[tuco]

Looks very good but of course TMAX has considerable latitude due to it's low contrast.

I'm not concerned with the tonal scale, DR or stuff like that here but what I see as the "grain size". The tabular grain gets you a good bang for your ISO?

[womble]

I have shot both digital and film since I bought a K10D in 2007. With the K20D I found that it was fine for work but not much fun. Something about the images was never quite what I wanted, so I was shooting lots of film Then I got a K-3 and I have really enjoyed it, and have shot less film. I won't be buying a K1 immediately, I'll wait until the early adopters find all the faults and Pentax have them sorted. In six months or so I'll see what the score is when all the "Oh my God, it doesn't make tea, I'm switching to Brand X" noise has died away a bit.

Cheers, Kris.

[bibz]

I'm keen to shoot old lenses on it to find out those weaknesses! I very rarely put subjects way in the corner. It's a great tool to add importance or drama, but you can stop down/crop. I don't want a super high contrast super pin sharp everything. I want it different and unique. Modern lens design does everything for the technical and nothing for the art imo.

[Xmas]

I'm not concerned with the tonal scale, DR or stuff like that here but what I see as the "grain size". The tabular grain gets you a good bang for your ISO?

Confirmed but even Tx in 35mm (Tx is the new Tri-X with two electron sensitisation) is finer than plusx was!

So lots of people use precursor film like Foma400 to get the old school look on wet prints!

And you get more dynamic range in every shot! Getting the dynamic range off the negative on to the wet print is the big challenge, not photo shop phewey?

---------- Post added 02-21-16 at 02:52 AM ----------

I'm keen to shoot old lenses on it to find out those weaknesses! I very rarely put subjects way in the corner. It's a great tool to add importance or drama, but you can stop down/crop. I don't want a super high contrast super pin sharp everything. I want it different and unique. Modern lens design does everything for the technical and nothing for the art imo.

Yes an old auto takumar spills light into shadows softening highlights pastelling colours like 19th century artists!

[tuco]

... Getting the dynamic range off the negative on to the wet print is the big challenge,

Yep, I've done a lot of BW wet printing. If you look at the typical characteristic curve of BW paper, and that of BW film, you can see it compress the tonal representation of the film's blacks and highlights while reproducing the middle tones mostly as they are in general. So does scanning have that problem?

Hence burning and dodging was common doing prints. Another way to get more DR on the print was with staining developer. PMK Pyro, for example, staines your negative. And you could use that color stain to your advantage with multi-grade paper and a filters under the enlarger light for highlights and shadows.

[Xmas]

Yep, I've done a lot of BW wet printing. If you look at the typical characteristic curve of BW paper, and that of BW film, you can see it compress the tonal representation of the film's blacks and highlights while reproducing the middle tones mostly as they are in general. So does scanning have that problem?

Hence burning and dodging was common doing prints. Another way to get more DR on the print was with staining developer. PMK Pyro, for example, staines your negative. And you could use that color stain to your advantage with multi-grade paper and a filters under the enlarger light for highlights and shadows.

If you overexpose and the highlights on the negative exceed the scanners dmax you have no graduation in eg clouds.
If you underexpose and wet print recovering the toe shadows mission impossible.

You need to decide which before you set the ISO or meter different.

It is pretty rare I see blue sky so I normally have dynamic range for either/both.

[arnold]

Anyone still shooting film today most likely does so for other reasons than you mention. It's not about cost vs number of shots etc. That is old thinking and long in our past.

And I can tell you I don't waste a lot of shots shooting film. I waste a lot of shots shooting digital because it is so easy and therefore I get lazy and I can't equate my digital habits to my film at all. Now if that is the case for you then perhaps you never mastered film or are into sports photography or similar.

I think that those who didn't grow up with film, have trouble understanding the mindset when using film. Understanding the permanence of a taken image, leads one to a very different approach; one that looks to forestall thoughtless errors. Certainly for me, who started with Kodachrome 10, every shot would be a picture I could hold up to the light, complete and unalterable. I had to be careful. But being careful is the rewarding part, just as a careful shot in golf is more rewarding than a fluke shot.

[stevebrot]

I also wonder what the longest real exposure time will be in aperture priority mode.

-3 EV(100) or 30s, whichever comes first.


Steve

[stevebrot]

For instance I have tested the resolution of my Pentax M Macro 50mm f4 lens using Kodak Techpan developed in Technidol and it outresolves a Nikon D800 so I am curious how it will perform on the K-1.

This does not surprise me. Despite its high resolution sensor, the pixel density of the K-1 (and D800) is about the same as the K-7. I would expect that any lens that delivered well for that camera will do so on the K-1. High resolution emulsions such as Tech Pan and even tabular grain films such as Acros 100, TMax 100, and Ektar 100 would be expected to capture detail on a par with the K-1, though without the convenience and flexibility. As you mention, corner lens performance may be disappointing, but the same is true on film if you routinely evaluate your negatives using a loupe or projected through a decent enlarger lens. The main difference today is the ease with which we can evaluate edge-to-edge sharpness as well as ignorance regarding how the eye evaluates a hung print.

Edge-to-edge sharpness is highly overrated unless one is photographing postage stamps.


Steve

[stevebrot]

I know scanning is not the best measure here

That is so true. Even at 4000 dpi, the scanner records a notion of the grain clusters (destructive interference included) rather than being an accurate recording of such. There is typically more detail present on a well-processed fine-grain negative than can be captured by a scanner. I was reminded of this a few weeks back* while examining 4x5 and 8x10 contact prints by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Even at very close viewing distance, the detail sucks you in.


Steve

* Portland Art Museum "Fotofolio" exhibit ends March 20.
Fotofolio - Portland Art Museum

[stevebrot]

I don't understand the whole 'legacy glass may be outresolved by such and such sensor' ideas...

Urban legend...

Most top-shelf primes from the 70s and 80s were far better than the films and photographers they were typically matched with. The pattern has been that as sensor technology has improved the lenses have generally far exceeded expectations. Probably the best examples might be use of decades old Leica lenses on their current cameras such as the monochrom. Even at 24 Mpx, that camera should shred those old designs, but such is not the case. The same should be true of monochrome conversions using pixel shift on the K-3II. (Dang, I wish I had access to that camera simply to give it a try.)


Steve

[Swift1]

I don't understand the whole 'legacy glass may be outresolved by such and such sensor' ideas....

I imagine this idea is generally promoted by people/organizations who's revenue is dependent on people buying new equipment.

[womble]

I imagine this idea is generally promoted by people/organizations who's revenue is dependent on people buying new equipment.

Along with the universal need for everyone to have a camera with a 50 megapixel sensor, 15fps motordrive and capable of photographing a black cat in a coal cellar at night with no 'noise'...

[Xmas]

Along with the universal need for everyone to have a camera with a 50 megapixel sensor, 15fps motordrive and capable of photographing a black cat in a coal cellar at night with no 'noise'...

And the dynamic range of ...

[DantaxD-SK]

I have several excellent film cameras.
I have a darkroom.
I will get a used K1.
It will see the world thru my A 50 f1.4 and my negatives thru my 105mm macro.

I would like this to happen this spring.
I will not happen before 2018.
This semester my job description is full time student.