What oh what do you do when it's pouring outside and you are bored...

Well, if you have a raincoat, a Pentax camera and weatherized lenses...










WARNING! Do not attempt this with other brands of dSLR's! Your mileage will vary (and your warranty might just disappear!)



Pat

[hcc]

I love photograph No. 5 with the leaf on the table: nice colours, nice composition.

Pentax has indeed nice WR gears. (I do not need to be reminded as I shoot in foul weather, but your post was timely for others.)

Thank you for posting.

[magkelly]

That's why I'd still like a K5 as much as I love my K-x. I'm like a duck when it rains. I want to be out there stomping around and getting all wet. I own an umbrella but I must admit I seldom use it unless I've got library books in my hand or something. I love rainy days, always have. This is why I've been thinking very seriously about Seattle at some point. I have a feeling I'd love it there. When I was in SF I lived for the fog and the rainy days. I hate sun and heat!!!

Nice pics particularly the next to last one.

[cardinal43]

I love rainy days, always have. This is why I've been thinking very seriously about Seattle at some point.

I don't know about that, magkelly. I just returned from 2 months in WA (granted it was in central WA), but we had exactly 1 day of rain, and Seattle did not have all that much.

[magkelly]

I don't know about that, magkelly. I just returned from 2 months in WA (granted it was in central WA), but we had exactly 1 day of rain, and Seattle did not have all that much.

Really? I had thought WA was supposed to be rainy a lot. Then again weather has been odd all over this year. Next week it may be raining enough around here actually if a certain tropical storm named Irene has it's way. Figures, last big rain my folks roof sprung a couple of leaks, all we need now is a big storm coming through now, NOT...

[stormtech]

Great series - I love rainy days as long as there aren't too many in a row.

I'm starting to collect WR lenses for my K20D - now I have to get out there in the rain.

Thanks for sharing!

[daacon]

Ncie one Pat ! No gear was harmned in the making in these photos

[RoxnDox]

I don't know about that, magkelly. I just returned from 2 months in WA (granted it was in central WA), but we had exactly 1 day of rain, and Seattle did not have all that much.

Central WA is over on the dry side of hte Cascades - they create a significant rain shadow! You were lucky to get a day of rain over there...

Really? I had thought WA was supposed to be rainy a lot. Then again weather has been odd all over this year. Next week it may be raining enough around here actually if a certain tropical storm named Irene has it's way. Figures, last big rain my folks roof sprung a couple of leaks, all we need now is a big storm coming through now, NOT...

We had a very cool and soggy winter (broke a number of records), but once summer arrived it has actually been quite dry here (I'm just a little bit south of Seattle, over on the relaxed side of Puget Sound ). We've even been running the sprinklers to keep the lawn from turning brown!

Mags, if you do move here be prepared for long stretches of grey days without seeing the sun at all. You might enjoy that, but it really does affect most non-natives who move in...

Jim

[sjwaldron]

Nice photos. It's good to see the camera and DA* lenses tested out in those conditions.

[Sailor]

Pat - nice job and my hat's off to your determination. However, showing pictures of beautiful, wet rain to us poor folks in Texas amounts to mental cruelty .

Jer

[ve2vfd]

Hcc ... Thanks, it's also my favorite pic. I used my DA*60-250 at f11 and 1sec exposure with a tripod... I like how it really caught the rich colours and the long exposure made the water look milky smooth.

magkelly ... Well, part of the reason I ran out with my camera in the rain was to try to get shots of the roads shoulder being washed away... and while I was there I figured what the heck... this is fun! =D

stormtech ... Well, it was the first time I took my K5d and lenses in a real downpour... I had been out in sprinkles before but nothing this bad. I did notice that the beeper (that indicates your shot is in focus) gets filled with water and you don't hear it... you have to blow the water out of it to hear it again.

Dave ... Thanks, no gear was harmed at all! It did get pretty seriously soaked though! Thanks to a gore-tex jacket I managed to stay reasonably dry. The hardest thing to get used to is pointing the lens downwards all the time to avoid water drops on the glass.

sjwaldron ... The camera and lens performed like real champs! It was a pretty serious downpour and except for the blocked beeper port which muffled the "in focus" beep, everything else worked exactly as advertised... and the camera had no trouble focusing thru the rain.

Sailor ... We had both ends of that problem this summer here... drought for weeks, and then torrential "wash roads away" rains and thunderstorrms... I was supposed to go lumber-jacking today but the trails were too soggy (or outright washed away) and there was no way to get thru with our 4x4's.

Pat

[magkelly]

Mags, if you do move here be prepared for long stretches of grey days without seeing the sun at all. You might enjoy that, but it really does affect most non-natives who move in... Jim

Wouldn't bug me at all. I think I must suffer from some kind of reverse SAD disorder. I like cloudy and rainy, about 75% of the time. A little sun isn't bad and it helps for pics, but too much just makes me feel draggy. Cool, semi-wet weather, I like. I actually feel good when it rains. Heat and never ending sun depresses me.