[DavePlankton]

I'm a long time Pentax user as is my brother and so was my grandfather- which is probably why I considered Pentax before all other brands of camera. What I like about Pentax is the range of lenses that I can use- either on the K mount or the M42 screw mount- as I enjoy using vintage and unusual lenses and get a lot of 'interesting' stuff from eBay and charity shops- got a lot of old Soviet era glass. If it's garbage then I've only blown $20 and if it's great then I've got a bargain.

My favourite vintage lens is a 135mm Carl Zeiss Jena telephoto from the 1950s. Perfect optics but seems to have a vintage feel to it.

I use two K200D cameras- usually one will have a 50mm pancake prime lens on it and the other will have a zoom lens on it.

I hadn't taken a photo with a 'real' camera for three years- instead using my Canon point-and-shoot or else my phone.

Anyway I just got hold of a 1974 SMC Pentax 1000mm f8 lens which seems to be optically perfect- mainly to remind me it's all about the glass an how much I like playing with it.

This is what I've done with it so far- ISO 100, f11, 1/250 exp. Image post-processed (very sloppily) to sharpen and adjust colour balance- the green is the result of my quick sharpening process that I know I need to work on and actually not just accept the default settings.

So hi!

Attached Images

 

[K2 to K50]

So "Hello".

Re the 1000mm Lens. If I remember, when originally on the market, that lens was sold with its own monstrous wooden tripod. It needed such support to remain steady while shooting - smaller tripods were not considered to cut the mustard with this lens. I also suspect shooting with the mirror locked, or with a long 4 seconds+ timer setting would also be highly recommended.
All that said, can I suggest - in the friendliest way!!! - that it does look like there is some camera movement blurring in this shot. Either that, or focus was just slightly off.

Take a look at moon shots submitted by other posters for comparisons eg for starters, this one - look at the sharp edges on the craters:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/432385-landscape-hal...mpty-moon.html


I would hope your 1000mm lens will give you better and better results as you learn how to handle this super telephoto lens.


But working with a lens like this probably requires a lot of trial and error until you find what will work (I myself am still struggling, after 3 or 4 months, of how to get the best out of my recently purchased 150-450mm lens!!). So, keep at it - both shooting, and posting in this forum.

[VictorDA]

Hi and welcome!
Hope you can re-ignite that interest again and have lots of fun with photography (and maybe equally as important, gear acquisition, longing, testing, reselling, trading )

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome to the forum from the Highlands of Scotland... lurk no longer.

[ffking]

An eight year lurk - impressive!

Welcome from (old) South Wales

[interested_observer]

Welcome to the Forum!!!!

The German company Berlebach has an excellent line of wooden tripods.

• https://www.berlebach.de/en/

Many years ago, I came across a Pentax 1000mm lens and posted a link to the sale. I had no interest since I shoot night wide angle. One of the guys up in British Columbia picked it up. Upon shooting with it, even with a good sized rock solid tripod, he still needed an additional stabilizing bar. Right now for the life of me, I can't remember the generic name of this part - but it added some needed stability.

You can also try leaving SR enabled. On a tripod, you are supposed to disable it, however with large heavy lenses (where you are just going to get a lot of vibrations), or shooting on a tripod say from a bridge, where some vibrations are going to carry through the setup, leaving SR enabled can help.

[Rondec]

Welcome. This is a fun place to hang and get encouragement. Hope you continue to share photos on your journey.