[Canada_Rockies]

BTW, part of the assignment was to shoot outdoors, subject facing sun, wearing a ball cap. One pic without flash and one pic with fill flash to light the face under the ball cap. Problem is he wanted the shots at f5.6. The shot without flash was at something on the order of 1/2000 using f5.6. Using fill flash required sync at 1/180 sec and still trying to use f5.6 as he wanted blew out the shot. To get what he wanted with flash would have required f19 (tried it out) so dropping from 200 to 100 would not have helped very much.

I wonder which model of Pentax you have. Would high speed synch have worked? Oops - just checked the manual, and it's only available with an accessory flash. My bad. I'll leave it in just for info, all the same.

[dafiryde]

In my digital photography class we were talking about ISO ratings in cameras and I mentioned that my K100D Super would only go down to 200 instead of 100. This is when he said I bought an Edsel. At least I got even with him. Told him while he was spending thousands on IS (or whatever they call it) that Nikon built into it's lenses to rip him off, I could buy Takumars, some of the greatest glass ever made, for practically nothing and all of them could be used with shake reduction. I think I made my point and I think he realized I wasn't happy with his joke.

CW

on a recent trip to LA i saw a teeshirt that said

my parents allowed be to become anything i wanted
so i became an a-- hole

Buy him one

Dave

[lol101]

In my digital photography class we were talking about ISO ratings in cameras and I mentioned that my K100D Super would only go down to 200 instead of 100. This is when he said I bought an Edsel. At least I got even with him. Told him while he was spending thousands on IS (or whatever they call it) that Nikon built into it's lenses to rip him off, I could buy Takumars, some of the greatest glass ever made, for practically nothing and all of them could be used with shake reduction. I think I made my point and I think he realized I wasn't happy with his joke.

CW

The all Nikon lineup only goes to ISO 200 at min (ISO 100 is an extended, DR reduced mode)... I guess they are Traban then...

[soccerjoe5]

The all Nikon lineup only goes to ISO 200 at min (ISO 100 is an extended, DR reduced mode)... I guess they are Traban then...

My old D80 could go down to ISO 100 in "normal" mode.

[Marcus]

I'm going to assume this is a community college class? Mostly adults? And I'm also going to assume that none of the Forum critics know anything about the context of the comment, or about that classroom dynamic.

In fact, I'm going to guess that the vast majority of y'all never stood in front of an "adult" class, never were pulled 20 different ways by students and administration, forced to work around a bad syllabus or worse texts, or found yourself subject to micro scrutiny by students who were hypersensitive to anything that deviated from their frequently uninformed opinions.

Think about what it feels like to care about something, to want to share it with others, then to look out at a room of entitlement-bound, frequently surly students knowing that at least a couple are lying in wait for the slightest politically incorrect act or comment that can be used as leverage to secure a better grade, or just to play "gotcha" with an instructor.

I'm not challenging straightshooter about what was said, or suggesting in any way that these comments apply to him/her... but I am challenging some of the posters who responded to rethink these kinds of cheap-shot comments that do a disservice to teachers.

So next time before you launch into some drivel about this or any other teacher, or advise some kind of juvenile "pay back," just ask yourself why you aren't in front of the class sharing your expertise. And maybe reconsider criticizing what you can't, or won't, do for what amounts to about $6 an hour.

Brian (FHPhotographer)

Strong words. But true about adult learners. Some are eager to learn, some are there to just bust chops.

Fine art in college, any college is usually a course in discipline and criticism. It's comes with the territory. You don't look to impress your professor. You just look to get the least criticism. Even if you do try to impress the instructor, he'll criticize you on that. "You're obviously trying to impress me. But that's not what I'm here for." That's how it works. And many of them will beat your stuff DOWN, regardless of how many awards or accomplishments you've won. So this guy dogging down your camera isn't that big.

And FHP, all my syllabi was wacked. One professor was an age and talent bigot. Claimed I plagerized. How do you plagerize some work you've NEVER heard of and the professor can't even IDENTIFY where it's supposedly from?

Enough of my rant. But yeah, adult learners can be challenging. :ugh:

[chedoy]

ROFL Our assignment for this week is to photograph something we like. Since I love old cars, I wish I could find and Edsel and bring him in some photos. With someone somewhere way in the background with one finger extended. Yeah, that finger.

CW

Well, calling it an Edsel is making the analogy that it was a sales failure. Featurewise, the Edsel was your standard Ford, albeit with a pushbutton transmission and a rotating digital like speedometer if I remember correctly.

These were taken with my K100D. ISO 200. Photoshop away,

[jocko_nc]

I'm going to assume this is a community college class? Mostly adults? And I'm also going to assume that none of the Forum critics know anything about the context of the comment, or about that classroom dynamic.

Neither do you know anything about the situation.

In fact, I'm going to guess that the vast majority of y'all never stood in front of an "adult" class, never were pulled 20 different ways by students and administration, forced to work around a bad syllabus or worse texts, or found yourself subject to micro scrutiny by students who were hypersensitive to anything that deviated from their frequently uninformed opinions.

Why put "adults" in quotes? Are these people actually children posing as adults? That is quite an arrogant position. Hypersensitive? That description may cut both ways. How many students have ever had to subject themselves to a bad or uninformed teacher?

Think about what it feels like to care about something, to want to share it with others, then to look out at a room of entitlement-bound, frequently surly students knowing that at least a couple are lying in wait for the slightest politically incorrect act or comment that can be used as leverage to secure a better grade, or just to play "gotcha" with an instructor.

Entitlement-bound? Surly? Lying in wait? Leverage? I read a lot of hostility here. Maybe they are too stupid to understand?

I'm not challenging straightshooter about what was said, or suggesting in any way that these comments apply to him/her... but I am challenging some of the posters who responded to rethink these kinds of cheap-shot comments that do a disservice to teachers.

But you do challenge. I see some serious cheap-shot comments in here as well. Let's not do a disservice to students.

So next time before you launch into some drivel about this or any other teacher, or advise some kind of juvenile "pay back," just ask yourself why you aren't in front of the class sharing your expertise. And maybe reconsider criticizing what you can't, or won't, do for what amounts to about $6 an hour.

Translation: Teachers are the only smart ones in the room and are underpaid. As such, they are above criticism from anyone outside the profession.

Brian (FHPhotographer)

I have done a fair amount of adult instruction as a part of work. Technical instruction. I don't think I dislike it so much. Perhaps it is because the students are required to be there?

[Marc Sabatella]

My old D80 could go down to ISO 100 in "normal" mode.

That's because 100 was the native sensitivity for the sensor in that particular model. Ditto with the Pentax K10D and K200D. but for cameras where the native sensitivity is 200, there is basically no advantage to be gained in providing an option to artificially lower the sensitivity - it's not going to produce better image quality. Only thing it does is allow for slower shutter speeds in the same conditions, which admittedly can *occasionally* be useful, but hardly worth getting worked up over, given that an ND filter will do the same.

[Shashinki]

ISO 200 is native in K10D and K200D as well. Its basically the same Sony sensor as D200/D80.

[Marc Sabatella]

ISO 200 is native in K10D and K200D as well. Its basically the same Sony sensor as D200/D80.

Are you sure? I mean, yes, it's the same (10MP) sensor, and everything I've read indicates 100 is the native sensitivity for all of these cameras. It's the 6MP Sony sensor that has the 200 native.

[offertonhatter]

That's what I understood, too. I thought the Edsel's biggest problem was that it was priced too high relative to it's competition. A more modern version of this scenario would be the Subaru SVX. A nice car with some unusual features, but it was trying to steal buyers from the Nissan 280ZX and Toyota Supra. Buyers asked themselves, "Why gamble on this new car when I can buy a proven vehicle for the same or less money?" By the way, I think this will be the exact same battle Pentax will be fighting if they opt to build a full frame DSLR. Unless it has some world-beating features, buyers will have to be pretty big gamblers to spend that amount of money for a Pentax over a Canon or Nikon.

Another car v camera analogy could be BMWvMercedesvJaguar

BMW - Well made, a bit controversial, selling by the bucketload (esp here in UK) but coming a bit common. And not without its foibles = Nikon

Mercedes - Former Leader in the premium brand class, but currently suffering quality issues - Canon (Mk3 anyone?)

Jaguar - Does not sell as well as the others, as had its problems in its past but now all problems solved, but a classy act. Reliable, well built and does what it says on the tin = Pentax.

Oh and does'nt Jaguar constantly out perform BMW and Mercedes in JDPower surveys both in the US and UK?
Enough said!

[ve2vfd]

I'm going to assume this is a community college class? Mostly adults? And I'm also going to assume that none of the Forum critics know anything about the context of the comment, or about that classroom dynamic.

My opinion on the matter is that it doesn't mater what the context is... a teacher who makes fun of his students, their situation or their equipment has no place in the classroom. Period.

Pat
(this "forum critic" is a full time firefighter and teaches adults part time at the fire college so he has his opinions about classroom etiquette)

[ratjadi]

I didn't ever hear of Edsel. Every day you learn something new. According to wikipedia, the Edsel was a hyped long announced new design, yet disappointing not meeting then very high expectations. I think it was a fine and beautiful car, but people expected a miracle after endless announcements.

First: this reminds me more of the Olympus E-1 (being a fine and unique design that didn't succeed) than a Pentax, or the E-3 (long announced and disappoiting not being a flying saucer). And not that said cameras are bad: I liked the E-1 a lot, and I still see some magig in its rendering of color and tones. Morons can't appreciate such things, like your "instructor" has no idea of real image quality I bet.

Second: the "instructor" has only proven to be an idiot. Many (not all, sic!) are.

[tranq78]

I haven't recently taught "adult education" but I do get exposed to undergraduates in university. Most of the time they are great students, eager to soak up as much knowledge as one can throw at them.

But once in a while I run into a zinger. The last time I met with them (where I was asked to lead a tutorial), I didn't even finish my first sentence before the students' leader told me I was an idiot because he (very mistakenly) thought I didn't know anything about the subject matter. I had to bite my tongue and placate his ego with soothing words.

So I can commiserate with Marcus and FHP about the challenges of dealing with students.

Of course this is completely off the original topic. The photography instructor in question either has a sense of humor that we haven't gotten yet or he needs to develop a better sense of empathy. A person may be an expert in their field but it does not necessarily mean that they will be good instructors, in fact it's not that common.

[jocko_nc]

Zinger. N. A creme filled finger-shaped flavored spongecake dessert treat marketed by the Dolly Madison bakery. Chocolate. Strawberry. Vanilla. As in: "Hey. Someone just zapped my Zingers!"