[rawr]

Are you asking for a camera to do away with a need to bring a torch with you on location at night?

Clearly Pentax should have included a flare gun with the K-1. That would solve the problem.

[MJKoski]

Geez. How exactly are you gonna see

1) Where your bag is in total darkness?
2) What your bag contains?

You need some light or luck to do that unless it is hanging from your neck. That brings us to the question why the heck one needs the front light if some other light is needed anyway in the process of switching the lens? Thus, the lights of K-1 are a total bling bling feature as it is now.

This is a real usage issue from night shooting trips. Only lights that would have been usable are backlit buttons and front light showing the focusing window which does not work with 15-30.

I do not believe the designer of these lights has done any real shooting in pitch black conditions a.k.a. moonless nights.

[Kunzite]

So what exactly is silly? Have a look at this I just took with my cellphone to illustrate the real deal:



That is Zeiss 28/2 attached with front light enabled. Just perfect. Now attach that ridiculously thick D-FA zoom -> no more light on focusing window. Fail. And how exactly will the front light help mounting a lens in the dark? Yea right, you have to switch on your flaslight/headlamp/whatever to FIND it first in your bag. That front light is not gonna do much there...unless you detach your K-1 from tripod and point it into your bag to find the correct lens. Not rocket science.

Complaining that a product doesn't do what it wasn't designed to do, while ignoring it's purpose. You're asking that front LED to illuminate the distance scales of all lenses - even though it varies wildly and to help you find lenses in your bag (you must have a huge bag, to lose things inside it).
All of these are nonsense.

As for the primary purpose, the one it's performing admirably well and you're (purposely?) ignoring: obviously, that front led was designed to illuminate the lens' mount, as you're trying to put it on the camera. Nothing more. It's well positioned for that, easy to use, doesn't require an extra hand. I can find a lens in my bag without looking - touch is still considered a sense; I can identify it's front and back and take off the back cap; but don't ask me to find a little red dot in low light.
Interestingly, for this usage scenario you said you have a headlamp (but not for the distance scale?). I smell a bit of dishonesty here; you're working way too hard to make up reasons for complaining.
Are you really a Pentaxian?

[MJKoski]

I do not use white light headlamp to check focus. This makes you loose your ability to see in the dark. For this purpose I have dim red led hanging from my neck. But I found out the front light is just fine for checking lens settings such as aperture and focus as can be seen in the picture.

I usually carry large military backbag which weights about ~30kg fully loaded. Lenses hang from modular pouches which I sometimes stuff inside the main storage space so kind of hard to find them in there.

And no, not a pentaxian. Just bought K-1 "kit" to see what it is about. My positive findings are ergonomics, tilt screen and PS when it can be used. That is about it.

[Dan Rentea]

My biggest issue with internet criticism is qualifications.


For example, if there is plane crash and you ask me what I think, my opinion is probably more qualified because I've been an airline pilot and have been a Certified Flight Instructor for 18 years. The internet allows a car park attendant to tell me what a jerk I am and that I know nothing about flying publicly, without that person ever qualifying their opinion based on their experience parking cars...

Who or what makes a person qualified to have an opinion about photography? Is the experience, the license as a photographer, his portfolio...? For example, after months of trainings, studies and after a difficult exam taken at the end of the trainings, I became officially a certified photographer, with licence (recognized by state authorities). I also have a licence which allows me to teach photography. But I'm not interested in making money from photography because I earn enough money at my current job. Am I a qualified person to have an opionion on the internet? I'm asking because all I keep reading when someone get defensive to some of my comments is:

1. You're an amateur photographer according to what you wrote on your website, so don't give me lectures about photography.

Just because I said that I'm an enthusiastic photographer it doesn't mean that I'm not qualified to talk about photography. I simply don't like to brag about my licence or to use it just so I can be taken seriously by someone. People seems to not understand that an amateur photographer it's not a person who is a complete stranger to photography. There are a lot of amateur photographers who knows more about composition, technique, lightning, etc. than a lot of professional photographers.

2. I shoot for 25-30 years so don't give me lectures about this and that, ok?

This is the most used phrase by some photographers who want to ensure some other guy that 25 or 30 years of shooting = a qualified person. This is the argument which I dislike the most. Why? Because the best professional photographers I've met or I talked to (Jeff Ascough, Karl Taylor, etc.) don't use this stupid argument when they want to make a point. Check Karl Taylor's video in which he uses some 10$ lamps from Ikea for a product photo... that video was recorded just to prove with facts and arguments to some "professional" photographers (some of them with 15-20 years of experience) that he is a professional photographer even without using his normal equipment (Hasselblad and Broncolor lights).

As far as I'm concerned, if the first comment of someone who's trying to make a point is I have 30 years of experience, then he's just insecure and defensive.

[UncleVanya]

As far as I'm concerned, if the first comment of someone who's trying to make a point is I have 30 years of experience, then he's just insecure and defensive.

It can be. It can also just be shorthand to set the stage for discussion. Ultimately skill and art are important but it is hard to define.

[MJKoski]

@Dan
Nicely written. Round of applause.

[Qwntm]

Who or what makes a person qualified to have an opinion about photography? Is the experience, the license as a photographer, his portfolio...? For example, after months of trainings, studies and after a difficult exam taken at the end of the trainings, I became officially a certified photographer, with licence (recognized by state authorities). I also have a licence which allows me to teach photography. But I'm not interested in making money from photography because I earn enough money at my current job. Am I a qualified person to have an opionion on the internet? I'm asking because all I keep reading when someone get defensive to some of my comments is:

1. You're an amateur photographer according to what you wrote on your website, so don't give me lectures about photography.

Just because I said that I'm an enthusiastic photographer it doesn't mean that I'm not qualified to talk about photography. I simply don't like to brag about my licence or to use it just so I can be taken seriously by someone. People seems to not understand that an amateur photographer it's not a person who is a complete stranger to photography. There are a lot of amateur photographers who knows more about composition, technique, lightning, etc. than a lot of professional photographers.

2. I shoot for 25-30 years so don't give me lectures about this and that, ok?

This is the most used phrase by some photographers who want to ensure some other guy that 25 or 30 years of shooting = a qualified person. This is the argument which I dislike the most. Why? Because the best professional photographers I've met or I talked to (Jeff Ascough, Karl Taylor, etc.) don't use this stupid argument when they want to make a point. Check Karl Taylor's video in which he uses some 10$ lamps from Ikea for a product photo... that video was recorded just to prove with facts and arguments to some "professional" photographers (some of them with 15-20 years of experience) that he is a professional photographer even without using his normal equipment (Hasselblad and Broncolor lights).

As far as I'm concerned, if the first comment of someone who's trying to make a point is I have 30 years of experience, then he's just insecure and defensive.

Flip that around, how many morons do you see out there charging money, with their flash pointed straight up shooting outdoors in a field and their lens hood on backwards that got a camera for Christmas and think they know everything...


And anyone who thinks that someone who is qualifying what they say by pointing out they spent 30 years in the trenches is insecure or defensive and probably has a big chip on their shoulder for some reason.


I do know that there are many people intimidated by confidence, and that's a shame really. Because just like being a confident flight instructor (would you like to learn how to fly from a scared or timid flight instructor? ) there is much to be learned from confident people who care enough to share their knowledge. If you only take the time to be nice to them.

[Ian Stuart Forsyth]

with their flash pointed straight up shooting outdoors in a field

Maybe they don't need the flash outdoors and they are less concerned and too busy to worry about how the camera looks with the flash pointing up.

[Qwntm]

Maybe they don't need the flash outdoors and they are less concerned and too busy to worry about how the camera looks with the flash pointing up.

It's not about looks, it's about running your batteries down and maybe not getting the dancing shots in the dark hall 6 hours later...

[noelpolar]

Who or what makes a person qualified to have an opinion about photography?

On this forum, and most of the internet, nothing or nobody!

However, most of us work out who's opinions are worth considering.

Staying quiet and letting the silly stuff just go past is the hardest part.

[Dan Rentea]

Flip that around, how many morons do you see out there charging money, with their flash pointed straight up shooting outdoors in a field and their lens hood on backwards that got a camera for Christmas and think they know everything...


And anyone who thinks that someone who is qualifying what they say by pointing out they spent 30 years in the trenches is insecure or defensive and probably has a big chip on their shoulder for some reason.


I do know that there are many people intimidated by confidence, and that's a shame really. Because just like being a confident flight instructor (would you like to learn how to fly from a scared or timid flight instructor? ) there is much to be learned from confident people who care enough to share their knowledge. If you only take the time to be nice to them.

I don't know exactly how things works when comes to airline pilots, but I'm assuming (based on what a friend of mine who is a pilot told me) that they have on regular basis trainings, evaluations and so on. And they need to attend to some special trainings in order to become certified pilots. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Normally, in order to become a professional photographer, you have to participate to some special trainings also, in order to get your licence as a photographer. But, let's say that someone is a self-taught person and after a while he starts to get payed for his images and after another few years his entire income comes from photograpahy. That means that after 30 years of shooting weedings or something else he is entitled to have an opinion about photography, right? Well, it's complicated, but the short answer is: yes and no...

You see, in Romania in order to practice photography as a business you need a licence offered by National Qualifications Authority (a state department). A lot of photographers don't have one, but after they get a visit from the IRS (in Romania is called different) they become interested in getting that licence. In my class I had a few photographers with 20 years of experience in shooting weedings. Before the exam simulation they were all confident and gave us, the "young generation", a lot of free technical "advices" in order to get good images. But after they took the exam simulation...surprises. They got 60 points or 70 points out of 100. Why? Because they developed in time a style of shooting (confortable to them) and got sticked to it. Nothing wrong with that, especially since they make a living out of their shooting style.

But, teaching others about photography is a different thing. I mean, shooting portraits on location (outdoor) with just one speelight can give you plenty of freedom to play with the light. But when you see the 20 or the 30 years experienced photographers with the speedlight mounted on the camera and pointed towards the model and telling to the model from time to time to say "cheeze" or "yes"...it makes you think if a flat light and a "fake smile" on the model's face it's all they can teach you (after their 30 years of photographic experience) about how to shoot a portrait.

[biz-engineer]

As far as I'm concerned, if the first comment of someone who's trying to make a point is I have 30 years of experience, then he's just insecure and defensive.

I guess what 's valid is the experience , rather than the 30 years. There is theory, and there is experience. Until experience confirm theory, theory has little value.

[Dan Rentea]

I guess what 's valid is the experience , rather than the 30 years. There is theory, and there is experience. Until experience confirm theory, theory has little value.

Like I said, it's a complicated answer and the short answer is Yes and No. I know a lot of people with 30 years of experience in driving a car and they still have problems when parking, despite the fact that they drive their cars almost every day.

Look also at football players who became coaches at the end of their career. Some of them don't have results even after 10-15 years of coaching and 15-20 years of experience as football players. I can give you as example Maradona. He has over 10 years experience as a coach, not to mention the experience as a football player, but his results as a coach are mediocre, at most.

Look also at Murinho... He was unknown as a football player (he played football only for a few years), he worked as a translator for many years for Sporting Lisabona and for Barcelona, but his theories and his methods of preparing the game strategies made him famous in a very short period of time and got him contracts with the best football teams in the world.

[biz-engineer]

Like I said, it's a complicated answer and the short answer is Yes and No. I know a lot of people with 30 years of experience in driving a car and they still have problems when parking, despite the fact that they drive their cars almost every day. Look also at football players who became coaches at the end of their career. Some of them don't have results even after 10-15 years of coaching and 15-20 years of experience as football players. I can give you as example Maradona. He has over 10 years experience as a coach, not to mention the experience as a football player, but his results as a coach are mediocre, at most. Look also at Murinho... He was unknown as a football player (he played football only for a few years), he worked as a translator for many years for Sporting Lisabona and for Barcelona, but his theories and his methods of preparing the game strategies made him famous in a very short period of time and got him contracts with the best football teams in the world.

Of course experience in one role isn't directly portable into another role. That's not the topic here. If experience does not count, you could buy a 250 hours helicopter license in Panama, and fly off helicopters, we'll see your chance of survival versus former military pilots who have more than 10000 hours flying different helicopter models. Every year, I see newly hired engineers, some of them p*ss me off. They are super arrogant , and then they cry mother when their projects do not work, and that does not include a lot of mistakes that are not visible and pop-up a few years later. If you constantly learn for experience and if you have years of experience, you are very likely to out do inexperienced people, even if those less experienced people don't like this idea :-)