While it hasn't been officially launched yet, I thought I'd give you guys a preview of the next big thing on PF: the
Pentax Sample Photo Search Engine.
This system basically renders our sample photo forum obsolete, as it allows you to search ALL public photos posted on our forum or in albums/galleries. This means that if you're looking for sample photos taken with lens X and camera Y, chances are you'll be able to find some rather quickly
The way it works is simple: you select a camera and/or a lens, and then the system searches for all photos matching that combination. You can then filter the results based on EXIF parameters such as ISO, focal length, shutter speed, flash, aperture, and even see how often each occurs. Every time you make a selection in one dropdown, the other dropdown is updated to only include cameras/lenses for which sample photos exist. You can further sort the results based on a host of different criteria such as number of likes or date posted.
Click on a thumbnail to open a lightbox, and then use your arrow keys, mouse pointer, or scrollwheel to cycle through photos. A link to the author's original posting containing the photo is also provided.
While the system may appear to be simple, it's probably one of the biggest web applications I've ever written in such a short time frame (started this Sunday), consisting of over 3,000 lines of code. It makes extensive use of client-side javascript to speed up searches and facilitate filtering, so make sure you're not blocking any scripts. I hope you enjoy it, and please to let me know if you run in to any bugs. Everything has been tested to work with Chrome, FF and IE9 using the modern skin. Other skins will work, but are not going to be officially supported.
One other thing- the dropdowns are searchable, so if you just start typing, you will see suggestions.
If you have any questions, just ask! While suggestions are welcome, do note that quite a lot of features that were planned for the initial release are being left out, such as popular searches and camera/lens thumbnails. Those features will be added later on, together with other cool things
For now, all camera and lens links will take you to a generic search page, which will then contain links to our lens databases and forums.
Lens/Camera Sample Photo Search Engine - PentaxForums.com
Here is an example of a search for all photos taken with the K-5 & 10-17mm Fisheye at ISO 1600:
Smc PENTAX-DA FISH-EYE 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 ED[IF] | PENTAX K-5 | Lens/Camera Sample Photo Search Engine - PentaxForums.com
There are quite a few marketplace photos listed right now, which I plan on excluding manually if "dislikes" don't take care of it!
Once the system goes live, I will describe how to exclude your own photos from being listed, as such an option does exist (you can see the "allow" icon it in the screenshot). I understand that many of you probably don't want your personal/family photos to be seen by the public on a daily basis! For now, rest assured that only photos posted in public sections of the site will be indexed by the search engine.
For those who are curious: there are lots of non-Pentax photos indexed in the system, but all non-Pentax cameras are hidden. There may be some Tamron/Sigma lenses for which you'll find Canon/Nikon bodies.
Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (
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