[JoelA]

We have a short New York City trip coming up. Having been there many times I have a lot of the usual images.

I'm not going to have a ton of time for shooting, but I want to do something different.

Going to take the K-1 II (first time it'll be in NYC!) and just two lenses.

For Daytime: SMC Pentax 17mm f/4.0 Fisheye
For Nighttime: Either SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 or SMC-M Pentax 50mm f/1.7.

I'm going back and forth between the f/1.2 and the f/1.7.

-- For those of you who live in NYC, or spend a lot of time shooting there at night, how bright is it? If you had a choice which would you choose?

Yes, I realize this verges on overthink, but isn't that what the forum is for?

Many thanks!

[TwoUptons]

By f5.6 they'll render about the same, right?

Then it comes down to what happens when they don't render the same...

The f1.7 is pretty sharp from 1.7, but I think the f1.2 stays pretty dreamy for a while, so I think it all comes down to the look you're after...

-Eric

[dms]

A typical exposure is 1/15s at f/1.4 and iso 400 for a night scene w/ many distant lights.** Actually my usual night time lens under this scenario is a 35mm f/2 on APSC.

My setup for two lenses, would be an APSC w/17mm FE and the 35 mm (or 50 mm) on the FF. And then for wider the FE on the K-1, and longer FL the 50 on the APSC.

17mm on the APSC, when processed (in my case Fish-Eye Hemi) is basically a very wide normal lens--probably about 14~15 mm regular lens
_____
** FYI that setting (1/15s at f/1.4 and iso 320) was what I used w/ high speed tungsten Ektachrome for night shots in cities and from airplanes at night. So it is a good setting to remember. Exposure reading w/ light meter/the camera is almost useless.

[interested_observer]

I have a friend that does a lot of business-related traveling. He captured some images a couple of years ago with his K70 and the Sigma 18-35/f1.8. Here is his IG page - and then scroll down to rows 12 and 21.

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He took a late afternoon to night timeframe and just repeatedly took the same stitched pano at Pier 1 Brooklyn bridge park (I think) - with different lighting conditions (late afternoon, golden hour, sunset, early evening, twilight - civil, nautical and astro - probably 15 panos all together - film is free) He just used f4, f5.6 for a deep depth of view. A few days later he had a lot of stitched panos. What do I do with them now? I suggested that he fold them into a time pano stretching from late afternoon on the left to right night lights downtown on the right. So he did both a stripped pano and a blended pano - both of which came out great. He also linked them in to a panning video - row 23. All of the results are from the same set of images - just processed into different final results.

[Sandy Hancock]

The f/1.2 will give you a brighter viewfinder image, which might help a little with night shooting. Mind you, I suspect NYC never gets very dark

Feel free to share some images!

[UncleVanya]

NYC isn’t too dark. The f1.7 will be fine if you aren’t crazy low with your iso requirements. But what is the downside to the f1.2?

[ismaelg]

For what it's worth I think the 1.7 would be more inconspicuous compared to the bigger 1.2
That could be a consideration.

Thanks,
Ismael

[clickclick]

Why not bring the 1.2 and have the option? You never know what might strike your creative fancy. Figure the 1.2 can do everything the 1.7 can and more.

[pres589]

I don't own any f1.2 lenses, but i own an M 50 1.7, and I don't think you'll have any trouble pushing images to get quite nicely exposed shots with that lens in NYC. K-1 seems to have quite good high-ISO IQ. The smaller, cheaper, and easier to replace M 50 1.7 would definitely be my pick for what you're talking about (well, or an AF lens like an F 50 1.7 or DA 50 1.8, but if it has to be manual focus...).

You're making me jealous just thinking about a trip to NY to take photos and just be in the city.

[mikesbike]

Actually my usual night time lens under this scenario is a 35mm f/2 on APSC.

Even better on a FF body. I have both, and like it best on my K-1 II. This is what I would take to NYC. The FOV is very versatile for many scenes, more width to let more into the scene, without having distant parts seem too far away. Probably also the FA 31mm and possibly the DFA 21mm f/2.4 as well.

[gofour3]

This was taken with the K50/1.4: (B&W slide film)



Phil.

[pres589]

This was taken with the K50/1.4: (B&W slide film)



Phil.

What was the f-stop and exposure time used for that shot? It's a nice picture. If my assumption is correct and it's some long exposure it might not be so applicable to the question asked by the OP.

[ZombieArmy]

The f/1.2 will give you a brighter viewfinder image, which might help a little with night shooting. Mind you, I suspect NYC never gets very dark

Feel free to share some images!

If you stick to Manhattan I guess.

[gofour3]

What was the f-stop and exposure time used for that shot? It's a nice picture. If my assumption is correct and it's some long exposure it might not be so applicable to the question asked by the OP.

Not sure what the f-stop was, as I did not write it down. (You forget these things shooting film)

I do believe the exposure time was around 1 to 2 seconds, as I remember I had to add 1/2 to 1 stop for the films reciprocity failure. (Adox Silvermax 100, processed as a positive)

I used a small Manfrotto travel tripod that I took along on that trip, specifically for doing some night shots of the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn.

I used my Pentax K2DMD camera for the shot.

Thanks, Phil.

[JoelA]

Wow! Thank you all so very kindly! I was not expecting this level of coaching, and it is fantastic.

To answer some of the questions.

TwoUptons - your question really got me thinking. The self assignment will be: "unique angles". The venue will be Manhattan only. That helped a ton. Thanks!

dms - thank you for the exposure settings, that's exactly what I was looking for!

Several of you sort of said...why not take the1.2 if you have it. Yes, you're right! The 1.7 has a lot of sentimental value as I've had it since new in '80. But frankly the 1.2 does not get the use it should.

Regarding the 35mm f2.0. There's been some heavy LBA going on. That might be a bridge too far...maybe for a future trip!

gofour3 that's an amazing shot. Never had the chance to use a K2DMD, but there is a K2 looking at me from across the room.

So, the trip has pushed off till mid July, and that may be a big blessing. What I'm going to do is to get busy doing a bunch of test shots. No big city here, but enough strip malls to do the light checks and get everything set before going. I've already started to set up some of the 'User Profiles' on the camera to do what will certainly need to be some serious bracketing for the night shots, both color and black and white. Going to write out my destination map. Hoping to do three types of shooting - city awakening, daytime drama, nighttime lights.

It's literally been 30 or more years since I've done planned shooting. Fun to be back into it.

Many thanks again to all of you for crisping up the thought process around this.

Oh, yeah, I'm taking the 1.2!

Best,

JoelA