Takin' the Pentax K-01 to the Streets of NYC

Man I love New York, just the pure unadulterated energy of the place. It just hums with life, with hope, with heartache and with dreams.



If I lived there I'd shoot the street out of it. Just so much to look at, so much eye candy. There's nothing quite like it.



Alas, I don't get into "the city" as much as I used to, but a new year approaches so maybe it's time for some new resolutions...



I played with the K-01 as I plied the streets of Soho a couple of weeks ago. I had the meaty FA31mm F1.8 mounted most of the time, and quickly found a technique that yielded fast and confident shooting. Aperture Priority, Manual Focus, ISO 1600, F8, Focus Peaking. Frame the shot, pull focus until the white outline of Focus Peaking shimmers on the subject, fire.



Fast. Reliable. Faster than AF for me, since I always get bogged down tap-tap-tapping to move the AF point to just where I want it. The fastest AF in the world isn't going to fix that. A touch screen might help, but only if you can do it without changing your grip on the camera, or fire the shot from the touchscreen like the Panasonic GH2 does.









Overall, I was really pleased with the K-01 on the street. Lighting on the street is often quite challenging, so having a camera with a good sensor and good glass helps a lot, and on these counts the K-01 trumps the tiny Q and my other cameras (Panasonic GH1/GH2, Nikon V1). I also love the fluidity of composing on the rear screen, not drawing attention to myself by bringing a camera up to my eye, and staying in the scene as opposed to hidden behind a box. It's better than the K-5 for street then, and quite possibly the best camera that I currently own for this type of shooting.

I do wish that it was a little more responsive post-shot, not necessarily FPS, but there are situations where I snap and then watch another, different decisive moment appear and I want to snap again, without hesitation. I'm not talking about holding the shutter button down snap-snap-snap, but rather snap...snap..snap-snap as decisive moments rise and fall.

[Click here if you'd like to read my thoughts on the K-01 in the studio on the same day.]