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04-25-2018, 08:41 PM - 3 Likes   #91
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I'm 100% with Sara and Sandy.

The underlying group principle is to shoot daily. We all know that life sometimes gets in the way and the group has been flexible enough to accommodate occasional posting of "safeties" (JIC shots taken on the correct day) and "fillers" (a spare shot from say the previous day) provided they are acknowledged as such when posted.

And, as Sara notes, provision has been made for film shooters in the past. Shooting daily was still the goal, possibly using a roll each week, and then back-posting to the correct day after the film was processed. Apart from the loss of the instant gratification of digital, the main disadvantage I found was that feedback was much reduced because of the retrospective postings. I've not used film since.

Shooting daily is what sets this group apart from others in the Forum. I'd suggest that if this core objective is diluted, then the group will lose its raison d'ętre. There's an abundance of other groups in both Pentax Forum and Flickr to accommodate the diversity of photographers' interests and constraints.

04-25-2018, 10:29 PM - 1 Like   #92
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I've been shooting BW film alongside my daily digital image (but with a different lens) and posted days 1 to 6 when the first roll came back from the lab. I'll be posting films 2 and 3 off to the lab today. No point posting for the scan date as most will be the same for me. This challenge is supposed to be fun, so personally I'd go with "whatever works". There aren't that many of us that it is an issue.
04-26-2018, 04:26 AM - 1 Like   #93
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this seems to come up every couple of months - the issue of shooting a bunch of shots, then posting them as your shot of the day...

as already stated, the rules for the SIC are twofold: shoot and post a single shot of the day, every day and use the same lens for that shot, every day...

if not for those two basic rules, why bother committing yourself at the beginning of the month?

granted, who here is going to tell you 'NO' and demand that you cease and desist? nobody - we'll bitch and moan and tell you that you aren't within the guidelines of the challenge, but we're all volunteers, etc...


I just see it at this: this is the Single In Challenge and the key is the challenge: can you use a single lens all month long, every day, and pull something out of the ether that is your shot of the day?
04-26-2018, 06:00 AM - 2 Likes   #94
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Thanks, everyone, for the well-reasoned feedback. This is one of the things I love about this group - we can be honest with each other and have good, respectful discussion.

I admit that I have a dog in the hunt here - I've re-discovered shooting film and am enjoying myself quite a lot. I'd also observe that, for me, using film is significantly more difficult than shooting digital. That's probably because I'm obsessive about cleaning up my own negative scans, and because I develop my own b/w film (color, of course, goes to the lab - I'm not a sadist!) I also shoot much more selectively with film, but maybe that's just me.

That being said - as has been noted here, the Single In challenge is about shooting daily, with the same lens, and sharing one beautiful or interesting shot that has arisen out of those limitations. So, for May, I'm removing the wording that I included last month. As OzzRod and Sara have said, we've already made provisions for film in the past (shooting a roll a week, and posting retroactively according to shot date), and that's a good working solution. There are also other places on the forum where film shots can be posted for comment and feedback. The PF family is diverse and welcoming.

With this resolved, I'll post the May "Single In" thread later today.

04-26-2018, 10:09 AM - 1 Like   #95
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On Flickr (when I used to post there), they had a "roll in a day" challenge once a month. They didn't care how long the roll was (it could be 12 x 120 shots for example). I used to quite enjoy that.

On here, I set myself the target of shooting six frames per day. Sometimes I shoot less, occasionally more when I see something after my six. The only thing that doesn't really "fit" with doing that here is that film posts can often be several weeks after the date they were taken.

Perhaps what we need is a parallel group with slightly different rules which would work better for film, e.g., a roll in a week with one camera/lens combination, and post your favourites from the roll.
04-26-2018, 06:12 PM - 1 Like   #96
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Good to see a good discussion on what it means to Single In. It a good challenge for me when i participate because it pushes me to participate. Other groups could be good too though (sometimes we all need a change). But I'm glad we're all talking about keeping the Single in the way it is.
04-26-2018, 08:02 PM - 3 Likes   #97
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I agree that the with most of the comments here. A challenge is a set of conditions or constraints, it is our collective cmmitment to meet the challenge, even in in the face if adversity like lack of time, or lack of inspiration, that gives us a common purpose and builds a sense of community. "We few, we happy few, we band of Pentaxians, for whomever posts with me today is a fellow Pentaxian!...many 'togs still asleep will hold their CaNikons cheap when we post our photos and say, "These Pictures I made on Single In Challenge Day!"

The foundation of Single In is meeting the Challenge of shooting evety day with the same camera and lens combo. Hopefully one can post on the same day as well, and hopefully everyone in the challenge will comment, but I know those two things are often harder to do. I have committed to commenting more often once I am back at a proper keyboard, touchscreens and I do not get along, having fat fingers does not help.

The secondary goal of Single In is to get one to use that combo every day in whatever situation one finds oneself in, not only the perfect setting for that lens. Anyone who has succesfully shot a selfie with a 500mm lens knows how challenging that is, but how rewarding it is to pull off as well.

The third part of the challenge is to really learn the qualities of that combo, learning one's gear that well has tremendous payoffs in becoming a better photgrapher. I had little opportunity to take many pix in the last 6 months, and found myself having to look at the camera to get the correct settings, a terrible degradation of a skilll I took time to gain. Hopefully in May I will be able to participate regularly in Single in and Daily in and get the muscle memory back quickly.

As for related themes, I find them to provide some impetus to take a picture and provide inspiration when I none. They often encourage me to get creative with homemade props, ersatz lighting, and unusual angles. The results all of you post also give me some insight into your own personalities, which adds to the feeling of community.

For Film shooters, there is nothing preventing anyone from creating a Film chalenge. It could be a shot a day, with postings at the end of each week, for example, because not everyone can do developing, printing and scanning at will. Attracting some film shotees into a challenge might encourage more people to take part in Challenges in general.

04-26-2018, 08:27 PM - 1 Like   #98
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Single in May thread is up:

Single In - May, 2018 - PentaxForums.com

Oh, and Avengers: Infinity War was awesome tonight. Just saying.
04-26-2018, 08:36 PM   #99
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I put away comic books when Decades ago, but The idea of seeing my favorite bad guy brought to the screen appeals to me, when my son gets back from uni next week we will probably go see it.
04-30-2018, 06:12 AM - 1 Like   #100
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A summary of my month with the SMC Pentax-DA 1:2.4 70mm Limited:

I had a copy of this lens a few years ago, but I already my still-beloved FA77 and there was no K-1 back then. I figured one lens on the 70mm range was enough so the DA had to go. Now I have a fully fleshed out full frame system I wanted to rebuild a little crop option around my KP, so when a decent looking copy appeared in the marketplace at a reasonable price I jumped on it.

No regrets. At all.

The lens is a little bottler. Tiny. Solid. Tactile. The optional lens hood works a treat, although it does detract from the otherwise genuinely pancake proportions of the package. Optically it is hard to fault: more than acceptably sharp wide open, even at distant focus, it just gets better stopped down. Corner sharpness and vignetting control are excellent - at least on a crop camera; suggestions that it functions well on Full Frame are sadly only true if you define "well" very loosely. Bokeh is lovely. Really lovely. I wonder what possible improvement the curved aperture blades on the HD version could possibly impart.

Negatives? I won't include the relatively small maximum aperture, as f/2.4 is actually pretty good for the size of the lens, and the depth of field wide open is shallow enough to get nice subject isolation while still providing the depth to have enough in focus for most portraits. I do wish it focussed a little closer. AF hunts a bit in low light, which is one reason I spent much of the month practising my manual focus skills. The other reason is simply that it's a nice lens to focus manually

As for my own performance, I have mixed feelings. I got through the month, which in the context of my recent entries into the "Single In" challenge is a minor triumph. I did miss three days in a mid-month slump, and many of my posted images were little better than safeties, but I'll get over that. Artistic inspiration has been elusive for most of the month, but there still were a few images I am genuinely proud of. That makes me happy.

And the rest of you - bravo! The A35-105 (both of them) and Minolta 50/1.4 have been revelations, and the stream of great images has been a delight. I hope my comments have been appreciated in the spirit they were offered.

May now beckons, and I'm having second thoughts about Singling the Schneider. I might cop out and opt for the "Daily In" Challenge to allow less imposing options to be used. Soft, I know, but there it is. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
04-30-2018, 07:21 AM - 2 Likes   #101
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I'm done for the month. It went quite smoothly and even managed to avoid the end of the month demotivation. M200/4 has been a little neglected lens in my line up. I bought it just in case I happen to need a long tele, but picked up M*300 before I had much need for it and later there's been no need for it, so it's been on the shelf.

The best feature of the M200/4 is price. It's has decent IQ, compact build and in the 50€ price group definately worth the money. It's not the sharpest lens, but sharp enough at least for internet use. Best sharpness at f8, but usable already wide open. With it's nice bokeh I found myself using it quite a lot wide open and often liked the results more than stopped down versions of the shot. PF like crazy, if you give a chance for it. Colors and rendition solid M series style.

I had dreaded this month a little in advance. I hadn't found the best features of the lens before and feared a little the quality I would be able to produce with the lens. Once again a month has been a pleasant learning process and I can appreciate M200 higher than before, as I have learned what it can do. 2m minimum focus distance is the strong point of the lens compared to M*300 and with extension tubes you get around 1m. Still I think it will go back on the shelf to wait for the month on FF camera as I don't have serious need for this focal length.

Wide open performance and bokeh:






Panorama:


Focus to infinity:


Sports:
04-30-2018, 07:39 AM   #102
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sandy Hancock Quote
As for my own performance, I have mixed feelings. I got through the month, which in the context of my recent entries into the "Single In" challenge is a minor triumph. I did miss three days in a mid-month slump, and many of my posted images were little better than safeties, but I'll get over that. Artistic inspiration has been elusive for most of the month, but there still were a few images I am genuinely proud of. That makes me happy.

And the rest of you - bravo! The A35-105 (both of them) and Minolta 50/1.4 have been revelations, and the stream of great images has been a delight. I hope my comments have been appreciated in the spirit they were offered.
Glad you pushed thru the mid-month slump. Thank you and everybody else who commented my shots during the month. Appreciated.
04-30-2018, 08:30 PM - 3 Likes   #103
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Hooray! I'm excited that I feel like I'm getting back into a groove with my pictures. 2017 was really rough for us, with lots of changes, and sometimes I'd look at all my camera gear and wonder if it was something that was fading away. This community and the participation here has been powerful for keeping me charged up about it. I love you guys. One good thing about the changes in 2017 was seeking out and securing a better-paying job, which meant upgrading to the K-1 and acquiring new lenses, basically as I like. Now I feel like I'm finally to the point where I can enjoy what I have.

This month's lens, the A 35-105/3.5 was always one I thought would suit me well. Classic Pentax glass with manual focus and a fixed aperture made it really appealing to me. In-hand, the lens is heavy, which is not a deterrent to my tolerance or abilities. The focus ring is decent, smooth, with a funny little jig to dance when you want to wrench it down to "macro" mode. Macro mode was nice to have, but practically seemed to leave something to be desired in regard to rendering - like I was looking through a magnifying glass on the end of my lens. The rotating zoom ring is located between the focus and the aperture ring and I found myself accidentally zooming in or out while manipulating the focus - I think I like the design of push-pull zooms better.

The A-setting was nice to have and I enjoyed setting the camera to TAv, dialing in a shutter speed to spurn camera shake, and forgetting about everything else. Unfortunately, I think I got a little lazy and I'll have to refresh my skills with a fully manual lens in May. I didn't utilize the aperture much to the effect of DoF and basically operated all month with concern to available light, relying heavily on great ISO performance from the K-1. I have a lot of experimentation and learning left to do to fully appreciate this lens' capabilities.

This lens definitely seemed to make it easy to succeed, with a great zoom range, fast-enough aperture, and excellent, true-to-life rendering. Fringing could be found in your likely situations, and there was some barrel distortion at the wide end, but that's part of using a stack of glass to make images - if these are faults, they're just barely. A combination of dragging winter weather and my own malaise causes me to feel like I only got myself energized about making images about halfway through the month, so I definitely owe this lens a revisit soon. But, seeing what it can do, I think it may be a really nice walk-about all 'rounder that might get another run in August or September when we have some road trips planned. I'm looking forward to the future!

05-04-2018, 04:03 AM   #104
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quick review of my month with the SMC A 35-105mm f3.5, or 'the stack of primes'

while I have Singled with her before, it was a nice change to come back and revisit all the things that make this lens a classic, and get reminded of it's few negatives...

the negatives:

really only two things stand out in my mind (neither are a reason to not have a copy of this lens): weight and 'macro' function...

this is a substantial lens; at a pound and quarter, you are not going to forget that you have this lens mounted

the 'macro' function is a handy close-focusing feature of the lens - the clunky manner in which you get to the 'macro' function, however, is simply not easy to use; it will disrupt your shooting as you take the camera from your eye to note where you are in the lenses' focus (am I in macro, just at the cusp of it?) mechanism...

but...

if you get past that, and actually use the lens, you'll find color saturation that is on par with most primes, a sharpness that belies the fact that it is a zoom lens, and even some nice bokeh...

I shot all month long with TSOP and had three 'explores' on flickr in April (only one was a Single) and was reminded why I hold on to this one....

oh yeah - the pics:









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