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Visit Camera Enthusiast!Living as an artist and working as an art teacher, I possess a relatively limited budget for the purchase of personal art making tools. As a result, I constantly seek to acquire tools which give me ample room for growth while being modestly priced. Which is why the Pentax K20D has functioned as the most important and influential tool in my photography bag.
| A used Pentax K20D purchased on eBay around March 2012 with about 12,000 shutter actuations. It is now at about 20,000+ shutter actuations in 7 months |
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Read more..Understanding DOF with Telezoom Lenses
The Tamron 70-200mm · Posted on 12-23-2012 in Influential Photo GearA lot of photographers are willing to spend their money on a telezoom lens with a large, wide open aperture. The question is, why is it so important to have a large aperture in photography? To answer the question we take a look at the matter perception of depth field of view. Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp, in other word DOF is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that look sharp in an image.
| In this picture I used a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 (IF) Di SP LD Macro, wide open f/2,8 in 200 mm. According to the DOF calculator, the sharpest images when I shoot this model's face at 8 m distance is between 7,91 m and 8.09 m from the lens. According the calculation above, the deepest images that I can get in focus is around 20 cm, so the result is : The model's head is about 20 cm deep and as you see in that picture, the other parts are blurred whereas the model's face is sharp. |
I didn't know much about photography but I quickly realized after starting a blog that I needed a camera that was versatile and could take excellent photos. I already possessed a recent model digital camera and didn't want to spend a lot of money for another camera. I began searching the Internet. After two weeks, one sentence of a review caught my attention, "The Pentax SLR camera's sensor is equal to the (Major Brand) SLR camera at half the price." I immediately began my search for Pentax cameras and was on the Forum's site within hours! It's interesting I never ended up on any of the other Big Name camera forums in my weeks of searching.
In one hour I knew more about Pentax SLR cameras than in two weeks of reading SLR camera reviews. You guys are awesome!! Pentax Camera Company, you are awesome!!
Within a short period of time I realized I could use my Dad's old analog camera lenses! My Dad had passed and the camera was given to me but no one knew how to use it. It lay forgotten, hidden in a dark closet for years.
Here is just an interesting story for anyone who has ever flooded their DSLR.
I had finished photographing a wedding in Cancun, Mexico, and was taking some time off to photograph the Mayan ruins with my favorite camera--the Pentax K-10D. It had been my constant companion, and a real workhorse for the past 2 years, but now it was getting a real workout in the hot, humid and rainy jungles of Guatemala. After almost a month of trekking through the rain forest, I fell out of a canoe with the K-10 and a Tamron 18 to 200 mm lens. I quickly did all of the right things to try and save the camera, but to no avail. By the way the SanDisk 8G card was fine and I was able to retrieve all of my images, but I would have to finish my trip without a camera.
I have been fortunate to work with many cameras, lenses and computer programs over the years. But time and again, it’s not the latest high-tech program or gadget that always brings me back to the heart of what I love about photography. It’s my simple, back-to-basics Pentax FA-50mm 1.4 prime lens.
The description of the lens is simple because of its back to basics nature. I love its compact size and how well its built. I feel comfortable using it in situations where a larger lens would be obtrusive and perhaps ruin the moment by attracting attention to itself. Perhaps I'm just old school, but I like having the depth of field information readily available. The metal mount just feels better as I click the lens into place. The focus ring is smooth and I like its placement right at the front of the lens where I can easily find it.
OK, My quest for the perfect camera began 2 years ago. Before then, I had no need for anything elaborate and I had a simple Canon SD750, which I thought was a good digital camera. I didn't know anything about DSLRs - I thought those big cameras were 35mm. Anyway, I was at party where someone had a Panasonic FZ28. I really liked it. I didn't know there were cameras that had such long zoom and I wanted one. And so my camera education began....
After A LOT of research, I bought a Panasonic FZ35. I had this camera for 10 months. It took razor sharp pictures in daylight, and the zoom was fun. Because of this camera, I started taking more pictures than I did before.
My son started taking up TaeKwonDo, and I started using this camera for his indoor tournaments. It didn't take long before I realized the relationship between light and shutter speed. I was going to need something better if I wanted to take these kinds of pictures (low light, sports action), as the Panny lacked low light performance. After much more research, it appeared that the Sony HX100V, another super zoom but a lot more money, had great low light performance, so I decided to sell my FZ35 for the HX100V. I justified the $$, and bought it.
Round about 1980 I bought my first proper camera a Pentax ME F with a M50 f1.7 lens. This really got me into photography and I really enjoyed using it over the years. After about 10 years it developed a fault which despite being repaired remained and it fell into disuse. I lost interest in photography.
Eighteen months ago I decided to buy another camera and chose a Pentax K-r. This Dslr was Pentax's entry model with 12Mp sensor. It was an improvement on and replaced the K-x.
Greetings, My name is Jack Powers and I am from Wichita, Kansas. I am a retired Respiratory Therapist and Educator from Great Plains Technology Center in Lawton, Oklahoma. Married to my wife Pam of 43 years and raised two children. Our youngest Allen passed away in 2009 but left our family with a beautiful gift, our 5 y/o grandson Rowdy.
My first digital camera was a Casio followed by three Sony Cybershot point & shoot cameras. I moved to a DSLR in 2009 when I bought the Pentax K20D which was recommended by a good friend of mine. I got to say that my life changed when I got the Pentax. I loved everything about it and still do. Having the ability two change lenses as your requirements change is an outstanding plus.
Figure 1: OP/TECHUSA camera strap, an idea replacement for standard/thin neck straps
