How to Train Your Dragon
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What is some of the most impressive art you've seen along the roadside? For me, Ricardo Breceda's amazing and often enormous sculptures is up there. This is a selfie of me sitting underneath one of the undulating "arches" of the enormous rattledragon sculpture in Borrego Springs, CA. This may appear in a future book of night photography and history that I am working on right now. Thanks!
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For photos, books and more!
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(Plate 7319) Pentax K-1/28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. This is a blend. The photo of me is 3 seconds f/4.5 ISO 3200 since I'm apparently incapable of sitting still for longer than that. The rest of the photo is 20 minutes total "stacked". Each photo in the "stack" is 2 minutes f/8 ISO 200. April 2022.

[Ken Lee]

You're welcome, no worries.


Just an aside, the D80 was/is a very capable camera, I used it a lot over a long period of time and got some amazing images with it. But I prefer my Pentaxes, and now that I've become a Retired Bum, I only shoot Pentax. Not that I don't have quite a stash of Nikon images, and I do post one now and again (subject matter). But Pentax is my brand!

I prefer using the Pentax K-1 because I feel it's an overall better experience and has better images than the Nikon D750. However, I still have some lenses with the Nikon, and so what frequently happens is if I'm in some abandoned area, the Pentax will have either a 15-30mm or the 28-105mm lens on, and the Nikon has a Rokinon 12mm fisheye. Or I am incorporating the Milky Way, it's the Irix 15mm f/2.4 lens.

Either way, the lenses are complimentary. And the Nikon is no slouch in the image department. I always get great images from that camera, and the way it handles dynamic range is beautiful.

[OrchidJulie]

I prefer using the Pentax K-1 because I feel it's an overall better experience and has better images than the Nikon D750. However, I still have some lenses with the Nikon,

Either way, the lenses are complimentary. And the Nikon is no slouch in the image department. I always get great images from that camera, and the way it handles dynamic range is beautiful.

Understood. For a long time I only had one lens for the D80, a Nikkor macro, which was great for the catalog images but more or less useless for some other "assignments", so I convinced the boss to let me purchase a medium-focal length zoom that gave me more range and flexibility. I have a collection of Pentax lenses, some dating back to the Spotmatic (M42 mount), but they are generally very good lenses. I have an adapter for use with the old lenses on K-mount bodies. I, too, prefer the "Pentax experience", I find the Pentax bodies more comfortable to hold and use, and the entire menu system a lot more easy to navigate. The D80 menus seemed a little obtuse to me from time to time.

[Ken Lee]

Understood. For a long time I only had one lens for the D80, a Nikkor macro, which was great for the catalog images but more or less useless for some other "assignments", so I convinced the boss to let me purchase a medium-focal length zoom that gave me more range and flexibility. I have a collection of Pentax lenses, some dating back to the Spotmatic (M42 mount), but they are generally very good lenses. I have an adapter for use with the old lenses on K-mount bodies. I, too, prefer the "Pentax experience", I find the Pentax bodies more comfortable to hold and use, and the entire menu system a lot more easy to navigate. The D80 menus seemed a little obtuse to me from time to time.

Yes, I prefer the menu system in Pentax. I don't like the Nikon menu system very much even though I know my way around it reasonably well. I also like the way Pentax renders color, and I find the LED screen superior to my D750. I do love my D750, but the Pentax is really a dream to use, and has a lot of great features that most other cameras don't have.

[OrchidJulie]

Yes, I prefer the menu system in Pentax. I don't like the Nikon menu system very much even though I know my way around it reasonably well. I also like the way Pentax renders color, and I find the LED screen superior to my D750. I do love my D750, but the Pentax is really a dream to use, and has a lot of great features that most other cameras don't have.

Funny how one gets used to things, like the menus and so on. A few years ago we took a DSLR class (supposedly introductory level), instructor was a pro who mainly used Nikons. There were 8 or so in the class (maybe 10, I forget), mostly Nikons, a few Canon, and my Kr was the only Pentax. At first the instructor considered my Pentax an "entry level" camera, compared to some of the other gear, but later, after some demonstrations, he changed his mind. There was some exercise, I forget which now, involving changing some basic settings on the camera...fairly simple on all the Nikons, extremely simple on my Pentax, but so convoluted on the Canons that the process completely stymied the instructor. Even with one of them in his hand (if I recall, it was one of the Rebel models), he couldn't navigate the menu to change the setting. Over the years I used the D80, I did get sort of familiar with the menus, but they weren't nearly as easy to navigate as the menus in both of my Pentaxes.

[Ken Lee]

I've been using Nikons for years, and I still don't find their menu system to be all that great. They seem to just go on for a long time. Oh well.

[UncleVanya]

I've been using Nikons for years, and I still don't find their menu system to be all that great. They seem to just go on for a long time. Oh well.

I found the Nikon menu less confusing than canon, but more confusing than Pentax. Olympus made Nikon look simple, Panasonic was easy like Pentax. Sony is jumbled prior to the a1 - my camera is older and isn’t streamlined and I don’t have an a1 or a7iv to say what’s improved there. Samsung wasn’t bad either now that I think about it.

[Ken Lee]

I found the Nikon menu less confusing than canon, but more confusing than Pentax. Olympus made Nikon look simple, Panasonic was easy like Pentax. Sony is jumbled prior to the a1 - my camera is older and isn’t streamlined and I don’t have an a1 or a7iv to say what’s improved there. Samsung wasn’t bad either now that I think about it.

Oh, interesting. I've spoken to some people who use Canon cameras and love the menu system and absolutely hate Nikon menus, haha! It all depends on what we like and what we get used to, I suppose.

I'm good at messing any menu system up, so there is THAT!

[UncleVanya]

Oh, interesting. I've spoken to some people who use Canon cameras and love the menu system and absolutely hate Nikon menus, haha! It all depends on what we like and what we get used to, I suppose.

I'm good at messing any menu system up, so there is THAT!

Lol. I get that perspective but as a user of a lot of different gear I think I can confidently say that some menus are better than others!