Experience Report about PENTAX K-3 Mark III Monochrome by Richard Wilford

In the course of the new introduction of the PENTAX K-3 Mark III Monochrome, various PENTAX photographers had the opportunity to try out the camera.

This included PENTAX photographer Richard Wilford. Richard is a garden designer at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He is on the editorial boards of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and Kew Publishing and is a member of the Bulb Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society.

As such, he has a particular interest in mountain plants, herbaceous perennials and geophytes, which he also documents photographically. His photographs, he shares via his Instagram channel https://www.instagram.com/richardwilf/.

Richard Wilford has a long history with his Pentax cameras. But even though his PENTAX ME Super still works flawlessly with the various classics from the M series, he prefers to use either his K-1 Mark II with the DFA 28-105 mm or his KP, depending on the situation. For this he also has a wide choice of lenses, of which he mostly uses the DA20-40 mm Limited, along with the DA 16-85 mm. Because of its size, this camera is his constant companion when working in the gardens at Kew, where he uses it a lot for plant and garden photography.

Even though his current cameras are perfectly equipped, many of the features of modern cameras are not at all necessary for him, because he does more traditional photography, where he enjoys the process of taking photos in itself.

So he was excited to see the new K-3 Mark III Monochrome, which took him back to a time when film selection was the first step in image composition.

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 16-85 mm F3,5-5,6 ED DC WR  //  Focal length: 75mm (approx. 112mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/250sec.  //  Aperture: F7.1  

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 16-85 mm F3,5-5,6 ED DC WR  //  Focal length: 16mm (approx. 24mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/250sec.  //  Aperture: F8.0  

Even though his everyday life is defined by the many bright colours of his plants, Richard took the opportunity to try out the PENTAX K-3 Mark III Monochrome while on a short holiday at Lake Como in Italy. He shares a few of his insights with us here.

"The drive from the UK through France and Switzerland provided many opportunities to try out the camera. Looking at the world around me and knowing I was taking black and white photos, I had to focus on what would look good in black and white. Without the distraction of colour, I looked for high-contrast scenes, light and dark, textures, patterns and shapes. Anything that I thought would work well; similar to shooting on black and white film."

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 34mm (approx. 51mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO6400  // Exposure time: 1/30sec.  //  Aperture: F5  

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 40mm (approx. 60mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO6400  // Exposure time: 1/15sec.  //  Aperture: F4.5  

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA16-50mmF2.8ED PLM AW  //  Focal length: 50mm (approx. 75mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/40sec.  //  Aperture: F5.6  

"On the way to Italy, we stopped off in Annecy in the southern French Alps, where we stayed overnight. On an evening walk through the town, I photographed the lit streets, bars and shops in the fading light. Increasing the ISO and using the camera's image stabilisation allowed for some interesting scenes with little distracting image noise - one of the benefits of a monochrome sensor."

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA16-50mmF2.8ED PLM AW  //  Focal length: 43mm (65mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/200sec.  //  Aperture: F8  

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA16-50mmF2.8ED PLM AW  //  Focal length: 22mm (32mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/640sec.  //  Aperture: F11  

"Shooting in daylight showed how clear and sharp the images from this camera can be. I expected the improvements over a colour image converted to black and white to be obvious at 100 per cent magnification, but the sharpness was evident even at normal viewing size. Using quality lenses like the DA20-40mm Ltd and DA16-50mm PLM helped, but I was still surprised by the clarity of the photos that came out of this camera."



"The Pentax K3 mk iii Monochrome has an option for light-weighted metering. This was very useful in high contrast situations as the camera exposed the bright areas of the subject, ensuring they contained some detail. The rest of the image was mostly dark, but with the RAW file I was able to lift the shadows in post-processing to bring out detail there too. This worked beautifully with the monochrome sensor without seeing the excessive noise you would normally expect."

"This camera can take more than just black and white photos. It's fun to work with, ergonomic and well-made, with features that really support the art of image composition."

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 22mm (approx. 33mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/640sec.  //  Aperture: F11   

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 29mm (approx. 45mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/250sec.  //  Aperture: F11   

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 38mm (approx. 57mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/400sec.  //  Aperture: F8   

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 24mm (approx. 36mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/640sec.  //  Aperture: F8   

PENTAX K-3 III Monochrome  //  HD PENTAX-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR  //  Focal length: 36mm (approx. 54mm 35 mm equiv.)  //  ISO200  // Exposure time: 1/320sec.  //  Aperture: F8   

Thank you Richard for your short report. We would be happy to see some colourful pictures from your garden next time.