[shiner]

Congrats!

[SirTomster]

What lenses are you planning to use with it?

Well whatever I can use.

Currently I have a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 I use for my Nightscapes. The DA 50mm f/1.8 that is supposed to work fine on Full Frame. A Sigma 150-500 that I need to send in because the mount will scratch the K-1.

I also recently picked up a Takumar 50mm f/1.4 that I want to try at Nightscapes. I great lens for under $50? I will take it. I have done some pictures but haven't scratched the surface with that one.

I also own the D FA 28-105. That is my walk around lens.

Long term, I hope to get the D FA 15-30 f/2.8 by July of 2019 for a trip to Glacier National Park. Or maybe just rent it. But the lens is supposed to be good for astro too, so I would rather buy than not. But $1300 is some serious coin. Then I hear good things about the Rokinon 24mm 1.4, the Sigma Art 35mm f/1.4. Even the Limited 31mm. So many cool astro/landscape lenses.

[Mikesul]

Well, good, you are in pretty good shape already.

[clickclick]

So many cool astro/landscape lenses.

It's part of the joy - you've got a neat road ahead with a lot of fantastic options to play with. Can't help but have some fun.

[SirTomster]

It's part of the joy - you've got a neat road ahead with a lot of fantastic options to play with. Can't help but have some fun.

Oh yes.

Before the Raffle I had ordered a nodal slide and a leveling base. Hopefully I can reduce that horrible Parallax I keep having with my panoramas. Especially my Nightscape ones where I have something semi close in the foreground. I shot a Nightscape Pano last month that I just butchered due to Parallax.

[reh321]

Oh yes.

Before the Raffle I had ordered a nodal slide and a leveling base. Hopefully I can reduce that horrible Parallax I keep having with my panoramas. Especially my Nightscape ones where I have something semi close in the foreground. I shot a Nightscape Pano last month that I just butchered due to Parallax.

Apparently pano is more difficult than some want to imply

[clickclick]

Nightscapes and astro photography are two areas I think very interesting I want to explore.

[LensBeginner]

Apparently pano is more difficult than some want to imply

It only looks easy if you don't know what you're doing!
I've got a macro rail which I plan on trying for panoramas as well (offsetting the camera & lens on the tripod) but haven't found the time to do that yet

[SirTomster]

Nightscapes and astro photography are two areas I think very interesting I want to explore.

Beware Alice, you are heading down a rabbit hole. There is no end if you go down that path.

[SirTomster]

Apparently pano is more difficult than some want to imply

I have found that if I am shooting a distant scene all is well. Introduce something nearby and everything goes out the window.

Below is the image I was trying to take. I can assure you that the train tracks do not go in that direction. I could have done some Warping in PS to fix but that was quite hard to keep the tracks straight. I did not try in ICE or PTGui though.

Instead, I figured I could just get my rig setup where I reduce the cause for this issue. It can only improve my shots. 1 L Bracket, 1 Nodal Slide, 1 Leveling Base and I hope it work out better. But I wonder if I will want to get a RRS Panorama setup to take a multi-row panorama. Or a knockoff that is a LOT cheaper.

This is a very slippery slope and I am already down the rabbit hole. I am doomed.

[mee]

Maybe try setting up in daylight hours or at home, then you can take snaps and check for parallax much easier there than in the dark on location.

Lightroom (and thus Photoshop) have fairly decent Pano tools that can correct for some curve though. Different algorithms for pano you could experiment with.

[LensBeginner]

I have found that if I am shooting a distant scene all is well. Introduce something nearby and everything goes out the window.

Below is the image I was trying to take. I can assure you that the train tracks do not go in that direction. I could have done some Warping in PS to fix but that was quite hard to keep the tracks straight. I did not try in ICE or PTGui though.

Instead, I figured I could just get my rig setup where I reduce the cause for this issue. It can only improve my shots. 1 L Bracket, 1 Nodal Slide, 1 Leveling Base and I hope it work out better. But I wonder if I will want to get a RRS Panorama setup to take a multi-row panorama. Or a knockoff that is a LOT cheaper.

This is a very slippery slope and I am already down the rabbit hole. I am doomed.

Warp doesn't look like a solution; barrel distortion, OTOH, might.
However, the issue is better resolved at the root, by choosing the right projection from the start, as @mee suggested.

Edit: a coarse example, which incidentally demonstrates that the kind of deformation is not barrel proper, but rather moustache distortion.

Using a piece of software that allows you to select the kind of projection before stitching will spare you from this massive loss of quality, and get things "straight" the first time around.

[clickclick]

This is a very slippery slope and I am already down the rabbit hole. I am doomed.

Falling down the rabbit hole is easy, but can also be great fun as long as we don't get too wrapped and take it too seriously. I know not perhaps what you were after, but I think you've got some neat stuff going on - you'll get it, I'm sure. Regarding the doomed part, well, you know what they say, "Pentax is Dooooomed!" You're in good hands. It will be OK!

[Mikesul]

Isn't one of the reasons we stay interested in this hobby is the presence of all the rabbit holes to fall down and extricate ourselves from?

[swanlefitte]

In photography wouldn't through the looking glass instead of down the rabbit hole be the better metaphor?