[robgski]

18-135 on the K3III. I'm also taking the 21 and 35 ltds...and that's it. One small bag. Oh, and a polarising filter for the 21 and 35

Enjoy the trip!
I have travelled for 6 months using only the 18-135mm (with a CPL). I rarely felt the need for another lens.
Really, unless I'm travelling alone for a photo specific trip, I lean towards lkeeping a single lens on the camera, and I'll have a small prime like the DA 40 XS or DA 21mm for special cirumstances.

[Jeff]

Enjoy the trip!
I have travelled for 6 months using only the 18-135mm (with a CPL). I rarely felt the need for another lens.
Really, unless I'm travelling alone for a photo specific trip, I lean towards lkeeping a single lens on the camera, and I'll have a small prime like the DA 40 XS or DA 21mm for special cirumstances.

Thanks! Hopefully I can get a few decent photographs to post in the next week or so.

[robbiec]

That's pretty sad :-(

It turned up out of the blue yesterday after disappearing into some black hole in Deutsche Post. 17 days shipping, 13 days unknown! Reminds me of a weekend I had in Amsterdam that lasted 3 months and took in the sights in Hamburg, Berlin, Budapest, Belgrade and Odessa of all places.

It needs a new connecting plate, focusing ring needs fixing. Parts are €30, 2hrs labour at €120 something and they'll test, calibrate and ship back. It'll be nice to have back. It will miss out on a trip to Paris next week though. I'll take the K-1 and the 31 + 77

[iheiramo]

It looks like my month ended few days too early. I had one miss earlier in the month and since perfect month was already broken I couldn't find motivation to even do safeties for the last days. But still finally got the Fujinon 55/1.8 thru the test. Photographically month was pretty good, cause I was out there to collect Finnish summer at it's best.

Lens is good. Sharp in focus, nice bokeh and transition. Some fringing and flare, but in most cases it works perfectly well. Really didn't have any issues with rendering during the month. All my complains center around M42 bayonet and made worse by being an auto lens. Auto function, which allow only wide open on cerrent bodies, was pretty easy to get rid off. Just press the pin hard enough and something cracks and it won't come up again. It just doesn't give that second smooth ring to control aperture that you find on preset lenses. Therefore occasionally it was hard to see thru the OVF when stopped down in darker conditions. This month was an other confirmation to that I really prefer the user experience from K mount lenses. Personally for my shooting style the lack of CIF is big issue. Especially when shooting sports.

All in all I don't see reason to keep this lens, thought it takes perfectly good images. I have plenty of more usable choises to go for. It might be hard to sell now that I have destroyed the auto pin, so if somebody would like to shoot a month with it, let me know. I can give it for free.

[Cerebum]

Well, the film sic was a failure! It looks like the spotmatic I was using developed a fault early on. I have maybe 12 shots from the month ***grumble grumble grumble***

[W412ren]

End of month round up then for the FA 43 Limited. This lens does seem to draw different opinions from people; personally I really like the the fov on the K-1 and the fov on APSC draws the frame in to similar fov as the DA70 would on FF, but keeps the normal magnification, and I find this to be quite useful.
I used the lens on the K-1 and the K-3; wide open, stopped down a bit and a lot, with close-up accessories. I used it for landscapes, close ups, product shots and on... My main regret is that I haven't yet tested it for astrophotography.
I have owned this lens since 2015 and of the the three FA limiteds I'm pretty sure Id keep this one if was put in the position to choose. It's small, I find it easy to focus manually (I have small fingers ) and it's produced some of my favourite pictures over the years. Above all else - it's very versatile and the SMC holds it's own in real world shooting against the newer HD coatings.
Main shortcoming? Probably the MFD but it's not as modern as the DA/DFA line of 40/50/55's and that's the only thing I can think to grumble about. There are CAs but these are easily dealt with in post.

If anyone is in doubt about this lens, buy a second hand copy from eBay or similar. If you don't get on with it - sell it. You may lose a few pennies (or you may gain a few ) but not a lot.

Favourite pictures from this month:
K-1 f2.2


K-1 f4


K-1 f8


K-1 f8


K-3 f3.5


K-3 f8


K-3 f8 12 image stitch


K-3 Lens reversed

[pepperberry farm]

July wrap up....

an eventful month - a death here on PF (Steve - RIP), a death here at home (an uncle - RIP), my own health issues (diverticulitis - not recommended)... lots of heat and very little rain....

and an Auto-Takumar 55mm f1.8

essentially, an early version of the gold-standard SMC Takumar 55/1.8, with a reversed aperture ring and early font (print on the lens)... my copy has a sticky aperture ring from f2 to f1.8, but I rarely had it wide open....

I found it to be sharp, colorful, and clear - it produces gorgeous bokeh when wide-open and hexa-bokeh when not...

it's small, fast, and well-built and did everything I asked of it, all month long....

some of my favorite shots:












and the rest of this month:

Single In Challenge - July '22 | Flickr


now - all that being said, I have an outstanding copy of the SMC Takumar 55/1.8, so this one will be going up for sale....

[Riggomatic]

Month wrap up with the SMC 35mm f3.5:

My usual likes with the K series lenses
-Smooth focus
-Heavy Duty build
-Sharp when needed
-I am satisfied with the close focus of this lens, or maybe I picked bigger objects this month...
-Fits in my pocket

All in all, I like this lens for now. It can be tough to focus at times, but that's more my fault than the lens.

A few of the ones I liked this month...

[Cerebum]

I bought the Pentax SMC FA 50mm f1.4 as retail therapy after breaking my 40mm limited. Opinions are mixed but I have absolutely loved using this lens. As its an FA on APSC I can't tell if it has distortion or not. Wide open it is a little soft but not so much as to spoil my enjoyment. My favourite image of the month was shot wide open and on the K3 which I switched to for the last week. Its been great fun.

[womble]

I've been especially uninspired this month, which is a shame as the weather has been bright and sunny and the K85 is a lovely lens. It suffers a bit from green fringing on occasion, but usually Lightroom deals with that. I've had terrible trouble getting my purples purple but I think that is me not the lens! I've also used the extension tubes quite a bit. For portraits (after all, that is what the lens is designed for), the minimum focal length is fine, but for flower and object safety shots (far too many this month), it is a bit long. Here are the best of a dull bunch.


July 02: ES par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


July 03: Dear Goblin par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


July 8: Rochester par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


July 15: verbena bonariensis par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


July 16: panda par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity


July 26: Fluffy par Kris Lockyear, on ipernity

The whole album for the month is here: ipernity: Single in July 2022 K85 f/1.8 by Kris Lockyear

[NatureHike]

End of the month on the SMC Pentax 55/F2. It was fun to mix things up at first, but it really isn't a good fit for the kinds of photos I like to take - it just doesn't focus close enough for tight close shots, and on a crop sensor it didn't feel wide enough for taking pictures of the sky, trees, etc. I did have a lot of fun and took some pictures I really liked though.

[Tsuken]

July with the other plastic fantastic: DA 50/1.8. I have enjoyed it, though I wouldn't say my performance has been inspired. I have the idea that I love 50mm on APS-C, but whenever I put it on I'm not sure. Looking back through my 50mm pics, it has been a great focal length for pics of the kids - and they don't generally accept the camera any more. xP So there's that; loss of the main subjects it excelled at.

Still, it is really nice. Like every lens I ever use, I could wish it focused closer - but it's not too bad in that regard.

Cheap, light, does the trick, sometimes imbues images with a nice character... it's all good and nothing bad, really. I'm sure there are better 50mm lenses, but I certainly find nothing to complain about with this.

As for the month's work...

It renders cats well (Sully at least):


Sullivan by -Occasionally Focused-


“My chair” by -Occasionally Focused-


Sully … Smaug by -Occasionally Focused-


Flobbing floof by -Occasionally Focused-

I really like this, even though it's the work of Nature, not me


That Tree this morning by -Occasionally Focused-

There is (or can be sometimes) a good character to the lens; these show different sides of it:


Grime by -Occasionally Focused-


Tallneck by -Occasionally Focused-

This might be my pick of the month in some respects:


Abandoned or congregated? by -Occasionally Focused-

No reason not to get it unless you have a better 50 mm That sounds rather backhanded, but I don't mean it that way. I really like it.