I am new to this group but not new to Pentax or the Internet. On the Internet I go by the name of CWRailman. I have been a Pentax user since 1975 going back to the Spotmatic, the ME Super and the MX. I still have five or six Pentax film camera’s around. I currently own a istDS, K110 and now the K-5.
I am not by any stretch a professional photographer. However, my photography is a bit unique from what others on this board are doing. As demonstrated on the Photography page on my WEB site, the shots are taken relatively close to the subject and we strive for maximum depth of field. In 1975 when I entered the world of SLR’s there was very little written about this type of photography. In fact most photographers were looking for shallow depth of field on close up or macro modes. I spent a lot of time in Central Camera in Chicago talking with accomplished photographers and did not find one who had experience in this type of photography. There was an occasional article written in one of the hobby related magazines however for the most part they were using medium to large format equipment. That led me into the field of large format and acquiring a 4x5 view camera.
I stepped away from photography when I moved to Arizona in 1988. The ambient temp of tap water here in the summer exceeds 70 degrees so processing of film would require a chiller etc and I did not want to get into that mess.
I acquired the Pentax ist DS when they came out and started experimenting with that camera. I later acquired the K110 for a good price and added that to the arsenal. Tthese cameras provided the image quality that suited my needs and a good depth of field. As I developed my WEB site I realized that for a successful WEB site you need quick loading downsized images.
I use Microsoft Picture Manager that comes with Microsoft Office to do most of the editing of images for my site. It’s quick, it’s easy, works on slow running computers and most importantly does not have a lot of options to get in the way. With generating the content including taking all the photographs as the project is in progress, writing the HTML code and putting together my WEB site as well as maintaining a daily job etc., I don’t have a lot of time to mess around with image editing.
For more serious work requiring enhancements, such as the corporate head shots and group photo’s I recently did for a small local company, I use GIMP 2.6 which also runs on my Windows XP puters.
As far as I am concerned, the K-5 may just be the last camera I need to purchase. With the ability to compensate by moving the focal point to accommodate front or rear focusing tendencies, it should provide all I need for current as well as future projects and the 16.3 mp sensor is more than adequate for the size images I work with.
Denny
Last edited by Parallax; 02-11-2014 at 10:10 AM.
Reason: Links to personal sites
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