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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-23-2018, 08:47 PM
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Sat for the afternoon listening to the baseball game and trying to get a shot of the humming bird that has been hitting the feeder. Had the K20D set up on the tripod with the remote but I think I was having trouble with the sun blinding the sensor. tried a number of shots but the shutter did not fire. I was within 10 feet of the camera but light conditions were in and out. Anyway, finally I got it to fire and the shot when I finally looked at it seemed to be really cool since I froze him on the perch when he wasn't there for more than a couple seconds. Really nice and sharp and one of the better shots I've taken. Did some post though in Polar. Hope you all like it.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-09-2018, 06:31 PM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-25-2018, 12:36 AM
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
04-23-2018, 05:33 PM
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I scored this at Goodwill last weekend. After cleaning it up it looks pretty cool. But I can find no information on this company. This unit is identified as being for a Leica and I found several Ebay listings for similar units for Contax cameras. I would venture a guess that this is pre-WW2. There are references to these being able to fire a flashbulb without batteries but there are terminals on the front for what I assume was a battery. The concept is pretty cool though. There is a knob you turn to preload a spring. The shaft coming out the bottom then fires the shutter when you press the ribbed button on the unit while it also fires the flash. While I can never hope to afford a pre-war Leica I have toyed with the idea of getting a Russian Fed knockoff to mount to this as a display piece. But for now I can find no info online for this company. Hopefully one of our camera experts has run across something in the past.
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Forum: Do-It-Yourself
03-25-2018, 09:51 AM
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While I am aware of the specs for USB cable length I am also aware that I have exceeded these lengths in the past with no issues. With the tether cable I did have some initialization issues and had to try several times for a connection but once the contact was established the software worked seamlessly for the duration of the session. I used no boosters or hubs in the circuit. It seemed worth trying and worked.:)
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Forum: Do-It-Yourself
03-24-2018, 06:03 PM
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I just received my USB cable for my new (used) K20D and frankly was pissed because Remote Assistant was just not working. Pretty sketchy program anyway. But I did find references to PK Tether on the forums and after downloading it I was happy to find it worked seamlessly right off. Now how to extend the reach so I could shoot birds on the feeders without freezing. The answer was a 6 foot USB extension and a 50 foot Cat-5 cable. I split the extension in two and lopped off the plugs on the Cat-5 and after a bit of work with the soldering iron had me a 15 meter USB extension cable. I was able to set the K20D up on a tripod and sit in my family room shooting away without freezing or spooking the birds. I really like the options available in PK Tether and as a newbie it gave me a chance to mess around real time with the settings. I have included some of the shots. Enjoy and provide any critical advice as well.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
03-24-2018, 05:13 PM
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Captured this little guy at feeding time. Pretty skittish and constantly looking around! Common Warbler.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-15-2018, 08:57 AM
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This is a really well done piece. I recently acquired a K20D and its only flaw is this missing button. From what I can see this is the same part as the one replaced here and based on the K20D Part List posted elsewhere in the forums the only piece not available is the original C-Clip. But the one referenced in the article is and should work. Thanks for taking the time to lay this out clearly. Once again the Forum Members come through!:D
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Forum: Do-It-Yourself
03-02-2018, 06:01 PM
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I recently picked up an *ist DL body that was listed as broken/for parts due to a the flashing battery battery issue that seems to be common. The owner could not tell me if anything else was wrong since he could not get the camera to turn on. I bought the unit to scavenge for another unit but wanted to find out how functional it was before anything else. I putz around with low voltage electronics and had a variable 1-12v DC Chinese power supply kit that I got on the Bay for $11.00 that I thought would do the job.
I then dug through my miscellaneous plugs and found a .187 dia. female plug from a universal kit I got at some point. After confirming the plug polarity I soldered on leads made from a roll of doorbell wire I use for this type of thing. A little shrink tubing and a twist in the drill and I was good to go.
The power supply is a little light on the current side and you need to have batteries in the unit to avoid excessive draw. But it does hold a pretty steady 6.5 volts unless you start running through menus and then there is a drop but not so much the unit shuts down.
I was able to get the unit up and test all the functions. Turns out it was fully functional and just needed the battery terminals cleaned up!
Total cost was probably less than $15.00
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
03-02-2018, 07:18 AM
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I would like to nominate this photo
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
03-01-2018, 02:36 PM
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A really nice review. Great photo documentation. May have to pick this puppy up.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
03-01-2018, 02:27 PM
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Have you checked for a possible plugin for Pentax format from Adobe. It could be that the native software is reading and then doing a writeback at close that corrupts the file. Just a thought.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
02-25-2018, 01:34 PM
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Hi all! I am a newly registered member here but have been using your excellent forums for the past several months. I have liked Pentax cameras for decades as I had a buddy back in the 70's that had a Pentax SLR. The build quality really impressed me. But I have never been much of a photographer. My cameras have always been family point and shoots. But several months ago I came across a early P-3 with a SMC A 1:2 50mm lens at a local Goodwill store for $3.99. I couldn't pass it up. As it turned out with a new battery and a cleaning the camera worked great. From there I got another newer P-3 with several lenses and a bag off Ebay. Then a 28mm 1:2.8 from KEH and a SMC A Zoom 1:4 70-210 from Ebay. All the while enduring the sideways looks from the wife. But the sheer hassle and expense of getting film developed these days is a real bummer. Film costs were more than the equipment and it was either go digital or build a darkroom. That may still happen but I went the other way for now.
I picked up a *ist D body from KEH and then spent a bit of time picking up a data card and reader and locating the PROPER data cable. All the while acquiring AF lenses from Ebay. I picked up an *ist DL with lens from Ebay as a for parts offering that worked in all ways except it had a dead sensor. I then picked up another DL body from a camera shop for $10.00 after telling them $40.00 was too much for a door stop but I hoped the sensor was good. After some batteries and a card it turned out that the only problem with it was the flash. Otherwise fully functional. I then got another DL with two AF lenses from Ebay. Camera was afflicted with the "Flashing Battery" issue. A card, some new batteries, and a pencil eraser was all that was needed and that unit came fully functional. Less than 7,000 shutter count.
After looking at how involved a sensor change out I decided a body swap was easier.
Just this morning I took the original DL with the dead sensor and stripped it of all its exterior and the flash unit. I swapped these very nice pieces with the much more worn unit from the camera shop. 6,000 vs 17,000 shutter counts. Now I am the happy owner of two fully functional *ist DL's and one functional DL with a dead sensor. Surprisingly after making the swap the flashes work on both cameras! I am still not much of a photographer but I just love the build quality of Pentax. Not so much the new plastic kit lenses but the cameras and the older K-mount stuff is really nice. Once the weather improves (I live in Wisconsin) I plan to try and see what I can get for photos with these shaky old hands. But in the meantime I love working on this stuff!
I could never have done any of this without the invaluable resource that is the Pentax Forums community. I cannot count the number of times I have come here for sometimes obscure information. I hope I can contribute in some way to the information contained here but in the meantime I am happy to be a member. I hope to work up to higher megapixels in the coming months but I need the right deal and the wife's blessing first.
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