[Wired]

Yep we're OK on Far South Coast of NSW. Arrived at our bush cottage about 9am after leaving home at 2am. Blocked our roof gutters and filled with water. Packed car with memorabilia ready to evacuate. Carried on with other preventative work. Smoke through our forest and orange sky by lunchtime but a wind change later allowed us to stay. Spent today doing more fuel reduction. Highway remains closed a couple of hundred km further north but we're hoping it will have reopened by tomorrow so we can head back. All good . Thank you all for your concern.

great news glad to hear everything is safe.

[Wired]

So I think tomorrow I'll be requesting a lens change. The Takumar 50 1.4 I have may be a bad copy. Recall yesterday when I mentioned I couldn't get rid of the sun flare in my images. Well it occurred to me later that I had to do no color correction of the same image taken with the DA*50-135 or the Nikon 85G lens. I got some flare from those lenses, but not ones that produced an awful yellow glaze over everything. Almost made it look like the world lost the use of it's liver. I did some tests at lunch at home and have noticed the same color cast, even when using strobes. So I think I got a bad copy. It's not a very sharp lens either, so I'm sure somethings wrong here. I'm going to try do some black and whites tomorrow and see if that solves the issue, but I'm afraid it wont due to the nature of this yellow haze.

The backup lens is the FA 50mm 1.7, same focal length, aquired the same week as the Tak, and I've only used it on film so far. I'm going to bring it with me and we will see how we do. In other news.. "force" fitting the 105mm 2.5 Nikon AI lens is actually kinda fun.

[Sandy Hancock]

Jacob posted two sunset shots from the 8th, preferring the longer exposure to the shorter one. No doubt it was a better image as presented, but I wondered whether it was just because of different exposure and cloud position.

For fun (and with his permission), I have done a rough and ready hatchet job on his less-preferred image to try and get a similar effect. Working with his resized jpeg in LR4 I got somewhere close I think. No doubt someone with better PP skills (and the original RAW file) could do much better.

Changes made: +2.5 stops of exposure, a bit of vibrance and a boost in saturation in the red and orange. +25 sharpening.

[jackassp]

Jacob posted two sunset shots from the 8th, preferring the longer exposure to the shorter one. No doubt it was a better image as presented, but I wondered whether it was just because of different exposure and cloud position.

For fun (and with his permission), I have done a rough and ready hatchet job on his less-preferred image to try and get a similar effect. Working with his resized jpeg in LR4 I got somewhere close I think. No doubt someone with better PP skills (and the original RAW file) could do much better.

Changes made: +2.5 stops of exposure, a bit of vibrance and a boost in saturation in the red and orange. +25 sharpening.

Good job Sandy

[patolds]

Gudday all...how yah bloody goin?

Been a tad (tad) busy last few days, what' with runnilowon water, shiftin' it 'round, and they reckon there's a "froot loop" around that keeps lightin' bloody fires!

There's a tanker load (3000 Gallons) of housewater coming Friday, I've still my reserve 5000 gallons for the CFA (hope they don't need it!), and am madly searcing for a bore pump replacement. That's $3G well spent at the moment I reckon!

Good to hear that the rest of us OZ types are OK at present, but it does seem that the SHHTF! This is late Feb type conditions, and the hot bit is yet to come.

The weather mob has just announced the inception of a new colour code for temperature charts...purple - 50-54C!

You've godda be bloodyjokin'mate!

@ Wired.....Hmm!! You're a cold one eh!

@ Mar...Again!...Take care darling!

Cheers Paddy

[Wired]

I'm 100% certain now I got a bad copy of the Tak. I got a Fotdiox adapter for my D600 today and mounted the lens up. I did shots with the F 50 1.7 and the Tak 50 1.4 on both the D600 and the K5 using similar exposures. the F is crystal clear. The Tak has liver faliure.

[Jools]

Good to hear those affected by the fires in Australia are OK. Stay safe everyone. That stuff is nasty.

Been remiss in commenting 'cause I am battling the flu and busy with work. See if with the meds I have been given I get some energy. Everyone in the house has the flu so we are not in the best of humor.
And finally, it looks like my Vivitar 28-70mm has taken its last image at full capacity. Somehow (and this has never happened to me) the lens fell apart in my hands. Taking a pix when I started hearing a grinding sound, noticed the focus was off, and when I went to focus the front element barrel separated from the rest. I am not experienced in these repairs and do not know if it is at all possible. Still, I was able to screw it back on but the zoom movement no longer exists. So I am stuck with a 70mm lens. The problem is focusing to infinity. So this is a work in progress. Will have more time this evening to see how it handles. I am planning to stay in as long as the lens is not too much of a hassle. I envision a lot of closeups. Sad about the lens but for $12 it got its run.

[jackassp]

I'm 100% certain now I got a bad copy of the Tak. I got a Fotdiox adapter for my D600 today and mounted the lens up. I did shots with the F 50 1.7 and the Tak 50 1.4 on both the D600 and the K5 using similar exposures. the F is crystal clear. The Tak has liver faliure.

You probably have the "radio-active" version of the Takumar 50/1.4. Thorium was used in the making of the lens glass elements, and over time, the lens glass goes yellow (you can google this, or search on PentaxForums). The solution is to place the lens (with lens caps removed) in strong UV light for a few hours, or strong sunlight for a few days, and the yellowness will fade (for a few years or so).

The radioactive levels are generally safe, just don't walk around with it in your pants pocket for months and expect to have kids down the track!

In the B&W era, the yellowness of the lens was seen as an advantage, like taking shots with a built in yellow filter to enhance contrast.

On a separate note, the fotodiox adapter has a 1.4x adapter lens built-in, you may lose image quality because of this (as well as gaining magnification, and losing 1 stop of aperture).

John.

[mattt]

GAH... I'm so resisting too many pressures.. K5's on sale cheap (I held one today .. baaaaddd), an M50/1.7 thats wooing me like the sirens song, A beauty Black Spotomatic F with SMC Tak 50/1.4, and even an LX has popped up...Why Oh WHY!?!

Meanwhile I dropped off 3 rolls of film from December to be processed today, Hope to post a few pics by Days end Friday.. and I have 3 rolls of B&W I have to swish around the tank.. but I've been held up by making up stock solution... All things considered, I'll take my problems over dodging raging grass fires, falling into Rivers, Pneumonia, or any other ailments.

[Wired]

You probably have the "radio-active" version of the Takumar 50/1.4. Thorium was used in the making of the lens glass elements, and over time, the lens glass goes yellow (you can google this, or search on PentaxForums). The solution is to place the lens (with lens caps removed) in strong UV light for a few hours, or strong sunlight for a few days, and the yellowness will fade (for a few years or so).

The radioactive levels are generally safe, just don't walk around with it in your pants pocket for months and expect to have kids down the track!

In the B&W era, the yellowness of the lens was seen as an advantage, like taking shots with a built in yellow filter to enhance contrast.

On a separate note, the fotodiox adapter has a 1.4x adapter lens built-in, you may lose image quality because of this (as well as gaining magnification, and losing 1 stop of aperture).

John.

I'll try that UV trick. I also find it's generally not as sharp as my F or M series 50's. So I don't know how much use it will get at the end of the day.

The Fotdiox also increases the minimum focus distance as well. The FOV is very similar between the lens mounted on K5 and D600 with adapter, so I'm okay with that. the IQ is diminished slightly, but I'm seeing it in sharpness mostly. Some edges do glow, but stopping down seems to even that out.

[jackassp]

I'll try that UV trick. I also find it's generally not as sharp as my F or M series 50's. So I don't know how much use it will get at the end of the day.

The Fotdiox also increases the minimum focus distance as well. The FOV is very similar between the lens mounted on K5 and D600 with adapter, so I'm okay with that. the IQ is diminished slightly, but I'm seeing it in sharpness mostly. Some edges do glow, but stopping down seems to even that out.

I forgot about the ff factor (doh!). I would be interested in seeing some shots. What was your blog page again?

[Wired]

I forgot about the ff factor (doh!). I would be interested in seeing some shots. What was your blog page again?

Its in my sig. I got a 4 comparison shots on my flickr

[photolady95]

Just came in to tell you all I'm feeling better today. Not full well yet, but am able to sit up for a time before heading back to bed. Thanks to all for the well wishes. Hope to be up and running on Monday. Thanks again.

[blackcloudbrew]

You go girl! Happy about your report.

[bigted]

Just came in to tell you all I'm feeling better today. Not full well yet, but am able to sit up for a time before heading back to bed. Thanks to all for the well wishes. Hope to be up and running on Monday. Thanks again.

Wonderful news! I'm glad you are feeling better.