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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-13-2023, 12:03 PM
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There's one big reason to look for some software that has a 'proper' colour to black and white conversion facility. It's that you can change how each colour is processed during the conversion - in the attached screenshot from my copy of Affinity Photo, each slider will affect the brightness of the associated colour range. The effects can be very dramatic allowing you to, as an example, selectively darken the blues in a sky whilst boosting the brightness of the reds.
I don't know anything about Mac software but there are plenty of freeware PC programs, so I'm sure you'd find something by searching for free black and white conversion software.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-01-2023, 05:18 AM
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Forum: Photographic Technique
02-28-2023, 04:56 AM
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I've found that, when appropriate, using Topaz Sharpen AI as part of the processing workflow can recover slight focus misses to an extent that is almost miraculous, especially around the eyes. They do a free trial so you can evaluate it yourself with some of those slightly-off best shots.
Here are 100% portions of an original image versus the same thing after Topaz Sharpen AI has been used.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-11-2023, 03:39 AM
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Yes. After buying a few cheap second-hand telephoto lenses, I found that although they were acceptably sharp, the slow, hit-and-miss screw-driven focusing made the lenses next to useless in many situations. The 55-300 PLM was a revelation, focusing as fast as you could click your fingers! It seems that screw-driven focusing works fine for shorter focal length lenses but it really can't cope with telephotos which need more movement to focus.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-22-2022, 04:22 AM
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I know I'm not really answering the question, and suspect I'm being heretical too, but I'd use the money to have my Canon T90 repaired. - I really valued using its spot metering in conjunction with the zone system display in the viewfinder. Having said that, I'm sure I'd still be using my Pentax K3 ii almost all the time because it does everything I want and feels so natural to use. Anyway, I've spent too much time in darkrooms and too much money on film and paper to want to go back!
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
11-17-2022, 07:10 AM
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Maybe it's just their overblown way of saying the camera has a pentaprism rather than a pentamirror?
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
10-05-2022, 03:44 AM
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I don't think anyone's mentioned Network Attached Storage (NAS) yet? This is my preferred solution, although far from the cheapest. I have a Synology NAS which I've fitted with two large non-SSD drives that mirror each other, protecting my data if one disk fails. I keep an external hard drive attached to the NAS which is automatically kept up to date by the NAS. That way I'm also protected should the NAS get stolen, destroyed etc. The external drive is hardware encrypted with its own keypad for entering the unlocking code. The reason for this is that, if I'm away from the house, I can carry all my important data with me, and with no risk of anyone who got hold of the disk being able to gain access to it.
Synology always seems to be well-reviewed and I'd definitely recommend them. I addition, my smartphone photos get automatically backed up to the NAS whenever I've got a wi-fi connection. Also, there are Synology apps for laptops and tablets/phones so I can access everything remotely and download any data I need.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-11-2022, 09:10 AM
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In my experience, screw focus lenses take longer to attain focus with increasing focal lengths. And if you want to photograph moving wildlife, for example, it really makes it difficult because the subject might well have moved by the time the lens has achieved focus. Having bought a second-hand telephoto lens, I was delighted with its optical performance but the screw focussing was frustratingly slow. I ended up buying the Pentax 50 - 300mm SDM lens and all those problems disappeared.
It'd be great if others could validate this!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-07-2022, 03:24 AM
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I always leave my K3ii's GPS active because I find it so useful. What I have learnt is that it still consumes a bit of battery even when the camera is switched off. This is easily overcome by removing the battery when the camera isn't being used for a few days. Plenty of appropriate battery cases are available from Amazon.
I find it really useful to get GPS data plus the compass angle the camera was being pointed in for several reasons:
* If I see a great potential photo but the light, for example, is wrong, I just take the picture anyway and add a 'Location To Remember' tag when cataloguing the pictures I've taken.
* To find all photos I've taken within a bounded area shown on a map.
If you want to explore this for free, I'd suggest DigiKam which has just received a major upgrade. For everyday cataloguing I use ON1 Photo Raw 2022 which is great and, for me at least, more intuitive to use.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-29-2022, 08:38 AM
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The other benefit of the K3 ii's GPS is its ability to add position co-ordinates to all your photos' EXIF data (as well as the compass direction the camera was pointing in). I find this incredibly useful when cataloguing my images. I started off using digiKam, which is free, but have switched to the very affordable ON1 Photo RAW 2022. It's invaluable to be able to see on a map which photos you shot where - especially if you want to revisit somewhere. I gather the K3 iii achieves the same thing by using Bluetooth to link to your phone, but that sounds far less 'automatic' and convenient.
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2021, 09:24 AM
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As I see it, there are two distinct sorts of photographers - those who want to objectively capture what was in front of the lens (here I always first think of nature and wildlife enthusiasts) and those whose aim is to capture the essence of what they subjectively felt and saw when they captured the image. So, objectivity vs subjectivity, but I see that as 'horses for courses' rather than right or wrong.
I really appreciate the skill of the best wildlife photographers who open up unseen worlds for us but, equally, I am often amazed by the hugely evocative, deeply emotional connections that can be made when looking at a significantly edited and changed image. One thing sticks in my mind... many years ago, at a photography club (or was it a camera club? - I think the name difference is also relevant to this discussion!), we had two professional wedding photographers come along to talk about how they worked. The differences were stark - one person strove to present reality, the other put a lot of time into editing to present the bride and groom with an album that captured their idealised memories.
I imagine by now it's obvious which style of photography I most enjoy, but I'm not saying one is better than another. Probably the only reason I got into photography is because I've never been any good at drawing or painting, so 'creative' photography was the obvious avenue to explore. But different people, different interests, different objectives... it's interesting to think about, but surely every photographic print deserves to be appreciated, and maybe lightly judged, by viewers on its own perceived merits?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
08-24-2021, 08:09 AM
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On my K3 II I've had success using the multi-exposure options in place of a neutral density filter. I simply press the shooting mode button on the back of the camera (it has an image of multiple frames and a self-timer on it). I then scroll across the top ribbon of icons until I get to 'Multi-exposure+ Continuous'. Then I select the first item 'Multi-exposure' in the sub-row and move down to select the 'Composite Mode', setting it to Average. Finally choose how many shots you want the camera to average. Something like 30 is a good starting point, but you'll probably want to experiment a bit. Of course, like using a neutral density filter to allow you to set a very slow shutter speed, the camera will need to be on a tripod to keep all the frames aligned.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-31-2021, 03:29 AM
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Ok. I have a K3 ii and, assuming you're using Windows, have just shown this works with DNG files...
* Open File Explorer and navigate to a folder containing your DNG files.
* Right-click on a DNG file and select Properties.
* Click on the Details tab.
* Scroll down until you see the GPS section where you should see the image's GPS location data.
I hope that works for you!
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-28-2021, 04:51 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
04-06-2021, 06:37 AM
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I might have had K3 iii envy but for the fact that Pentax has dropped the internal GPS - presumably due to the new pentaprism crowding it out. For me, it's an incredibly useful feature because, having experienced the difficulties of trying to track down old half-forgotten images which haven't been catalogued, I nowadays use DigiKam to manage my photo library. And, whilst tags, dates, ratings etc. are useful, the ability to look at a map view in DigiKam and instantly see all photos taken at a particular location is priceless - it even reports the compass direction the camera was pointing in!
Now what I'm hoping for is that Pentax will update the K3 ii software to include as many new/improved features from the K3 iii as possible. I'm unhappy that Pentax effectively declared it obsolete a few years ago, even though it's only just now being superceded.
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