nicely though. But it holds a very high price.
@@AdamGibril the k1 ii is definitely on my radar, I only hear good things about it. I'll have to demo one soon, see how it handles the 150-450mm. I'd like to try some photography of foxes with the K1 ii.
@@i.like.pixels Yes, that 150-450mm is sweet, good for muscles workouts too). One tip regarding K1 ii (in case you did not know), use iso125 as your base iso for shooting high DR images, or else you'll get magenta on black subjects in shadows at iso100, that's due to the new accelerator unit built in.
I wish there was an affordable monochrome camera. For now i use sony 7riii but id love to add a monichrome camera as i love doing black and white film photography. But noone seems to sell such a things at a reasonable price :(
@@GuitarVocalHEroes purhaps the best way is to have a old camera converted, even removing just the ir filter makes great black and white gains. Something I've done in the past, but obviously not as good as a true monochrome conversion.
@@GuitarVocalHEroes I did the procedure on my first DSLR a 1000d, as it was old and not worth much. I believe I followed a tutorial online, it is very invasive so if you don't have experience with electronics it's not advised. There are websites that promote it,but they are pricey too, but cheaper than monochrome conversions. Purhaps I'll do a comparison for those interested in black and white digital work, I'll do one showing colour, IR removed and monochrome. That way you can decide for your self if it's work the risk. Alternatively, there are eBay sellers that sell IR converted camera for very good prices. I've paid less than £300 for old cameras with full spectrum sensitivity. Hope this helps, and I'll be sure to do a comparison in the future 😁
I don't have social media yet, but I'm thinking of building a website to showcase my old and new photos. I don't mind helping out, there's so little information about this camera, and its hard to trust mainstream RUclips sometimes as I've personally found out.
It’s a big change, but I think it's the right one. After 50 years of taking photos, I’ve gone back to film photography, and black and white is what I spend most of my time on. Best of luck with the channel.
There really is something about a good film photo that's hard to beat, perhaps one day I'll return to it.😁
Congratulations on joining the club, PENTAX and on your first video! I'm a Pentax user and I use the K-3iii.
The sample photos of K-3III Monochrome released by PENTAX mostly show street photography in cities, and there are fewer examples of bird or wild photography using telephoto lenses. I'd like to see more of your work!
My journey has been similar to yours, and this camera has delivered what I was looking for. I hope that this product marks a turn of fortune for Pentax. Pentax should communicate the message that "We sell high quality, not technology for the sake of technology". Of all the photography companies, Leica is the only one that has taken this approach, and it has worked exceedingly well for them.
I've been shooting Pentax since the K10D. I use a K-5II now. I'm interested to see more photos you get with the K-3 III Monochrome. Looking forward to see more from you.
Agree totally with your reasoning. I have sold all my Fuji gear (X and GFX) and got a Pentax 645N and have a Pentax 645D on the way. I love the rendering and experience of vintage glass.
This resonates with me a lot. I've also essentially migrated all my personal photography to the k-3 mono (mixed with some film). I love the rendering you can get out of that monochrome sensor both with older film glass as well as the modern Pentax lenses.
Love the reasoning you gave, welcome to the Pentax club 🤟
Excellent choice! I love my Pentax K3 III monochrome. It forces you to think about the shot, and think about how it will render. I also shoot full spectrum IR, and taking the moment to consider helps to improve the art. B&W is a lot of fun.
Wonderful narrative and story! You hit a couple thoughts I’m processing that include reducing gear inventory and going monochrome for a while. I rented the Pentax monochrome body and really struggled with all the options. However, the quality of the images and convenience of digital are amazing! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I’m subscribing! Good luck!
A very good first effort. And an interesting rabbit hole you've gone down. I do hope it all works out for you. Best of luck!
Yes I've definitely gone down the rabbit hole this time, hopefully ita the right way 😁
Oh nice, I shoot with olympus om1, Pentax K3iii, K1 and 645z, but have never thought about the monochrome for wildlife... oh dear.. I feel another purchase coming on
@@doncoombez I was tempted by the Olympus system, the pre shot and focus stacking almost won me over. But I don't regret getting the monochrome, it's very unique for sure.
I think if Pentax released a monochrome 645 I'd quickly sell my K3iiiMonchrome, the images would be out of this world!
@@i.like.pixels yeah I largely went with it for the lightness of om1+300 pro, silent shooting, and the bird tracking (most useful low down). Still have and use the Pentax cameras, not just because of the lenses I own but I love the way they feel and button placement. The 645x I picked up by mistake, but a speculative bid on ebay and got it for £1k, which allowed me to scratch that itch. Images from it have such a lovely look - I agree monochrome from it would be amazing
Welcome to the Pentaxians - excited to more of You and your new Pentax K-III Monochrome.
Great video! I, also, made the jump into Pentax Monochrome for some of the similar reasons. I look forward to seeing more of your work and videos.
You know what? I feel the same say. I look ay my former flagship full frame Nikon images and as myself is this all there is? I'm considering doing exactly what you did. I've been with Nikon cameras and glass for 53 years. I know my way around a darkroom and you are correct - it's totally fun but I don't have a darkroom any more. Pentax monochrome is my next adventure. Look forward to seeing more from you. Best of luck to us both.
your images are fantastic! don't be ashamed of them!
Thankyou Lucacavedale I appreciate that 😊
I can't wait to see what you come up with. I love the dragonfly image. I picked up the Pentax monochrome myself not too long ago. I think I bought it mainly for my nostalgia for my days shooting b&w film, but having said that, I really like this camera. I'm using it mostly to take pictures through my microscope. I have to get out of the house more! Good luck with your channel.
That's a great use for this camera! I've never tried microscope photography, but the macro work on this camera has been fantastic fun 😁
@@i.like.pixels many things you look at through a microscope really have no color so this camera gives me a great high resolution image. I have the older KP that has similar resolution in color. To get a high resolution b&w image with that camera I have to use pixel shift which works, but is an extra step.
I have a similar journey to this camera. Ended up selling my Fuji GFX 50sii to fund the purchase of the k3iii mono.
Felt like such a gamble at the time but surprisingly enough I’m happier with the images I create with the Pentax than I ever was with my Fuji.
I still shoot film but I’m more selective nowadays due to the cost.
Now that is surprising! I would have thought Fuji had the advantage, always pays to try it yourself.
Fantastic video, man! Film photos that you showed are stunning, imperfections add so much character to them. K-3 photos look nice too! Good luck with your chanel and new gear, you gained yourself a new subscriber.
Thankyou I appreciate that 😁
This sounds like the perfect kit for your uses! I've gone to full pentax two separate times, trying out the K1 when it was first released, then K1ii, KP, but never got ahold of a K3iii.
I'd probably ditch my Nikon d810, d4s, d700, for Pentax a third time, if they released some new APSC primes that weren't screw drive... The motor whirl on the 100mm macro made me go mad. hah
The monochrome APSC image quality/sharpness almost competes with full frame!
Looking forward to more of your monochrome impressions.
@@ericfore I've also been tempted by the k1 ii, looks like such great value for it's features! Yes the screwdrive is a little unique, I like to think of them as manual lenses but with af as a side feature.
I've been putting the k3monochrome through it's paces for about a month now, and I'd agree it's basically as good as full frame. Truly exceptional!
You certainly make your Monochrome sing. Those samples are amazing, particularly considering how little time you had to get used to the new camera. Pentax is probably not the worst system to try when you're looking for that little extra in rendering. Microcontrast, dynamic range, 3D pop, vibrant yet believable colours - all of these can often be unlocked in spades from the RAW output - without that much force. You might even like what you would get from the regular colour version of the K-3 Mark III for that matter. Enjoy your journey!
I've yet to try any raw files, I'm not a huge fan of photo software. But once I get a decent memory deck sorted to handle the larger data size I'll give them a try.
Bravo on those samples you shared. Looks very promising. Subscribed!
Thank you for subscribing!😁
I would love to hear and see more from you about this wonderful camera ❤
@@mhnajjar I'm about to take this camera on a trip, so hopefully in a couple weeks time I'll be able to post all my findings 😁
I love my Pentax cameras, both the K3iii and the Ricoh GRiii are on my wich list.
Hi, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am looking forward to seeing your further updates!
Concerning the 5D image: I for one like the fact that the wings are out of of focus (at least on the screen here). It gives the picture a more natural look in my opinion. All these pictures taken at 1/10000000000000000000000th may well freeze the image but often lack 'life' in them, I find.
Greetings from Belgium
@@l.nauwelaerts195 I never considered it like that. When I look back at my favourite photos their rarely perfect, like you say a frozen image lacks life.
Great stuff! Love your film work too!
Interesting video - I’m concentrating on video at the moment (another world, of course) but when I was taking stills, the thing that I noticed was the making of a very high quality B&W print was much easier in the darkroom than using - even a high spec - home printer. That’s possibly not a consideration with yourself (if you’re not going back to having a darkroom) and - of course - there are some specialist B&W digital printing services delivering impressive results - but a second hand enlarger can be got dirt cheap these days and - so - it’s tempting to think “wet processing” again !
@@Digibeatle09 I agree b&w printing in the darkroom was surprisingly easy, my experience with digital printing at home has been disappointing as well. Thankfully I had a great local printing service for my b&w canvas, however like many media businesses they closed doors in recent years. Such a shame!
I won't completely rule out returning to the dark room one day, it just requires so much space. And housing in England makes it impossible without significant wealth, but purhaps one day I'll dust off my enlargers and rediscover the joy of the darkroom.
Though I am just a hobbiest, but my feelings are exactly the same. I consider colour primarily for documentation and to record. Always believed aesthetic richness of B&W...Sold all my accumulation of Canon gear, and gladly fully switched to Pentax, purely due to Monochrome K3 miii camera. Leica Monochrome, though existed for decade, but is beyond my wildest dream/more appropriately, nightmare.
I used It for about a year, shot monochrome only during a six month period.
I have sold it now, good camera. For my needs I needed to move another camera, hence sold it.
I have been thinking of getting this monochrome camera, your video just made up my mind. Thanks
@@videoemilioisis glad to help, I'll be doing more monochrome videos in the future and share what else I find.
Okay, first love your personal take on photography. I do have a totally unrelared question though. I'm in the Ststes and have visited Europe several times and birder hard there. I have yet to see a European Kingfisher. Where are you seeing your subjects?
Unfortunately their numbers have suffered for the last 5 years, so sightings are much harder in my part of England. However it's always worth trying the wildlife trusts around Britain, they tend to have great knowledgeable staff that can point you in the right direction.
Interesting switch! My photos lately feel a bit soulless. Maybe this is the cure. Subscribed.
Interesting video (well set of videos in fact), I have looked enviously at the Leica monochrome cameras, but the justification of spending the eye watering amounts of cash to not only buy a body but lenses as well, were just not on my radar (I would be headed for divorce 3 if they were).
But sadly this Pentax is still way above what I could justify price wise, plus its a fairly hefty beast to lug around, 800+ grams for the body. So whilst the dynamic range, sharpness etc are without question fantastic, I will stick with my faithfull XT3 and convert in NIK Silver Efex.
XT3 is a great camera, and if it gets you taking pictures all the better!
I would say after the three months of using the camera, I'm not sure I'd buy it again. Its a big investment just to get the edge in quality, the subject always wins.
Thanks for this. What prime "normal" lens do you like to pair with this camera?
@CP23798 i haven't really found a normal lens I like yet, I use the basic 50mm f/1.8 on the k1 currently and really like it. But I haven't settled on an apsc standard yet, I think maybe the 20-40 would do nicely though. But it holds a very high price.
Perfect timing 🎉
Love my Monochrome. You should try K1 / K1 ii if you haven't, a medium format camera in a full frame body, insanely high dynamic range.
@@AdamGibril the k1 ii is definitely on my radar, I only hear good things about it. I'll have to demo one soon, see how it handles the 150-450mm. I'd like to try some photography of foxes with the K1 ii.
@@i.like.pixels Yes, that 150-450mm is sweet, good for muscles workouts too). One tip regarding K1 ii (in case you did not know), use iso125 as your base iso for shooting high DR images, or else you'll get magenta on black subjects in shadows at iso100, that's due to the new accelerator unit built in.
I wish there was an affordable monochrome camera. For now i use sony 7riii but id love to add a monichrome camera as i love doing black and white film photography. But noone seems to sell such a things at a reasonable price :(
@@GuitarVocalHEroes purhaps the best way is to have a old camera converted, even removing just the ir filter makes great black and white gains. Something I've done in the past, but obviously not as good as a true monochrome conversion.
@@i.like.pixels doesn't it kill a camera? Could try with Sony though 🤔. Could you help me the wording on how to look for such kind of a service?
@@GuitarVocalHEroes I did the procedure on my first DSLR a 1000d, as it was old and not worth much. I believe I followed a tutorial online, it is very invasive so if you don't have experience with electronics it's not advised. There are websites that promote it,but they are pricey too, but cheaper than monochrome conversions.
Purhaps I'll do a comparison for those interested in black and white digital work, I'll do one showing colour, IR removed and monochrome. That way you can decide for your self if it's work the risk.
Alternatively, there are eBay sellers that sell IR converted camera for very good prices. I've paid less than £300 for old cameras with full spectrum sensitivity.
Hope this helps, and I'll be sure to do a comparison in the future 😁
@@i.like.pixels thanks a lot for being so responsive! Such a video would be a blast! Btw,do you have an Instagram and if you put mono photos there?
I don't have social media yet, but I'm thinking of building a website to showcase my old and new photos. I don't mind helping out, there's so little information about this camera, and its hard to trust mainstream RUclips sometimes as I've personally found out.
150-450