Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-19-2022, 09:14 AM
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...Day 106... 19th of July... still waiting... |
Forum: General Photography
06-21-2022, 12:06 PM
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AS someone who designed and built their own lens specifically for cool bokeh effects I have but one thing to say.......
HELP! MY BOKEY BALLS ARE SNOWFLAKES!!!
EDIT: Whoops, I wrote "bokey" instead of "bokeh". I'm running with it! They're called "bokey balls" from now on. ---------- Post added 2022-06-21 at 12:20 ---------- In a more constructive light, I would like to approach the subject of bokeh overuse from two angles.
Dilber's Law: Most of everything is terrible. Movies, music, beooks, art, photos... most of them are terrible. We get masterpieces because some are good - they survive literally due to survivorship bias. We remember the good ones because they are good - most of the rest... weren't good, and we forgot about them. It's the same with bokeh in photos. Most of them are bad. You'll remember the good ones...
It's a tool: you wouldn't hate nailguns becasue they are overused in production-carpentry... actually, Im willing to bet I can find a youtuber saying exactly that... but that's not the point - the point is that at the end of the day, people are using that tool because they find it to be effective. In the case of bokeh/bokey, the photographers clearly enjoy using the effect. Per Dilbert's law, above, most of them aren't going to use it to great effect... but some of them are. For the truly great bokeh users to make it work, they all need practice, so there are going to be a great deal of flops out there too... but for every sea of flops, there will always be some masterpieces floating in the top. There will even be future masterpiece makers floating towards the top too.
I for one love bokeh. I'm currently playing with some pictures I took in botanical gardens where the background consists of a waving sea of [pink flower] with my focal point being a single in-focus blossom. They were all the same colour, so depth of field was my sharpest tool to use to isolate the foreground. It's no masterpiece, but I like it. There are other shots in that same set where I have bokeh gravel (fun), bokeh cacti (way too noisey), and bokeh rain on a window (surprisingly nice). Most of them are terrible, but there are a few that I like.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that a lot of everything is terrible - instead of focusing on the out-of-focus, what I'd suggest is trying to learn how to quickly sift through sets and find the good ones so you aren't spending so much time sifting through the more cliched uses of bokeh. Learn to optimise your time looking at photos by quickly ignoring the ones you don't like - if theres a surge of bokeh photos just now, then chances are it's a fad and will pass - and if it's not a fad, then try to look forward to the masterpieces that will inevitably float to the top of the sea of mediocrity!
PS - for all who think you're "part of the sea of mediocrity" - don't worry, I'm right there with you. I'm havng fun swimming! Don't worry about it! If you weren't part of that sea, there'd be nothing for the masterpieces to float on... and that includes your own future masterpieces ;)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-13-2022, 12:02 PM
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::sigh::
So, here's the current timeline...
Day 0 - 5th of April: I contacted trader explaining fault
Day 2 - 11th of April: The trader responded asking for video of fault
Day 2 - 13th of April: I responded providing video
Day 6 - 17th of April: I sent more information when I discovered the camera body wasn't working with the PWM lens (first time I had used it since the other lense failed)
Day 30 - 11th of May: Trader responded, offering a repair,
Day 30 - 11th of May: I responded asking for confirmation on cost of returns (under UK Consumer Rights Act, trader pays this...)
Day 35 - 16th of May: Trader responded, refusing to pay, misquoting their own policies, and misquoting the Consumer Rights Act
Day 35 - 16th of May: I respond respond, quoting the actual Consumer Rights Act... and informing I will be "paying under protest"
Day 35 - 16th of May: I respond providing tracking number (less than expected because the original courier was raking me over the coals for item insurance)
Day 36 - 17th of May: Trader responds saying they will be in contact with the status of the item once they receive it
Day 47 - 28th of May: I respond asking if there has been any updates or any estimated timescale for the repair.
Day 59 - 9th of June: Trader responds saying they only have info that "it has been sent to the manufacturer for repair/further reveiw - evaluation to follow shortly"
Day 64 - 13th of June:.... still waiting.
This is a big international company as well... I'm not terribly happy... that's two months I've been without my camera... I don't think that's reasonable... can anybody opine on whether they think this is a reasonable timeframe given the nature of the camera being repaired?
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-31-2022, 09:00 AM
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I always like to use the analogy of a professional racecar driver when I see things like this...
That professional driver will likely do more with an old, beat up rust bucket than a regular driver would do in the pro's racing car.
Why? Well, it's not a the car - it's the operator: likewise, it's not the camera, it's the person behind it... You can automate cameras all you want - you can add AI and let it hallucinate the "best" photo it sees fit... But that was never the point.
These are only tools - to return to the driving analogy, which is better - a fully automatic AI car, a remote operated car, an automatic transmission, or a manual?
Trick question! I never defined what I meant by "better"! Not only that, but whatever allow on mean by "better" is subjective!
I find the best experience for me is a manual transmission - operating the vehicle is part of the journey... But there are times I wish it would just drive itself so I can enjoy the scenery.
Cameras are the same - for some, learning the camera system is the enjoyable part - for others, it's a burden. The only thing I can suggest is to do what you find most enjoyable - and remember, the camera is only a tool - the photograph only a product - what truly matters most is the journey.
Find a famous photo and ask yourself why the photographer who took it is proud of it... It's never because the camera had a 28mp sensor with 9nm wafer and shoe magical AI... Nor is it ever because the camera used a glass plate and silver colloid and a hand operated shutter...
It's because of the journey they took to get it - the experience of that journey - the culmination of skill, wisdom, and a little bit of luck.
So please, don't give up on the journey just because someone invented a fancier tool... Because there will always be a fancier tool, and that is never the focus... Please enjoy your journey, wherever it takes you!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-17-2022, 06:00 AM
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Uh oh, the camera body is now misbehaving - it's not working with my 55-300mm PWM lens now - but it works with a screwdrive lens.
I suspect something is up with the electrical contacts on the kaf4 mount. ::Sadface::
My poor camera! 😭
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-07-2022, 04:46 AM
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It moves half-way then sticks hard! The spring appears to have disconnected as well as it doesn't return by itself. Whatever's jamming is jammed in there good! :(
Luckily in the UK (and EU?), consumer rights covers you for 2 years (or longer) for manufacturing defects (think "warranty") and can cover you even longer depending on what it is.
It gives you legal recourse if somebody sells you a faulty good that doesn't break immediately, and it doesn't cost you anything.
NOOOO!!! Why would you even say that!!! :lol:
Hopefully the replacement won't fail like this one did - I love that lens as well! It feels solid... even more so now that the aperture lever only moves so far :P
Fingers crossed - hopefully hear back from the place I bought it from today or tomorrow... if not they're getting a call!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-05-2022, 01:58 PM
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So, had an interesting experience recently - autoexposure was all over the shop (consistently overexposing when stopping down the aperture, by seemingly random amounts), and then the KP started locking up and taking several seconds to register button presses.
After getting thoroughly confused, I tracked it down to the lens - the aperture isn't fully stopping down (stops around F/6 or so) and the aperture lever isn't returning to position. Now the camera isn't even recognising theres a lens loaded (but is still locking up and slowing down, making me think the firmware is confused about what the aperture is supposed to be doing).
Going to claim consumer rights for a replacement as it's only five months old, and hasn't had any knocks or bumps. In fact, given the cost of it I was petrified of damaging it!
I was really liking that lens until this happened - as I said, I've asked for a replacement, but I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with the lens?
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Forum: General Photography
12-19-2021, 04:54 AM
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The thing to remember is that its a neural net that was trained on a certain dataset to handle certain things - what you're effectively seeing is how a computer imagines the image to look like without the removed area...
It has no way of knowing whether what it imagined is realistic or not - and it can only imagine within a certain scope (defined by, but not necessarily limited to the original dataset).
In other words, if you try to make it do something it wasn't trained on, your mileage may vary!
I still find it mighty impressive! 😄
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Forum: General Photography
12-19-2021, 04:45 AM
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... I wonder what happens if you try to remove that dark patch and the digital bushes 🤔
--EDIT--
The AI doesnt quite know what to do with it and creates more artifacts. Interesting!
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Forum: General Photography
12-18-2021, 12:20 PM
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I was recently playing around with a neural net trained to remove parts of images.
Load a photo, then draw on it to highlight the bits you want removed. I've tried it with removing handles from doors, and streetlights that were ruining a skyline... I then used it to remove the horizon itself so it was just sky!
I thought I would share it here, as I found it really impressive... Its doing a better job than I can with my big human brain! Cleanup.pictures - Remove objects, people, text and defects from any picture for free |
Forum: Pentax KP
11-13-2021, 01:12 PM
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Ah-ha! Many thanks! That definitely clears up the reason behind it! I was unsure the mechanism behind mechanical shutter (apparently) being able to read the sensor quicker than ES - many thanks!
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Forum: Pentax KP
11-09-2021, 07:20 PM
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ES doesn't allow for the anti-aliasing simulator either. Apparently it's due to the rolling shutter, the movement of the sensor for SR would cause distortion.
This does, however, raise a question regarding front/rear curtain on the mechanical shutter: the travel speed vs slit size can cause rolling shutter distortion... BUT - under the same circumstances, the ES is much more susceptible to it. When I look into it seems that the ES row scanning rate should be roughly equivalent to the travel speed of the shutter in MS mode.... AH! The difference is that ES reads one row at a time - "exposing" one row at a time - while the mechanical shutter exposes multiple rows on the sensor simultaneously (at a rate determined by the window size, and shutter travel rate - window size being the size of the gap between the leading and trailing curtains during shutter release).
In ES each row of the sensor is read individually, so you capture each row in beautifully crisp detail - think "line scanner". With a mechanical shutter, even though the shutter moves across each row of pixels, it is exposing many neighbouring rows of pixels - so each row captures a blurry afterimage where the ES would have captured only a single row at a time...
In other words... IF that explanation is correct, under a particular circumstance where ES is prone to rolling shutter distortion, MS would result in a motion blur. Huh. I'll need to test this and see if this explanation is correct!
Oooh! I hadn't heard of that particular advantage! I'll add that to the list of scenario-specific usages ;)
Good note on the sound as well - though, to be honest, beside the K-50, the shutter (and mirror) on the KP are practically silent! Sure, in a quiet room it'd be noisy in comparison, but in my firsts field test (I took it to a field and tested it ;)) it was refreshingly quiet. I didn't even think my K-50 was that loud until I got this!
BANDING! Yes I meant to mention that in the list of downsides.
Many thanks folks! That's cleared things up a lot for me - much appreciated! :)
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Forum: Pentax KP
11-08-2021, 04:51 PM
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I just got my new Pentax KP (to replace my venerable K-50) and I love it!
Coming from the K-50 I'm used to a mechanical shutter sh-click! - so I have a few quick questions about the electronic shutter mode ;)
To make a long story short... is there any reason why I wouldn't use the Electroning Shutter (ES) mode for most everyday shooting? Obviously, where rolling shutter or fast flash sync speeds are required the Mechanical Shutter (MS) is probably a safer bet, but as far as I could tell using ES effectively extends the life of the camera by reducing wear and tear on the shutter in addition to being quieter and with lower vibration?
What are the downsides (apart from the aforementioned rolling shutter and slower flash sync speeds)?
Edit: literally just posted and suddenly remembered a possible downside :lol: - I seem to recall shake reduction isn't employed in ES mode - will double check the manual - but would that be a good reason to prefer MS mode for handheld shooting :P
Put simply - ES / MS modes are tools - but I don't yet know how to use them to best effect!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-10-2021, 06:48 AM
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I just used online calibration charts and attempted to do the best I could with my eyes.
It's definitely not perfect, but it seems to be good enough to get by - at least as far as colour goes.
I'm a bit concerned about the brightness though - I'm not quite sure what's going on with that... looking back all the way through my flickr, it seems that a lot of photos are about a 0.33 to 0.5 stops too dark - which is weirdly consistent, excusing a few really dark images, which I hope were deliberate experiments on my part! :lol:
We'll see if it makes a difference - I still think the biggest contributor to systemic darkness in my photos is me though ;)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-09-2021, 03:40 PM
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Right - third time lucky xD
Do you reckon the "portrait" of the swan (earlier post) is alright, brightness-wise? It seems alright on my phone but it's too bright on my monitor - if it's good for you I can use it as a calibration point to fix my monitor brightness.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-09-2021, 04:39 AM
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Ooh! A systematic error! Intriguing!
I just a look at a swan picture I took a while back and they are a little dark too...
But, interestingly, it is MUCH more noticeable on my phone than it is on my PC screen...
So, I reckon it's 25% my computer monitor (will review settings), and 75% me not being used to working with white fluffy critters (will compare and contrast as you suggested!)
Thanks for the feedback! Very much appreciated 👍 ---------- Post added 2021-05-09 at 04:45 ----------
Thanks - I don't think anybody's called my work anything but "meh" before!
Quick questions... right above the wingtip there is a shadow caused by ripple - is it distracting enough to be worth removing?
Brightness... Would it benefit from being a little bit brighter?
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-08-2021, 03:45 AM
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Hrm.... Very interesting.
It appears reasonably bright on my monitor - I'll need to watch out for that in future... hrm... How is this for brightness? (+0.66ev)
That's the spots removed too =D |
Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-08-2021, 02:13 AM
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Wilco! I deliberately shot them a stop or two down so I wouldn't overblow the whites, with intent on brightening everything in post - looks like I was a bit too light handed this time round! Or, a bit too dark-handed, rather! :lol:
I had somehow missed that spot... Wow. That's kinda embarassing! I must have been worrying too much about the crop and not looked at the bigger picture!
Thanks for the feedback! 😊 I'll touch them up and see how things go! Back soon!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-07-2021, 04:25 AM
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Been a long while since I posted! Finally made it out for a good shoot in clear weather and man, was it good to get out again! Portrait of a swan by Callum Robertson, on Flickr
Man, that is one coquettish glint in that swan's eye! Swan Could have been a little bit better - apparently I took it at a slight angle (I was lying prone at the time and had to twist sideways to get this one) and it ended up squint... and the problem is that rotating it back into place makes the picture feel a bit claustrophobic - so I decided just to leave it!.
-EDITED-
Okay apparently I can crop it in more than I realised. I had "auto-crop" turned on in the rotation section, so when I rotated it, it snipped off the corners and made the new image a rectangle of max area... which left me no room to crop properly. Disabling that allowed me to crop it to a smaller area while preserving the sides.
I'll to remember that the next time I take a squint photo! :lol:
There are more pics in the album but I thought these were the best two
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-22-2020, 08:48 AM
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Xmas special! I tweaked the program to generate a christmas subject and focus :) Week: №46 Duration:2020/12/22--2020/12/28 Subject: MERRYMAKING Focus on: CHEER Style: CRITICAL Optional Challenge: DoF - Focus on the Depth-of-Field (DoF) when shooting
This week's challenge will use MERRYMAKING as the subject matter, with a focus on the concept of CHEER in a CRITICAL style.
The optional challenge is: DoF - Focus on the Depth-of-Field (DoF) when shooting
All photos you take must emphasise the Depth-of-Field. Either:
A) Every time you shoot, take 2-3 shots of the same subject with different DoF (short/long, and optionally somewhere intermediate).
--OR--
B) For the first third of your journey, use a short DoF; for the second third, use an intermediate DoF; and for the final third, use a long DoF. Take at least ten shots at each setting.
Using your Camera's Aperture-Priority Mode (usually marked 'A') is advisable. (The purpose of this is to reinforce practical understanding of the aperture corner of the exposure triangle.) |
Forum: General Photography
12-16-2020, 12:55 AM
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So THAT'S what clear water looks like?!
Makes sense! The more particulate between you and the subject, the more scattering there is to ruin the image; I hadn't thought of it that way but it's pretty obvious in retrospect!
In in the Firth of Clyde the vis can be good - on a few occasions exceeding 10m (~33ft) but that's been rare. In fact, I record the vis in my log - I wonder what the actual percentages are? <1m: 5%
1-3m: 55%
3-10m: 30%
>10m: 10%
Note that <1m is underrepresented because if I go out and the water is like soup - I generally just won't go in :P
Also note that the average vis is probably in the 3-5m region but the Mares dive log wants it in the above groups. ::shrugs::
Aye that sounds reasonable - I might consider that my ideal-setup if I really get into it =D
For now though, cheapness is the name of my game - I'm leaning towards an apeman action camera with a bar-grip and a pair of chinese no-brand strobes.
However, I've just been informed that I will be furloughed for January... and possibly February too... and possible part of March... so it looks like I'll be holding off on buying anything for now. I might see if I can stretch my budget and just by the camera itself, using my torch as the light source - but it's probably more sensible for me to wait until after I come off furlough and get my moneys sorted again.
Nice of them to tell me a week before christmas! Oh well... what can ya do...!
Thanks for all the advice, folks - been an interesting read! ... I totally want a TG now :lol:
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Forum: General Photography
12-15-2020, 03:44 AM
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On their own (with no additional housings) they seem to be alright for up to 15m (~50ft) which would certainly be alright for shallow dives - the problem is a lot of the local dive sites have points-of-interestin the 15-25m region (and a few closer to 30m) - so I'd need an enclosure.
IF I can get a bundle with an enclosure, maybe secondhand, that's certainly an option though!
I'm not seeing much on the forums or interwebs. Ikelite made housings for the K5 but I'm pretty sure they're discontinued now... also they cost about as much as a K1.
Oooh! Lots of good stuff there!
I think used is the way to go - or an action cam+housing. Most of the folk in my club have upgraded from cheap action cams when they failed or broke or got lost, but I've not been able to skadge one off them I'm afraid! Not yet anyway ;)
Depth: don't believe spec, get hard housing - will do!
Lighting: absolutely - my initial plan was to DIY a rig using a profiled stainless steel base, 3D printed handles, and jointed hose to support the lighting... which to be honest will probably consist of two el cheapo diving torches... not ideal, but better than just my main torch on its own. From there I can upgrade it with better lights, rig, etc. [update] I can actually get cheap fill lights from china in the £15-50 region, and rigs to attach them - so there isn't much reason for me not to do that. Sure, the quality might suffer - but I can live with that!
Strapping: pretty sure all my gear is strapped to my BCD in one way or another! Only time its not is when we're getting back on the RHIB and we're passing gear up to folk on the boat... ::shudders:: Lost one of my integrated weights that way... Whoops! I've got 6 or so D-rings in various spots on my jacket, so there's plenty of space to clip in on - I'll just need to take extra caution passing it up to the boat (like making sure they're holding it before I unclip it, etc)
Safety: for me, safety is the absolute number-one priority. I'm still a relative newbie and I have a healthy terror respect for the water. :) It's a dangerous world down there! I've not had any near misses yet - unless you consider an overexitable buddy knocking your mask right off your face while trying to point out a seal to be a near miss - talk about getting sucker punched!
Thats an option too! I shall look into it - see if I can't find a decent point and shoot somewhere.
Photo-quality-wise, I'm not expecting wonders; rather a way to capture memories and the more interesting flora and fauna - which makes me wonder if an action cam is an idea, since I can literally strap it to my chest if I want to just record whatever I was doing, rather than using it as a photography platform. When combined with a handheld rig with lighting, picture quality might not be terrible.
There, that's a good description of my end game: photos that "might not be terrible" :lol:
I think I may be leaning towards the action-cam route at the moment. Decent price, good specs, quality that "might not be terrible", and when combined with lots of lighting, I suspect it may take decent pics. Obviously I wont be getting featured on NatGeo - but if I can show my family and friends the sort of life I see down there, I'd call that a success.
Lighting-wise, as I mentioned earlier, I was planning on using cheap torches on jointed hose for lighting - but having just had a quick look on ebay... I can actually just buy chinese fill lights. Sure, they might fail at some point - but I have electrical engineering experience... I can rebuild them! Better! Stronger! ---------- Post added 2020-12-15 at 04:03 ---------- Side note: how cool would it be to have a Ricoh Theta in one of those diving enclosures - 360 video dives, ooh, wish I had £££ to spare.
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Forum: General Photography
12-14-2020, 07:48 AM
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So, I do a lot of SCUBA - I used to enjoy going round with a little £30 action-camera in a case but the quality was never great, and one day it got knocked over the side of the boat and now lives, somewhat fittingly, at a depth of ~30m in a random stretch of the Firth of Clyde.
I decided yesterday that I want to replace it and actually get into underwater photography instead of just doing it and forgetting about it... and then losing it over the side of the boat.
I want the equivalent of a point-and-click camera, with decent macro ability, suitable for depths up to 30m. Budget is, say... <£200 - which rules out GoPros (which I've never been terribly fond of anyway).
I would settle for ~20m (~66ft) depth limit, but 30m (~100ft) is preferred as it covers every depth I'm likely to operate at in the near future. I'd prefer to avoid using my K-50 in a hard-case in the off-chance of anything happening to it :P
Might anyone have any suggestions?
[edit] https://www.divingsquad.com/best-underwater-camera/cheap-budget/
This was my go-to source on my own research - figured I'd ask around here as well since I can't be the only diver wanting to do some scuba :D
Note - I can, to some extend, make my own rig for holding an underwater enclosure - I have access to 3D printing and machining and whatnot, so if I want to strap an enclosure to something and add in some flashlights and duct-tape for good measure, it's not terribly difficutl :)
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-11-2020, 02:28 AM
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Nice - I could actually write a python script to do something similar and maybe drop them into folders or whatever. I have exiftool in my photography-tools-folder so I can try out your method as well to see if I like it =D
Thanks for that!
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-11-2020, 02:26 AM
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Week: №45 Duration:2020/12/11--2020/12/17 Subject: DREAMING Focus on: POINTLESSNESS Style: INSANE Optional Challenge: Prime Lenses - Take 2 prime lenses - no zooming allowed! Use one on the outward leg of your journey, and the other your return leg!
This week's challenge will use DREAMING as the subject matter, with a focus on the concept of POINTLESSNESS in an INSANE style.
The optional challenge is: Prime Lenses - Take 2 prime lenses - no zooming allowed! Use one on the outward leg of your journey, and the other your return leg!
Use exactly two prime lenses (of different focal lengths) on your journey. Choose beforehand which lenses you are taking. On the outward leg of your journey, you must use one of these prime lenses, swapping the lenses only at the half-way point of your journey.
For bonus points, backtrack along the same path with the second lens. (The purpose of this is to encourage photographers to appreciate the difference of focal length and to emphasise the use of footwork rather than merely zooming in (or out) of their subject)
This is the second one I have generated this week - I decided not to make the first one (see attached) the primary challenge - but its there if you want to try it out anyway.
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