Game Single in February - 2013

Zorglub · 02-23-2013, 02:17 AM

Originally posted by patolds

Gudday all!
Had a few close calls with the burny stuff (close but far enough for moderate discomfort), had to buy in water and fix the bore pump ($4G out the window) but otherwise we're all well.

Phew! that sounds scary! Glad you are well my old Penguin fanboy. I'll try to squeeze in a shot of one sometime next week.

Zorglub · 02-25-2013, 03:00 AM - **4 Likes**

Only four days left - woha! :-)

I have had a wonderful time back at the Single challenges and want to thank you all for the journey. The experience was much like I remembered it with it's highlights and safety shots to boot.

I often wonder how the rest of the world perceive us during this challenge. Do they ask or wonder what we are doing? I was asked on day 7 why I was taking photographs of his geese and I found my self having an extended chat about our challenge.

Here is a shot of what you would see if you met me during this month:

I think I would stop and ask me what I was doing if I met myself too :-)

**patjp** · 02-25-2013, 05:48 AM

Nice comments Torben! I always enjoying seeing your part of the world. One of these days I will have to do a video about what I carry, like you did last year. As to me nobody ever asks why I am taking pictures. In the family now they are used to me taking a camera everywhere.

This month has been a bit rough and I feel a bit sorry for the new members who maybe didn't receive enough comments. Sorry folks

Dare I ask about next month?

**jackassp** · 02-25-2013, 06:10 AM - **1 Like**

I carry my gear for the challenge in a Lowepro 170AW shoulder bag. If it wont fit it, it gets left behind.
All my friends see me carrying this bag to social outings, and they call it my 6-pack, it's about the right size to carry 6 cans of beer.

**patjp** · 02-25-2013, 03:47 PM

At least your bag is a bit cool. I use a Kata Shutter-M Photo here which everyone refers to as my pants bag because that's exactly what it looks like

UK pants that is rather than US pants.

It's a great holster bag though.

**todd** · 02-25-2013, 04:39 PM

I was so determined to not miss a day but a busy weekend got the best of me. (Was at the SoCal Pentax WPD meetup in LA on Saturday.. Got plenty of shots with my Single lens but no time to post them).. This Single challenge has been a real challenge for me but a good one that managed to get me shooting every day which hadn't been the case in a long time..

**Eric Auer** · 02-25-2013, 08:17 PM

Sigh.....This month got the best of me for sure, I'm so busy I barely find time to comment on all the great pictures and I have fallen way behind posting anything.

I'm going to have to quit, Hopefully my work will ease up in the next 3-4 days so I can start fresh For march.....my apologies all.

Eric

Sandy Hancock · 02-26-2013, 01:37 AM

I was on fire until just after mid-month, then completely lost my mojo. I hope my partial contribution was of interest.

As I have considered the month a lost cause for a while, I may as well post my conclusions now:

The DA21 is definitely a keeper. The focal length is really useful, the images are pleasing and the starbursts are excellent. It is very compact, acceptably fast and handles beautifully. It is not super sharp wide open, but performs very well stopped down. Yes, it does give quite bit of barrel distortion, but this can be either used to advantage or easily corrected in PP. It is a wonderful single lens for general walk-around photography, and if I had to weld one lens to the K-01 for the rest of its life, this would be it.

The DA40 is *tiny* and produces very sharp, clean images, but the focus ring is hard to manipulate (and sometimes even to find!) and the lens cap is fiddly (although cute). Its "long normal" angle of view is not intuitive on APS-C, and if I really want a prime in that sort of focal length, I will go for my slightly bigger, faster, pixie dust laden FA43 every time.

Likewise, the DA70 is an excellent optical performer in the short telephoto range, but it can't compete with my DA*55 or FA77 on any level except size. As noted by several of you, it does look totally kick-arse on the Q though :-)

Will I hang on to the 40 and 70? Probably not. Any takers?

**patjp** · 02-26-2013, 05:04 AM

@ Sandy - well I have the 70mm and it works really well on the K-01. I was like you and had both the FA43mm and the DA40. I ended up keeping the FA. Your comparison shots were very useful and got me a little interested in the 21mm but I have an FA28 which is probably good enough

I also think that the lens of the month has been John's Sigma.

**patjp** · 02-26-2013, 05:22 AM

Looks like a few folks are struggling to finish

Time to play those safety shots. If you have no time to shoot have a look back through what you have already taken and upload one of those.
What's the best shot you haven't shown? Or try a bit of PP, convert it to B&W or HDR.

**southlander** · 02-26-2013, 05:39 AM

Hello all.

Pondering rejoining the Single in... crowd for March, now the hot glary weather is almost behind us South Australians. One small problem though. My K-x has had an intermittent problem for a while where the shutter button jams down in the fully depressed position upon taking a shot, stopping any camera functionality until I give the button a wiggle and free it up. The extended warranty runs out in a week, so it's off to the camera shop tomorrow to have it sorted out. That means I'll be Pentax-less camera-wise most likely for the whole of March. I can stick a M lens via an adapter onto my Olympus E-PL1 and shoot with that, but not sure that is consistent with the Single in... rule book. I'd probably use my M 50 1.7 which would become an effective 100mm 1.7 on the Oly. Participants' guidance is sought!

PS Good to see you back posting Paddy. I'd been wondering how you were travelling. Victoria has had a wretched couple of months for bushfires. Had a heap of smoke from the Grampians fire waft over Adelaide a few days ago. Was in Victoria briefly a few weeks back. Buy you a beer if you can work out where this is! It is definitely in Victoria, you can tell 'cause its raining. In fact, its's even rained a bucket. Googling the boat name WILL be regarded as cheating

**patjp** · 02-27-2013, 04:44 AM

I have just put up the thread for March but am not sure if I am up for another month. I just checked and February will be the 2 year mark for me. Perhaps I need a wee holiday.

A bit of a lens review - my lens was the Super-Takumar 105mm f2.8 which I rescued from a junk shop for very small sum. I also have the M100 2.8 and really I don't see much difference between the two. I also started the month using the K-01, while the semi TAV mode is pretty good, I found focus peaking wasn't so good with a longer lens. I had to focus, then push the OK button to zoom and then fine tune focus by that time the shot was gone. Shorter primes are fine on the K-01 as are AF primes which can be set to auto zoom on the lcd. As for my theme of People well all I can say is I am glad February only has 28 days

I am NOT a street shooter.

**jackassp** · 02-27-2013, 05:26 AM - **1 Like**

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Patrick, you had an impressive month.

Originally posted by patjp

I am NOT a street shooter.

Yes you are, you have proven it beyond all doubt!

I think I am done with the single in challenges, a month of shooting red cars has spoiled the challenge for me, because the month was not about photography technique, it was just about finding interesting or sometimes rare cars.

The Sigma is a great kens, probably nearly as good as the Pentax 12-24mm zoom, set it to F8, and pretty much anything from 1 foot to 100 feet is in focus, but at F4, F5.6 it has its problems, edge weakness, some CA, and the bokeh is average. It doesn't get very good starbursts either. I sold my DA15 and opted to keep the Sigma, I think this was wrong, I'm sure it was wrong.

So for march, I'm going to "freelance", I'll probably mostly be shooting with my Nikon gear, and posting on an Aussie forum, but I will still be watching what all you guys get up to.

Clive, and Sandy, we must get together soon.
Paddy, I still intend to drop in on you and the cheese kissas.
Bruce and Rod, I've never actually been to the Hunter Valley...

Good luck to all.
Jack

Zorglub · 02-27-2013, 07:00 AM

Originally posted by patjp

I am NOT a street shooter.

As Jack wrote, you are a proven street shooter! Even though you do not see yourself as one, which I guess is ok. NB: I think your shots have been the top highlights of the month!

Originally posted by jackassp

Good luck to all

Good luck to you too Jack. Thanks for being in the Single challenges for so long. It's been inspirational to say the least having you around.

I think I will wait until this summer before returning to the challenge. I no longer have the required tenacity for multiple months back to back as I once did.

Hope to see you all around :-)

**mattt** · 02-27-2013, 03:23 PM

Before you drift away, don't forget to pencil in Film Single in April....

Travelling on business again.... Will post some soon.

02-26-2013, 05:39 AM	#86
southlander Site Supporter Join Date: May 2012 Location: Adelaide Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,364	Hello all. Pondering rejoining the Single in... crowd for March, now the hot glary weather is almost behind us South Australians. One small problem though. My K-x has had an intermittent problem for a while where the shutter button jams down in the fully depressed position upon taking a shot, stopping any camera functionality until I give the button a wiggle and free it up. The extended warranty runs out in a week, so it's off to the camera shop tomorrow to have it sorted out. That means I'll be Pentax-less camera-wise most likely for the whole of March. I can stick a M lens via an adapter onto my Olympus E-PL1 and shoot with that, but not sure that is consistent with the Single in... rule book. I'd probably use my M 50 1.7 which would become an effective 100mm 1.7 on the Oly. Participants' guidance is sought! PS Good to see you back posting Paddy. I'd been wondering how you were travelling. Victoria has had a wretched couple of months for bushfires. Had a heap of smoke from the Grampians fire waft over Adelaide a few days ago. Was in Victoria briefly a few weeks back. Buy you a beer if you can work out where this is! It is definitely in Victoria, you can tell 'cause its raining. In fact, its's even rained a bucket. Googling the boat name WILL be regarded as cheating Last edited by southlander; 02-26-2013 at 05:48 AM.

02-27-2013, 07:00 AM	#89
Zorglub Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Photos: Albums Posts: 486	Originally posted by patjp I am NOT a street shooter. As Jack wrote, you are a proven street shooter! Even though you do not see yourself as one, which I guess is ok. NB: I think your shots have been the top highlights of the month! Originally posted by jackassp Good luck to all Good luck to you too Jack. Thanks for being in the Single challenges for so long. It's been inspirational to say the least having you around. I think I will wait until this summer before returning to the challenge. I no longer have the required tenacity for multiple months back to back as I once did. Hope to see you all around :-) Last edited by Zorglub; 02-27-2013 at 07:05 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Game Single in January 2013	patjp	Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories	216	02-28-2013 10:14 PM
Weekly Challenge POTW #250 20 Jan 2013 through 3 Feb 2013	Douge	Weekly Photo Challenges	43	02-03-2013 09:45 PM
News World Pentax Day in February, 2013	Adam	Site Suggestions and Help	4	01-23-2013 01:41 PM
Game Single in February 2012	patjp	Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories	126	03-02-2012 07:13 PM
Game Single in February	KarenH	Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories	157	03-01-2011 09:18 AM

02-23-2013, 02:17 AM	#76
Zorglub Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Photos: Albums Posts: 486	Originally posted by patolds Gudday all! Had a few close calls with the burny stuff (close but far enough for moderate discomfort), had to buy in water and fix the bore pump ($4G out the window) but otherwise we're all well. Phew! that sounds scary! Glad you are well my old Penguin fanboy. I'll try to squeeze in a shot of one sometime next week.

02-25-2013, 03:00 AM - 4 Likes	#77
Zorglub Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Photos: Albums Posts: 486	Only four days left - woha! :-) I have had a wonderful time back at the Single challenges and want to thank you all for the journey. The experience was much like I remembered it with it's highlights and safety shots to boot. I often wonder how the rest of the world perceive us during this challenge. Do they ask or wonder what we are doing? I was asked on day 7 why I was taking photographs of his geese and I found my self having an extended chat about our challenge. Here is a shot of what you would see if you met me during this month: I think I would stop and ask me what I was doing if I met myself too :-)

02-25-2013, 05:48 AM	#78
patjp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Albums Posts: 226	Nice comments Torben! I always enjoying seeing your part of the world. One of these days I will have to do a video about what I carry, like you did last year. As to me nobody ever asks why I am taking pictures. In the family now they are used to me taking a camera everywhere. This month has been a bit rough and I feel a bit sorry for the new members who maybe didn't receive enough comments. Sorry folks Dare I ask about next month?

02-25-2013, 06:10 AM - 1 Like	#79
jackassp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 813	I carry my gear for the challenge in a Lowepro 170AW shoulder bag. If it wont fit it, it gets left behind. All my friends see me carrying this bag to social outings, and they call it my 6-pack, it's about the right size to carry 6 cans of beer.

02-25-2013, 03:47 PM	#80
patjp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Albums Posts: 226	At least your bag is a bit cool. I use a Kata Shutter-M Photo here which everyone refers to as my pants bag because that's exactly what it looks like UK pants that is rather than US pants. It's a great holster bag though.

02-25-2013, 04:39 PM	#81
todd Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Arizona Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,791	I was so determined to not miss a day but a busy weekend got the best of me. (Was at the SoCal Pentax WPD meetup in LA on Saturday.. Got plenty of shots with my Single lens but no time to post them).. This Single challenge has been a real challenge for me but a good one that managed to get me shooting every day which hadn't been the case in a long time..

02-25-2013, 08:17 PM	#82
Eric Auer Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2012 Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,211	Sigh.....This month got the best of me for sure, I'm so busy I barely find time to comment on all the great pictures and I have fallen way behind posting anything. I'm going to have to quit, Hopefully my work will ease up in the next 3-4 days so I can start fresh For march.....my apologies all. Eric

02-26-2013, 01:37 AM	#83
Sandy Hancock Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Adelaide Hills, South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,267	I was on fire until just after mid-month, then completely lost my mojo. I hope my partial contribution was of interest. As I have considered the month a lost cause for a while, I may as well post my conclusions now: The DA21 is definitely a keeper. The focal length is really useful, the images are pleasing and the starbursts are excellent. It is very compact, acceptably fast and handles beautifully. It is not super sharp wide open, but performs very well stopped down. Yes, it does give quite bit of barrel distortion, but this can be either used to advantage or easily corrected in PP. It is a wonderful single lens for general walk-around photography, and if I had to weld one lens to the K-01 for the rest of its life, this would be it. The DA40 is tiny and produces very sharp, clean images, but the focus ring is hard to manipulate (and sometimes even to find!) and the lens cap is fiddly (although cute). Its "long normal" angle of view is not intuitive on APS-C, and if I really want a prime in that sort of focal length, I will go for my slightly bigger, faster, pixie dust laden FA43 every time. Likewise, the DA70 is an excellent optical performer in the short telephoto range, but it can't compete with my DA*55 or FA77 on any level except size. As noted by several of you, it does look totally kick-arse on the Q though :-) Will I hang on to the 40 and 70? Probably not. Any takers?

02-26-2013, 05:04 AM	#84
patjp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Albums Posts: 226	@ Sandy - well I have the 70mm and it works really well on the K-01. I was like you and had both the FA43mm and the DA40. I ended up keeping the FA. Your comparison shots were very useful and got me a little interested in the 21mm but I have an FA28 which is probably good enough I also think that the lens of the month has been John's Sigma.

02-26-2013, 05:22 AM	#85
patjp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Albums Posts: 226	Looks like a few folks are struggling to finish Time to play those safety shots. If you have no time to shoot have a look back through what you have already taken and upload one of those. What's the best shot you haven't shown? Or try a bit of PP, convert it to B&W or HDR.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

02-27-2013, 04:44 AM	#87
patjp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Photos: Albums Posts: 226	I have just put up the thread for March but am not sure if I am up for another month. I just checked and February will be the 2 year mark for me. Perhaps I need a wee holiday. A bit of a lens review - my lens was the Super-Takumar 105mm f2.8 which I rescued from a junk shop for very small sum. I also have the M100 2.8 and really I don't see much difference between the two. I also started the month using the K-01, while the semi TAV mode is pretty good, I found focus peaking wasn't so good with a longer lens. I had to focus, then push the OK button to zoom and then fine tune focus by that time the shot was gone. Shorter primes are fine on the K-01 as are AF primes which can be set to auto zoom on the lcd. As for my theme of People well all I can say is I am glad February only has 28 days I am NOT a street shooter.

02-27-2013, 05:26 AM - 1 Like	#88
jackassp Site Supporter Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 813	Thanks for sharing your thoughts Patrick, you had an impressive month. Originally posted by patjp I am NOT a street shooter. Yes you are, you have proven it beyond all doubt! I think I am done with the single in challenges, a month of shooting red cars has spoiled the challenge for me, because the month was not about photography technique, it was just about finding interesting or sometimes rare cars. The Sigma is a great kens, probably nearly as good as the Pentax 12-24mm zoom, set it to F8, and pretty much anything from 1 foot to 100 feet is in focus, but at F4, F5.6 it has its problems, edge weakness, some CA, and the bokeh is average. It doesn't get very good starbursts either. I sold my DA15 and opted to keep the Sigma, I think this was wrong, I'm sure it was wrong. So for march, I'm going to "freelance", I'll probably mostly be shooting with my Nikon gear, and posting on an Aussie forum, but I will still be watching what all you guys get up to. Clive, and Sandy, we must get together soon. Paddy, I still intend to drop in on you and the cheese kissas. Bruce and Rod, I've never actually been to the Hunter Valley... Good luck to all. Jack

02-27-2013, 03:23 PM	#90
mattt Site Supporter Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Niagara Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,907	Before you drift away, don't forget to pencil in Film Single in April.... Travelling on business again.... Will post some soon.