[mikeSF]

Great video, thanks for sharing with us.

[nod]

I didn't take it this way at all, so no worries, at least not from my standpoint. Just was honestly a bit disappointed at the thought of you not keeping her. I get nostalgic, and my Dad's SV1 is within arm's reach. His Meyer Optik Orestegor 4/200 is mounted on my K-1 at this moment. I just can't let these things go.

Really sorry to hear of your injury too. I get this. I have 5 herniated discs, one torn disc, and the resultant bone spurs, spinal stenosis and arthritis all at work against me. Yes, it does give you something to fight for, daily. I refuse to give up. So far, hanging in there. Carrying things around is a true agony though. I grab my K3II for the daily walk with the dog for a lighter carry than my K-1. I'm in a constant search for better ways of distributing load too. I've been wondering about one of those vests for awhile now, even if I ended up looking like a goofball. Some would say I already do.

I have CRPS Type II, Type I is phantom limb syndrome and the nerve damage is at the amputated part, Type II is at the spinal cord where you perceive that the pain is coming from the legs and you have "normal" signals coming from the legs, so you have double the nerve signals that get all confused and are transmitted by healthy nerves, the spinal cord is like a co-axial TV aerial the outside controls feeling/ vibration/ temperature, the inside motor function, and the bone fragments penetrated into motor control and then with further prolapses went deeper. The strangest thing is the "short circuits" I prolapsed a disc when a mugger kicked me on the ground between the shoulder blades, so at random times I can my left leg in my left hand and arm, and in late April a leg spasm dislocated my left shoulder and ripped the surrounding tissue, my discharge notice describes me as being in "exquisite pain".

I had the stenosis operation 13 years ago, clearing out of the scar tissue and drilling around the holes where the nerve roots come out to free them up from coaching on anything. Unfortunately it lasted 3 weeks, and in the 24 years of pain, I can say that psychologically having no pain for 3 weeks and then the holes filling up with scar tissues was the most mentally punishing thing that ever happened, for 3 weeks (my daughter was born just before) and thinking I could have a normal life then the pain returning, that was nasty.

My experience of photo jackets is "you turn right, you turn left, you keep on rotating", but I can assure you that one looks nothing like the Peak Design video's for their camera clips with it dragging your belt towards your feet and exposing your underwear. I tried a backpack too, the trouble is getting the thing off, but wearing it "snug" because of momentum and my left arm got caught like a chicken wing and trying to free it with my right while holding a walking stick was a danger to passer's by. I like reminiscing about the old gear, especially the LX and I've tried "technology" to help me but I'm not medically permitted to fly and there's two jobs starting in Bangalore that I would have loved to finish, but I fell off a three foot wall, prolapsed another disc and that was the end of that, the Indians being helpful was tremendous after the fact, but being carried by a crowd shouting in Kannada through the streets like crowd surfing to a hospital through back alleys was terrifying, just wished they'd explained what they were doing.

I do like a 50mm, but my perception is more like 28mm and getting in closer, but the fundamental problem that carrying a heavy camera around my neck for five years globetrotting caused me to stoop and anything round my neck now lead to problems (I have also tried getting webbing, hitching it to my belt behind and looping it round the neck strap so the camera pulls the back of my trousers up but relieves pressure on the neck), that was one of the more successful experiments but doesn't solve the "being right handed and using a stick on my right problem" and when I take picture I move, left right, up down, is that a leading line? does that frame that person inside of that? Instinct and muscle memory takes over and that's what damages me. Optical viewfinders are great for composition as you are not focussing on open aperture so you can consider background detail and see if anyone's walking into the frame. I take photos "the old way", when I changed to a 28-70 f2.8 constant I found my quality of work dropped because I wasn't moving, and I recalled "the old days" where a photojournalist would move into position before selecting the lens with the appropriate field of view, so for me photography is a very fluid action which with limited mobility is problematic.

I do pity your five prolapses and find it remarkable you can function, writing this hurts me, as I perceive the pain. This can be understood be a normal person, we all have the ability to ignore our nervous system's output, you only feel your socks unless you think about it, I just have a lot of medication to assist the process and to suppress the natural reflex of producing too much adrenalin and cortisol. I am better off than most, at my level I should be bed ridden whereas I have a few hours a days, one of my main issues is that I look too normal most of the time, but diesel engines and vibration make me as white as a sheet and I get pregnant women on the Tube offering me their seats (earlier on this year on a trip to London to see a specialist), took 3 weeks to recover from a 1 1/2 travel.

This 500mm has inspired me to try again after last year's attempt that popped the ligament in my good hand, there are things I don't know, like "the golden hour", since a working photojournalist has to take pictures regardless of the time of day, also I'm not any good at photo manipulation as 50% in Photoshop doesn't correspond in the slightest to me adding 50% in a darkroom and burning in, however the range of digital cameras is incredible and sometimes undesirable, I was primarily mono, but a Fuji rep gave me a lot of Veliva and said that after that I'd know exposure like the back of my hand, he was right, and I have tried Velvia profiles and they are just wrong, the original film had 4~5 stops of detail that could be recorded so you'd choose to blow the highlights or lose the shadows and this could be very desirable, recently I saw a scene that would have looked great with blown highlights and a figure in silhouette, and not matter what I do with the image it's got too much detail and if I increase the contrast or move the levels to cut the highlights, the final histogram looks all jaggy rather than a smooth set of curves. But we live and learn, I found the original OM range vastly overrated compared to Pentax; talking about the OM-1's through to OM-4 as used by Jane Bown (I met her, she really did carry bodies around in plastic shopping bags), and Bob Carlos Clarke (I believe he used a 6x7 on occasion before his suicide) and the Pentax range has some very interesting small primes, so if I can get a little more mobile, the 77mm f1.8 looks like my kind of thing as long as I can work out how to turn off the technology.

Happy snapping everyone.

[gofour3]

I have the K500/4.5 and the K1000/8 and they both have the ability to rotate the camera 90 degrees, however it's a bit different than the Takumar in the video. The K Series lenses have a lock screw that you need to loosen and then rotate the body until it "click-stops" at 90 degrees, then you re-tighten the screw. The K Series lenses also have a removable camera mount that takes 52mm filters and not 49mm.

I have the manual for the K Series super telephotos (500mm to 2000mm) if anyone wants more info.

Phil.

[nod]

I have the K500/4.5 and the K1000/8 and they both have the ability to rotate the camera 90 degrees, however it's a bit different than the Takumar in the video. The K Series lenses have a lock screw that you need to loosen and then rotate the body until it "click-stops" at 90 degrees, then you re-tighten the screw. The K Series lenses also have a removable camera mount that takes 52mm filters and not 49mm.

I have the manual for the K Series super telephotos (500mm to 2000mm) if anyone wants more info.

Phil.

I think Kerrowdown might need that information on the 500mm K mount

Do these K mount lens stop down automatically, if you can remove then mount like the M42, I wouldn't have thought they could have the aperture lever on the inside?

---------- Post added 07-21-18 at 02:25 PM ----------

One forgets the length of the focusing throw on old manual focus lenses - I've only got a 50/1.7 in fully manual, and that's much more than modern lenses, but that thing is spectacular!

Is that on an APS-C sized sensor? as I remember with great fondness that "snap" of an 85mm f1.4 (near enough in 35mm film equiv terms) through and SLR with great fondness.

Excuse my ignorance, but are Pentax Lens now "fly by wire" rather than manual focus? And what is quick shift? the review section here mentions that some have it, and some don't.

[RGlasel]

Excuse my ignorance, but are Pentax Lens now "fly by wire" rather than manual focus? And what is quick shift? the review section here mentions that some have it, and some don't.

The HD DA 18-50 RE is the only "fly by wire" Pentax lens, even if you manually turn the focus ring, the camera makes the DC autofocus motor turn the lens, there is no mechanical connection between the focus ring and the rest of the lens. The HD DA 55-300 PLM doesn't have an aperture lever, but there is a mechanical connection between the focus ring and the rest of the lens. Quick shift is essentially a "clutch" for the focus ring; lenses with this feature (and there are even screw-drive lenses that have it) allow the focus ring to be turned by hand without turning the autofocus motor, even if the camera is set to autofocus. The D-FA * 70-200 has a special quick shift switch on the lens, that affects how the camera operates autofocus after manually turning the focus ring.

[ffking]

Originally posted by ffking
One forgets the length of the focusing throw on old manual focus lenses - I've only got a 50/1.7 in fully manual, and that's much more than modern lenses, but that thing is spectacular!
Is that on an APS-C sized sensor? as I remember with great fondness that "snap" of an 85mm f1.4 (near enough in 35mm film equiv terms) through and SLR with great fondness.

I'm thinking more of the fact that one of the adaptations to make modern AF lenses focus faster is that you have to turn the focusing ring far less distance between near focus and infinity - good for speed, less good for precision - so manual focus is actually more difficult on AF lenses

[clickclick]

That has no doubt gotta be an understatement, you've no idea how cack-handed the old Kerrowdown can be at times.



I can't even see any screws...



Nope certainly didn't get those with the lens, why would anyone take it off anyway?



No problem I've got it right in front of me... sight is 1mm thick, 22mm outside edge, measured square not following taper, from level surface to top of point, depth of V, a gnats over 2mm, base width 12mm, top width 6mm, fold over at base 4mm. Is that all you need?

Hope you like the technical speak thrown in there, oh and it's painted shiny black.

You've got the "modern" version with that new fangled rubber gripy stuff, don't you? I bet they're hiding under there. I pulled out my assortment of tiny screws, and they appear to be M1.6 I say appear because my screw holes are pretty sorry looking, but M1.6 seemed to do the trick. I've attached a couple pictures for grins. You can see one of the three little set screws in the middle of the aperture ring.

Yes, perfect and thank you on the sight! So, this thing folds down, or do you mean the width of the base that is in contact with the lens is just 4mm? I'm thinking you just mean the short part of the L is 4mm and 22mm on the long part, not that it really folds over.

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[clickclick]

I had the stenosis operation 13 years ago

Thank you for this data point. Wish you were reporting something different, but this helps reinforce that pushing through with physical therapy versus the knife is still probably the best way to go. Your timing is on target. End of this past week was a rough one, and my girlfriend was questioning what next/what are the options, and my response has been there really aren't any good ones, at least none I'm willing to entertain given my immediate doctor's and physical therapist's feedback and the anecdotal information that I've picked up over the years. And as you know, the show must go on, so we push through as best is possible. Hope you have more good days than not.

[Kerrowdown]

You can see one of the three little set screws in the middle of the aperture ring.

Aye your right enough... they're there, but bloody wee.

Yes, perfect and thank you on the sight!

Good stuff.

So, this thing folds down

No, sorry I've misled you with the words "fold over".

short part of the L is 4mm and 22mm on the long part

Its a wee L shape, 22mm vertical, 4mm horizontal, width at base 12mm, width at top with the V is 6mm, the notch "V" is a gnats over 2mm deep, centred on the top 6mm.

[clickclick]

Aye your right enough... they're there, but bloody wee.



Good stuff.



No, sorry I've misled you with the words "fold over".



Its a wee L shape, 22mm vertical, 4mm horizontal, width at base 12mm, width at top with the V is 6mm, the notch "V" is a gnats over 2mm deep, centred on the top 6mm.

Yes, wee indeed! I stacked my 2.0 cheaters on top of my 1.5s to see these little critters well enough to fit my screwdriver!

Thanks for the clarification. That makes it so much simpler. I have a feeling there's a reason the rear sites are often removed from these, but it would still be nice to have one. I need to find a front lens cap too.

These are neat lenses. Fun to have in the collection. Really are nice and sharp. Some purple fringing, but that's easy enough to take care of in post.

[nod]

Thank you for this data point. Wish you were reporting something different, but this helps reinforce that pushing through with physical therapy versus the knife is still probably the best way to go. Your timing is on target. End of this past week was a rough one, and my girlfriend was questioning what next/what are the options, and my response has been there really aren't any good ones, at least none I'm willing to entertain given my immediate doctor's and physical therapist's feedback and the anecdotal information that I've picked up over the years. And as you know, the show must go on, so we push through as best is possible. Hope you have more good days than not.

I've taken this way off topic, but two things. a) get yourself a good pain management team, and the way to do it is to say "the is really affecting the quality of my life" (Doctors are marked on whether they have actively improved their patient's quality of life and it's a ridiculous benchmark, impossible to measure, so you say that and they go "Ping, I can put that in my assessment just by making a referral. I say a "good" team because if you had a rough week then you're doing it wrong, (unless something exceptional happened) as too many people with chronic injuries feel better for a bit, overdo it and then end up lying on a board for 3 weeks and then having to rebuild the muscles supporting the spin, it was called "Bang then Bust" when I was last in pain management. b) This society has to be very careful, I have CRPS, I've always thought that way, but because of the pain it's easy to become clinically depressed, and I was told to avoid any place or people that told me that I suffered from CRPS, because quite literally one word can be enough to get you down. (Just as a note, I'm not on anti-depressants, have never been, even after the stenosis failure but that was hard and maybe I should have been).

You might want to investigate the electrical implants offered by the John Radcliffe, they don't cure, and only mask the pain. You have to have a psych eval first though, and I was accepted but then a very small melanoma turned out to be a 7 inch malignant tumour growing horizontally along my rib cage, so I was dead lucky at the stage it was caught and avoiding Chemo, but because of the possibility of future MRI's I can't have any metal in my body. I've heard "okay" things about the implants, but talk to the chronic pain nurses as the doctors are surgeons and not involved much in after care, and I found that the literature I was given did not reflect the views of the nursing staff in that not many people got back to work afterwards, life was better feeling, but it didn't increase one's ability to function.

Deep acupuncture works but overall it would need to be combined with intensive physiotherapy that the NHS can't provide. The acupuncture seems to paralysis certain muscle groups, (I certainly moved funny afterwards) but then while those muscle are locked, you need to be physically hammered to build up the strength in the other muscles and physio offered once a fortnight can't do it. Medication is a difficult topic but I under medicate so that I am always aware of not pushing too far, and also some of the standard treatments like Gabapentin are only 40% effective, and gave me all kinds of strange side effects. I also don't recommend the forums online, there seems to be a spiral competition to see whose the worse off, or had things the longest or takes the strongest drugs, and it's very negative. I try and set myself achievable goals, life and freak incidents get in the way, but as long as I'm moving forward, I'm still moving.

[clickclick]

I try and set myself achievable goals, life and freak incidents get in the way, but as long as I'm moving forward, I'm still moving.

Exactly. No drugs. Lots of PT. Sometimes you just move wrong, and as you know, that can make things wonky for a few days. Keep moving is the key. Walk no matter what. Take the stairs if you can, not the elevator, don't look for the parking spot by the door and so on. All good in the end because you did it.

[gofour3]

Do these K mount lens stop down automatically, if you can remove then mount like the M42, I wouldn't have thought they could have the aperture lever on the inside?

The K Series ones are stop down as well, as they are manual diaphragms.

Phil.

[nod]

The K Series ones are stop down as well, as they are manual diaphragms.

Phil.

That's interesting, I did wonder if Pentax had worked some magic with the lever, but I see on the review page that it is listed as a manual diaphragm for the K-mount, though Kerrydown appears to have a version where his knob is not click stopped at 90 degrees. (his lens has the what I called a "knob" and you describes as a lock screw on SMC Pentax 500mm F4.5 Reviews - K Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database )

[gofour3]

his lens has the what I called a "knob" and you describes as a lock screw

Yep the lock screw is shown in the bottom of the lens in the picture of Kerrydown's K500/4.5.

You can also see the lock screw in the bottom left of the picture of my K500/4.5.

Phil.