[paulh]

From October with the Super Tak 105/2.8 on K10D:

[wtlwdwgn]

With the A 20mm f/2.8.

[paulh]

From late March near Lake Grapevine TX. F35-70:

[Patriot]

Columbia River Gorge
DA 16-45mm f/4 ED AL

[paulh]

DAL 55-300 on K10D:

[Dartmoor Dave]

DAL 55-300 on K10D:

My first thought was: "Those are strange looking birds." Took a few seconds for the reality to become apparent.

[rayallen]

My first thought was: "Those are strange looking birds." Took a few seconds for the reality to become apparent.

Well, they are called "Bird of Paradise". Learn How To Grow A Bird Of Paradise Plant

[ChristianRock]

Hey everyone! I haven't been posting that many pictures for fun in the last year Since the flickr thing where I can't really upload anymore unless I delete all my stuff, I haven't uploaded and basically have just been shooting for fun... Also, I moved to a new work office last year and there's just not much photogenic about the place. The commute is gorgeous, all through country roads in North Georgia, but never any place to park unless I park in someone's front property! And I might get shot doing that...

But I thought it would be fun to share this one. It's a nearby park with a historic house and a garden. What's unique is that I have been playing with panoramas to get a medium format look. This is from a 12-picture panorama taken with the K10D (of course!) and the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 at f/1.7 (I love this lens wide open). I converted from RAW to JPEG in RawTherapee raising the shadows a little bit. Then I stiched the 12 pictures in Microsoft ICE, and finished processing the picture in Darktable.

The weather was pretty awful but you have to deal with what you have...

What you see here is a less then 1 megapixel picture which is what PentaxForums allows... the full 85MP file is gorgeous but you'll have to take my word for it

[goatsNdonkey]

Hey everyone! I haven't been posting that many pictures for fun in the last year Since the flickr thing where I can't really upload anymore unless I delete all my stuff, I haven't uploaded and basically have just been shooting for fun... Also, I moved to a new work office last year and there's just not much photogenic about the place. The commute is gorgeous, all through country roads in North Georgia, but never any place to park unless I park in someone's front property! And I might get shot doing that...

But I thought it would be fun to share this one. It's a nearby park with a historic house and a garden. What's unique is that I have been playing with panoramas to get a medium format look. This is from a 12-picture panorama taken with the K10D (of course!) and the SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 at f/1.7 (I love this lens wide open). I converted from RAW to JPEG in RawTherapee raising the shadows a little bit. Then I stiched the 12 pictures in Microsoft ICE, and finished processing the picture in Darktable.

The weather was pretty awful but you have to deal with what you have...

What you see here is a less then 1 megapixel picture which is what PentaxForums allows... the full 85MP file is gorgeous but you'll have to take my word for it

Have you tried taping a sign inside your car window that says something like, "Bubba said I could park here for a few minutes" ?

[ChristianRock]

Have you tried taping a sign inside your car window that says something like, "Bubba said I could park here for a few minutes" ?

I should do that

Seriously, the amount of horse farms and beautiful farm land that I drive through makes me really guilty for not taking pictures of it...

[rayallen]

I was recently given a Takumar-A 28-80 which had seen better days and had a badly scratched front element. Testing proved that it was not worth persevering with but I wasn't too disappointed because I have a screw mount Adaptall-2 Tamron SP 28-80 which is in great condition. So, I thought it deserved a bit of love and I took it down by the beach. I actually bought this lens in 2004 from a guy in the US when I was about to go on a holiday to Hawaii. I was only mildly happy with it shooting film on my Spotmatics but I would now not part with it as it performs beautifully on my digital bodies. See if you agree.

The Entrance Beach. The man made rock formation is called a groyne and its purpose is to stop the sand from washing away to the left from the beach. As you can see, it appears to be working.
[/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2gb5ojJ]_IGP1929[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/rayallen/]Ray Allen[/url], on Flickr" target="_blank">


North Shelly Beach. Very popular with the local board riders.
[/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2gb5UmZ]_IGP1931[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/rayallen/]Ray Allen[/url], on Flickr" target="_blank">

[goatsNdonkey]

I was recently given a Takumar-A 28-80 which had seen better days and had a badly scratched front element. Testing proved that it was not worth persevering with but I wasn't too disappointed because I have a screw mount Adaptall-2 Tamron SP 28-80 which is in great condition. So, I thought it deserved a bit of love and I took it down by the beach. I actually bought this lens in 2004 from a guy in the US when I was about to go on a holiday to Hawaii. I was only mildly happy with it shooting film on my Spotmatics but I would now not part with it as it performs beautifully on my digital bodies. See if you agree.

The Entrance Beach. The man made rock formation is called a groyne and its purpose is to stop the sand from washing away to the left from the beach. As you can see, it appears to be working.



North Shelly Beach. Very popular with the local board riders.

So, Ray, I'm confused. Are these pictures taken with the "not worth preserving" "badly scratched" Takumar A 28-80 or with your Tamron SP 28-80 back up lens? If the former, it appears that the scratches, in keeping with those often repeated words in used lens advertisements, don't affect image quality.

[rayallen]

So, Ray, I'm confused. Are these pictures taken with the "not worth preserving" "badly scratched" Takumar A 28-80 or with your Tamron SP 28-80 back up lens? If the former, it appears that the scratches, in keeping with those often repeated words in used lens advertisements, don't affect image quality.

I am sorry, goatsNdonkey, if I caused confusion but I can see why you might have been confused. I will now set the record straight. Those images were taken with the Tamron SP 28-80 as I had no doubt about the quality that it would produce.
The Takumar A 28-80 is still a WIP. I managed to improve its images in ACR with the Dehaze slider and I am working on various methods to try to remove the scratches. I doubt that I could make it worse but I might be able to make things a bit better. I love a challenge!

[goatsNdonkey]

I am sorry, goatsNdonkey, if I caused confusion but I can see why you might have been confused. I will now set the record straight. Those images were taken with the Tamron SP 28-80 as I had no doubt about the quality that it would produce.
The Takumar A 28-80 is still a WIP. I managed to improve its images in ACR with the Dehaze slider and I am working on various methods to try to remove the scratches. I doubt that I could make it worse but I might be able to make things a bit better. I love a challenge!

Well, it is good news to see such great pictures come out of the Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 28-80. I have had one of them for a long time, but when I got around to read others' reviews of it I found them all over the place. People either love it or hate it, it seems. I need to take it out more.

With the Takumar A 28-80mm, have you tested to see whether the mischief caused by the scratches is less at certain apertures. My Rokinon/Samyang f/2 16mm lens has a bad scuff, including some deep lines, not so far from the center, but if I shoot the lens at f/4 (or wider) I can't see the blurry to glowy spot the scuffed area can create at smaller apertures. With a zoom lens, like that Takumar, what apertures might eliminate or reduce the scratch effects might be different for different focal lengths.

[rayallen]

Well, it is good news to see such great pictures come out of the Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 28-80. I have had one of them for a long time, but when I got around to read others' reviews of it I found them all over the place. People either love it or hate it, it seems. I need to take it out more.

With the Takumar A 28-80mm, have you tested to see whether the mischief caused by the scratches is less at certain apertures. My Rokinon/Samyang f/2 16mm lens has a bad scuff, including some deep lines, not so far from the center, but if I shoot the lens at f/4 (or wider) I can't see the blurry to glowy spot the scuffed area can create at smaller apertures. With a zoom lens, like that Takumar, what apertures might eliminate or reduce the scratch effects might be different for different focal lengths.

That Tamron performs extremely well for me from landscapes to close ups. Give it another go. You should be pleasantly surprised.

Re the Takumar-A: I have done more tests and I am able to coax reasonable images from it but I am not doing any more with it as it is so compromised. The filter ring is bent and it has not had a lens cap of filter on it for ages and there are thousands of small scratches all over the front element. There is another problem in that neither of my bodies recognise it and ask for the focal length. I am done with it. I have many more things I would rather do with the gear that I have that works as it is designed to.