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02-07-2015, 03:03 AM   #16
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Sell it? Where I live, Ricoh have just increased lens prices by a substantial amount despite the fact that a falling Yen means that they should have been making higher profits on the former prices. The DA* 16-50mm is currently 829 pounds or 1260 dollars, quite a lot really. The 2nd hand value of my 16-50mm would go most of the way to buying the new 16-85mm which I would likely use more simply because it is smaller and lighter (though slower - that's the trade-off). IQ-wise, the new lens looks pretty good.

02-07-2015, 08:24 AM   #17
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QuoteOriginally posted by mecrox Quote
Sell it? Where I live, Ricoh have just increased lens prices by a substantial amount despite the fact that a falling Yen means that they should have been making higher profits on the former prices. The DA* 16-50mm is currently 829 pounds or 1260 dollars, quite a lot really. The 2nd hand value of my 16-50mm would go most of the way to buying the new 16-85mm which I would likely use more simply because it is smaller and lighter (though slower - that's the trade-off). IQ-wise, the new lens looks pretty good.
Wow, I hadn't seen the price increases. I'm going to give the screw drive hack another go this weekend, then if it works I might be posting it on the forum for sale.
02-07-2015, 10:21 PM   #18
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Quick update, in case anyone is curious: I was able to successfully disable the SDM on my lens. The issue was that since I'm editing the MODSET files on a Mac, the line terminator didn't match what the camera expected. I just had to use VIM to convert the file to an MSDOS text file and everything worked as the instructions said. Autofocus for everyone!

Thanks for the help and the ideas. I think I'll still consider selling the lenses off in favor of something else.
02-09-2015, 11:11 PM   #19
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I hope it goes well for you now. But I don't think you're going to get much better IQ than what you already have, for the money. Unless of course you really need better high-ISO performance.


The one lens that comes to mind is the Fuji 18-55/2.8-4 - that's one good "kit" lens. Any appropriate camera you can get it bundled with can make it a worthwhile value. At least that's what I'd look at. That and the Q.

02-10-2015, 05:04 AM   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by DSims Quote
I hope it goes well for you now. But I don't think you're going to get much better IQ than what you already have, for the money. Unless of course you really need better high-ISO performance.


The one lens that comes to mind is the Fuji 18-55/2.8-4 - that's one good "kit" lens. Any appropriate camera you can get it bundled with can make it a worthwhile value. At least that's what I'd look at. That and the Q.
I'm not complaining about image quality. I have a K10D, so high ISO starts at 400 and quickly degrades from there, so that WOULD be a consideration. I acknowledge that I could use a body update to get the most out of my lenses, but the main complaint that I was making is that the 16-50 is way too bulky when packaged with the K10D, and I just don't take it with me very often. For me, more portability would equate to using the equipment much more often.

The lenses I'm looking at (if I stay with Pentax, which I still love in so many ways) are the 21 and 20-40mm limiteds. I still wish there was a faster (at the expense of some size) prime in the vicinity of 24mm. That would fill a big hole for my use. I was thinking of selling off the DA* to help finance whatever it is I choose to buy.
02-10-2015, 05:15 AM   #21
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Have you considered a manual focus option? The A24/2.8 comes to mind as a great small option. Add the DA35/2.4 or - if you *really* want small - one of the 40mm pancakes.
02-10-2015, 05:24 AM   #22
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QuoteOriginally posted by carpents Quote
Have you considered a manual focus option? The A24/2.8 comes to mind as a great small option. Add the DA35/2.4 or - if you *really* want small - one of the 40mm pancakes.
I have, but I find that when I'm trying to get a shot of my kids in the house, say in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas, I'm not good enough with manual focus to get any keepers. The 35 is an option that I've considered, but I do find that, for me, somewhere around a 35mm FF equivalent FOV is where I'm most comfortable. The 40 is only a tiny bit wider than my 43, which is what I default to but have trouble with framing (too tight) when I'm indoors. I guess if I'm looking to spend upwards of 6-700 on a single lens, I could always consider something like a second hand Fuji X100s, but I'm not sure I'm a two-brand kind of guy.

02-10-2015, 06:43 AM   #23
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jason 407 Quote
I have, but I find that when I'm trying to get a shot of my kids in the house, say in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas, I'm not good enough with manual focus to get any keepers. The 35 is an option that I've considered, but I do find that, for me, somewhere around a 35mm FF equivalent FOV is where I'm most comfortable. The 40 is only a tiny bit wider than my 43, which is what I default to but have trouble with framing (too tight) when I'm indoors. I guess if I'm looking to spend upwards of 6-700 on a single lens, I could always consider something like a second hand Fuji X100s, but I'm not sure I'm a two-brand kind of guy.
I hear you there. A used 21 Limited plus 35/2.4 shouldn't set you back more than the value of your 16-50, so that might be a better option.

Of course, it's not like your shots of the kids opening presents is going to win you a Pulitzer, so maybe the concept of a 'keeper' for those can be a little more lax? I can't imagine a K10 with a DA21 is going to net you significantly more/better shots than good manual focus technique - which takes practice.

That being said, my go-to kit is a Fuji mirrorless. The little - and cheap! - X-A1 is terrific, and I adapt both my Pentax and Nikon lenses to it. But the native Fuji lenses are really, really good too. It's harder to manual focus with the Fujis though, since they only have EVFs. The trade-off is a significantly smaller kit which can fit in a jacket pocket. Pentax doesn't (yet) have this in APS-C.
02-10-2015, 07:04 AM   #24
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I am keeping my K10d forever and is permanently in debug mode in case this happens. I do not have pktether installed on any computer and I don't recall needing it to put the body in debug.

Personally, I find the DA*lenses better than most AF lenses for manual focus, but I would much rather have working AF. The only lens I own which has had any significant focus failure is the DA 17-70. Now that lens is tough to manual focus and has no screw drive slot.
02-10-2015, 07:54 AM - 1 Like   #25
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QuoteOriginally posted by carpents Quote
I hear you there. A used 21 Limited plus 35/2.4 shouldn't set you back more than the value of your 16-50, so that might be a better option.

Of course, it's not like your shots of the kids opening presents is going to win you a Pulitzer, so maybe the concept of a 'keeper' for those can be a little more lax? I can't imagine a K10 with a DA21 is going to net you significantly more/better shots than good manual focus technique - which takes practice.

That being said, my go-to kit is a Fuji mirrorless. The little - and cheap! - X-A1 is terrific, and I adapt both my Pentax and Nikon lenses to it. But the native Fuji lenses are really, really good too. It's harder to manual focus with the Fujis though, since they only have EVFs. The trade-off is a significantly smaller kit which can fit in a jacket pocket. Pentax doesn't (yet) have this in APS-C.
You would be surprised at how bad my family snapshots can be, even with good glass. I'm not trying to please myself, but rather my wife, who is unfortunately a harsh critic of kid pics. I've been trying to practice manual focus, but the lighting can sometimes be bad enough that I either have to crank my ISO way up, or I can't budge from f2.8, which just makes it that much harder. Posed shots are usually ok, but I like to catch them doing things a little kid does, which implies seemingly randomized motion. Semi-reliable autofocus would at least take that off my hands. Plus there's the whole 5-pound brick that I get to tote around (exaggeration, but it seems like it sometimes).

I've been staring longingly at the Fuji X cameras for a little while, and I'd love to take that plunge. It would require me to get decent money in exchange for some (or all? yikes) of my Pentax gear first, though. The budget is effectively zero for photography equipment at present. I'm sure I'd have to either step way back in lens quality (though the Fuji kit lenses get a good rap) or down to probably just one lens for the time being. Problem is that I have competing needs of fastish wide for inside and because I just happen to like it and longer for my son's soccer games. Hard to get a fast 24mm and 150-200mm in one lens.

---------- Post added 02-10-15 at 09:58 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by GeneV Quote
I am keeping my K10d forever and is permanently in debug mode in case this happens. I do not have pktether installed on any computer and I don't recall needing it to put the body in debug.

Personally, I find the DA*lenses better than most AF lenses for manual focus, but I would much rather have working AF. The only lens I own which has had any significant focus failure is the DA 17-70. Now that lens is tough to manual focus and has no screw drive slot.
I figured out the issue with the process, and I think you're right about being able to activate debug without PKTether. The camera's firmware is very particular about the stream of characters it reads, and it seems like that (for mine, at least) if there isn't a DOS carriage-return/line-feed pair at the end of the line, it ignores the MODSET.XXX file. Once I figured that out and converted the (Mac OS X-created) file to DOS, it worked like a charm.

I'm now happily screw-driving to my heart's content. Now I get to be reminded of just how mediocre the K10D's low-light autofocus really is.
02-10-2015, 06:28 PM - 1 Like   #26
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jason 407 Quote


I'm now happily screw-driving to my heart's content.

Yea, I used to have a 1968 Plymouth Satellite with this huge backseat... in 1985... wait, what are we talking about here...


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