[Des]

A year with the K-S2

Enjoyed your story and pics. Great to hear from another happy camper.

[ehrwien]

I don't see any pictures. Are you referring to this shot as 2nd? What is the first?

[Crooski]

Both butterflies with the 55-300mm PLM lens

[arkansawyer]

I don't see any pictures. Are you referring to this shot as 2nd? What is the first?

That is the same photo. In this post I linked to images hosted on my Facebook page. They show up fine for me but I could load them on PF and relink if external links are problematic.

[ehrwien]

In this post I linked to images hosted on my Facebook page. They show up fine for me but I could load them on PF and relink if external links are problematic.

Aaah okay I have blocked FB on my browser, that's why I can't see them. No that's fine as it is, I can turn my extension off to view your photos.

[rogerstg]

At the end of May 2019, I purchased a new K-S2 kit with 18-135WR lens via closeout direct from Ricoh. This is my first (but won't be my last) Pentax. I bought it for the bargain price, yes, ($450 with the $400 lens included)

I did the same, for my wife when expressed interest in learning to use a dslr ahead of our trip to Yellowstone. I'd been thinking of getting the lens anyway as a good outdoor walkaround lens so that deal was a no-brainer.

She's been thrilled with the combo and I've been impressed with both as well. Also, the 18-135 has more than fit the bill for me.

Nice shots!

[mikesbike]

At the end of May 2019, I purchased a new K-S2 kit with 18-135WR lens via closeout direct from Ricoh. This is my first (but won't be my last) Pentax. I bought it for the bargain price, yes, ($450 with the $400 lens included), but also because of AstroTracer (along with the O-GPS1 unit) for a trip out to Texas and because my old Canon xsi was getting a weak.

For me, I've looked at Pentax for a long time but was unable to afford entry into a new system - too many bills to pay. I have no regrets for this purchase, and have obtained a handful of vintage (both m42 and k-mount) lenses over the past year and really enjoy shooting with them. I look forward to more work along those lines. I find it amazing that I have a lens as old as I am on a relatively new camera and it still works great.

My first image, then, is taken with that combination.


The 2nd is why I bought the camera in the first place. This shot. Taken with the K-S2, Astrotracer on, with Rokinon lens.


That trip brought a lot more great opportunities to take photos, even though it was like 15 states in 13 days. These were taken with the K-S2 and the only Pentax lens I had at the time, the 18-135WR.

AND...


Now, with working from home all year, I've been working on projects around the house, building a patio and stuff. One thing I stumbled into was mushroom wood - that is, boards used in mushroom beds, and central PA produces most of the mushrooms consumed in the US. This is from reclaimed cypress wood, where the fungus has rotted away some layers of wood leaving some and knots left behind. I am working on facing the wooden posts and beams of the pergola to give them a rustic, aged look.

Very nice, and I'd say you've got the best closeout deal I have yet seen for that combo!! The DA 18-135mm lens is really quite remarkable too. In other brands, to get a body having WR construction, you'd be shopping in the $1,000 + range, and again the same for a lens having WR.

If you often shoot high-quality JPEG images, I recommend implementing "Fine Sharpening" in the Custom Image menus, especially in the most often-used "Bright" category. You can access via the "info" button. Just avoid having your mode dial set to the green Auto position, which will disable many controls and disallow adjustments. When wanting fully automatic exposure set by the camera, use the "P" (Program) setting on the mode dial instead. I noticed you are using Av in these photos, but I thought I'd provide that information for future reference.

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Last edited by mikesbike; 08-12-2020 at 10:11 PM.

[arkansawyer]

Very nice, and I'd say you've got the best closeout deal I have yet seen for that combo!! The DA 18-135mm lens is really quite remarkable too. In other brands, to get a body having WR construction, you'd be shopping in the $1,000 + range, and again the same for a lens having WR.

If you often shoot high-quality JPEG images, I recommend implementing "Fine Sharpening" in the Custom Image menus, especially in the most often-used "Bright" category. You can access via the "info" button. Just avoid having your mode dial set to the green Auto position, which will disable many controls and disallow adjustments. When wanting fully automatic exposure set by the camera, use the "P" (Program) setting on the mode dial instead. I noticed you are using Av in these photos, but I thought I'd provide that information for future reference.

Thanks for the hints. There are still things I am learning about the camera. Some of these were using manual lenses, so pretty much had to use Av mode to use the lenses, but I may have only shot a half dozen shots in green auto mode over the past year plus. With my old Canon Rebel XSI, green meant jpg only and default settings and I didn't like being trapped into the camera's settings.

I will check out fine sharpening. I use P a lot but trying to do more manual, so I've done some of the set aperture and shutter speed and let the camera select ISO - within limits. My instinct has always been to set the ISO as low as it will go, and generally I like macros so I set the aperture fairly wide open but getting to the point that that, too, has too many limits.. The 100MM macro that I got last year is great but I find the auto-focus distracting - it's 90% of the time in manual focus. I've been trying to break that habit back on the 18-135 because it's autofocus seems to work better. Anyhow... yeah. so many options. I finally played with auto-hdr mode last week. I am not a huge fan of HDR photography - it doesn't look real to me, but I am, on the other hand, trying to get the camera to do all the things it is capable of... if for no other reason that to understand. I have had debates with friends about the idea of post-processing vs. in camera, and one person insists that photoshop or Ansel Adam's darkroom work are great examples of the art of photography, and I get that. But at the same time, I would like to know my equipment well enough to take it and use the jpg as is and have the raw in case something needs tweaked - no more.

An example of my tests of Auto-HDR, a handheld and not particularly sharp but colorful image is here.

[ehrwien]

HD DA 40 @ f/4, 1/40 s


Storm rolling by

DA 16-45 @ 16mm, f/16, 6 s


Before the Storm

[ehrwien]

And some of the resulting electrostatic discharges:

DA 16-45, f/11, 20 s


Lightning


DA 16-45, f/16, 10 s


Lightning Strike

[zrock]

Pentax KS-2 FA 50mm F1.4
please for comments
for a year I use it taken second hand
does it focus well
that I read here about solenoid and I was worried

[Mani]

[smf]

Image captured in Midland, Michigan.

[Des]

K-S2 + FA 43 Ltd.... for when the friendly residents perch on your laptop





In the last one, Orlando (a Grey Shrike-thrush) is checking out my edits of photos of his offspring.

[Vmax911]

K-S2 + FA 43 Ltd.... for when the friendly residents perch on your laptop

In the last one, Orlando (a Grey Shrike-thrush) is checking out my edits of photos of his offspring.

What fun photos!