[southlander]

As it turns out, I emailed Pentax Australia and was dismayed to hear that they are not expecting their first shipment until 20th July.
As such I have asked for my pre-order to be cancelled, so I can re-order it with the current 15% discount voucher

So no DFA*85 in July I'm afraid. I can only hope it arrives in time for my birthday on the 22nd. Then bring on August!

As such, my thoughts are now turning to other lenses; I'm happy to take requests. The more interesting options include:
K 15/3.5
K 30/2.8
Lomography Lomogon 32/2.5 Art (probably the front runner)
K 85/1.8
F 85/2.8 Soft
K135/2.5 on full frame (done on APS-C years ago)
DA* 300/4.0 on full frame (done on APS-C years ago)

I'm not going to consider 645 lenses because I'm planning to sell out of that whole system.

I'd like to see either the K30 as I've seen very few images from this well regarded lens, or the K135/2.5. I've had my trigger finger hovering over a K135/2.5 or two on Fleabay even since I used the M120 in May's SIC. But then a hard to find autofocus 135 popped up on the forum about a week ago and the itchy trigger finger hit buy on that instead. So I'm interested to see what I ended up turning down.

[blackcloudbrew]

as long as you limit yourself to fingernails and not toenails....

Oooo...I hadn't considered those. Ok, no toenails.

---------- Post added 06-27-20 at 06:34 AM ----------

I'm rapidly approaching 5 years in the SIC - September '15 is when I discovered this challenge.....

Congrats man. 5 years of hard work.
I started in 2011, but haven't been able to stay in SIC with any consistency. So, I know how much work you have to do to accomplish this.

---------- Post added 06-27-20 at 06:37 AM ----------

I changed my mindset for the challenge this month and it seems to be holding up. I stopped the competition mindset (be it the others or myself) and allowed some so so photos through. Before I had tried to have amazing shots everyday and I burned out. The trick then is to put up different subjects, like I could probably do a gear shot for the next month quite easily but that would be boring. + I don't have a specific style or genre - I'm a quite random photographer with my shortcomings masked by a collection of exquisite glass

' Before I had tried to have amazing shots everyday and I burned out' So totally understand that statement. Well said, I am in a similar place.

[iheiramo]

The 200 doesn't get much love in the reviews but I actually like the way it renders. It requires effort to get focus spot on otherwise the CA in the 200's oof area creeps into the subject area and reduces sharpness.

A cpl filter in daylight conditions also seems to help with contrast and saturation.

I think the problem with M200 these days is that it's not quite sharp enough. I bought it to have a cheap longer tele for occasional use, but pretty soon I fell for M*300 and 200 became useless.

[iheiramo]

I changed my mindset for the challenge this month and it seems to be holding up. I stopped the competition mindset (be it the others or myself) and allowed some so so photos through. Before I had tried to have amazing shots everyday and I burned out. The trick then is to put up different subjects, like I could probably do a gear shot for the next month quite easily but that would be boring. + I don't have a specific style or genre - I'm a quite random photographer with my shortcomings masked by a collection of exquisite glass

Cheap shot every now and then keeps you going

I have heard that one of the ideas of the challenge is to document the everyday life of participants and share it with others, so I do that quite a lot. It gives a lot of material to challenge.

[Minimonster]

I'm rapidly approaching 5 years in the SIC - September '15 is when I discovered this challenge.....

Well done. That's an outstanding achievement. I'm on 2 years and 3 months. It's hard to imagine not shooting daily now.

[pepperberry farm]

Well done. That's an outstanding achievement. I'm on 2 years and 3 months.

thank you.. I've learned so much by shooting every day...

It's hard to imagine not shooting daily now.

exactly - my mind is now warped to the point that it is now unnatural to not have a camera in my hands....

[robgski]

Whatever gives you the impetus to take an image evey day, that is what the challenge is all about. If it be omes a dreaded chore, that is NOT what the challenge is all about

[Tsuken]

Definitely so-so images (even really crap images, I hope...) are a necessary and useful part of the process.

I just had a look: my first SI month was October 2013; I dipped out in May 2017 until early 2019. I’ve shot so many crappy photos in that time I can’t even think about it xP and I’ve also repeated my few lenses many many times. Perhaps that’s not in the major intention of the SI challenges, but I’m hard to get rid of.

[Sandy Hancock]

Ah....stuff it!
I'm in with my new-to-me DFA645 25/4.0
Forget everything I said about selling out of 645

[Tsuken]

Ah....stuff it!
I'm in with my new-to-me DFA645 25/4.0
Forget everything I said about selling out of 645

You never said any such thing

I’m certainly looking forward to seeing your month 8)

[robbiec]

Ah....stuff it!
I'm in with my new-to-me DFA645 25/4.0
Forget everything I said about selling out of 645

I was going to mention 50Mp images of future grandchildren or perhaps the wedding of No 2 - seemed a bit shortsighted - it's one of those things, you get rid of the 645 stuff and a opportunity would present itself where it would be just perfect!

I'm in the business of getting a new tripod head, the 70-200 won't take kindly to me handholding at 1/20s like I do with most of my primes - down to 2 so runners I think, a Manfrotto Xpro-3 and or a Jobu Design JR3 Gimbal.

---------- Post added 06-28-20 at 11:34 AM ----------

Whatever gives you the impetus to take an image evey day, that is what the challenge is all about. If it be omes a dreaded chore, that is NOT what the challenge is all about

It's a bit of the challenge though surely? I had over 18months where I did not take a single photo with the exception of my mobile phone for documentation if I was off site. There was some stages there where I did not know where I had put my kit. So this challenge is a multi faceted one to me, primarily to get to know a lens, secondary to actually use my K-1 or K-3 again and thirdly to begin ramping up my quality again if possible. A few standouts have shown up in July namely I need to get out of my up close up safe zone and go longer, the K-1 raw file is remarkably tolerant compared to the K-3 especially at the extremes with shadows and highlights and I'm no longer afraid of stopping down further than say f/8 on the K-1 at least.
July is stepping into another realm altogether for me. I have a high grade 70-200/2.8 to play with and get to know and it will open up a whole new world through the viewfinder. It is big, heavy and I don't understand a thing about subject compression, where its sweet spot is, is it too heavy and bulky for me? Does it demand a competence beyond my skills? For all I know, I might just fall in love with the thing and sell all my primes
So the challenge can be a chore to me but that is me personally and my life, work and hobby balance just need a bit of tweaking. I take it seriously in that I feel like part of the Singles community and I don't want to let you gals & guys down but also not myself. And it is a challenge I accept

[Tsuken]

I was going to mention 50Mp images of future grandchildren or perhaps the wedding of No 2 - seemed a bit shortsighted - it's one of those things, you get rid of the 645 stuff and a opportunity would present itself where it would be just perfect!

I'm in the business of getting a new tripod head, the 70-200 won't take kindly to me handholding at 1/20s like I do with most of my primes - down to 2 so runners I think, a Manfrotto Xpro-3 and or a Jobu Design JR3 Gimbal.

---------- Post added 06-28-20 at 11:34 AM ----------



It's a bit of the challenge though surely? I had over 18months where I did not take a single photo with the exception of my mobile phone for documentation if I was off site. There was some stages there where I did not know where I had put my kit. So this challenge is a multi faceted one to me, primarily to get to know a lens, secondary to actually use my K-1 or K-3 again and thirdly to begin ramping up my quality again if possible. A few standouts have shown up in July namely I need to get out of my up close up safe zone and go longer, the K-1 raw file is remarkably tolerant compared to the K-3 especially at the extremes with shadows and highlights and I'm no longer afraid of stopping down further than say f/8 on the K-1 at least.
July is stepping into another realm altogether for me. I have a high grade 70-200/2.8 to play with and get to know and it will open up a whole new world through the viewfinder. It is big, heavy and I don't understand a thing about subject compression, where its sweet spot is, is it too heavy and bulky for me? Does it demand a competence beyond my skills? For all I know, I might just fall in love with the thing and sell all my primes
So the challenge can be a chore to me but that is me personally and my life, work and hobby balance just need a bit of tweaking. I take it seriously in that I feel like part of the Singles community and I don't want to let you gals & guys down but also not myself. And it is a challenge I accept

Sounds all good 8)

Sensible and mindful intent and planning. Big thumbs up

[Benz3ne]

I'm in! Not a clue what with* but for the first time ever (since starting the SIC) I've hit every day this month, so far. Hopefully haven't jinxed it and definitely have more than my fair share of crappy, late-night shots.

*I'm wondering about a couple of lenses... The M85/2 is hovering around, the M200/4 as will be skilfully exhibited by Ismo, the SMC-Takumar 135mm f/3.5... Maybe the M50/1.4? Entirely undecided.

[W412ren]

Well apologies due ... I'm going to have to bail out after all my enthusiasm earlier.
Extra loading at work (change of planning as it's now Monday) means I'll likely end up being very erratic and missing days so I'll jump now before it becomes a necessity. Hopefully August will stay a better month (it is atm).

[brainwave]

I'll be in. New pentaxian here with a K-1 and 28-105 kit lens. Still figuring out my camera.