[normhead]

I decided to just grab a shot of this nice sunrise from the porch this morning since it's -30 F.
K-1 & 15-30

Minus 30ºC (-22ºF) here, too cold to let the dogs out for more than 5 minutes. They won't get their walk until this afternoon when it's supposed to rise to -10.

[Erictator]

Gorgeous photos. I'm not quite in the same boat as you are, but I'm at least in the water hanging onto the side.

I just ordered a K-1; I'm planning to try macro work with a venerable Vivitar Series 1 100mm/2.8; I even have an old monster tripod. Mine's a Bogen 3051 with 1 1/4" telescoping legs. Elegantly simple to set up and adjust, rock-solid in place, and a joy to use. Unfortunately, you practically have to hire a shipping company if you want to take it more than a few hundred yards from your house or car. Not exactly for a walk in the park.

So 3 questions:
i) About how far away was your camera from the subjects when you took these pictures? (I'm guessing about 2 ft, closer than most tripods)
ii) Have you come across any portably-lightweight tripods or support devices especially suitable for this kind of photography? (That is, easy to place solidly on irregular ground, and adjust to a position that puts camera & lens at a good macro angle)
iii) Are the SR and autofocus on the K-1 good enough so you can get, say, 1 of 3 keepers hand-held? (I guess I'll soon find this out for myself).

Thanks - Gerry

Hi Eyeball,

Actually, you are in the EXACT same boat as I was until a month ago when I got the DFA 100mm WR... until then, years ago I had a Tamron Adaptall SP 90mm macro, and the Vivitar 100mm f2.8 macro. Owning 2 seemed overkill, and I decided to keep the Vivitar, based strictly on side by side comparison and the extra reach. The Vivitar may be been a tiny tiny hair sharper and technically the better lens, maybe... but the Vivitar just had way better rendering and was easier to use, and let you go from a sterile macro to something more creative and art-like. The DFA 100mm WR I put into that same category as the Vivitar. For the first time, I am considering letting go of the Vivitar, which is saying ALOT! Mainly because the Vivitar is a heavy beast of a lens, and got left home alot because of that, whereas the DFA almost always gets a spot in the bag no matter what.

As to your 3 questions, I'll do the best I can...

1) Your guess is pretty close, I'd say about 18 inches, but it's just a guess. You can imagine I wasn't in a hurry to get super close, because that Christmas Ornament Tree was LOADED with active honey bees. I have more on that series to post later. For some shots, I just turned on Live View and about as brave as I could get was to fully extend my arm and get about 18 inches away and cropped in post. This one was NOT a tripod situation. As to the butterflies, they are skittish and fickle and jump around the garden a lot. If your inner child takes over, you find yourself chasing them. Nix that. Let your inner ambush predator take charge. If you are in a garden with active butterfly's, pic a fresh tasty looking blossom in good light, stay very still and wait the intended victim to come to you. Patience works pretty good for me in this case. Start shooting the second they perch, don't wait for better framing, take what you get as long as focus has locked. Sort out framing in post, so don't get too close. That's the best advice I have, hope it helps.

2) Still looking for something inexpensive, that doesn't have at least 3 reviewers saying "This was 1/4 the price of a Gitzo, but it was made in China and fell apart the 4th time I used it". There are some up-and-coming brands, (3Pod, Dolica, Davis & Sanford, Etc) but I want flip levers, not rotating for the leg extensions, and I want the riser post to be able to be re-oriented sideways and hold the weight of a K-1 and the DA300 without panic about wobbles and crashing, ability to add hanging weight on center hook, go to a reasonable height, 50 inches or so, still be collapsible to ~18 inches, and be less than 4lbs. Not asking for much, right?

3) Actually, the SR is better than that. The AF is the issue, and maybe not the way you suspect. The AF does what it is supposed to do, it just can't read your mind. so if you have it set to use the 9 center point A/F, I could pic the stamen, the petal, the Bee, or whatever has the most contrast. Using the 4 way pad to select focal points has taken some mental adjustment, but I am getting there slowly. It just takes practice in real world situations. The real downer for me is focusing in Live View. Some people really like it, and I want to too... maybe I need to see a training video (any takers on making one?) to really get the most out of it. I can see the white outline of what is supposed to be the focal plane, but when I go to chimp, I seem to keep missing. I get ticked, flip it back to the viewfinder, and grab the shot. Maybe I am too old to set in my ways to learn it... dunno. The manual sure doesn't help. All that said, the AF works absolutely fine, my suggestion is use the viewfinder and the 4 way, your mileage may vary. (and I also will welcome pointers on this one!!)

Thanks for your comments,
Eric

[DimC]

Minus 30ºC (-22ºF) here, too cold to let the dogs out for more than 5 minutes. They won't get their walk until this afternoon when it's supposed to rise to -10.

I've never ever being under so cold temperature in my life, that must be quiet an experience

[Sailor]

Great 3D Look...Nice B&W . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . Here are a couple examples of yesterdays pictures, either shot with Pentax 24-70mm or 70-200mm /f2,8.

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for the great pics of the big band you posted. Back (way back) in the day I played tenor in a number of big bands through HS and college. Big bands were for fun; to make cash I also gigged with a number of rock and fusion bands over the years, but there's nothing like the energy that gets broadcasted by a tight, smoking big band.

Jer

[normhead]

I've never ever being under so cold temperature in my life, that must be quiet an experience

We heat with wood, I got up twice in the night to throw a log the fire and it was still 10ºC in the house when T got up. It's different than what you southern city dwellers go through.... but, we're used to it, so in that sense, it's not really much different.

[mattb123]

We heat with wood, I got up twice in the night to throw a log the fire and it was still 10ºC in the house when T got up. It's different than what you southern city dwellers go through.... but, we're used to it, so in that sense, it's not really much different.

I can tell it's going to be cold when I notice the furnace running all night. We have floor heat for our ground level and forced air for upstairs. Having two systems also makes a good backup if necessary because pipes will burst if the heat just went off all together.

Walking outside is literally breathtaking and can make you cough. Breathing through your nose is not advised and will freeze it. Spit freezes before hitting the ground, etc.

[Rupert]

Minus 30ºC (-22ºF) here, too cold to let the dogs out for more than 5 minutes. They won't get their walk until this afternoon when it's supposed to rise to -10.

WOW! ...and here I am complaining about it being 14F here this morning and having to go out in it to feed the birds and squirrels. Mrs Rupert will be retiring soon (I think?) and I have been thinking of buying a place up there next to you, bringing all my squirrels with me, so we could shoot together and I could maybe learn to get those shots like you get. Unfortunately (depending on how you view it?) after reading your post, we will not be moving north for certain! I know you will be disappointed, but anything below 60F is not tolerable for me. This time here last Sat it was 74F.......and will be again next week!

I like that bird Rupert !

Thank you! ...and let me take a moment to thank you for your replies here to others! It is so good to see a Member get involved and participate, not just "Drag and Drop" and move along!

You certainly don't need this place, and it is appreciated that you don't!
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/132-pentaxian-lounge/301157-ugly-posters-...post-here.html

Best Regards!

[Sailor]

I continue to be impressed with the performance of my new K-1. Here's a "tourist shot" of a blue, red-eyed bird I took inside Moody Garden's Rainforest Pyramid in Galveston, TX during a family visit a few days ago. The bird was in fairly deep shadow, so I used my DFA 28-105 (@ 73 mm) with ISO 6400, 1/30s and set at f/8 to get into the "sharp range" of this lens.

The pic isn't aesthetically meaningful, nor is the shot technically dazzling - but it serves nicely as a "souvenir" of our visit.

Jer

[normhead]

Hey I have one of those, from Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls....

[Erictator]

And a few more.

I waited and waited to try and get a clear shot of a bee with full pollen sacks. This was as about the best I could do that I liked the composition, unfortunately, it is a darn near pixel peeping level crop.

I'm not a big bug fan really, but this guy just seemed so happy to be doing his industrious work, he made me smile.

Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/4.0 100.0 mm 1/750 iso100


Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/2.8 100.0 mm 1/1500 iso100


Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/5.6 100.0 mm 1/350 iso100

[Rondec]

WOW! ...and here I am complaining about it being 14F here this morning and having to go out in it to feed the birds and squirrels. Mrs Rupert will be retiring soon (I think?) and I have been thinking of buying a place up there next to you, bringing all my squirrels with me, so we could shoot together and I could maybe learn to get those shots like you get. Unfortunately (depending on how you view it?) after reading your post, we will not be moving north for certain! I know you will be disappointed, but anything below 60F is not tolerable for me. This time here last Sat it was 74F.......and will be again next week!



Thank you! ...and let me take a moment to thank you for your replies here to others! It is so good to see a Member get involved and participate, not just "Drag and Drop" and move along!

You certainly don't need this place, and it is appreciated that you don't!
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/132-pentaxian-lounge/301157-ugly-posters-...post-here.html

Best Regards!

I'm a little Celsius challenged. It was -2 here this morning F which I guess is -19 C -- sounds colder in Celsius to me. On the other hand, it is 254 Kelvin which sounds stinking hot. But either way, its cold enough to freeze the snot in your nose, as Matt says.

[normhead]

I once made the mistake of taking my glove off to try and press a frozen door latch. My thumb stuck to the metal. But that was at -40, which is the same in ºC and ºF, for the celsius challenged.

[wtlwdwgn]

I'm a little surprised that at -34C/-30F that Matt didn't get to shoot a Sun Dog.

[DrBop]

And a few more.

I waited and waited to try and get a clear shot of a bee with full pollen sacks. This was as about the best I could do that I liked the composition, unfortunately, it is a darn near pixel peeping level crop.

I'm not a big bug fan really, but this guy just seemed so happy to be doing his industrious work, he made me smile.

Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/4.0 100.0 mm 1/750 iso100


Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/2.8 100.0 mm 1/1500 iso100


Pentax K-1 smc PENTAX-D FA MACRO 100mm F2.8 WR ƒ/5.6 100.0 mm 1/350 iso100

These are beautiful! You have once again confirmed my recent purchase of this lens!



Don

[mattb123]

I'm a little surprised that at -34C/-30F that Matt didn't get to shoot a Sun Dog.

K-1 & 15-30