Well, seems I have a national park only 30 minutes' drive from home. It may not be as scenic as the ones in Northern Sweden or some of the ones I've visited in the US but it was still a quite nice place for a walk. Brought the K-7 along with the DA 15 and 70 Limiteds and took a few shots. I'm still getting used to both the K-7 and the lenses and how to get the most out of them, but they sure are a treat to use.



DA 15/4, f/11, 1/60s



DA 70/2.4, f/5.6, 1/60s



DA 70/2.4, f/5.6, 1/40s



DA 15/4, f/8, 1/80s

Thomas

[juanraortiz]

Nice series. I thought sun never shines on Sweden. You correct my mistake. After the bad joke, one question: do you think K-7 improves K20D? Less noise? More focus speed?

[ktwse]

We only have complete darkness and polar bears roaming the streets nine months of the year, so in the other three months we do get some sun. I didn't use the K20D before the K-7 so can't say much about that, I'm afraid.

Thomas

[OrenMc]

Lots of green. Nice captures. What is the stacks of grass/hay in the first photo? Thats a bit different than the baling system.

[melander]

Its the old fashioned way of drying hay before you stack it. In the time before the machines ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay

[Scottnorwo]

beautiful shots. always nice to have a national park in the backyard

[octavmandru]

Nice series. I thought sun never shines on Sweden. You correct my mistake. After the bad joke, one question: do you think K-7 improves K20D? Less noise? More focus speed?

In fact, I honestly think the sun shines in a very special way in the north.
A very inspiring special way.

I like this series. The plant in nr. 3 is alive somehow

[juanraortiz]

In fact, I honestly think the sun shines in a very special way in the north.
A very inspiring special way.

I like this series. The plant in nr. 3 is alive somehow

I have seen pics taken with this special light you have in the north and i think is fantastic . I would like very much to visit your country and take a lot of them. But i'm a poor one from a poor country

[ktwse]

Thanks for all the comments! We do get a very special light here, and it only gets more special the further north you get. The only problem is trying to capture sunrises and sunsets given that that the sun goes up around 3:30 AM and sets at around 11 PM...

Thomas

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Gillar höstackarna!
Haven't been in the Tyresö park for some years. That part of the forest that burned down...how does it look today?

Nice series. I thought sun never shines on Sweden. You correct my mistake. After the bad joke, one question: do you think K-7 improves K20D? Less noise? More focus speed?

You are thinking about Norway. They got rain like in a monsoon area. The westerly lowpressure systems from the North Atlantic hits the Norwegian coast and the orographich effect (mountains forcing the air to rise) dump most of the water on the Norwegian side of the border. In very general tearms, Sweden are in the rain shadow of Norway. And when the sun barely set below the horison even here in Stockholm in summer and the sky does not get black, only darker blue at night, you usually have light enough. Though now in August the nights are getting black again but are still quite short.

The drawback is of course the oposite situation in the winter...and that you can't impress anyone in the cameraclubs with sunrise or sunset shots since they (and the period with low angle light) last several hours a day and are very easy to catch compared too say in the tropics where the sun almost fall down like a stone.

We only have complete darkness and polar bears roaming the streets nine months of the year, so in the other three months we do get some sun. I didn't use the K20D before the K-7 so can't say much about that, I'm afraid.

Thomas

You forgot about the wild mammoths!


Have you posted any UW pictures at the forum?

[ktwse]

Gillar höstackarna!
Haven't been in the Tyresö park for some years. That part of the forest that burned down...how does it look today?

Tack!

I walked for about 2.5 km through parts of the area that burned down. There's still a lot of dead trees, and the landscape is pretty desolate, but new growth is starting to show up.

Have you posted any UW pictures at the forum?

I haven't, as I don't use the Pentax for underwater photography. If you're interested, I have a set from Malta and one from Sipadan on my flickr.

Thomas

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Tack!

I walked for about 2.5 km through parts of the area that burned down. There's still a lot of dead trees, and the landscape is pretty desolate, but new growth is starting to show up.



I haven't, as I don't use the Pentax for underwater photography. If you're interested, I have a set from Malta and one from Sipadan on my flickr.

Thomas

Did so, like the Murena (?), jellyfish and the strange thing with pink tentacles (?), and your lovely wife/girlfriend (?).
What percentage of keepers do you have with the UW photo (how hard is it to get focus and light right)?

[ktwse]

Did so, like the Murena (?), jellyfish and the strange thing with pink tentacles (?), and your lovely wife/girlfriend (?).
What percentage of keepers do you have with the UW photo (how hard is it to get focus and light right)?

That "strange thing with pink tentacles" followed by "wife/girlfriend" almost begs to be commented on.... Anyway, the woman is my wife, and the strange thing is a nudibranch. And yes, it is indeed a moray, bu the way. I'd say about 30-40% are keepers in the sense that I bring them home to the computer. Of those shots, I only upload about 25-30%, ie of all shots, about 10% end up on flickr. I expect that's pretty normal/good, as I usually try multiple exposures/compositions of the same subject.

Focusing is not much of a problem as compacts have such a great DOF, light is trickier but I use dual external flash strobes hooked up with fiber optics and since TTL works quite well, I control flash output through the camera. I do regret not buying a 16 mm conversion lens for our trip to Malta, due to the many wrecks, an UWA FOV would have helped for a lot of the shots (not least to avoid backscatter which you can clearly see in many of the more "scenic" shots).

Thomas

[Tommy]

Great pictures!!! The closeups with the DA 70 are my favorites but I really like the other two as well.

Here are three of mine from Tyresta from two years ago with my K10D and a Sigma 17-70. I live only 15 minutes away (Haninge).







/Tommy

[Tommy]

I have seen pics taken with this special light you have in the north and i think is fantastic . I would like very much to visit your country and take a lot of them. But i'm a poor one from a poor country

I've visited your country a number of times and though Spain might be struggeling more with the current economic crisis than many other countries, I think your country is very rich in many other ways.

I love Spain very much and sometimes I need to be reminded that I have beauty at home as well. So thanks to Thomas for starting the thread with those nice pictures as well.

/Tommy (thinking of spanish food right now)