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10-21-2010, 09:02 AM - 1 Like   #46
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benisona, why do you only have a rep of 10? With the wide range of HDR photography you've shown us, you should have 50 times as much!

Great pics, truly awe inspiring.

10-21-2010, 09:06 AM - 12 Likes   #47
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QuoteOriginally posted by chalion Quote
benisona, why do you only have a rep of 10? With the wide range of HDR photography you've shown us, you should have 50 times as much!

Great pics, truly awe inspiring.
Thanks, but what is a rep (besides the obvious; short for reputation) and how does it go up? sorry I'm a noob.
10-21-2010, 09:15 AM   #48
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QuoteOriginally posted by benisona Quote
Thanks, but what is a rep (besides the obvious; short for reputation) and how does it go up? sorry I'm a noob.
There's a little Add Reputation link underneath your Avatar.
10-21-2010, 09:34 AM   #49
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thanks for valuable explanations and infos,
it realy suits the phil. of forum.
sorry for exp.bracketing question but i had missed the point that you discussed bracketing
for hdr.
infact i had wanted to ask for necessity of ev.bracketing for "single shot" images.

10-21-2010, 10:13 AM   #50
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Wow benisona!

This really inspires me

And thanks for being so forthcoming and non-paranoid with your inspiration sources and techniques for HDR
10-21-2010, 12:07 PM   #51
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I'm going to pile on and add my "Wow!". Awesome work! Thanks for sharing.
Ooh, my K5 lust is out of control!
10-21-2010, 12:11 PM   #52
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QuoteOriginally posted by BrendanPK Quote
I Shoot for every publication that hires me (ok, mostly just the local guys) and depend on that for 95% of my income (odd jobs cover beer and fun $$) However that said:
Got a K5 Monday, threw it "into the fire" Tuesday and WOW
I have shoot with every mid-top level DSLR Pentax has made and even a lot of the top Nikons etc and the K5 is the best of all Pentax DSLR's for IQ and AF so far. Its easly on-par with the likes of the D300s (sorry haven't done enough with a Canon to compare.)
AF is much faster and locks on faster than any pentax DSLR I have
Flash is better too, but still not as good as Nikon IMHO.
ISO is AMAZING 1600 looks like 400!
Shot side by side with my K7 and past same outside body, its like a whole new camera!
Tomorrow I will be putting it threw the sports test shooting indoor high-school volleyball (no strobes allowed) so this along with Friday-night lights (High School Football) will be a true test of its low-light AF, AF-C speed/accuracy and High ISO.
Will report back soon

I'm passing my appreciation on to the OP, and BrendanPK. I'm looking forward to more info from you both about how the K5 works out for you both with sports photography, and everything else. As someone who's very interested in sports photography, I'm very excited about the K5. It's clear that the high ISO capabilities will be a breakthrough for low light sports, I'm hoping that the AF-C performance is greatly imporoved. I'm hesitant to shoot sports wide open right now, because the AF-C performance is not quick enough to handle the shallow DOF.

10-21-2010, 02:22 PM   #53
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OP and all you other helpful forum people,

I just wanted to say thank you very much for sharing both your work and insight.
10-21-2010, 05:47 PM   #54
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This is my first forum post as well.....been lurking for quite a while, and I'm glad to finally have a reason to post. I've learned so much here and really enjoy the personalities of all the members.

I just wanted to piggy back on @!ex's thread that I too got in to digital photography for doing HDR. I decided to get my first DSLR for the sake of shooting RAW and for AEB capabilities. When researching cameras (which grew into a whole new hobby on its own ) I kept going back and fourth between Canon and Pentax. I never considered Nikon because their entry-level DSLRs do not have an Auto-Bracket feature. In fact i read recently that the new D7000 didnt originally have AEB in the specs but was added last minute because HDR enthusiasts complained (that may be a ruomor). So I was left with Canon and Pentax (i never considered any other brands). Canon had AEB, but what sold me was the Pentax had built in shake-reduction and the weather sealed body of the K200d was much more appealing than the hollow plasticky body of the entry level Canons and Nikons. I got my camera when the Canon XSi and Nikon D60 were in the same category. Everything i read on Pentax was great. I didn't know enough back then to realize that Pentax was a smaller, less popular company. I just saw it listed in Consumer Reports and it had an excellent rating....and I knew my uncle had a Pentax. Anyway.....I'm getting way off subject......Pentax is a great camera for HDR photography. The AEB, low-ISO image quality, colors, and DR have been completely satisfactory for me. I'm often amazed how much detail i can pull out in RAW conversion. I've actuallykinda moved away from HDR lately as I've become more and more addicted to this hobby. I'm constantly trying new techniques and practicing my PP skills. But HDR is something I will continue to work on in the future.

All this to say....I'll admit, I was considering jumping ship this year. I've really enjoyed my K200d and have no regrets in buying it. But in the time I've had it, I've learned that many of my friends shoot with Canons and Nikons. I've always taken some pride in being the odd man out but with Pentax its not quite as enjoyable. Reason being that all of my friends can share lenses and accessories and rent lenses at local camera shops while I'm stuck having to buy all my own, usually un-tested. I was very close to selling everything (which at this point is the K200D, Kit Lens, Tamron 18-250, and corded shutter release) and moving to the Nikon D7000. But now that the K-5 and K-r are out and I've seen so many stunning sample shots, I've made up my mind for sure that I will be sticking with Pentax in definitely. I can still maintain the small bit of pride I get from being unique, but even better I can no longer have any excuses for not getting excellent image quality in my photos. My only excuse will be user error, which will only inspire me to practice more.

So to seal the deal and confirm that I will continue on as a proud Pentaxian, I finally bought my first prime lens! I'm extremely excited. I've been wanting the FA 50mm 1.4 for a long time but have been putting it off because i was thinking of moving to another brand. It feels so great to make this decision and be able to enjoy my camera even more. I'm so pumped about being able to use my camera at lower ISOs in darker conditions as well as getting some nice silky bokeh. And I'm planning to upgrade to K-5 in early 2011 after bonus/Christmas money rolls in.

Also, @!ex, your photos are beautiful. I like your style of HDR.....very subtle and doesnt have that overly haloed tonemapping look to it. Very good skills. I added you as a contact on flickr (mccamp82)......my HDRs look novice compared to yours so please feel free leave a tip/comment/critique if you care to......I know I have a lot of learning to do so it would be much apprecaited.
10-21-2010, 06:02 PM - 1 Like   #55
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battery is charging (I had a bunch of my old batteries charged to avoid this, but the K-5, and I'm guessing the K-7 also use a new type)!!!! been playing around with the cam (so excited), still bedridden from the surgery but I will get out tomorrow and get some side by side comparisons with my K10 and K20. Another thing I just figured out that is very cool as far as bracketing is concerned in the K-5. Since it has 5 user modes I can set one to Av mode with 5 shot 2 ev spacing brackets, but set ev compensation to -5, I can then set another user mode to the same but with +5 ev compensation. That way with the flick of a switch I can actually get 18 ev stops of AEB!!!! this is pretty unprecedented (the only camera that comes close is the $5000 canon Mark IV), and is making me very excited indeed. This is actually the absolute limit of ev you could ever really need, even if you were shooting from inside a cave looking out onto a sunny afternoon...
10-21-2010, 06:31 PM   #56
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Ok, after shooting Volleyball tonight in a everso not well lit gym (again no flash can be used for High School V-ball) I kicked my K5 into high gear against the K7...
To describe the difference its like racing a Prius against a Bugatti Veyron. Both great but the one just KICKS ASS
So far the K5 is like switching to a whole new system (think a Nikon D3) in terms of AF speed and ISO noise, but like the bugatti veyron it runs out of gas quickly at top speed (both top FPS and high 12800 ISO) filling the buffer while the K7 is still chugging alonf at 2fps in AFC for 15-20 frames at any ISO the K5 rabbits ahead around 4FPS in AFC the buffer fills in 8 or less frames. The true hinderance will be known tomorrow with football. ISO Noise, 12800 is like 1600-3200 on the K7! I was shooting 1/500-800/sec at F3.5 indoors, natural (crappy) gym lighting and some windows.
That said I would 100% back the purchase of a K5 if you have a Pentax and want something faster and better
10-21-2010, 06:56 PM - 1 Like   #57
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Alex

Welcome and thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight on what seems to be a much better/much more realistic way to implement HDR.

Alex, you have done some of the first/few HDR images that I can honestly say DO NOT look unrealistic. I am not saying all of them are realistic looking, and your implementations are definitely some of the best ones I've seen!!! Your artistic side is very well done and I agree with your comments about flexibility, etc. and thinking outside the box for image perspectives that are different. Chapeau good sir, because there's a lot of HDR imagery out there that I find "over the top". I believe this serves to inspire folks to give a more even handed approach.

Just so you know, as an aside: I am someone who does not normally advocate or really use HDR in any way, shape or form because of the primary subjects I shoot (nature). As an example, to even presume such a thing (using HDR) in a nature competition submission is pretty much a guarantee automatic disqualification of the image - single image only, etc. Such are the constraints of that genre, not leveled at your work or HDR imagery in general.

I hope the two previous paragraphs make sense and does not offend. Again, welcome and I can assure you it's a warm one - thanks for posting and I do look forward to more.

Regards,
Marc
10-21-2010, 07:02 PM   #58
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QuoteOriginally posted by BrendanPK Quote
Ok, after shooting Volleyball tonight in a everso not well lit gym (again no flash can be used for High School V-ball) I kicked my K5 into high gear against the K7...
To describe the difference its like racing a Prius against a Bugatti Veyron. Both great but the one just KICKS ASS
So far the K5 is like switching to a whole new system (think a Nikon D3) in terms of AF speed and ISO noise, but like the bugatti veyron it runs out of gas quickly at top speed (both top FPS and high 12800 ISO) filling the buffer while the K7 is still chugging alonf at 2fps in AFC for 15-20 frames at any ISO the K5 rabbits ahead around 4FPS in AFC the buffer fills in 8 or less frames. The true hinderance will be known tomorrow with football. ISO Noise, 12800 is like 1600-3200 on the K7! I was shooting 1/500-800/sec at F3.5 indoors, natural (crappy) gym lighting and some windows.
That said I would 100% back the purchase of a K5 if you have a Pentax and want something faster and better
Interesting Brendan - thanks for the analogy and clarifying on the buffer. Looks to be the right mix for my work too!

I don't think it will be an issue for most folks (buffer), although in birding work it would be a limiter in low light/high activity situation. However, those subject types finish up the action pretty quickly... I'm looking forward to using it for some events in my area once I get one.

So what are your thoughts on losing possible shots when high ISO meets the high FPS situation? This should be interesting, although that football game should reveal a fair bit. Are you shooting RAW/JPEG, or is it situation dependent?

Regards,
Marc
10-21-2010, 08:03 PM   #59
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Very interesting work Alex!
10-22-2010, 03:01 AM   #60
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QuoteOriginally posted by BrendanPK Quote
Ok, after shooting Volleyball tonight in a everso not well lit gym (again no flash can be used for High School V-ball) I kicked my K5 into high gear against the K7...
To describe the difference its like racing a Prius against a Bugatti Veyron. Both great but the one just KICKS ASS
So far the K5 is like switching to a whole new system (think a Nikon D3) in terms of AF speed and ISO noise, but like the bugatti veyron it runs out of gas quickly at top speed (both top FPS and high 12800 ISO) filling the buffer while the K7 is still chugging alonf at 2fps in AFC for 15-20 frames at any ISO the K5 rabbits ahead around 4FPS in AFC the buffer fills in 8 or less frames. The true hinderance will be known tomorrow with football. ISO Noise, 12800 is like 1600-3200 on the K7! I was shooting 1/500-800/sec at F3.5 indoors, natural (crappy) gym lighting and some windows.
That said I would 100% back the purchase of a K5 if you have a Pentax and want something faster and better
Brendan, thanks for the quick update. Are those numbers that you reported with RAW files? I'll be interested in what you have to say about the football game and how the K5 handles that.
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