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Forum: Pentax Q
04-24-2019, 10:45 AM
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Why do I get the feeling I should have chosen my wording a bit more carefully :)
It's of course dumb to try to generalize when there are many variables in play. Regarding diffraction, I had in mind the tests of some of the native Q lenses at e.g. ephotozine.com or opticallimits.com, where MTF generally peaks around f/2.8-f/4 and drops thereafter. These results, while I think they tell something about diffraction of the Q sensor, also reflect the performance (and possibly the smaller image circle?) of the Q lenses - and thus may not generalize to all non-native lenses, which you and reh321 pointed out. My understanding is that, as long as lens sharpness increases more than the sensor-imposed diffraction limits it, you can stop down and get sharper results. And of course, sharpness is not the full story either, as this does not account for depth of field / aberration control / what is "sharp enough", and so on - YMMV. So, of course you should test out your lenses with the Q at different apertures and see what works for you.
Thanks vonBaloney for the tip! You are right in that softness caused by diffraction can be better mitigated nowadays - I did a search and found this thread and tried out the settings in RawTherapee - I had dismissed the RL deconvolution setting before, but now that I tried it I will look into it more. Cheers!
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Forum: Pentax Q
04-21-2019, 02:09 AM
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Thanks barondla and kwb!
With this one it's indeed the case of lens holding the camera. Most definitely to be used on a good tripod with the Q, and a gimbal also helps a lot.
I have adapted the nFD 500mm f/4.5 L on other mirrorless cameras with great results, but have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the output of this combo. The Q really pushes legacy lenses with regards to sharpness and detail - many old lenses' sweet spot is around f/8, which is well into diffraction territory on the Q. This is not the case with this lens. It's sharp wide open and with good enough control of purple fringing that it can produce great results on the Q - if you are willing to work with the weight and size, price, extremely long equivalent focal length, and also face the reality of atmospheric effects.
Makes one curious about trying a good 300mm f/2.8 :D it would enable photography in lower light. Ah well...
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Forum: Pentax Q
04-16-2019, 03:24 AM
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We've had some nice spring weather recently and yesterday afternoon I went out to get a moonshot with the Q10 and the 80's oldie Canon New FD 500mm f/4.5 L. The birds were chirping in the trees nearby and a few stayed put for just long enough so I could get a few shots of them as well! I'm not a very good birder, but would guess it's a European Greenfinch and a Fieldfare (Thrush).
Shots wide-open at f/4.5. The bird images were taken some distance away and are heavy crops. The moon was of course also far away but is uncropped as it just barely fits into the image at 500mm :)
EDIT: Added a blackbird shot at f/5.6 as well. It kept singing, seemingly unbothered by my presence, so I was able to get the focus just right.
Lens notes:
- Impressive sharpness at f/4.5 - the images turned out quite nice IMHO regardless of the demanding small sensor
- Impressive control of CA - a tiny amount was present but could be mostly mitigated in the raw editor
- Not easy to nail focus due to 1) shallow depth of field wide-open, and 2) EVF shake when touching the lens. Sturdy support + an IR remote + a red dot sight for finding the subject is recommended!
- Colors are a bit flat - dial up vibrance and contrast!
All in all - it's not a particularly easy lens to use at 2810mm eq. focal length, but I think it can work well e.g. for photographing (still) wildlife in good light if the subjects are far away and you can't get closer.
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Forum: Pentax Q
04-11-2018, 05:22 AM
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Thanks barondla.
The RH1 gimbal is a simple but nice piece of engineering without bells and whistles, very happy with it. Maybe it's the perspective in the picture, but it actually does have some size to it. Even a FF camera with a battery grip would work with this lens without restricting vertical movement that much. Lensmaster also has the "T1 Traveller" sidemount gimbal if you really need to save weight - but from the pictures it seemed to me that that one would restrict movement, so I went for this one.
Best regards,
Markus
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Forum: Pentax Q
04-08-2018, 10:33 AM
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Awesome setup, Phenix!
For reference, I thought I'd post an update of what I ended up purchasing for anyone stumbling upon this thread. I have attached an image that shows the equipment I have used with the Q for long range shooting. My equipment choices apply to Europe.
1) The gimbal head is the side-mount Lensmaster RH1. I have found it sturdy, easy to use, and not that heavy.
2) Based on suggestions from the forum members above I purchased a cheap red dot sight and an adapter. I was skeptical at first, but indeed, it does help a lot with finding the subject, especially when using the Q with a 300mm lens. The RDS was a "Pinty Tactical Red & Green Dot Sight 1x40mm Reflex Riflescope" which can be found on Amazon. After it has been calibrated, it is very easy too look through it and acquire the subject, given the 1:1 reproduction ratio.
3) In order to attach the RDS to the camera, I ended up with buying an "Adapter for reflex sights to the hot shoe of DSLR cameras" from teleskop-express.de. It's quite expensive for what it is, but it fit the RDS and gets the job done.
4) I think you also need a remote control. You will get shake whenever you touch the camera at long equivalent focal lengths, unless you have a super-steady tripod. Of course, you can use the self-timer, but I found that working with a remote is a lot easier.
The tripod is a light Benro travel tripod which is not very sturdy - I have yet to pull the trigger on a more rigid replacement, as I think that the use of a remote helps a lot.
Thanks to everyone for their input - I'm looking forward to shooting long-range wildlife later this year at the equiv. focal length of 1680mm!
Best regards,
Markus
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Forum: Pentax Q
01-23-2018, 05:46 AM
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Dear kwb,
Thanks for the tip about the poor man's gimbal and the illustrating image! I distantly remember seeing this somewhere, but I had forgotten about it. Have to admit though that I'm heavily eyeing the side-mount gimbal right now :) Thanks also for the links to the Celestron finder and mount adapter, will check those out!
Woah, nice gallery! :cool: Great wildlife shots! Really liked the picture of the Orion Nebula too!
Best regards,
Markus
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Forum: Pentax Q
01-23-2018, 04:46 AM
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Browsed through half of the thread yesterday night, some good info there for sure! Pity that some of the guys' pictures aren't available anymore.
I did put adhesive black felt velour inside my FD to Q adapter on the "donut"-shaped rear area it has, which is at a 90 degree angle to the lens, which I thought would certainly cause reflections. I'm also thinking about covering more of the rear opening - it is much larger than the Q sensor, and I think someone speculated that especially the gold-plated electrical contacts reflect light...(?)
Noted. The RD10 seems nice, and per your story, it would perhaps be helpful that the RDS has the name Pentax on it :D But given the risk that it would get stuck in customs, I'll look at other options. Point also taken about the tube-type scopes.
Best regards,
Markus
---------- Post added 01-23-18 at 05:29 AM ----------
Hi reh321,
Mobility is always welcome! :) I am very fond of monopods for that reason. However, my experience thus far has been that especially sideways shake with monopods has been problematic for me at equiv. focal lengths of 600mm - 800mm, unless the light is very good and/or I bump up the ISO. Have not tested the Q+300mm with a monopod, but I'm assuming this shake is amplified (+ add the jello effect to the equation). Of course, this might be something that can be improved with practice. Do you have links to images taken with your setup?
Good idea about zooming out first to acquire the target, and then zooming in. I have a 80-200 lens that could be used in this way with the Q, and of course offer more flexibility than the 300mm prime. Definitely something to try out!
Best regards,
Markus
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Forum: Pentax Q
01-22-2018, 06:39 AM
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Dear barondla and Roger,
Thanks for the warm welcome! I have shown the moon picture to a few photographer friends, many of them couldn't believe it wasn't stacked or manipulated in some other way. Of course, I played around a lot with sharpening / NR / contrast in post-processing before I found good settings without it looking artificial - but it's still just one image. Very happy with the final result.
Incidentally, "Q" is pronounced "kuu" in Finnish, which means "moon". Coincidence or not? :lol:
Nice rare lens! I have yet to purchase a lens of that kind, both due to price and weight. Maybe somewhere down the line... :)
Yes, I haven't done much astrophotography besides shooting the moon, this might be something I'll look into later, thanks!
Yes, this does seem like something that would be helpful. I checked out the Pentax RD10, which seems like a good buy in the US, but with tax and shipping to Europe I might look into other brands. There's also the case of finding an adapter for the hot shoe. Do you think something like this would work?
Blitz | Blitz Starpointer-Schnellkupplung aus Metall für DSLR
It does seem a bit short and would only allow for mounting a red dot sight at one clamp point - but it should at least not wobble side to side...?
Seems like a long read :lol: but I'll check it out!
Here are my thoughts about a tripod and a head - I have generally not been fond of tripods due to the added bulk, but as we know, the tripod is not really optional with the Q and tele lenses :cool: And now that I've witnessed how far you can see with the Q and a tele lens, I might be willing to lug around a tripod more often! So, both of you mention proper ball heads with medium to sturdy tripods. I've however been fascinated by the gimbal head and the idea that you are able to balance the lens for the feel of weightlessness, and adjust the friction on both axes to your liking... Of course, with my current gear, the jello effect is in play - so I might anyway still be shooting mostly stationary targets with the Q. And, the gimbal would only work properly with longer lenses that have tripod collars. So yes, it's a specialized piece of gear...
I have been looking at this side-mount gimbal LensMaster Gimbal RH-1, which is not very heavy, at least. Fairly priced, but not cheap. Somehow, I also think that my current travel tripod, with a weight rating of 6kgs, would be in need of upgrading to something sturdier as well, should I get the gimbal head :cool: Possible investments coming up...
The no-brand remote I got for the Q was 5 bucks, at least, and works well :lol:
Thanks a lot guys for your thoughts!
Best regards,
Markus
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Forum: Pentax Q
01-21-2018, 01:31 PM
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Q + Fotodiox adapter + Canon FD 300mm f/4 L
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Forum: Pentax Q
01-21-2018, 01:20 PM
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Hello guys,
This is my first post, so bear with me... I'll write a few lines first to introduce myself and to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, and after that, I'll post my actual question :)
I got my first mirrorless ILC about three years back when a friend recommended me the m4/3 Panasonic GM1 with a kit lens, which was available at a nice price, which I then bought. I really liked the convenient size of the camera (it's was actually very much like the Q - except missing IBIS) so I got a few lenses for it. Some months later I got curious about adapting older film-era lenses to it, and then purchased an adapter and one of the widely available lenses, the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4. Using that combo, I found out that I enjoyed the challenge to manual focus - that it pushed me to pre-visualize the image before I even tried to take it - after all, having no auto-focus requires you to put in some work for each shot. Now, fast-forward to mid-2017, I had two mirrorless cameras (Sony A7II + Olympus m10II - I sold the GM1 due to me wanting IBIS and a viewfinder), a nice collection of mostly Canon FD lenses from the 1980's ranging from 20mm to 300mm, and adapters for both cameras to Canon FD. Howerver, I was still wanting for more reach, and in particular, drooling for a long telephoto lens (Canon FD 500mm f/4.5L) to get even closer to wildlife and to the moon - but the price to import the lens here to the EU from Japan (currently 1200-1500EUR incl tax and shipping) kept me back. Closer to Christmas I stumbled upon a post here that used the Pentax Q with a long legacy telephoto lens, and got very much excited about the 5.6x crop factor. I realized that this could actually have impressive potential for long reach photography. A few days later, I also happened to stumble upon a Pentax Q10 kit on Ebay for a reasonable price. Well, the rest is history.
I have been very impressed by the Q10. Very good image quality given the very low pixel density. Of course it has it's quirks - only electronic shutter with adapted lenses, other than Pentax lenses with the official P/K adapter if I understood correctly - but otherwise it's a nicely designed system that I will happily use with long telephoto lenses. I'll attach a moon shot with the Q10 + Fotodiox adapter + Canon FD 300 f/4 L.
So, while I was taking those shots of the moon, I saw that the moon moved very quickly across the frame with my 300mm lens on. The head I have is a Sirui L-20S, which I think is a very good pan/tilt head. It's very sturdy for it's size and price, and has friction adjustment on both axes. It has worked very well for me with my previous setups. However now, with the Q10, I'm wondering if subject acquisition would be easier with a gimbal-type head, which could be used to achieve balance. Thus I ask,
1) what type of head do you use with your Pentax Q + long telephoto lens?
2) what kind of tripod do you use for this kind of setup?
Best regards,
Markus
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