[Bagga_Txips]

Sandy, shut up shut up shut up! Aargh! (Runs away covering his ears.)

I already have the 100WR, the DA* 60-250 and the 1.4 tc on my desired lens roadmap, and have started to yearn for the FA trio.

You're not helpiiiing!

[baro-nite]

Very brave to go to Mr. HDR's opening! At least he just asked you if you wanted to buy something -- smooth operator, that -- rather than what you thought.

Phone and DSL decided to quit at home, and phone company taking their time about it, so I may not be checking in often for the next little while.

[severalsnakes]

Very brave to go to Mr. HDR's opening! At least he just asked you if you wanted to buy something -- smooth operator, that -- rather than what you thought.

O.M.G. he would have gotten an earful. I'm pretty confident to interact socially, plus art school training has given me a set of skills for public critique. I would have seen that balloon deflate real quick.

I didn't know we did a lens review! Guess I should have read the rules more thoroughly! Or is that an informal thing?

I got my copy of the Pentax-M 135mm f/3.5 from Gass Camera Repair in Shawnee, KS. The man there, Terrence Gass, was trying to sell me a 28mm, but I am really happy with my Sigma Mini-Wide II, so I wasn't shopping in that length. He asked if I had a "portrait lens" and I told him I did not. He put this thing on a K1000 and let me look through it. I love the handling of it immediately, knew the view would be slightly different through the K30. I bought the M135/3.5, a Promaster 2x teleconverter and a roll of Kodak Gold 100 for $60. He asked for $50, but I gave him all the cash I had. Very nice old camera guy, fun to talk to.

I enjoy taking this lens with me on any car ride because it lets me "go outside" the car and eliminates views of rearview mirrors and car interiors. I live in a rural area in the middle of America and driving long distances is pretty much an every day occurrence.

I chose this lens for the month because I figured I could shoot from the car, since March in Missouri is EXTREMELY unpredictable, weather-wise and has proven the rule again this past month. 0F, snow, ice, sleet, rain, sun, 70F, and even a tornado warning. I'm glad I was able to stay in my car!

I am not much of a telephoto shooter, but this lens is on the short end of telephoto, so I was able to adapt to the focal length pretty quickly. Using 135mm definitely influenced the kinds of shots I took and I ended up with a lot of architectural detail, and from within that subject matter I was able to find an aesthetic and a subject matter I was interested in. I did explore several methods of achieving focus and I have actually revolutionized my viewfinder habits!! I used to be one of those people who squinted one eye closed to look through the other, but now I almost exclusively have BOTH eyes open and it has made accurately focusing much much much much easier. I can hardly believe I never tried it before. Really an incredible realization.

Since I shot from the car, most of the subject matter was a standard sort of distance away, so I did not have to fiddle much with the focus throw, although I do admit it is quite long. Towards the end of the challenge, I gave up fiddling with shutter speed and adjusted exposure almost exclusively with the aperture ring; it just made more sense to my brain and the tactility of the ring was more "real" than the click wheel on the camera to change shutter speed. Because of the longer focal length, I had to remember to keep shutter speed high, tried to keep it above 1/160, and ideally above 1/250 to prevent motion blur/camera shake. I did not do much experimentation with subject isolation, and I feel like f/3.5 is a little too slow to do it right, anyway.

Bokeh was noisy and jittery at best, and wide-open my lens as some green CA. Thankfully, for the subjects I was shooting, it really didn't factor in.

I am not sure whether my subject suited the focal length, or if I adapted the shots to fit the lens, but I feel like this month was a perfect storm for subject matter and lens pairing. Extremely enjoyable and I am grateful to have been able to participate in this society.

[mtux]

Thanks everyone for another great month of shooting and talking together, I really love this challenge.

Review time, Pentax-M 100mm f/4 macro 1:2

background:
This is the first Pentax-M series lens I bought so far, and I just bought it at the end of previous month out of luck.
Before this, I had experience with DFA 50mm as a macro lens. and I should say that the working distance is really better with 100mm for insects, but not for food or flowers.
BTW, I ended up selling the DFA lens, because now I have a faster and lighter 50mm lens for portraits and a 100mm for macro, and they both together cost less than the DFA 50mm.

I choose this lens because I had several months in the wider end of life, and I wanted a longer lens for fresh new view. and it was so.

About the lens:
It is a decent macro lens I say specially for the price of about usd100, super sharp right from wide open. with very nice colors rendition as I understand.
The build quality is pretty darn good, it's very light and small, I love the feel of handling it. It has a very long focus throw which isn't surprising because of macro ability.
When I was buying it, I felt that the focus ring is getting stiffer as I rotate it towards macro side, and thought it's not good, but after handling it, I think it should be this way, so you can focus very slightly in macro end of focus.

What it lacks is the more magnification that rarely I need, which I'm thinking of maybe buying a Raynox for those times. not sure yet.
and It's f/4, so the viewfinder is dimmer in low light, that makes focusing harder. and well a f/2.8 could make better DoF control in longer distances also.
So, these two cons plus lack of AF maybe force me wanting the DFA100mm lens later. Only time will tell.

[jackassp]

Of course you need a FA77. Everyone does

My least used lens, although I did use it in my month of film shots last April.

[Canmannac]

77mm review

Time to spill some digital ink about the lens and the challenge this month.

This was a very challenging month for myself, major irony, and taking up the Challenge this month was a good distraction from the major action going on around/in me. Looks like the results inside and out (ie pics) were good.

I can’t say I enjoyed using the 77mm, though I suppose now by month’s end I have tamed the beast. It was a constant ‘discussion’ of what could and what will never be. So if you get one of these be prepared to ride out some real unflattering angles and some wild vistas. It is about learning to appreciate that perspective. I guess I have spent way too much time in the 18-55 zone. But the lens shoots truly, at least my copy. Good sharpness, lovely colour and responds well when asked to focus. It is very well built, lovely machined metal alloy, crisp numerical markings and useful sliding sun hood. It has a good weight to it that balances well and looks wonderful on the camera (I own a silver version). I don’t regret the experience however with the 77, we pulled off some brilliant scenes together and I got a new perspective on angles and light. Beware too, the lens cap is a real pain. It does not sit well at all. I had it fall and roll off the metro platform last week… (retrieved!!!) So get some tape and line it in the inside to give it some more grab.

Challenging with you all is quite fun. Great to see your views of what is in front of you and your reactions to what you see on the forum. That is a good learning experience. And with so many great shots daily the challenge pushes you to up your own game, I like that. Severalsnakes really shook up the board this month and was cool to see some of you trying out her perspective. (good on you!), The usual suspects were here well as their typical grassmaster selfs, ahem…mindblowing!!! And cool to see people doing projects or playing with a style/theme/pp program/new family members!

With my own struggles I had to start off at home, and that was a new way of looking at stuff. As the month wears on, it is good to have a few ideas to try out. Don’t rule out that option (find things to shoot at in your house) when stuck for ideas. One does get into the habit of repeating themselves because of the length of the month. Also since the challenge isn't in the habit of making a monthly theme/idea/style (only when the Challenge gods see fit though..) you can make your own. It can you help to make it through the drudgery of the 4 weeks, even if you follow the theme/idea infrequently. (can't you see I am a teacher??? :-) )

Why don’t we include our cameras in our reviews? Is it just a lens thing? I think it was Sandy who was using a Q this month, and it is cool to hear about them. Satisfied with Vorsord, the k-5oo. It is more and more comfortable in my hand, the controls, the ability to push it around abit to get my results has been rewarding.

Also I have used SilkyPix 3 this month and I am really comfortable with its results. I was learning Lightroom 5 but stopped, I will continue with it, but with SilkyPix I cannot complain about at all.

Not sure when I will rejoin you, but will be back with you eventually and will watch the Challenge boards. Until our shots meet again, wish you all good light, light fingers, and wonderful images! Thanks for the support during my dark walk as well.

Ps take your camera with you everywhere!!!!!

Drew

[Tsuken]

Include a bit about the camera? ... Well, I had my Lumix for about two years - or was it three? - before I got my K-30; within two (or three ) months, if I picked up the Lumix, I'd be frustrated by it not working "right" - i.e. Like the K-30. The Pentax' controls, layout, ergonomics, and menu system are just so much more in line with how my mind works, I guess. Beyond that, I don't know if I would have much more to say on the camera front.

You mention processing. I'm still doing everything on my iPad, that being about eleventy-million times more powerful than my 6-years-old iMac. I'm happy with what I can do hereon - except for RAW files in some situations, where I end up with totally blown-out white areas, which don't/didn't appear in the camera's jpgs.

[mtux]

So, these two cons plus lack of AF maybe force me wanting the DFA100mm lens later.

Haha, right today someone has put up his DFA100WR for sale here locally! and the price is better than buying it overseas. Oh no! I don't need it.

[StudentBoots]

someone has put up his DFA100WR for sale

Sacrilege!
You should definitely go for it. I see no reason not to.

[mtux]

You should definitely go for it. I see no reason not to.

Shshiish!
The tracking data says I'm gonna have my newly bought lenses today to play and forget about this one for some time!

[Sandy Hancock]

Last photo posted. Review time....

The 06 Telephoto Zoom for the Q is a little ripper. My first copy was pretty crappy (look at my "Single In" from a year ago for details), but its replacement is in another league. It is more than acceptably sharp across the frame wide open at both the long and short ends, and very sharp from f/4.0. It renders colours - especially blues - better than with my other Q mount lenses. Flare resistance is good. The longish focal length and f/2.8 maximum aperture give quite nice subject isolation and bokeh, which is otherwise hard to achieve with a tiny-sensor camera.

As for handling, it weighs almost nothing, it is tiny for the range it gives and the zoom ring is great, but the focus ring is a bit fiddly for me. Fortunately auto focus works well enough that it is rarely needed. The camera and lens feel great in the hands. The whole package is so compact it has been easy to have a camera with me at all times, presenting opportunities which would have otherwise been missed. Some quite memorable images resulted.

I have already given my views on the Q7. I have enough lenses to cover most bases, but if the 08 Wide Zoom is as good as some suggest, and the rumoured Macro comes to fruition, it forms the basis of a complete kit suitable for anything but big prints, super-thin depth of field shots, low light and action stuff. I won't be selling my K-3 just yet

The month has been great. Thanks to all for coming along for the ride. Well done to John for struggling through, to Sara for breathing fresh life and adding a great perspective, to Torben for his consistently wonderful trees, to Simon for his pub crawl through London, to Jeff for some incredible ultra-macros, to Andrew for sharing the birth of his second child, and everyone else for their input and comments. This is a wonderful little community

[OzzRod]

Just one more contribution from me this month.



Mrs Rod has her first nurse of our first grandchild Annabelle who was due to arrive today, but has been grabbing hold of life successfully for seven weeks now.

[Tsuken]

Just one more contribution from me this month.



Mrs Rod has her first nurse of our first grandchild Annabelle who was due to arrive today, but has been grabbing hold of life successfully for seven weeks now.

Lovely and congrats

---------- Post added 31st Mar 2014 at 08:00 PM ----------

. This is a wonderful little community

^^^

Totally. I'm really glad I stumbled in.

[repaap]

Looks good, must be joyful time with grandchild.

Just one more contribution from me this month.



Mrs Rod has her first nurse of our first grandchild Annabelle who was due to arrive today, but has been grabbing hold of life successfully for seven weeks now.

---------- Post added 03-31-14 at 13:20 ----------

Summary of this month.

well have been busy month for me and I have enjoyed my DA*55. Brilliant lens, I just want wider with similar speed.
Nothing wrong with lens, as there haven't been before. Really nice feel on lens when mounted, I love colors that I get straight from this combination. - A really big reason, why I'd love to upgrade my DA 55-300 WR to a DA * 60-250.(*) - They have made great things with coatings and all.

Great lens for portraits, landscape, flowers. versatile and not shy of bad weather either.

Nice month all in all, I hope that could have had some more time, but that is life sometimes. I have enjoyed pictures from other participants too. Keep up good work!
Take care!

[utak]

Just one more contribution from me this month.

What a beautiful photo and outcome.

My wife's sister's husband is a neonatologist in Austin Texas. He tell us that the smallest baby he's ever looked after and is now a healthy child was hardly larger than a Coca-Cola can at birth. Doctors can do great things, not just take great photos!