[gatorguy]

Godox AD200 twin pack and a Cheetah 36" Quick Ricebowl...
Now to get out and practice. A LOT!

[Marcus Rowland]

Got a big job lot on eBay a few days ago, arrived today. Unfortunately the lens that I was most interested in turns out to be damaged, but most of the rest is OK and I'll make a profit on the price, £65 for the lot:

Jupiter-9 2/85 M42 - Fungus, damaged rear element, looks like severe scuff marks, there's a slight rattle which makes me think an element is loose inside, and it doesn't quite focus to infinity. Definitely a fixer-upper...
Tessar 2.8/50 M42 - zebra auto aperture - OK
Tessar 2.8/50 M42 - all-black auto aperture - OK
Domiplan 2.8/50 M42 - auto aperture - OK
Canon EF 80-200 4.5-5.6 II - OK
Vivitar 28-200 3.5-5.3 M42 - OK
Vivitar 70-210 4.5-5.6 M42 - OK
Vivitar 200 3.5 M42 - fungus
Soligor 2.8/28 Probably T-mount with an M42 but if so it doesn't want to unscrew - optically OK but horrible cosmetics due to corrosion of the metal.
Sunagor 100-200 for Yashica - full of fungus, damaged, added to the "big job lot o'crap" pile
Praktica MTL5 B body - OK
Praktica LTL body - battery compartment corroded, might be fixable
Halina body, not sure which model - has selenium meter which works.
ITT Magiflash 400 110-film camera with built-in electronic flash - probably give to charity.
Plus various odds and ends, filters, caps, hoods cables etc. including three camera bags, one metal and two fabric - I'll probably give all three to charity.

Also received a job lot of UV and skylight filters, 19 for £11.75, in various sizes from 49mm up. Should be very useful.

And got two CF cards from a CEX store, 4gb Agfa 120x for £3 and 8gb Transcend 133x for £4.

What I really don't have, unfortunately, is enough M42 rear caps and 49mm front caps - I've gone through ten of each in the last month or so, and need three more front caps and five rear caps for this job lot, so I obviously need to order them more often.

[monochrome]

1. Carl Zeiss B50/56 bayonet mount hood in OEM cello bag, for Carl Zeiss Ultron 1,8 50mm. Super hard to find and I paid up for it.
2. EX+ HD Pentax-DA 1.4x AW AF Rear Converter w/ Caps (!) from KEH for $315 Shipped.

Both arrived today - rubber hood from Hong Kong and the Rear Converter from Atlanta. I was a bit concerned that the hood would not be correct for the lens and I’d be stuck with an expensive jar opener - but the bayonet mount fits and locks onto the front of the lens. Now that I understand how these work I suppose I should start looking for the B50/56 adapter so I can use screw in filters. I’ll try to get some images through the K-1 stop-down metered.

I haven’t really done anything with the Rear Converter yet. I’ll be unable to get out for a couple weeks.I have a family commitment that will occupy all my free time. Maybe I can do some Yard Birds with the FA300/4.5 x 1.4

[carlb]

I've got my second member of the Three Amigo's. There was a 77mm on Ebay and the seller lives about 5km away. He was accepting offers so I put one in and (a little surprisingly) he accepted. I used an Ebay promo code for another 10% off and it arrived today. It looks close to mint condition for about half the cost of a new one. I've done a few quick test shots and I can see why it has such a stellar reputation!!

It will keep my 31mm company but I can't see a real need for the 43........although I'm sure there are people on here will try to convince me otherwise

[pepperberry farm]

It will keep my 31mm company but I can't see a real need for the 43........although I'm sure there are people on here will try to convince me otherwise

the 43 is my first of the Trinity - I don't have the 31 or 77 (yet) but I can tell you that it does live up to the hype....

[D1N0]

I've been missing out on 2.4 Flektogons and a Series 1 Komine 70-210 lately and also on a good deal on a CZJ 135mm 3.5 in a lot. Still one lens coming in though that's taken it's time in the caverns of Pitney Bowes.

[Kerrowdown]

Using either my tripod or the Platypod with a ballhead on, more and more recently.

But believe it or not... here in Scotland we've had a few brighter days recently, where the usual infrared trigger (Pentax Remote Control F) has become a bit hit or miss, even with its new battery, purely due to bright conditions.

So I managed to pick up of these secondhand this morning, from my only local camera store (Ffordes). For just £20.00, the normal new UK retail price is £30.00, so a happy bunny and lets be honest... it is just a switch.

As luck would have it, the socket for this on K1, is on the righthand side when viewed from behind the camera, so my universal RRS L-Bracket does not block access to it.

[JimJohnson]

But believe it or not... here in Scotland we've had a few brighter days recently, where the usual infrared trigger (Pentax Remote Control F) has become a bit hit or miss, even with its new battery, purely due to bright conditions.

Yeah, the sun is a huge emitter of IR white noise. Your IR remote is sort of like trying to hold a nice conversation from opposite sides of a crowded room during a party.

Back when I had a K-r and the only remote release was via IR, I rigged a cheap remote's switch with a 3.5mm phono jack (the plan is buried about 7 years back in the DIY section). Then I made my own wired remote with a matching phono jack and a tiny push button and cheap speaker wire. Stuck the IR transmitter to the camera via Velcro so it was like shouting in the receiver's ear. I got the family reunion portrait on the beach out in the sun that year. The wire was all but invisible and the tiny switch easily palmed. And if I needed another 15m of cable, 3.5mm phono extension cables are easy to find and pretty cheap.

Don't need it with my K-3's wired remote release - but I did pick up a matching set of 2.5mm <> 3.5mm adapters and those 3.5mm phono extension cables are still handy.

[Kerrowdown]

Yeah, the sun is a huge emitter of IR white noise.

Aye not normally an issue in Scotland... the "Yellow Orb" is seldom in attendance.

[ivanvernon]

A nice Pentax 67 165mm f 2.8 arrived today. Here are a few trial shots in bright sun.

[Merv-O]

A nice Pentax 67 165mm f 2.8 arrived today. Here are a few trial shots in bright sun.

I really respect individuals who use the Medium Format cameras in the field...did you use a tri-pod for that big boy or did you hand hold. The images at JPEG 85 quality are quite sharp, though a bit "warm" in texture....very nice.

[ivanvernon]

I really respect individuals who use the Medium Format cameras in the field...did you use a tri-pod for that big boy or did you hand hold. The images at JPEG 85 quality are quite sharp, though a bit "warm" in texture....very nice.

Thanks for your comments. I am a pretty big guy who until about 5 years ago spent lots of time running and lifting weights, so am still fairly hardy even tho 79 years of age. I once did a wedding with two RB 67s hanging around my neck, so my triumverate of Pentax 645 cameras (645N, D, and Z) just do not seem very heavy even with some of the larger Pentax 67 lenses mounted. I have very little patience for tripods, and seldom use them. I try to use fast lenses to allow wide apertures, faster shutter speeds, and upwardly adjusted ISO levels when possible to offset camera vibration from mirror flop or shaky hands. Actually, I find that the greater mass of the medium format camera and lenses tends to dampen camera shake and instability, especially when combined with faster shutter speeds. If I can connive to get shutter speed up to 1/500 sec. most shake/vibration problems tend to go away except when using lens of 300mm and higher. I also like using D FA 645 90mm and 55mm lenses because they have built-in shake resistance.

I am not quite sure why the photos came out warm, though I also noticed it. My environment was bright sunshine, with color balance set accordingly. I will concentrate on using this lens for a few days, and will take note of color balance and photo tone to see if this is a lens characteristic.

[Marcus Rowland]

Actually, I find that the greater mass of the medium format camera and lenses tends to dampen camera shake and instability, especially when combined with faster shutter speeds.

I get this quite often when testing really big lenses, e.g. the Pentacon 4/300 I got recently - you can hand-hold them at shutter speeds where a lighter lens would be a lot less forgiving. There's so much inertia that they don't shake much.


Today's arrival was another job lot, just three lenses this time in PK mount.

Pentax FA 28-70mm working but some fungus in the rear element, bad enough to affect images
Sigma manual focus 100-200mm working but very slight fungus, probably isn't causing problems
And the lens I bought the lot for, Sigma 28mm 2.8 mini wide, manual focus working and clean inside and out, and has the electrical contacts that let it meter on digital bodies. Paid £16 for the lot, I should get more than that for the 28mm alone.

Nothing else on the horizon at the moment.

[ivanvernon]

I get this quite often when testing really big lenses, e.g. the Pentacon 4/300 I got recently - you can hand-hold them at shutter speeds where a lighter lens would be a lot less forgiving. There's so much inertia that they don't shake much.


Today's arrival was another job lot, just three lenses this time in PK mount.

Pentax FA 28-70mm working but some fungus in the rear element, bad enough to affect images
Sigma manual focus 100-200mm working but very slight fungus, probably isn't causing problems
And the lens I bought the lot for, Sigma 28mm 2.8 mini wide, manual focus working and clean inside and out, and has the electrical contacts that let it meter on digital bodies. Paid £16 for the lot, I should get more than that for the 28mm alone.

Nothing else on the horizon at the moment.

I do have one lens I cannot hand hold: the Pentacon 500mm f 5.6. In fact, I do not even have a tripod big/strong enough to hold it.

[Merv-O]

I have very little patience for tripods, and seldom use them

I don't like them either. My largest APS-c lens is 300mm (450mm effectively) and my largest FF lens is also 300mm. I rarely, if ever need to go beyond that focal length so I dislike tripods also. I have a manfrotto that converts to a unipod that I use with my K-1 occasionally, but I'm a hand-held guy like you. sometimes, I notice that the K-1 White Balance is 'warm' and I just post process it by reducing it at the PP stage.


Still very nice photos...