[Dartmoor Dave]

The fact that my 52mm Nikon warming filter seems to be stuck in front of it only makes it quirkier...

Love the effect of the warming filter. I occasionally apply one in Photoshop, but those shots are making me wonder if I should give a proper glass one a try. Is it the usual 81A?

And I particularly like the shot of Nigel Mansell's Red Five at the top. Remind me to tell you someday about the time I overtook Mansell. . .

Oh, okay then, since you insist. . .

This was back in the days when the moustachioed great one was driving for Ferrari. I was driving down the narrow twisty road towards Dartmouth in my old Volvo (Yeah, I know, boring car, sorry) and I found myself stuck behind a Ferrari bumbling along at about 30 and looking a bit lost. After a couple of miles of great frustration at the slowness of this obviously bloody incompetent rich bloke in a car he couldn't handle, we finally came to a spot where it was safe to overtake, and the Fezza slowed down even more to let me past. I glanced in my rear view mirror as I blasted past showing him what a real driver could do, and thought: "Hang on. . . I think I recognise that moustache. . ."

And sure enough, I saw in the local paper the next day that Nigel Mansell had been in Dartmouth opening a new golf course there. I guess he genuinely was lost and was going slowly looking for the right turn to take.

So yeah: I overtook Nigel Mansell once. Sort of.

[ChristianRock]

Love the effect of the warming filter. I occasionally apply one in Photoshop, but those shots are making me wonder if I should give a proper glass one a try. Is it the usual 81A?

And I particularly like the shot of Nigel Mansell's Red Five at the top. Remind me to tell you someday about the time I overtook Mansell. . .

Oh, okay then, since you insist. . .

This was back in the days when the moustachioed great one was driving for Ferrari. I was driving down the narrow twisty road towards Dartmouth in my old Volvo (Yeah, I know, boring car, sorry) and I found myself stuck behind a Ferrari bumbling along at about 30 and looking a bit lost. After a couple of miles of great frustration at the slowness of this obviously bloody incompetent rich bloke in a car he couldn't handle, we finally came to a spot where it was safe to overtake, and the Fezza slowed down even more to let me past. I glanced in my rear view mirror as I blasted past showing him what a real driver could do, and thought: "Hang on. . . I think I recognise that moustache. . ."

And sure enough, I saw in the local paper the next day that Nigel Mansell had been in Dartmouth opening a new golf course there. I guess he genuinely was lost and was going slowly looking for the right turn to take.

So yeah: I overtook Nigel Mansell once. Sort of.

Great story, I love it

I was a big fan, despite being from Brazil and always rooting for Senna and Piquet as well. But you had to love Nige's driving style and the sheer enthusiasm he seemed to show once he was behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car...

Regarding warming filters, I highly recommend it. I have several, my favorite being the Nikon filters, which are said to be made by Hoya. I have a Hoya for my Sigma 30 1.4 that I also like, but the Nikons seem to be different. I have some 81As and 81Bs but like to use the 81As the most. I bought them cheap, too, since everybody seems to be getting rid of them these days. I even bought a cheap 77mm Nikon 81A a few years ago for my Tokina 19-35mm when that was my go-to zoom lens for all family outings. The Tokina has a cold rendering so that filter was almost always attached.

[Dartmoor Dave]

This one was really just a quick roadside test shot for a slight tweak to my 18-55mm WR profile, but actually I kinda like it.

[dbs]

This one was really just a quick roadside test shot for a slight tweak to my 18-55mm WR profile, but actually I kinda like it.

Hi Dave
A bit of sun inbetween the rain clouds

Looks good

Dave

[rayallen]

This one was really just a quick roadside test shot for a slight tweak to my 18-55mm WR profile, but actually I kinda like it.

It looks even better at full size on Flickr. I like it, too.

BTW, I am honoured to know somebody who has actually overtaken a Ferrari. And even more honoured by the fact that it was being driven by Nigel Mansell.

[subsea]

Field of sunflowers in Provence in 2009. K10D and FA 28-80mm.

[paulh]

This one was really just a quick roadside test shot for a slight tweak to my 18-55mm WR profile, but actually I kinda like it.

The low sun and low clouds are an interesting combination. The vehicles on the road help give an idea of scale, too. I like

I've always admired the early Corvettes, with their two-tone paint, whitewalls and chrome. Here's a nice '60 seen at a recent carshow. DA16-45 on K10D:

[Dartmoor Dave]

Thanks folks, I'm glad you like the road shot.

Recently I seem to have been going through a transition in how I want my photos to look. Ever since I first started the switch from film to digital back in 2012, my primary goal has been to try to get a film-like look out of my DSLRs. But lately I seem to have finally started coming round to the digital-era aesthetic, and it's definitely changing the photographic look that I'm aiming for.

Has anyone else here been through this too? Really disliking the digital look at first, but then gradually starting to accept it?


And I love the Corvette shots, Paul. Reminds me of the one Suzanne Somers drove in American Graffiti (and I bet I'm not the only forum member of a certain age who had her poster on his bedroom wall as a teenager).

[beachgardener]

to get a film-like look out of my DSLRs. But lately I seem to have finally started coming round to the digital-era aesthetic

I think both are great, just choose what tool you need for the job at hand is my approach

[ChristianRock]

The low sun and low clouds are an interesting combination. The vehicles on the road help give an idea of scale, too. I like

I've always admired the early Corvettes, with their two-tone paint, whitewalls and chrome. Here's a nice '60 seen at a recent carshow. DA16-45 on K10D:

What a beauty!

Thanks folks, I'm glad you like the road shot.

Recently I seem to have been going through a transition in how I want my photos to look. Ever since I first started the switch from film to digital back in 2012, my primary goal has been to try to get a film-like look out of my DSLRs. But lately I seem to have finally started coming round to the digital-era aesthetic, and it's definitely changing the photographic look that I'm aiming for.

Has anyone else here been through this too? Really disliking the digital look at first, but then gradually starting to accept it?

I did notice that your picture was quite a bit more saturated than yourp previous works...

I go through phases. A oouple of years ago I was all excited because I created some profiles in Corel Aftershot Pro that really had a nice film look and feel to them. I was so happy and thought that would be my style from then on. That lasted for all of a couple of months... not too long after, I switched to RawTherapee (had to switch computers and could not find the plugins for my ASP Pro anymore, they only had the latest ones to work with the latest version). There I found the HaldClut film emulations which were ok. Then I found the HaldClut Fujifilm Xtrans profiles, and those were really good! But those weren't the proper film-like look. These apply the exact same color corrections and processing (which was back-engineered somehow by some clever fellow) that Fujifilm applies in their X-series digital cameras. Now those were killer! With one click the pictures really improved quite a bit.

Here is the link for those who use RawTherapee (I think Paul is using it?): Fuji Film Simulation Profiles – Stuart Sowerby

But here's the thing, these aren't really film emulations, they're basically taking the films as inspiration for a more digital-like approach. So the Velvia will have very saturated colors and lots of contrast, Chrome will have that desaturated look, Astia will be natural but with good contrast, etc. So I was back with a more "digital" look - and that happened, really, since I got RawTherapee. The files are nice and clean but have the things that I associate with digital... a little lifeless and perhaps "flat" if you will.

Moving forward to earlier this year and I found myself trying other programs. Was I going to have to do like everybody else and move to Lightroom? I always found that Lightroom users end up having a bit of that digital, "flat", perhaps too clinical look. I tried a few other free programs that were not very impressive and then found out Darktable had done a Windows build... That goes along with RawTherapee as the two free programs that people like to rave about, so of course I tried it. At first I thought the workflow is a bit counterintuitive, espeicially when it comes to processing a lot of pictures, but I was very impressed by how the files looked just by applying what is called the "base curve". Not clinical, "flat", one-dimensional! Files seem to retain that depth, I don't know how to explain it, but it's a more natural look than any other program I've used so far and what I have seen coming out of Lightroom.

Add to that the excellent film "emulations" by João Almeida from Portugal (a.k.a. t3mujin), and I was instantly able to get a more natural look from my files - even my CMOS files looked quite a bit better. And I quoted emulations because again, it's not trying to make it look vintage, but simply applying the good attributes from those classic films to the files.

I'm not sure I can demonstrate this in practice because it is subtle and I'm not the greatest photographer. But it's made me realize that what I liked about film was the feel of reality and depth, not just a certain "look". And while I don't think we're there yet in terms of achieving it with digital means, it's probably closer than it's been before.

Does that even make sense?

And I love the Corvette shots, Paul. Reminds me of the one Suzanne Somers drove in American Graffiti (and I bet I'm not the only forum member of a certain age who had her poster on his bedroom wall as a teenager).

As a teenager I had posters of rock bands and race car drivers. Maybe that's why I didn't get married until I was 35... (*)


(* Ok, it wasn't that simple, it was a long winding road... had tons of troubles and got into dark places that God fortunately was able to pull me out of ...)

[ChristianRock]

And here's the Red 5 again from that same day...



Too much bokeh, I know but I hadn't done bokeh in a while. I'm actually trying to get away from the "sea of bokeh" thing, but sometimes it's a guilty pleasure...

[ChristianRock]

Regarding the "sense of depth" and natural look that I was talking about earlier, I'm not sure if this is a good example but here it goes...



Of course sharpness also has to do with it (and the lowly $32 Takumar-Bayonet 135 2.8 is VERY sharp). But it's almost like I can touch those flower stems and feel them. It doesn't look like a flat representation of the scene, it really seems like a natural representation of the flower to me.

Probably a bad example, but there it goes.

[amstel78]

A couple of shots I took of my daughter after picking her up from school today. Decided to bust out the K10D and 18-135WR. It still surprises me just how much the color pops with this sensor compared to my K1-II.

[rayallen]

Recently I seem to have been going through a transition in how I want my photos to look. Ever since I first started the switch from film to digital back in 2012, my primary goal has been to try to get a film-like look out of my DSLRs. But lately I seem to have finally started coming round to the digital-era aesthetic, and it's definitely changing the photographic look that I'm aiming for.

Has anyone else here been through this too? Really disliking the digital look at first, but then gradually starting to accept it?

My switch from film to digital occured in 2007 when I got my K10D. I was waiting until Pentax produced a camera with the specs I wanted and, luckily, the K10D was it. At the time, I was not thinking about getting film-like images from it but now looking back I can see why I was happy with what I was getting. I now have 11 years of K10D images that I peruse frequently and I look at many of them and think how great that camera and its CCD sensor are.

I don't deliberately try to get a film-type look but I have developed my style and with my various cameras (Pentax K10D and K-3, Canon EOS 1Ds and 20D) I can produce images that reflect that style regardless of which camera I use. Some images require more work than others. I use a variety of editors - Photoshop CC, Lightroom Classic CC and ACDSee Ultimate 2019. I have tried Raw Therapee but not enough to really feel comfortable with it.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Thanks, Christian and Ray, for your own stories about getting used to the digital look. Christian, your tale of ceaseless experimentation sounds a lot like my own experience. I keep thinking I've found "The Look" that's perfect for me, but then a couple of months later I'll always be trying something different.

A couple of shots I took of my daughter after picking her up from school today. Decided to bust out the K10D and 18-135WR. It still surprises me just how much the color pops with this sensor compared to my K1-II.

Wonderful shots. I hope you give your K10D a run out more often so we can see the results. And photos from the past taken with the camera are always welcome here too.