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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
12-05-2023, 10:26 PM
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As someone that has owned the a K-50, K-1, A7i, A7ii, and A7C, I have to disagree about the scope of your comments and point out the use case for each of the cameras is different. The K-1 is a fantastic low-light performer, and I generally enjoy Pentax cameras for still photography (the K-1 may be my favorite camera to shoot stills with to this day). The K-50 was a great camera, but it did not stand up to the A7ii in my low light usage, and I was usually able to shoot lowlight concert settings well below 3200 iso on my a7ii (the A7i is a different story that I'm more inclined to agree with). Noise wasn't an issue for me with my settings. With that said, the Sony cameras are designed to provide more flexibility: photos and video, and much of the developments seems to go into the video aspect of the camera. When it comes to video, Sony clobbers Pentax. I'm also curious how you found a brand new A7II, as it was released in 2014 and is discontinued, and even while the A7ii wasn't "semicrappy," low light performance was acknowledged to have taken a large step forward with the A7iii generation.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-13-2016, 11:45 AM
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I'd prefer to shoot wide open, but this just may be a case of making do with the one, until I can own both...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-13-2016, 12:34 AM
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I haven't had the pleasure of using it for portraits yet, but for $600 USD, I'm not going to complain yet. My only hesitation is wondering if the 77mm ltd would be worth the 200$ upgrade if I returned this.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-12-2016, 11:17 AM
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This was exactly the problem. I was trying to shoot pictures free standing with the K-1 and Zeiss lens while on a walk-about, and for one reason or another, wasn't able to hit focus. I put it on an adapter and threw it on my A7II, and things turned out much better.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-12-2016, 12:53 AM
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I recently acquired this lens at a price that seemed like a steal, so I ran it through its paces after it arrived today.
It felt like at anything below f/2.5, something was just "off." There was a strange halo effect, and the image was normally ranging from a bit to VERY soft, and had some gnarly CA.
 zeiss test-24 by Gary Ishimoto, on Flickr
 zeiss test-8 by Gary Ishimoto, on Flickr
After going up to f/2.5 and higher, things cleared up and the sharpness improved considerably. The DOF seems signficantly more shallow on similar f-stops to my Pentax-M 85mm though.
 zeiss test-22 by Gary Ishimoto, on Flickr
Are these normal characteristics of the lens? I have to say, I'm intrigued by the images it produces, and I love the colors and contrast. It's just got some quirks.
 zeiss test pt 2-18 by Gary Ishimoto, on Flickr
 zeiss test pt 2-23 by Gary Ishimoto, on Flickr
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-05-2016, 01:10 AM
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While I wouldn't mind learning how, as of my current knowledge, it's outside my skill set.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-04-2016, 08:09 PM
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For my edification, what the heck is that crud? It looked like trapped air bubbles or something, but I know that can't be right.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-04-2016, 10:41 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-04-2016, 12:22 AM
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I put one of my penlights up to the lens. I cleaned the lens when I first got it because it was NASTY. However, I'm not sure what fungus/haze look like. I can see I don't see any form of haze. I can also see what looks like someone touched the inside of the lens and left a "sticky" fingerprint... Like a kid who who just finished eating candy. Not literally, but very similar in appearance. I see some "solid" lines of white in the center, that group up in the shape of a fingerprint. It's not on the rear or front element.
---------- Post added 11-04-16 at 12:24 AM ----------
I was thinking this too, but the Vivitar was similarly priced, and although not AF, is WORLDS sharper, and also larger.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131568688@N02/albums/72157674601747051
I will also say that the lens reviews mentioned great color rendition, but I'm not seeing that classic Pentax color in my copy. I've come to love that color rendition with my 135/2.8 and others, which is why I gave this one a try.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-03-2016, 07:28 PM
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I've had this lens for about a week, and just don't know what to do with it. I had a Vivitar show up at the same time, with the same basic stats, except for being a constant f/3.5.
Despite the Vivitar's larger size, I enjoy using the lens, and I'm pretty thrilled with the quality of picture compared to the price. The Pentax lens has been disappointing me, showing bloom or halos or glow or whatever you want to call it, even stopped down.
chico part2-1 | gishi001 | Flickr |
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
10-17-2016, 11:59 PM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-26-2016, 12:16 AM
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Can't we at least just agree that Photokina was an opportunity for Pentax to at least put out a press release answering some of these questions? The reason we speculate is to fill a void of information.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-20-2016, 11:44 PM
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They released the K70 and K1 pretty durn close to one another, at least in terms of availability. I don't even know why the K70 was a necessary replacement for the much more affordable K50. But doesn't it feel like the sort of dropped the zoom lenses with the K1 and said "good enough"?
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-20-2016, 05:22 PM
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I generally have problems with companies that can't communicate with their users. I was hoping to gain some clarity this year, as to what the specs of the planned primes might be, and thus I don't even know if the Pentax lenses are worth waiting for, or if they're even a priority for Pentax right now. Meanwhile Pentax is slowly disappearing form the 3rd party lens market, which is worrisome. You'd think it'd be in Pentax's best interest to use the press available to them to assuage concerns or even just provide updates to their existing customer base. A simple "we're working on a FA Ltd 77mm Mk II" would be a great step in informing my decisions.
---------- Post added 09-20-16 at 05:23 PM ----------
If this lens came to be, I'd have to change pants. Thrice.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-19-2016, 08:28 PM
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This broke my heart. That 85mm f/1.4 sounded beast. I'm using the rokinon, and like the IQ, but the AF would be a big boon.
---------- Post added 09-19-16 at 08:37 PM ----------
I knew about the Irix, but I thought the new 85mm Samyang was Canon only...
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-19-2016, 07:22 PM
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Has anyone heard about new lenses for the Pentax? It seems like no one is making any k-mount lenses, which saddens me...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-13-2016, 02:47 PM
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Thanks for the catch! Off the list it goes!
---------- Post added 09-13-16 at 02:49 PM ----------
I am very interested in that voigtlander...
Right now, there's on okay price on a Sigma 20mm F/1.8, and then there's the Samyang 14. The Irix lenses, from what I've seen, are expected to be around 600 for the plastic model, at least according to their facebook. That's an extra bit of money, when I can get the Sigma for 200 less, and the Samyang for 300 less. The WR would admittedly be nice, but I'd like to know there was an optical boost too.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-13-2016, 02:43 AM
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Aren't those Voigtlander's hard to come by? I tried nabbing a 90mm Apo and it kept getting bid up beyond my price range! And why do you mention the Irix? I admit my intrigue with the lens, but I haven't found much first hand experience with the thing, and it costs twice as much as the Samyang 14mm.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-13-2016, 02:32 AM
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That witch line killed me! I'm keeping that one forever. Also, that makes a lot of sense in regards to the 50mm. While the half EV does bear some importance to me, I was also just curious of the Sigma, Samyang alternatives were sharper than my F 50, or had any other things working for them. But if you're experience with the Sigma or Samyang at f/1.4 wasn't impressive, that's something to take note of.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-13-2016, 12:17 AM
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Most of my shooting with my K-1 has been portrait work, but in some of venues, I'm REALLY up close with the my subjects and the 85mm f/1.4 Samyang is just too darn much.
I currently have a Pentax F 50mm 1.7 that I'm actually pretty happy with. I've been wondering if I need to get one just a bit faster, as the Samyang was just bright enough at 1.4 to make use of the light in the area.
Additionally, I was thinking that a 35mm might come in handy, and I was thinking of picking up more landscape type photography for fun.
For the 50mm and 35mm, I'd like to keep the aperture fast, and sharp as possible wide open. I've seen the Samyang's and Sigmas, and don't know if the Sigmas are worth the extra dosh. I've had some negative experiences with Sigma in the past, on a Sony A-mount, in regards to both softness and autofocus, but had a Sigma work great on a M4/3 Olympus I had.
For the wide angle side, I've been looking at the 16mm Samyang f/2, 14mm Samyang f/2,8, and the Sigma 20mm f/1.8. I'm new to to this style of photography (sort of) as I would typically use one of my larger focal length lenses and just stitch together a panoramic. I'd like to transition to use of a UWA, but I'm not certain what the 14, 16, and 20 would look like on my camera. The widest I've ever used was a 28mm. I'm not even certain whether aperture speed is of particular concern when shooting landscapes, as I would expect sharpness to be of the upmost concern, but maybe it comes into play for nightly urban shooting?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-12-2016, 11:19 PM
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Not that I disagree with the premise, but there are times when sufficient sharpness and aperture are required. I recently got back from a comic convention in Atlanta, and with the hotel's god awful lighting, short of bringing around a bulky flash, making do with the available light required at least f/2, and having sufficient sharpness wide open. I'd have felt awful if I took pictures of these gorgeous costumes, only to have the details of their construction bleed into the background. Sometimes, that was okay, because the concept was more important than the construction in the costume, but obviously, not always.
The reviews do help along those lines.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-12-2016, 11:11 PM
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It might just be me, but Rudy's picture looks just the slightest bit soft to me?
I don't know about the 24-70, but I had the 18-35 and the 70-200, and found both to be a bit soft on the Sony A mount. I've heard the Tamron is a step up in sharpness, but I have yet to see so for myself. Though I guess the softness can be a good thing if you're portrait subjects don't have model quality skin.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-19-2016, 11:21 PM
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I'll head out tomorrow and take some sample pictures to show what I mean, after work.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-19-2016, 05:11 AM
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I just feel like I'm more impressed by the sharpness and colors of my M100 and A135, which, granted have a minimum aperture of of f/2.8.
My major problem is that my general "use" of these lenses is at comic conventions where, generally, the lighting is awful. I'd likely be using the 85mm at 2 to 2.8 to separate the subject from often-cluttered backgrounds, (as wide open as it can be) up to a max of 5.6 for detailed costumes. When it's closer to open, I have problems with the 85mm generating a small halo effect, and the purple fringing is pretty gnarly. Correctable, but gnarly. I'm wondering if these problems come from the aperture being slow, or if its just characteristics of the lens itself. Don't get me wrong, this lens is capable of some amazing shots, and I like it, but I don't know if I love it, the way I love my Pentax-A 135mm f/2.8.
And if it is just the design of the lens, I don't know whether it'd be worth trading this guy in for a 85mm 1.4 Rokinon, repairing, or leaving it be and using it between f4 and f2.
---------- Post added 07-19-16 at 05:17 AM ----------
This makes me wonder if I'd be better off getting it repaired. I don't do it often, but occasionally, I do go hiking, and I took some shots that could have benefited from being closed down a bit on this lens. This problem is a hard one for me. I might just get a Rokinon first, compare them side by side, then figure out what to do...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-18-2016, 04:17 AM
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This is real talk now:
I paid just under 200 for the lens, and Eric quoted an estimate of 50 to repair. Throw in postage for good measure. Is it worth trying to repair this lens, or selling it "as is", and putting the money towards a different 85mm, like the Rokinon/Samyang?
I have to admit, I was a bit underwhelmed by the lens, especially in comparison to the 100 f/2.8 and 135 f/2.8 by pentax, but it may have been the aperture blades which prevented me from getting the most out of the lens...
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