[arv]

I am starting to think that my disdain towards my K 135/2.5 is due to extreme user error - I just do not dominate this big glass... It is heavy, and I took it out with the K10D today (a heavy dSLR); I could see where I myself was failing.

I am still not satisfied with my results; this lens has been the downfall of my experiments with legacy glass...

Today's few shots:









---------- Post added 04-06-22 at 09:18 PM ----------



great shot!

Thanks!

[Riggomatic]

I am starting to think that my disdain towards my K 135/2.5 is due to extreme user error - I just do not dominate this big glass... It is heavy, and I took it out with the K10D today (a heavy dSLR); I could see where I myself was failing.

I am still not satisfied with my results; this lens has been the downfall of my experiments with legacy glass...

Today's few shots:

I used the K135/2.5 in the March SIC, and it took a couple weeks to get used to it again. Anything past a couple meters was difficult for me grab focus. The ones where I was close to the minimum focus distance seemed to be to my liking.

[edom31]

I used the K135/2.5 in the March SIC, and it took a couple weeks to get used to it again. Anything past a couple meters was difficult for me grab focus. The ones where I was close to the minimum focus distance seemed to be to my liking.

Ahhh never gave thought of how close my subject is when shooting with this lens... Will give it a go...

Man, those shots are amazing - the light is great and the subjects pop... beautiful!

[Riggomatic]

Ahhh never gave thought of how close my subject is when shooting with this lens... Will give it a go...

Man, those shots are amazing - the light is great and the subjects pop... beautiful!

Thank you! I hope that helps. Your homework will be to fill the frame with the subject using the K135, and no cropping .

[edom31]

Thank you! I hope that helps. Your homework will be to fill the frame with the subject using the K135, and no cropping .

I'm following up, but I think I need a pup, or at least borrow one, to have a good subject...

Part of my issue, I see, is that I miss focus a lot with this lens. A lot, you can see below, I just miss it up front of my main subject...

Giving it the old college try right here, will follow up...

[Jonathan Mac]

28mm f/2


IMG_3645 by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

[aaacb]

Ilford Pan F Plus, Pentax SF1n and SMC 135/2.5

[baro-nite]

35/3.5 on K-1

[wtlwdwgn]

K 55mm ƒ1.8 at ƒ2.8 near MFD.

[wtlwdwgn]

K 135mm ƒ2.5 wide open near MFD.

[wtlwdwgn]

K-1 and K 50mm ƒ4 wide open at MFD.

[womble]

The following was written-up for the "Single in April" challenge but I thought K-lens aficionados might be interested too. This is the fourth K-lens for the SIC this year, and May will be the 135/2.5.

Using the shift lens for a month was always going to be a challenge but I had some trips planned and it seemed a good choice. Not only did the trips not materialise, but my motorcycle had to go in for repair (again) leaving me without transport. As a result, I posted some of the worst "safety" shots I've ever posted and if it wasn't for wanting to complete the challenge, they would not have seen the light of day. So, how does one use the shift on a K-3iii? The ideal is this:

1. Set-up tripod.
2. Make sure that the lens is not shifted, the green dot is facing the direction you want to shift and the aperture is wide open.
3. Level the camera using the in-viewfinder levels (these appear to be more accurate than the one on the back screen).
4. Switch to live view, zoom in the view, and focus. I have found that the focus ring goes a bit beyond infinity so mostly I have to back off a tiny bit.
5. Either in live view or normal view, shift the lens.
6. Close down the aperture. I usually use somewhere around f/11.
7. Set the camera to MUP mode.
8. You can use either M or Av. Sometimes, the K-3iii does something funky in Av mode and often you'll need to dial in some negative exposure compensation.
9. Take the photo with either a wired or wireless remote (I use both depending on which one I have with me. If I have forgotten both I can use my phone as a wireless remote).
10. Review and if necessary tweak things and repeat.

Can one use it hand-held? With the K-3iii (and I think the K-1 but I don't have one of those), yes. Similar process to the above but (a) manually turn off SR and so make sure the shutter speed is high enough to reduce camera shake usually by upping the ISO (b) use the green hexagon to confirm focus. As noted above it does seem to go a little past infinity so don't rely on just going to the end of the focus travel (c) once you have the basic composition and exposure sorted, concentrate on the levels in the viewfinder (d) press the shutter very softly (e) take multiple shots so you can pick the one which is actually level.

Being an architecture nerd (especially historic architecture), the shift lens is one I have used quite a bit before. Using it consistently, however, has taught me a few things. Firstly, it is a pretty good lens for other subjects too and is surprisingly good at close-up shots. Secondly, when using it hand-held, turn off the SR. The SR system assumes the centre of the lens is central to the sensor. With a shifted shift lens, it is not. The number of times I wished it was wider (or that I was using a K-1) is surprisingly rare. Often the problem can be got around by taking several pictures with different degrees of shift and merging them in Photoshop. I have often seen people say that the 28mm shift is "useless" on APS-C -- I couldn't disagree more.

The shift lens is a very regular occupant of my camera bag, and will continue to be so. On occasions, though, I might well just use it as a regular 28mm when I don't want to change lenses or carry a second one. (Mostly, I have my K30/2.8 in my bag.) My only gripe / puzzlement is sometimes it seems to have a little bit of distortion but not always. Usually, one can fix it in Lightroom, but on very rare occasions I have found it impossible to fix which has been very annoying.

My biggest regret is not having one of these 35 years ago, although it is much harder to use on film than digital simply because getting the camera absolutely level is much trickier. I've always hated converging verticals in building photos and I spent many years being frustrated by them. The principal reason for getting into large format photography was for architecture.

I'm not especially proud of this months images, but here is a selection of them.


April 01: All Saints par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 03: St Andrew and St Mary par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 07: Kings Cross (1) par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 13: Church at night par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 21: Going going gone! par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 23: military man par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 25: Yashica Mat 124G par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


April 30: Bluebells in the coppice par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity

[Jonathan Mac]

I took the K 28mm f/2 with me on a walk around the Retiro park last week, the first time I've been able to take some time just to walk, relax and take photos for quite some time. I took the K 28/2 with me as I wanted to test out how it does on my full-frame Lumix S5, and I have to say I'm very happy with the results. Wide open it allows good subject separation and 3D look and stopped down nice and sharp over the whole frame.


Boxhead by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Blossom in the puddle by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


Palacio de cristal by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

[wkraus]

The following was written-up for the "Single in April" challenge but I thought K-lens aficionados might be interested too. This is the fourth K-lens for the SIC this year, and May will be the 135/2.5.
…

A nice and useful write-up, and several images well worth posting. I got mine approximately 35 years ago and used it a lot hand-held on film with my LX and MX bodies, both equipped with grid screens which helped a lot.

[jcdoss]

Pentax K-1 mII and K30/2.8
Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany