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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-28-2024, 09:44 PM
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I am looking for instructions on how the rotating mount on the Pentax 1000mm mirror lens works. It seems a bit odd (in that it is easy for the end to fall off at the slightest mistake). I bought the lens without a user manual, so I am clueless about how the rotating mount should work (and not have it fall off the lens). I'm also curious as to why it has such an easily removed camera mount.
I've always wanted this lens, but it's always been way out of my price range... until now.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-31-2022, 02:47 PM
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My view is I wish they had the timed entry system for ALL of the National Parks that get crowded. It doesn't take much effort to get your times (based on my experience with Carlsbad) and the parks feel less like a Disney ride (SO many people), and most people don't make last minute decisions to go to places like Zion (we planned ours many months in advance). I'd rather have the parks "limited access" than to have them "loved to death" (title of an article I read about our National Parks).
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-01-2022, 01:57 PM
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I just read that some of the parks are now having timed entry reservations. They had that for Carlsbad Caverns (but not White Sands) on my last trip. I know that when I was at Zion, they NEEDED the timed entry because the crowds were insane. So be sure to get any timed reservations, if you need them. When I was at Carlsbad, there were A LOT of upset people who came long distances only to find that all slots to visit the caverns were already booked (I heard them complaining as my wife and I left after our self-guided tour of the caverns). I booked about a month in advance and had no trouble finding appropriately timed entry passes. I was told by the ranger that they sell out (they only cost $1.50 per person) a week or two before the date.
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Forum: General Photography
03-29-2022, 07:59 AM
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Old habits are hard to break, and since I've been with Pentax for decades, I'd stay with it, just out of familiarity with how the cameras and lenses work. I'd replace most of my kit with the same lenses. Right now, I have stuff going from a 12mm fish, to a 15 rectilinear, to a 20-35, then 28-105, then 100-300, then 400-600, plus an old 600. I'd replace the 12 with the same lens, I'd try to replace the 15 & 20-35 with the 12-24 that once in a while shows up on eBay, replace the 28-105 and 100-300 and likely just replace the 600 (the 400-600 cat zoom has not been as useful as I thought it would). I would replace the K-1ii with the same camera and get a backup K-1ii instead of my K-5 to keep everything in full frame.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-29-2022, 07:49 AM
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I just got back from a week-long trip to the 5 National Parks in Utah. I took a HUGE number of pictures with my K-1ii. I'm still getting the best ones printed. Most of my shots were with my wide angle (20-35mm Pentax) and my fisheye (12mm). I never had trouble with wind or dust. I did have "trouble" with things being so close and large that I needed my widest lenses (the 12 and the 20-35). The super wide also helped me get close enough to the various things that I could keep the other people out of the shots. When I went the parks were CROWDED and many vistas were "ruined" (in my view) by all the people. With the wide and super wide, I was abl to get in front of the rest of the people and still get the shot.
I took very few shots with the telephoto, for example, when I shot the Delicate Arch, as I am not in the greatest shape, so I took the path that was across the canyon from the arch. I still got a good set of shots of it, but it did take my 100-300 Pentax.
So in order of the # of shots that I ended up printing for my hallway (wife calls it my gallery), it would be the 20-35, then the 12, then my 28-105, and then my 100-300. Remember, these are all for a full frame K-1ii.
I went with a tour group (small groups) over 5 days and it was fantastic. If you've not already made your reservations, you can PM me (?) and I'll tell you the company I used.
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Forum: General Photography
03-08-2022, 02:09 PM
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Depends on your definition of "personal reasons". Photography for me is a stress buster. Thinking about photography, shooting images, printing them, and the looking at them are all ways I get rid of stress. It makes me happy.
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Forum: General Photography
03-08-2022, 09:11 AM
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I've been taking pictures for MANY years (my first camera was an Kodak Instamatic X-15, to give you an idea of how long ago that was) and I usually don't need information on how to take better pictures. What I need is information on how I can take decent pictures with my new fangled digital Pentax K-1ii. So my questions are usually along the lines of "I want to do X with my camera, where is that in the menu?". Yes, I should be constantly trying to improve my "art", and I do work on it, but usually not via asking questions. I just look at what I did and try to improve it.
Photography is a means to an end (stress busting). Taking, printing, and then displaying my pictures in my hallways and rooms (my wife says we won't need to repaint the interior for a long time as my photos are covering most of the walls) relaxes me.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-06-2022, 02:11 PM
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I just got a 14mm super wide angle rectilinear lens to fill in the gap between my 12mm fisheye and my 20-35mm Pentax zoom. So far, it works really well. I like how WIDE the FOV is without the distortions of my 12mm (although I've taken some cool shots with the 12mm fish that I like).
The only "issue" is that my K-1ii doesn't recognize it, which would be fine as I have to enter "12mm" for my fisheye, so entering 14mm shouldn't be an issue. The problem is my K-1ii doesn't have "14mm" as a choice. It jumps from 12mm to 15mm. I think the camera uses the focal length to do the shake reduction (which I LOVE as my hands are not as steady as they once were), and so I'd like it to be set to the correct focal length.
Is there a way to add "14mm" to the list of possible focal lengths? Most of my lenses (Pentax) are recognized by the K-1ii, with the exception of my 400-600 cat zoom lens and, of course, my two super wide lenses (14mm and 12mm).
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-25-2022, 11:46 AM
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Yes, I lowered the quality AND size to fit here. The 6826 x 5311 x 16 bit/color actual image results doesn't have the banding. That also may be the result of the conversion from 16 bit/color tiff to 8 bit/color jpg. Main thing was to illustrate the fisheye correction results. My plan is to do all the image correction work in Digital Camera Utility 5 and just do the defishing in Hugin, although I've not anywhere near explored the options in Hugin.
Again, I did no image manipulation in DCU5, other than to convert to tiff.
I tried to stitch together a couple of images I made standing at one location and it didn't work very well. That could be my inexperience with the program.
I do like the map projection theme for the conversion from sphere to flat. I work with map files a lot and that was familiar, although it doesn't have a bunch of projections that I actually like to use when I do actual maps and some of the projections it does have produce hilariously bad results.
I also just found out I can import Pentax DNG raw images directly, rather than convert to tiff and THEN use Hugin.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-24-2022, 01:52 PM
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Thank you for the suggestion of Hugin. It looks like it's going to take some time for me to figure out all of it's abilities and such, but here is a first attempt at "defishing" an image. This shot was taken with my 12mm full frame fisheye. Now I didn't do anything to the colors or contrast, etc., like I would for an image I was going to print, but at least this shows the abilities. I now have a "normal looking" picture. Now I've resized it from the full resolution that my K-1ii gives me so I could post.
---------- Post added 02-24-22 at 02:57 PM ----------
What I disliked about the other programs that "corrected" distortion was that anything near the edge really looked wonky. An example in this shot are the trees to the edge of the shot (I like framing my shots with trees and such). In the defished image, the edge trees look like trees and not some weirdly distorted things. Looks like I'm going to have to explore this program and the images I took with the 12mm.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-23-2022, 05:31 PM
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Thank you for both the suggestion and the tutorial. I'll try that out. I really like the tutorial as it gives me a starting point (well beyond just twiddling with knobs to see what happens).
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-23-2022, 10:03 AM
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I have a Rokinon 12mm F2.8 full frame fisheye lens that at times I'd like to "de-fish". Since I only use the lens occasionally, and need to "correct" it even less occasionally, I really don't want to spend the money/time learning a complex program just to de-fish. I've found that the combo of the Ricoh Camera Utility 5 and IrfanView 64 do 99% of what image manipulations I need. Yes, they both had a distortion removal tool, but neither one (nor in combination) creates a fully satisfactory de-fish correction. Is there simple/free software out there that would correct the fisheye distortion? Maybe a plug in for either of the programs?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-19-2022, 02:36 PM
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I would think it would be a great option to have the green button work just the aperture/shutter (like it does now) or aperture/shutter/ISO.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-19-2022, 02:13 PM
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One of the things I really like about my K-1ii is the hyper-Program mode. I had that on my PZ-1 and loved it. I didn't have to switch to Av or Tv mode, just spin the front or back dial to get the shutter speed or aperture I wanted. When I want to go back to the program line, I just smash the green button. It's a great system. Now with my K-1ii, I can add ISO to the hyper-Program mode and use the third dial (on top of the camera body) to set the ISO I want when the dial on the top is sent to "ISO". Great!
The problem is, pressing the green button when I want to go back to auto everything does NOT set the ISO back to "auto", unless I press the ISO button on the camera top and THEN press the green button. Then I have to press the ISO button again so that the back dial is back to shutter speed. I've look through the menu and have not found an option to set ALL THREE to "auto" when the green button is pressed.
I am missing something?
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-22-2021, 01:26 PM
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I got rid of the "The parameter is incorrect" that was stopping me from changing the print settings by filling in the font and putting some text "duh" into the box. Then I set it to "Don't print",. However, I still get that error when I click the print button. Since I'm able to print, I'll just ignore it.
Not a very useful error message. It would be nice if it said something like, "The following parameters are in error...".
But thanks for the information.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-21-2021, 01:28 PM
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I'm trying out Digital Camera Utility 5 that came with my K-1ii and I'm having a weird issue. When I try to print (by clicking on the printer icon), I get the following error:
"The parameter is incorrect."
Once I click the "OK", I get the print screen. However, if I click on the "Page Setup" button, I get the same error. Again, if I click "OK" I get the Page setup screen, but if I hit the "OK" button there, I get the same error and it won't let me exit the screen, unless I click "Cancel".
What's going on? I've not seen this error with any other program and it sure is a useless error message (akin to "something is wrong").
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-21-2021, 08:42 AM
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I use a K-5ii as the backup to my K-1ii. They use the same battery, so it's easy to take both in a kit with spare batteries. I have no DA lenses. I've taken just the K-5ii when I was just "casually" shooting stuff.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
12-19-2021, 06:19 PM
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The colors in the Ciba's were phenomenal, but the printer version is close enough to make getting away from the organics worth it.
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Forum: General Photography
11-04-2021, 10:39 AM
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It's called "Anchoring Heuristic"
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-26-2021, 07:44 AM
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I'll try that. Forgot about the "Custom Modes" options.
Thanks!:cool:
---------- Post added 10-26-21 at 07:49 AM ----------
I'm not sure if I'm willing to go that far just yet. I just like the look of the IR photos (like yours and others here).
I am curious as to what it does to the K-1ii when you remove that filter. I don't want to ruin the camera for other shooting situations, just to get the occasional IR photo. Pentax/Ricoh put that filter there for a reason.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-22-2021, 08:02 AM
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I know I can take B&W photos with the K-1, but the switch from full color to B&W and then back to full color is not trivial. Too bad I can't reassign one of the "custom" buttons to "toggle between B&W and Color Images".
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-14-2021, 08:23 AM
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Thanks. I didn't think of that. I live in the South, so the primary color is GREEN. I'll try the B&W setting on the camera to see what I get.
---------- Post added 10-14-21 at 08:25 AM ----------
That's a great shot! I'll see what I can find in the way of IR filters. That's they type of shot I'd like to make. Obviously, I'll use a tripod as even the shake reduction can't do 160s.... ;)
---------- Post added 10-14-21 at 08:27 AM ----------
Those are also really nice.
Now y'all have given me some cool things to try.... :cool:
I know that my older Pentax P&S had IR sensitivity because I remember being able to see an IR remote LED flash on/off in the Pentax "live view" viewfinder.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-13-2021, 12:37 PM
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I've been really enjoying my Pentax K-1ii. I recently took a cave/forest picture and decided to print it B&W. The shot looked really good and I noticed that the leaves in the trees were practically glowing. I've seen a bunch of IR photography and that's often the effect I see (and like). Does the K-1ii have any IR sensitivity? I don't seems to be able to find the spectral response of the K-1ii sensor. Does anyone know where it cuts off and is it sensitive to IR light?
When I chased thunderstorms in college, I used a video camera that after we drowned it, it somehow gained some IR sensitivity. The videos near sunset showed the trees practically glowing. I liked that look. So I wonder if I can take some IR shots with the K-1ii.
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Forum: General Photography
09-28-2021, 11:39 AM
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When I was in grad school, I was really stressing out about things. My aunt noticed and suggested that I try to find a hobby to relieve some of the stress. She suggested photography and gave me enough money to buy a basic camera kit. At the time (the 80's), cameras seemed to be either aperture priority or shutter priority, but not both. A "new" camera came on the market that had BOTH. It was the Pentax Super Program. So I got it and a Pentax 35-70 (?) zoom lens. I also bought a Sears 70-200 (?) to go with it.
I took LOTS of pictures with that camera kit and it really did help with the stress of grad school. Eventually, I upgraded the Sears lens to a Pentax 70-210. I then added a K-1000 to my kit, and then a 50mm f1.4. That was my system until the PZ-1 came out. I then traded in my Super Program (regret it now) along with the two zoom lenses for a PZ-1, a 28-80, and a 100-300 autofocus, power zoom lens kit.
Eventually, life caught up with me (marriage, job, kids,...) and I stopped taking pictures with the "fancy" camera. I had a series of P/S cameras, some Pentax, some not.
Now I've caught up with my life (kids all off on their own) and I splurged on a Pentax K-1ii, donated the 28-80 and replaced it with a 28-105 DFA. I then added a 20-35 Pentax, and a 12mm Rokinon manual focus. I then got a Pentax 400-600 cat manual focus and replaced the 1.4 50mm with the autofocus version.
Now I'm off shooting pictures again and loving it.
Initially, I went with Pentax because I could do both Tv, Av, and program shooting. The Super Program was easy to work with and took nice pictures. I never had issues with sharpness. Everything looked good with my kit (even the Sears lens was fine).
I stayed with Pentax because if I switched, I'd have to buy a whole new set of lenses and learn a new "style". When autofocus came out, it was easy to stay with the Pentax because my old lenses worked on the new camera. That way, I could replace the manual focus lenses as I could afford them.
When I got BACK into photography with the digital camera, again, the Pentax is able to use my "old" autofocus lenses with no issues. I really like that backwards compatibility. The 400-600 cat lens is an "old" lens, but still works just fine (other than getting a sharp focus with the zero depth of field on that lens) on the K-1ii.
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Forum: General Photography
09-28-2021, 07:46 AM
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I may do that. I need to get them digitized and get my Dad (Mom has already passed away) to help me identify the people in the pictures. When my Dad and I die, my kids will have no idea who these people are...
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