[WPRESTO]

the method predates OSHA by a year or two

perfectly safe if done right

of course that is one of the reasons OSHA was created - issues of safety

Easy to forget about the vast, vast majority of regulations: they were enacted in reaction to something that went wrong, or someone doing something wrong.

[aslyfox]

Easy to forget about the vast, vast majority of regulations: they were enacted in reaction to something that went wrong, or someone doing something wrong.

for every "silly" one cited by folks, there are countless ones that have and can prevent loss of life and/or injury

[Doundounba]

Very nice.

No one will deny you a license to be proud of that one. Outstanding snowflake macro.

Another outstanding macro there.

Very nice! I haven't been keeping up, has your new and improved flash setup helped out with these stacked shots?

Thanks all!

bobbotron: the new setup kind of helped. I'm still learning what works now that I have many more shooting options. Here I used my old Yongnuo YN560-III with the Godox PB-960 external battery pack. I shot continuous medium (4.5fps) bursts at 1/16th. At these settings I could actually have used the Yongnuo by itself - at CM, it only starts missing frames at 1/16+0.3, and misses quickly at 1/16+0.7. But with the power pack, the thing is just rock solid, and in the future I might also turn the flash power back up a bit more. (1/16th is lower than usual for me.)

BTW, shooting deeper stacks at higher fps also allows me to open up the lenses quite a bit more, and I can see the effect this has on the resolution of my flake shots. In the past, I would typically shoot F/13 (or even higher) on the reversed lens and F/8 on the primary. But shooting those apertures for high magnification (over 2:1) work, you get some not insignificant diffraction. This time I used F/8 and F/5.6.

As an aside, what is now bugging me is no longer the flash, but the K-3's liveview implementation. It turns out that when you fire a continuous volley, liveview is no longer live. It only displays the last shot fired (if you have Instant Review on), or the screen just goes completely dark (if you have Instant Review off). So at Continuous Medium, you're looking at an image that is more than 0.2s behind whatever your camera is currently pointing at. This makes it very hard to use visual feedback to control your motion in order to get a smooth continuous movement. So I tried to rehearse my movement before firing a volley, but it's still pretty hard. If I had a tad more ambient light (or opened up the reversed lens even more), I just might be able to use the OVF instead of liveview, but as is it was still too dark to be usable, IMHO.

When you combine the higher fps (more shots per volley), the quest to find nice flakes (try many potential subjects), and shooting many bursts per subject (to make sure you you have one that is stackable, and also because tiny changes in angle really change the way the flakes "light up"), you really pile on the actuations. This one time, I fired around 500 frames in probably 50-60 bursts. I've so far put seven bursts through the stacking, with one published "shot" and possibly a second candidate...

[bobbotron]

Thanks all!

bobbotron: the new setup kind of helped. I'm still learning what works now that I have many more shooting options. Here I used my old Yongnuo YN560-III with the Godox PB-960 external battery pack. I shot continuous medium (4.5fps) bursts at 1/16th. At these settings I could actually have used the Yongnuo by itself - at CM, it only starts missing frames at 1/16+0.3, and misses quickly at 1/16+0.7. But with the power pack, the thing is just rock solid, and in the future I might also turn the flash power back up a bit more. (1/16th is lower than usual for me.)

BTW, shooting deeper stacks at higher fps also allows me to open up the lenses quite a bit more, and I can see the effect this has on the resolution of my flake shots. In the past, I would typically shoot F/13 (or even higher) on the reversed lens and F/8 on the primary. But shooting those apertures for high magnification (over 2:1) work, you get some not insignificant diffraction. This time I used F/8 and F/5.6.

As an aside, what is now bugging me is no longer the flash, but the K-3's liveview implementation. It turns out that when you fire a continuous volley, liveview is no longer live. It only displays the last shot fired (if you have Instant Review on), or the screen just goes completely dark (if you have Instant Review off). So at Continuous Medium, you're looking at an image that is more than 0.2s behind whatever your camera is currently pointing at. This makes it very hard to use visual feedback to control your motion in order to get a smooth continuous movement. So I tried to rehearse my movement before firing a volley, but it's still pretty hard. If I had a tad more ambient light (or opened up the reversed lens even more), I just might be able to use the OVF instead of liveview, but as is it was still too dark to be usable, IMHO.

When you combine the higher fps (more shots per volley), the quest to find nice flakes (try many potential subjects), and shooting many bursts per subject (to make sure you you have one that is stackable, and also because tiny changes in angle really change the way the flakes "light up"), you really pile on the actuations. This one time, I fired around 500 frames in probably 50-60 bursts. I've so far put seven bursts through the stacking, with one published "shot" and possibly a second candidate...

Thanks for the update, sounds like you're definitely making progress! Cool that you can open up the lenses more, interesting stuff.

Ha, I bet as you keep at it, you'll need less and less visual feedback as you get the movement stored in muscle memory. I imagine at this point if you were showing someone else how to do it they'd have difficulty and you'd take the camera and be like "it's so easy, just watch."

[john5100]

Man, he sure looks different these days. Nice shots, I particularly like the Richie Scarlet one in front of the amps. That lens works great for those conditions.

Thank you, yeah that DA* 16-50mm still works great for an older lens. The K3 handled the low light very well. It's good to get back in the pit after taking time off while battling cancer.

[ccc_]

for every "silly" one cited by folks, there are countless ones that have and can prevent loss of life and/or injury

I sat in on many accident investigations as a union steward

in twenty years I recall only a couple that were not attributable to ignoring safety rules (osha or ours (which in many cases were stricter))

osha might be the best thing that ever happened to American workers
whether they realize it or not

[normhead]

K-3 and Tamron SP AF 300mm LD [IF] plus HD DA 1.4 TC (420mm ƒ4)



I finally got some sun and some time, well, I only got some time because my snow blower froze up and I'm waiting for it to unthaw under a tarp with an electrics heater.

I got one of everyone present today.

First the news, one of the male goldfinches has started to change colour. His breeding plumage is coming in...






Downey Woodpecker

[Jacquot]

San Diego beach with big surf with the 20-40 Ltd.

[normhead]

San Diego beach with big surf with the 20-40 Ltd.

Why didn't they make that 20-40 a full frame lens? What is wrong with them?

[Scorpio71GR]

A couple of more from the auto show with the DA*16-50.
1911 Pierce Arrow


Want to go for a ride?


No plastic here.


No burnt out bulbs here, just need a match.

[zzeitg]

DA*300 @ 420mm

[WPRESTO]

DA*300 @ 420mm

Very nice butterfly images. A type of photography usually done with a macro lens, but clearly the 300 f4 is up to the challenge.

[john5100]

Why didn't they make that 20-40 a full frame lens? What is wrong with them?

Hi Norm,

Here is your solution. Not sure if it's for Pentax however
Review: Sigma's 24-35mm f/2 Art is Like a Prime Lens that Zooms

https://www.sigmaphoto.com/article/sigma-corporation-announces-world-s-first...frame-cameras/

John

[Weldon Berger]

San Diego beach with big surf with the 20-40 Ltd.

Beautiful shot. I love those expansive and reflective California beaches. We don't have those here.

I have to quibble with "big surf," though.

[aslyfox]

the mated pair of trumpeter swans at the Topeka Zoological Park

K 3 + HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW (hand held)