Post process, or straight out of the camera?
Best of Pentax Forums Newsletter April 23, 2026
Post process, or straight out of the camera?
I’ve been using Photoshop since its early days on Fat Macs; newspapers were early adapters of digital darkrooms. And for years I’ve tweaked every single RAW file in Photoshop before using it; it was a reflex. These days I still keep my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome set to RAW+JPEG, but after a lot of tweaking of the settings I find myself using the JPEGs straight out of the camera. The Monochrome is so good and so flexible that Photoshopping the images generally seems like unnecessary fussing.
How about you? Do you post-process every image? Do you use photos straight out of the camera? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know how you do that voodoo you do so well!
Elsewhere in this week’s newsletter, Pentaxian LesDMess is 3D printing parts for his Pentax LX; New Member Fluora has an in-depth review of the Pentax KP; and Senior Member Angus_M89 packs the Pentax S80-120 Soft Lens Case.
If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please take a moment to join the almost 1,600 Pentaxians who have subscribed to our free curated compendium of the hundreds of great images and post shared each week in our Pentax community. Please let us know your thoughts here in the comments and on our Pentax Forums, and have a perfect Pentaxian week!
Threads of the Week:
April 19, 2026 • Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras • 8 replies • 372 views
LesDMess said — Many iterations later, I think I got the sync port cover finally done. I did it using PETG and flexible TPU 95A filaments. I was skeptical initially of making it look like the OEM due to how small this part is but I think it will work fine Read more »
April 16, 2026 • Photo Critique • 0 replies • 271 views
2rruss said — A circular polarizer and ND64 filter were used to achieve the 4s shutter speed. Let me know what you think. ... Read more »
Lens Comparisons.....My take on it all.....
April 17, 2026 • Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras • 23 replies • 832 views
Driline said — So I’ve accumulated quite a collection of vintage glass and was always up for comparing different brands of lenses with the same focal length.....and other models as well even within the same manufacturer. But truth be told there’s really not one “Stinker” in the bunch. Read more »
Pentaxian User Reviews
Pentax Cameras
Pentax KP
Reviewed by New Member Fluora
Review Date: April 8, 2026 Recommended | Price: $550.00 | Rating: 10
Pros: Low-light performance, build quality, well-rounded feature set
Cons: Ergonomics, battery life
Years Owned: 3 Ergonomics: 7 Build Quality: 10 User Interface: 10 Autofocus: 8 Features: 9 Value: 9 Image Quality: 10 Noise: 10 New or Used: Used
Conclusion
Three years on, still feel like my KP was one of the best purchasing decisions I ever made. It’s a perfectly solid little camera that you can go out and take great pictures with in all kinds of situations, but a reasonably affordable one that you won’t feel too afraid to take anywhere for fear of having it broken or stolen. I’ll recommend buying a used one to anyone with a budget that its price fits into.
I got this camera as an upgrade over my hand-me-down K20D, which by that point was really frustrating me with its poor dynamic range, wonky color, and endless struggles with low light. After shopping around for a while, I identified the KP as being a high point in value for money where dynamic range is a major concern, and when I tried it out for the first time, it blew me away.
Image Quality
It’s great, and particularly impressive at high ISO settings in low light. I suppose some of it might be down to the controversial “accelerator unit” applying noise reduction to the raws, but as a shameless and relentless pixel peeper, I’ve never seen anything untoward in my raws shot in the noise-reduced ISO ranges. I have no idea how the algorithm works (I assume no one does) but it mostly just seems to make the chrominance noise a little less distracting while leaving the luminance noise alone, resulting in something that looks incrementally more like film grain, and I can’t complain about that. The end result seems to be that while you see a noticeable increase in noise between ISO 100 and 500 or so, the relationship slows way down after that - I’m not sure I could tell you the difference between ISO 1000 and 6400 at a glance, and it stays usable all the way up to at least 25600, with things only really starting to get out of hand at about 40000. I honestly don’t know how that compares to other camera systems these days, since I don’t have any other cameras of the same or newer vintage, but from looking at a few sample raws I think the humble KP actually puts up quite a fight against even the latest APS-C cameras from other brands (at least if you’re shooting raw).
Resolution is great. I hear people say “nobody needs more than 24 megapixels” a lot, and while that’s not universally true, it’s easily enough for me on this format. Not having an AA filter is awesome as always; never once have I missed it, and on only a couple occasions have I even noticed anything resembling aliasing. I’ve used the AA filter simulator a couple times just to test it, but have never found it actually necessary. If you’re not shooting high-end lenses with incredible sharpness, I want to say you probably don’t need to worry about aliasing at all. Pixel shift is a fun trick that lets you squeeze every possible drop of resolution out of those 24 megapixels, but it absolutely requires a tripod and a perfectly motionless scene, which makes it a bit tricky and time-consuming to use effectively.
As for color, I would describe the KP as “transparent”. That is, every shot I take with it ends up with colors that look nearly the same to me on my monitor as they did when I was there, both with in-camera JPEGs and with raws processed using their embedded parameters. The auto white balance is so good that I actually managed to forget that white balance was a thing for a while, which I think is remarkable, especially given how many weird lighting conditions and subtle shades of brown I like to take pictures of. I don’t think the colors have the particular “cinematic” qualities that people say some cameras have, but I find them honest and realistic, which is what I prefer - and if you want to apply more artistic color grading in post, the 14-bit raws give you a lot to work with either way.
I haven’t really touched any of the in-camera effects or color settings except to set my color mode to “natural”, so I can’t say much about those. I more or less exclusively shoot raws. Read more of this long detailed review here:
Pentax Accessories
Pentax S80-120 Soft Lens Case
Reviewed by Senior Member Angus_M89
Review Date: April 10, 2026 Recommended | Price: $5.00 | Rating: N/A
Pros: Protection Cons:
I had a few of the Takumar leather cases for some 135, 200mm lenses, all were in really good condition which I think reflected that era’s ethos around quality and longevity. Similarly, my K series 500mm case has also withstood the tests of time and rigours of storage and use.
I have some M series cases which have not lasted as well, peeling leather, inside foam deteriorating etc. I find it more common with the M series to have poor longevity in maintaining a good condition. I have an A series which has done a lot better but these seem to be rarer in the market.
These latter pouches are markedly a step up, maybe not for bump protection if dropped, but for general storage, ease of use and storing they really tick the box. They feel good, look good and I have begun scooping up all the ones I can off Japanese auction sites for a steal. Ebay may charge $50-$100AUD for these but I have bought about five currently for less than $50AUD.
Comment of the Week:
Pentaxian Madaboutpix on Funky old lenses vs perfect new glass: The Best of Pentax Forums April 16 Poll: I'm quite a sucker for intense back- and sidelight, so the HD-coated lenses came as a godsend for what and how I like to shoot. I also value compactness and not too excessive weight. Hence my current kit of exclusively HD and mostly DA glass, with some (D) FA lenses sprinkled into it. I like relatively modern AF glass that doesn't completely go over the top in terms of hypercorrection and retains some semblance of 3-D pop.
Shot with the HD PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE, which will not be the poppiest lens at my disposal, but still renders a nice contrasty image, even in intense morning sidelight:
Post process, or straight out of the camera?
The Best of Pentax Forums April 23 Poll
I’ve been using Photoshop since its early days on Fat Macs; newspapers were early adapters of digital darkrooms. And for years I’ve tweaked every single RAW file in Photoshop before using it; it was a reflex. These days I still keep my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome set to RAW+JPEG, but after a lot of tweaking of the settings I find myself using the JPEGs straight out of the camera. The Monochrome is so good and so flexible that Photoshopping the images generally seems like unnecessary fussing.
How about you? Do you post-process every image? Do you use photos straight out of the camera? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know how you do that voodoo you do so well!
Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know why you do what you do in the comments!
This poll closes April 29
And here are the results of last week’s poll:
Weekly Photo Challenges
Project 52-14-16: Look Up, until 4-26 (Sunday)
The "Look Up" photo challenge invites you to leave your usual eye-level perspective and rediscover the world from a vertical viewpoint.
And here’s the entry from Site Supporter noelcmn: Got this today- one of the team of guys dismantling the temporary stage that was set up last week, for a Concert in the park at Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. Quite the exercise this, but spoke to a guy that was in charge and he said they make a lot of money out this exercise, so it is worth it for them.
A Walk Down Memory Lane
Charis Talbot
Portrait Photographer, Pentaxian
By PF Staff in Pentaxian Profiles on Dec 1, 2012
It’s been a while since we’ve featured a professional Pentaxian on our homepage, but today, we’re happy to bring you an article about Charis Talbot, a talented model photographer from the UK (forum username CharisVega)! Throughout the biography you fill find many samples of her work. We’re happy to have her as our first female Pentaxian!
When I was a child I was obsessed with books and stories. My parents photo albums to me were a story to which I didn’t know the words. I spent hours looking at old weathered black and white photos of almost forgotten family members trying to work out what they could tell me, hoping they’d surrender their secrets to me. My love of imagery blossomed in my teenage years when amongst my random doodling it appeared I had a startling talent for painting portraits. I went to university to study fine art but soon became disenchanted with painting. Photography rescued me.
PentaxForum Front page stories April 16-22:
March “Trees” Contest Finalists Announced
Vote for the overall winner!
By PF Staff in Photo Contests on Apr 17, 2026
After the end of the nomination phase of last month’s official Trees photo contest, we’re now ready to announce our top 15 finalists! Click on the link below to view the photos in full size and Vote for your favorite photo in the poll.