[OzzRod]

The weather has been miserable, and I'll be starting at the new surgery on 5th August, but I do miss the taking and posting of shots, and my friends here, so...
I will re-join in August. I think DA*16-50 needs a thorough workout, and I'll try to throw in a few film shots as well, (K1000 with FA43).

Good call Jack; we've been missing your contributions.

[OzzRod]

Hey, I'm new but would love to join in for August. Probably start simple with a Pentax-A f2 50mm

That's great. New participants are always welcome and you'll find that we're a very friendly bunch. There are some guidelines at the start of this thread - they'll be reposted for August soon, together with another thread where the August pictures can be posted.

[Bramela]

Needless to say, I will put my hand up again for August. I think I will go with my DA*16-50 to give it a try on K5IIs. Should be interesting.

*just noticed Jack opted for the same lens. Could be good to see the comparative results. No competition though Jack.

[Sandy Hancock]

Needless to say, I will put my hand up again for August. I think I will go with my DA*16-50 to give it a try on K5IIs. Should be interesting.

*just noticed Jack opted for the same lens. Could be good to see the comparative results. No competition though Jack.

Hmmmm. I too am now considering the DA*16-50. I have two copies, one has a still-working SDM and the other has been freshly converted to screw drive. I for one would be very interested to run a serious comparison of AF speed and accuracy, and also check how much variation in image quality exists between copies. If I like the screw drive version enough I might sell the newer SDM copy (still within warrantee) to finance a Sigma 18-35/1.8

Besides, the DA*300 is just too big and specialised for me to consider for use every day for a month. The DA*50-135 was pushing it.

[photolady95]

Update on my eye surgery. I have an appointment with the eye specialist on August 29. I don't know what will happen after I see him but I'll try to stay active for this month. I'd like to try my Pentax kit lens, the 18-55mm with the Raynox DCR-250 attached. These two are light enough I can hand hold the pair and still maintain a steadiness with the camera, with SR applied.

[todd]

I have two copies, one has a still-working SDM and the other has been freshly converted to screw drive.

I happened to skim by a thread where you were talking about this the other day.... I thought you could only get it to go screw drive on your K10? So you managed to make it go screw drive for any body?

Another second day in a row where I had no time for shots with the Industar. I tried some shot of my daughter but it was too dark even for ISO3200 on the K100D...

[Sandy Hancock]

I happened to skim by a thread where you were talking about this the other day.... I thought you could only get it to go screw drive on your K10? So you managed to make it go screw drive for any body?

Either I worded it badly or you misunderstood me. I borrowed a mate's K10D to take advantage of its DEBUG menu. The K-5 and its successors do not have this function.

Using DEBUG to access the DA*16-50's EEPROM file, I have edited it so the lens now functions *exclusively* as a screw drive lens on *any* Pentax AF body. No more worries about the HSM failing. Ever.

Although it was a bit of a fiddle, I learned a lot in the process and now have the confidence to do the same with my DA*50-135 if I ever have to. I'm not aware of the hack for the DA*300 yet, but I'm sure it's possible.

[Sandy Hancock]

DA*300 it is. I went for a turn of the garden and mucked around for about five minutes before heading off to work (with the DA21 in tow). What a lens!

[todd]

EEPROM file,

That's the part I didn't read. I didn't realize it was actually a mod to the lens itself... Very cool!

What a lens!

indeed some amazing IQ there!

[jheu02]

I may be in as well. The traveling, though making it difficult for processing/uploading has given me a lot more opportunities for shooting. And, I did pick up a Pentacon 50/1.8 M42 lens at another GoodWill for $3.99. I'm almost tempted to buy a couple cheap m42/k adapters and use some thread lock on them to "permanently" attach them to the lens for easy swap out. Anyone do this with any success?

[photolady95]

I haven't completely made up my mind as to which lens I'll be using in August. I have another I'd like to try with this diopter, and will let you know which one I'll use before August 1 rolls around.

Here's one from the Pentax kit lens I took today:

[OzzRod]

Hi everyone. The Single in August 2013 discussion thread is now available here. Pictures for the challenge should be posted here.

[OzzRod]

Review: Pentax WG-3 GPS

The WG3-GPS replaces my two dead Olympus “waterproof”/”shockproof” equivalents. While a DSLR is my primary photographic tool, I’ve found a compact “waterproof” invaluable in wet and dirty conditions as well as being something that can be activated quickly, and often discretely; very useful when traveling. The WG3 is much bulkier than I would prefer (difficult to use with one hand) but overall I’m more impressed with its performance than I expected to be. One other caveat to this review - for practically all my shots this month I’ve used the “Action” mode setting. I have a nuisance tremor that faster shutter speeds help counter. Also, by opting for the slowest ISO (125) as well, I’ve tried to force the camera to use a wide aperture, for a harsher test of the f2 lens performance.

With few exceptions I’ve been really pleased with the IQ, especially for near distance, close-ups and macros. Minor distortion was evident near the frame corners in ultra-macros and sharpening was needed occasionally in PP, but the colours were usually bright and natural enough to leave alone. With not too much mucking around I was able to generate quite pleasant bokeh in many shots. It’s a great lens for sure. I did try a few shots at higher ISO (800) and the anticipated noise was nowhere near as intrusive as I had expected. A couple of dusk/night shots revealed some graininess and brighter light sources weren’t defined as sharply as I’d like. In bright sunlight with the aperture closed down, the WG3 also delivered small but attractive sunbursts when shooting sunlight reflected from water. Underwater images in natural light were far better than I expected, even for snorkelling, while the little flash yielded some delightful UW macros.

Some physical aspects. The camera seems very solid. It’s too soon to evaluate the quality of the water/dirt seal except to say it hasn’t failed yet. On a couple of inspections I found a few sand grains and tiny water droplets inside near the hatch hinge, but well away from the crucial slots. I now run the WG3 with an SD Eye-fi card and recharge the battery using the WG3’s Qi capability and an external charging mat. This should minimise the number of hatch openings. It’s a real delight to be able to take it into the water or rest it on bare sand without any worries about nasties getting in. For dusty or snowy conditions this would be a big plus too. I also like the double closure - one tab to close the hatch, a second works as a lock, and the respective slider orientations are at right angles to each other - very secure.

The shutter button does need a solid squeeze. This was a bit of a challenge underwater (especially with gloves or cold bare fingers), although I became more adept with time. Using the 4-way controller underwater was difficult too, but I do have pudgy fingers. On dry land I sometimes used an IR remote to remove the possibility of camera movement when releasing the shutter.

Battery life can be very short, like only a few hours. The GPS sensor is a big power drain, operating even when the camera is switched off (best to have the GPS turned on only for shots where you want the co-ordinates). Other settings (power saving, macro light etc) can be adjusted to maximise battery life, but at best I reckon you’d want to recharge the battery every night on a trip. Carrying a spare would be useful backup, but then you’ve got to open the hatch.

All in all, a great little camera that delivers surprisingly good images in diverse conditions. And I haven’t explored all the other user modes yet.

[todd]

Great stuff OzzRod! I really enjoyed your month.

As for me and the trusty little Industar 50-2... It's actually a very cool little lens. I just couldn't find my groove with it. My cheapo M42 adapter was giving me fits a lot early on so I gave up and moved the lens permanently to my K100D for the rest of the month. When I started the month I thought I was buying my used copy of FA77 in August, but then a deal too good to pass up made it time to buy in July so then the Industar became a bit of a distraction to my new toy... Then things got very busy at work and home and put even more of a damper on things.. So I ended up missing something like 11 days out of the month while most of what I was able to manufacture was just filler from my back yard taken during my weight lifting sessions.

The biggest way the Industar helped me this month was that it was like stepping on to the scale to realize that I've grown fat and lazy and that I have a lot of room to improve my photography skills. I've been finding it a stiff challenge to make interesting (to me anyway) images... I've been failing to sacrifice my time at the right times to get out in the right situations in the right light to make interesting images, and then even when I do I've been finding it difficult. But the desire is there so I press on while making sure to keep the right perspective as an amateur.

Again, I really like the little pancake. It is quirky and fun... It just came at a bad time for me personally when I've just shelled out big time for my fancy FA limited AF lenses that I want to be using all the time. I felt all month like I was in the wrong gear for Little Indu who wanted me to slow down and take my sweet time with it while all I could manage to do was try to push it along at a pace it refused to go...

As for the manual focusing... I was finding it harder to focus with this lens than my other MF lenses... I don't know what exactly to attribute that to. I don't yet have a working grasp of the distance rules, so that's part of the problem, but despite that I usually get much more consistent results with my other MF lenses...

Thanks for enduring my results. If anybody wants to be the next taker for the 'Single In Industar' just let me know. I would be happy for someone to show me what this thing can really do in the right hands for a month...

[mattt]

If anybody wants to be the next taker for the 'Single In Industar'

Love to! - and I think that is a great idea.

I'm not sold on LCD shooting. The Q is a Qute little thing but it takes a bit of readjusting to shoot without an OVF (I rarely use Live view on my Kr unless I'm doing some fine tune focus adjust). The 01 Standard SMC Pentax 8.5mm f1.9 AL is well... probably the worst lens I own. The distortion is terribad, it flares like it was made in pre WWII Russia but hey, distortion can be corrected and I should get a hood. But I wasn't sold on whether i was going to keep it or not. If I do, I'll need to get some more batteries. I DO enjoy the Q-K adapter though, and if you are on the market for a Q it is a Must have Must Must have add on.. dont forget the tripod foot. In fact order them all at the same time!

As an aside, the out of camera B&W are stellar on the Q and I love that feature - the RAW files are quite good IMO, but if you shoot out of camera B&W you will forgo the RAW... so I made a few conversions in LR4 which still were agreeable to me.

Thanks for plugging along with me, I know my shooting was not terribly inspired this past month. Thanks for playing along, and I look forward to everyone's August contributions.