[Dan James]

This is one of the better threads in here, great demonstration that obsolete tech can fight the modern day! I got my *ist DL year and half ago to accompany my Helios 44, did nice job and RAW saved the dead pixels. Kinda liked that taking the shot was a process that took some time and effort.
However, last spring i decided to make an IR conversion, no regrets for that either. Maybe someday i´ll just get the bigger *ist for me...






And most recent infrared!


ps. Dammit, Orbus, you really nailed it!

Lovely results with the *ist DL and Helios. Many people dismiss the Helios 44 series but I've had probably a couple of dozen of them and love them. I still have my first - a very battered Helios 44-2 - which still gives me lovely results, despite the plentiful internal dust and a couple of bubbles!

Today's the first day I've been able to pick up a camera after some steroid injections last Thursday, one of which left my right arm pretty much useless and in agony I'm not back to full strength yet, but I've been wandering around the house, playing with the *ist DL for a short while today. Not much to photograph that's of interest, or that I haven't photographed a hundred times before, but all of it is new to my recently-acquired DL - including this ornamental lion cast... taken with the "mk 1" 18-55 at 28mm, f/7.1, 1/60s, ISO 200.

That's the kind of detail in an image that makes people think twice about writing off kit zoom lenses...

Nice shooting, skodadriver, varky and Mike! Best wishes for a quick recovery, Mike

Great blue heron watching over the lake at sunset. Super Tak 105/2.8 on *ist D:

Paul, that lake looks very tranquil. I'd like to photograph water more often. There's a lake with an old boathouse I used to go to early in the morning some years ago. I should revisit. Is this type of bird a common sight?

These both taken with my Samsung GX-1s and a Yashica Auto Yashinon-DS 50mm f/1.9 M42 lens I picked up for next to nothing. Direct export from RAW to JPEG in LightRoom, no processing.

Sometimes I'd almost rather a new (to me) lens turns out rubbish and/or I just don't get on with using it, so it's easy to sell on. No such thing with the Yashinon, it's really good to use and takes a pretty lovely photograph... Another keeper, for now!

[pathdoc]

"Basket Case."



Pentax *istDS with Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5 @ f/16. Tabletop tripod, wired shutter release, 2s timer/MLU. Focus is on the far edge of the basket. Forgot to adjust the WB, silly me! SOOC.

Flowers and I do not have a good relationship right now. Every time I so much as lift a camera in the direction of one, the wind comes up instantly and the thing starts waving about madly. Lower the camera, wind goes down. Raise the camera, wind comes up. It's as if it knows.

The fascinating thing about my *istDS is that with this lens mounted, it is smaller in all three dimensions than my Spotmatic F with the S-M-C Takumar 50/1.4. Certainly nowhere near as wide, fractionally shorter, and only about as deep. No wonder users of the DS and DL series maintain a fondness for them (especially with a 40 DA Limited on board).

[BigMackCam]

"Basket Case."

Great colours and warmth - something I'm appreciating more and more with the CCD sensor models

Flowers and I do not have a good relationship right now. Every time I so much as lift a camera in the direction of one, the wind comes up instantly and the thing starts waving about madly. Lower the camera, wind goes down. Raise the camera, wind comes up. It's as if it knows.

Ah, we've had a few days like that here too. I'm limited by what there is to photograph in the garden right now, and most of the flowers are on long, thin stalks. The slightest breeze has them whipping around like crazy

No wonder users of the DS and DL series maintain a fondness for them (especially with a 40 DA Limited on board).

I haven't tried the DA40 Limited on my *ist DL yet. Might address that tomorrow

Today, it was indeed windy... so I tried out the DL + 18-55 in a darker, sheltered corner of the garden, and played with the built-in flash. I'm not a fan of flower shots taken with on-board flash, unless it's used only as a gentle fill. This shot is no exception... It would have come out so much better if I was using an off-camera flash to provide some directional light. But, that wasn't the purpose of my experiments. Anyhoo... I don't think this one came out too badly, all things considered, though it's not a patch on Dan's earlier photos

[pathdoc]

Most of the warmth is the result of me failing to manually switch to tungsten lighting mode. One of the things my *istDS does very badly is automatic detection of ambient lighting type.

[FreeSpirit9]

Ist*DS F35-80

[niceshot]

Ist*DS F35-80

Very nice keep them coming

[Dan James]

Great colours and warmth - something I'm appreciating more and more with the CCD sensor models

Ah, we've had a few days like that here too. I'm limited by what there is to photograph in the garden right now, and most of the flowers are on long, thin stalks. The slightest breeze has them whipping around like crazy

I haven't tried the DA40 Limited on my *ist DL yet. Might address that tomorrow

Today, it was indeed windy... so I tried out the DL + 18-55 in a darker, sheltered corner of the garden, and played with the built-in flash. I'm not a fan of flower shots taken with on-board flash, unless it's used only as a gentle fill. This shot is no exception... It would have come out so much better if I was using an off-camera flash to provide some directional light. But, that wasn't the purpose of my experiments. Anyhoo... I don't think this one came out too badly, all things considered, though it's not a patch on Dan's earlier photos

Images like this show just what the "humble" kit zoom can do in the right hands. And that for a beginner, even today, something like a 6MP *ist with a kit zoom has plenty of scope and capability for very little money, without needing to spend hundreds on the latest DSLR and a few primes.

A couple with my Samsung GX-1S (*ist DS@ clone) that I've now shot maybe 80% as many photographs with as with its big brother, my K10D. Also, when I was shooting mostly film, I never warmed much to the SMC Pentax-A series, but now on DSLRs my A 50/1.4 and 35-70/4 are coming into their own and getting loads of use, so much so I only have one M series lens left, and that's up for sale. Just M42 and A series from now on it seems! These two shot with the A 50/1.4 which is super useful in the generally low light and shadows of small rural churches...

[twilhelm]

Playing around this morning with my *ist DL and a Yashica 28 2.8. Shot at f/4. We are beginning a bike build, soon to be a cafe racer.
What I love about the *ist DL is everything that Pentax was. Small and lightweight with great natural colors. It's a great camera to carry around all day long.

[twilhelm]

Another from the *ist DL, this time with the Auto-Takumar 55 1.8

[paulh]

Love these images you guys are coming up with!
Im in the process of moving, so I'm not able to contribute much for awhile. Keep up the good work untiI I return in a week or so 😄

[ralph-uk]

Love these images you guys are coming up with!

So very true, here's one from a few years back:

k100D and a Japanese 'Helios' 135 f2.8

Ralph

[fwcetus]

Well, I just picked up a *ist DS2, and took it out to see how it worked. [The EXIF will show that I hadn't even properly set the date and time on it yet, nor had I updated the firmware, etc.]

Unprocessed except for slight cropping and some serious resizing -


An unprocessed 1:1 (100%) crop from the original -


I think that the colors are a bit subdued because I was shooting almost in the direction of the sun. The lens was a HD DA 55-300/4-5.8 set at 55mm and f/8.

[Poes Buddy]

A couple from the K100D Super...

From a Christmas ramble some years ago.




And another old one in the wintry theme.

[Dan James]

After seeing images from others here in the Forums, not least of all from Ray Allen, I decided to take the plunge with a DA 35/2.4. Not my usual thing at all in that it's a lot of plastic, modern(ish) and AF. Until now I've used only M42 (mostly Takumars) and Pentax-A series lenses on my little GX-1s.

Turns out the DA 35/2.4 is not only a cracking little performer, but an excellent combo with the compact and pretty light (for a DSLR) GX-1s. I'm sure I'll be shooting with this duo plenty more.

These are just simply exported from RAW to jpeg in LightRoom with no additional PP.

Thanks for looking.

[BigMackCam]

After seeing images from others here in the Forums, not least of all from Ray Allen, I decided to take the plunge with a DA 35/2.4. Not my usual thing at all in that it's a lot of plastic, modern(ish) and AF. Until now I've used only M42 (mostly Takumars) and Pentax-A series lenses on my little GX-1s.

Turns out the DA 35/2.4 is not only a cracking little performer, but an excellent combo with the compact and pretty light (for a DSLR) GX-1s. I'm sure I'll be shooting with this duo plenty more.

These are just simply exported from RAW to jpeg in LightRoom with no additional PP.
...
Thanks for looking.

Beautiful, Dan!