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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
11-16-2021, 04:06 PM
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#6 unless it was a trained bird
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
02-19-2020, 08:32 PM
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i have just finished converting 12,000 slides ( all significantly edited from the original shooting) to digital. Copying is the easy part. Editing all for color, sharpness, straightening, cropping, color balance (plus severe correction for color deterioration in some old slides), etc, etc, etc. takes time, I also intend to add key words ( to aid in quick searches) and geo-location ( don't think I'll ever get that finished). I'm 85 and don't know if I'll make it. I'm also converting 7 albums of prints, for many of which I have saved the original negative. ..... Back to the slides: I have modified a Kodak projector and have a tray feed on it. The 150 watt high intensity bulb was replaced wit a 25 watt one of my own making. I consists of a 25 watt pin type minibulb, fitted into a 12 volt spot reflector. I added some onionskin paper for extra diffusion and disconnected the the small lamp inside the projector that is used for auto focusing the slide. With the projector's lens removed, I started shooting with my K5 on tripod and a fantastic Tokina 90 mm manual prime macro into the lens opening. It took a lot of work to balance and align everything, and even stopped down, the lens still has mm and sub-mm alignment and DOF. I didn't have cable release, so I used mirror lockup and 3 second delay from pushing the shutter. I used the Av mode but since the auto aperture didn't work, I advanced the EV a couple stops to compensate for the closing aperture. ....Recently, it got a lot easier, as I got a KP with cable release. From then on it was just click-click, click-click, etc, etc. The tilt-able monitor on the KP using the grey edge detection focus mode made focusing so much easier. All photos where shot at raw-DNG. I had to use a lot blue temperature correction in post processing to account for the yellow hue of the lamp.... Then I remembered that I had a blue 80B filter that fit that lens. ..... So, all 12,000 slides are converted but awaiting further post-proc. while I finish scanning negatives and prints from the albums....I use about 5 different applications on my Apple for all of the processes. If I live long enough, all 15,000 of a lifetime of family, backpack in the Sierra and world travel will be given to each of my kids and G'kids on a single 128 GB chip in high quality res. and quality jpeg. That way, when they back the dumpster up to the house, not all will be lost. -------- Oh, every slide title is dated and has imbedded a code for where the original can be found.
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Forum: Pentax Lens Articles
09-20-2019, 09:51 PM
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Oh dear. Now we are getting into the quality of lens design for a flat, curved or bumpy focal plane. I just want to know, quickly, what aperture to use if I'm shooting a 0.25 inch flower, a 5 inch flower or an elephant's head in the early twilight. I'm not a professional photographer. I'm not senile yet either, but I don't carry those numbers around in my head. The calculator serves my purpose, or a weatherproof cheat sheet in my back pocket. Yes, I forgot that the camera may or may not know the focus distance of the lens........ but yet the calculation would be more simple on the camera display than in my back pocket.... in dim light with my reading glasses in my right pocket...or did I put them in my left pocket................!!!.
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Forum: Pentax Lens Articles
09-20-2019, 02:02 PM
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I guess I opened a can of worms with my automatic DOF question. When I had my Brownie, I never worried about it. I was then 11 years old. Now I am 84 with poor eyesight. I used to be a more serious photographer at 50 with fairly good eyesight. I know that DOF is a multi parameter problem. I've written the equations for it (hyperfocal, normal, and macro) and could post them here if you wish. I have received lots of responses, some more or less suggesting I go back to the Brownie hyperfocal mode. But, I am looking for a critical measurement and semi-automatic at that. The best answers that I received are: a) No camera has the direct mode for it by the numbers, b) With good eyesight and critical eye evaluation, one can use the the "preview" function / image, c.) one can carry a cheat sheet in your back pocket, d.) download "Camera Calculators" app to one's smart phone......I like answer c) the best and have downloaded it. It is quite simple and one can even specify you desired Circle of Confusion, or use a standard d/1500. But what c) does could be easily implemented with auto or semi automation as a mode in the modern "smart" camera. Here's my recent example: I am shooting copies of my 35 mm slides using a modified stack loading Kodak projector, a macro lens and my K10D mounted on a tripod looking into the vacant lens opening of the projector. I have a home-made low wattage bulb replacing the 300 Watt EHL. I have disconnected the projector's servo slide positioning lamp because its light output interferes. My DOF is less than a millimeter. Now I know my focusing problem, but I had to use c) or numerically solve the equations. I have also looked at the hundreds of Sierra wildflower photos that I have on slides and wonder if I could have done better. With the in-camera DOF feature for which I am asking, it would have been a snap. Unhappily, I am no longer hiking the Sierra ...... but I am going to Costa Rica with a new KP.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-18-2019, 07:10 PM
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Thanks for the advice. I downloaded the app. It would stil be usefu if it was built into the camera which automatically knows my focal point, lens focal length and aperture.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-17-2019, 04:11 PM
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PS I know the Depth of Field is shown on the focusing ring of many lenses, or it used to be so, anyway. That is too hard to use, especially for an 84 year old with bad eyesight.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
09-17-2019, 04:01 PM
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Depth of Field is such an important part of good photography, yet with all the automation of modern camera, especially digital, I know of none in the Pentax world where it can be chosen as an exposure mode, much less even a presentation to the photographer when selecting an aperture and focusing distance. I admit that i have not explored all the features of the K10D which is my only digital, but I have never seen it referenced in all the reviews I've come across. I am thinking of purchase of a K1-II, but I have found no such reference in even the most detailed specifications and reviews. At all ranges from infinity focus scenic, a waterfall with mountains background, a candid portrait at a party, a dimly lit morning safari with an elephant's head to photograph, and a macro of a wildflower that is just 5 mm wide. It would be nice to easily specify the depth of field and have the camera select the settings. Or, at least present the depth of field when I make the setting selection / mode. ----- Am I missing something and just haven't read the instruction book? I know that the formula's for such are not that complicated.???
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
09-17-2019, 01:29 AM
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Many years ago, my wife saw me drooling over ad for Pentax LX . ( What a fantastic engineering marvel the LX was) It was my surprise Xmas gift and first Pentax.. More film Pentax and lenses followed. My first and only digital is K10D. Now I'm drooling over buying a K1-II. Have "snowbird" month trip to Costa Rica in Jan 2020. Will use 45 year old workhorse Tokina ATX 28-70, Sigma APO 105-400 and possibly ATX 90 macro for birds, night walks frogs etc, and night time green sea turtles. Will need a new wide for the K1-II. ------ I am now converting to high quality digital some 70+ years of backpacking, world travel, and family film and slides to digital. ------ Hello everyone. - Tom
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