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Forum: Lens Clubs
06-13-2016, 01:21 PM
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FA50mm macro + 2x TC Kenko
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
04-24-2016, 06:42 AM
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OK, everybody, smile and say "Glug!"
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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-14-2013, 02:29 AM
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Hi,
Just want to share a word of caution regarding the FA*24/2. For what it's worth, my local Pentax repair representative was explaining to me that this lens contains an ashperical group-element inside it, meaning that this group is made up of at least two parts glued together, where one of them is made of plastic. Seems that this is done because it's difficult to grind glass to achieve an aspherical profile.
He explained that apparently there is a certain tendency for fungus to grow on that plastic portion, and once it has grown for some time, it will damage the element coating. (I suppose that the risk may be higher if you live in a humid environment, but I'm not sure.)
So if you own this lens, do take it out from storage every now and then and use it. Take the opportunity to look through the lens to see if there is evidence of fungus. Take some representative test shots and note if there's been any change to the usual image quality you expect from the lens.
Seems to me that depending what country you are in, the local Pentax technician may or may not be skilled/equipped to open up the lens and attempt to clean off the fungus. It is not a straightforward job, since the element in question is not located at the rear of the lens, but rather, somewhere inside.
If cleaning does not help, element replacement will be practically impossible, since spare parts are no longer available even in Pentax Japan, this being on older lens - so the repair representative tells me.
Thanks.
PS: In fact, taking out all your lenses from storage and using them on a rotation basis is a good practice, for at least 2 reasons:
a. It's good for your photography, working with different lenses! :)
b. It gives an opportunity for early detection of potential fungus problems, and any other lens problems there might be.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-14-2012, 11:12 PM
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Actually I did this one using Topaz Detail. Which is perhaps one of the best deblur tools ever made. However, I've used Raw Therapee's option as well which is very close in terms of performance. And you can find that option under Sharpening :> Method: Deconvoluted Sharpening.
However, if you want to avoid Raw Therapee, you can use Topaz Detail's deblur function with the following settings: Strength/18, Radius/68 which is about what's needed to get the K-5 II into the same area of detail as the K-5 IIs at default.
Once you've deblurred the image you can then sharpen it as you would any image, though I've found that both images require different sharpening adjustments to end-up with similar levels of detail. ie. the K-5 IIs is pretty straight forward, though the K-5 II benefits the most from a low or small radius combined with a high sharpening level. I'm guessing this amplifies the remaining microcontrast details left over in the image.
Hope this helps.
PS. I used FocalBlade to sharpen the images because it is the worlds most powerful sharpening tool ever. :)
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-14-2012, 12:46 PM
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Quizzical Christmas Reindeer by Jeztastic, on Flickr
Hi, I enjoyed taking this pic - thought I would share my technique. I just received my Cactus v5 flash triggers in the post, so wanted to take some pics for Xmas cards. I had the idea for an ornament in the foreground, and bokeh candles in the background. I like the reindeer's expression, so I wanted to find something for him to look at. After a lot of experimenting, I got the setup I wanted.
The strobist part was actually trickier than I thought. I wanted a constant exposure between the candles and the reindeer, however I also wanted a blacked out background, and a wide open aperture to get bokeh balls. To stop the flash overpowering the candle light I had to go down to 1/128 power on my Yongnuo YN560II, and used more candles as fill. The umbrella was camera right, and candles left. I only have one flash that will go down this low, so it took a lot of experimenting to get the light soft enough and not too dispersed so as to light the background. Not easy, especially as in the end I went down to 1/30 second. Although this allowed the candle light and flash to mix magically, it did mean I had to brush out some background areas in lightroom and rig up a black blanket in the background. Focusing was tricky, so I used live view and zoomed in, although this in turn made holding the camera steady at 1/30th tricky. Pentax SR really saved the day.
The final problem was white balance - the candle light was much warmer than the flash, even with a full CTO gel. In the end I put a second 1/2 CTO gell on top which made everything match nicely.
Lots of fun had though, happy Christmas all, hope you get lots of camera gear in your stockings!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-27-2012, 03:24 AM
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
10-24-2012, 12:12 PM
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"Despite not seeing any moire on the photos of Timmy's knitted jumper Selma and her friends still couldn't decide whether to buy the k5ii or the iis"
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
10-07-2012, 06:46 PM
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Then jono spoke out with a loud voice "Blessed are you among cats, and blessed is the fruit of your tomato patch!"
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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-25-2012, 12:53 AM
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DA70 yesterday on Ullswater
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