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Forum: General Photography
10-15-2019, 03:02 PM
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I didn't mean to notice "Shop related" at the bottom of a page, but an ad for the DVD "Auto Focus" did catch my eye. It was a real double take. I swear I heard BOINGGG as my eyeballs popped back into their sockets.
How did this depressing and scuzzy biographical TV movie find a place on Pentax Forums? Okay, there is that title, "Auto Focus." Of course, it might be inevitable that something called "Auto Focus" would get onto a busy website about taking photos with a particular line of cameras.
Does the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" ring a bell? It was about US prisoners of war in a German stalag doing all they could to make fun of their German guards and their officers. I was in elementary school at the time -- back when a family would sit in the living room to watch one of the three family-friendly network shows that evening.
I watched "Auto Focus" during an interminably slow night of post-surgical recuperation…and regretted using two precious hours I'll never get back. It left me feeling slimed. I could have made it through life without needing to know about Crane's addictive behaviors that play a part in his death by beating. TV actor Bob Craine had at least two addictions: he just had to have the latest video cameras and equipment so he could record his other addiction -- countless sexual encounters (mostly with women) and solitary activities when a woman was not at hand.
Sadly, after his Hogan days, Crane had to do game shows and tour in dinner theater to earn money for alimony and children -- and video hobbies. Sadder yet, he was murdered in his motel room where his gear was set up to record every woman he got into bed. The investigators probably wished that his video camera had caught the attack: It took several decades before they thought they knew who the killer was.
His "best friend," often participating in the recordings as videographer, voyeur, and competitor was the salesman who kept Crane in the latest developments in the new and growing photo and video industry. Crane used that man who ended up wanting to claim Crane as an intimate friend. (After all, they'd watch old videos and try to remember the names of the women and the cities -- and each of the men would take matters into their own hands, so to say, as they admired the images of their prowess.)
Trust me: I'd feel better if the stray DVDs on Pentax Forums were about Ansel Adams, Photoshop hints, the history of Pentax / Ricoh, or "Winged Migration" with its fabulous camera work that sure has humbled and inspired this birding photographer.
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
01-30-2016, 11:25 AM
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It's "annual manual time." At the end and beginning of a year I like to dig out and re-read manuals to cameras, lenses, etc. Often I find something 'new' or to be reminded of that can help me to make better — and fuller — use of my gear. If you have a philosophical reluctance to reading these booklets that come with the good stuff, how about looking at an annual manual read as a tweak in the work-flow!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 Photo Contest
05-07-2014, 01:18 PM
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I nominate this photo. It is a reminder to be aware and to see! We've become too removed from both the simplicities and the wonders of the natural world going about its daily life around us.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 Photo Contest
05-07-2014, 01:13 PM
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I nominate this photo. It's beauty and significance is in the eye — and imagination — of the beholder. For me there are paradoxical impressions — of haunting from the past and an unrevealed blessing in the future. There is the weight of reality on the right side and a sense of foreboding and excitement on the left. To think that the mid-morning sun likely will erase the fog, and then most of the imaging ends — until the gloaming begins to affect the atmosphere once again.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 Photo Contest
05-07-2014, 01:04 PM
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The composition is intriguing at very first glance.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 Photo Contest
05-07-2014, 01:02 PM
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I nominate this photo. It makes me feel…
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Forum: Pentax K-3 Photo Contest
05-07-2014, 12:55 PM
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Forum: Sold Items
02-07-2014, 04:33 PM
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If I may be hyperbolic, this Sigma 150-500mm lens has made a world of difference in my nature photography. Except for when I could not lift my camera to shoot with the heavy lens — due to previous tendon injuries from 30 yrs. of walking with canes, I've never regretted investing in it — a used purchase from a Seller on this Marketplace. Healed up, I am back to holding this impressive tool. I'm practiced in hand-held shooting of birds, but I know the lens has boosted the success rate in crisp focus — even of birds not posing with a smile. I'm the one with the smile. Just yesterday I had a thrill (I'm easily thrilled…) to have caught sight of a Bald Eagle — not over a field or river but circling on mid-winter thermals coming from downtown Gettysburg, PA. It was overhead for 3 minutes. I attribute the photo's decent quality to the Sigma, but the Eagle deserves some credit, too!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
06-12-2013, 10:06 PM
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Just yesterday I was searching online and in Pentax sites for potential clues about getting my old *ist DL to turn on and stay on. Several years ago, I gave it to a friend when I got the Pentax K20D. A year ago it became a headache as it shut off again and again. Then a month ago it stopped powering up. Nothing.
After reading the thread to which tomwil shares the link, I removed the brand name AA batteries and tried a set of off-brand rechargeables — and I tried what one contributor recommended: press MENU button while turning on the *ist — up-side-down.
The firmware version showed. (Good start!) But the camera powered off. Repeat. Had to repeat it several times, but the good news is that something in the battery and button advice did the work. For the first time in several months and several troubleshooting attempts, the camera functioned. I used it for 40 minutes before I turned it off. It has powered on each time since.
Don't know if this helped, but I changed the sleep setting which had been at 5 minutes: I turned it completely off.
So, thanks to the advisors! You saved my friend from needing to replace a seemingly dead Pentax *ist DL which still captures great nature shots.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-12-2013, 09:13 PM
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I agree that it is more the glass than the body which seems to make the greatest difference. After starting with the K1000 film SLR most of us used, I went digital with Pentax *ist DL; two years ago I moved up to 20D to continue in wild bird and nature photography. My long lens was an off-brand, well-used (to the 4th degreel-used!) 100 to 500 mm. I was getting pretty decent shots that kept me happy and were appreciated by others. Then a year ago, through the site's Marketplace, I invested in a used Sigma 150-500 mm — and I had no idea my photos could look that much better. Of course there's subjectivity, but I know it is giving a sweeter, subtle quality that's more pleasing to the eye.
Yes, we need a camera body which is a comfortable extension of our hands. Maybe that's where brand matters. But I now understand the experts when they advise, "Buy the best glass you can afford."
I still am amazed that I'm blessed to have such a great lens. For example: Caught with handheld Sigma 150-500 in manual focus on a K20D, the image is a pair of courting Canada Geese banking over the Susquehanna River across from Harrisburg, PA.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-10-2012, 04:44 PM
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As you state, the results are not a surprise. But I continue to be wowed by the 150-500 I purchased from you! And I'm actually relying on auto-focus more. In nature photography — as in birds in trees or within brush — a/f can be maddeningly impossible to use when framed on a multitude of planes.
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Forum: Sold Items
06-17-2012, 12:31 PM
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pm sent
---------- Post added 06-17-2012 at 06:58 PM ----------
pm and payment sent
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
10-03-2011, 01:47 PM
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
10-03-2011, 01:45 PM
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I like! Clouds meeting the horizon of a desert spotted by this small outcroppings of life — Says so much.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
10-03-2011, 01:41 PM
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Really struck by this! I can't help but to respond to your image from an emotional perspective. With all the branching fingers and the hint of light versus dark, it feels like the turning point in a Grimms' fairy tale. Good stuff.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-26-2011, 07:00 AM
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After several weeks of perfect functioning, my K20D once again is not saving images to the card. The only difference is that this again has happened after recharging the battery — coincidentally or not. Here's the progression, if this is of any help in narrowing down the issue:- I shoot.
- Image shows on LCD.
- Orange light glows even after image seems to be saved (LCD goes dark).
- But orange light still glows, then stops and LCD error says Camera cannot save image.
This time it didn't help to remove the battery and reset functions to default.
• Thanks to forum readers recommending programs to try to recover images, but no data is being saved to the cards.
• Request for Opinions: Can the cost of sending a 3 year old K20D for repairs be justified when newer models are available?
Thanks,
Bonnie
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-02-2011, 01:19 PM
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Of course it was while on vacation that a big problem made me remember the value of mental pictures — even to photographers.
By an evening fire I passed around my K20D for all to see on its LCD the last days' shots of a pair of Bald Eagles and 100 other wonders of Nature from the Endless Mountains of north-central Pennsylvania. Before crawling into my sleeping bag, I deleted one poor shot. Instead of the quick flash of the orange light indicator of a deletion, the light continued flashing and the camera showed repeated DELETING — not typical of getting rid of one image. The oddness of it made me try to stop it, but I could not interrupt it. The dysfunction emptied the 8GB card.
The next day as I carefully rechecked every shot, another new problem developed: Though all images showed for a moment on the LCD after being shot, when I reviewed them later, some came up with error message "CAMERA CANNOT DISPLAY IMAGE." It probably was silly to attempt to delete any of those error files: The camera showed a repeating DELETING, and the result was another emptied card.
First Lesson: Do not repeat any function that now has twice caused a big problem.
I was very careful the rest of the trip. And anxious. We all know how awful it is to not have full trust in our equipment.
When I returned home and downloaded my carefully guarded cards, those with that error CAMERA CANNOT DISPLAY IMAGE showed up on my Mac as 0MB — empty files.
I experimented to be sure that I had not somehow set a multiple delete function. (I had not.) And I could not figure out how I'd get empty files of images that had shown on the LCD after shooting.
I do not understand what caused either situation, but I seemed to have made it stop:
1) I removed the battery (and fully recharged it overnight while I was at it) as the manual suggests for trying to eliminate funky functions. However, the next day I still got several files the K20D could not display. But when I deleted an image, the camera did delete only one yet still churned away as if deleting more than a few.
2) So, it seemed to be time for a standard RESET of all USER SETTINGS — back to factory settings.
Since then, no more problems. I've made sure that each image appears on the LCD after the shutter release. Then I look at the image after the camera's orange light on the back has stopped flashing while saving. Whenever I delete a test image, now it does not take more than a second to trash only the one image I meant to delete.
I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this or has insights about either issue.
And perhaps my experience can be useful for anyone who encounters it — and can fix it before losing more photo memories.
Second Lesson: Don't forget to remember to make mental images of what inspires us to capture it in a physical format with a camera. |
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Forum: General Talk
02-23-2011, 11:17 AM
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The ironies and hypocrisies abound. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) introduced an amendment for birth control for wild horses and burros. It supposedly would be cheaper than the methods now used by the Bureau of Land Management: round-ups.
However, the human version of fertility control apparently isn't as important to the Rs in the House.
They voted to cut off funding for Title X, the family planning program — supposedly because of abortions (though law already exists to prohibit the use of taxpayer money for abortions.) Not having access to Title X assistance, more women and teenagers will become pregnant. More females of every age will have diseases go undiagnosed. I was an educator for a county family planning center 25 years ago, and we did not offer abortions. We provided fertility assistance, low-cost contraceptives with education, pregnancy tests, gynecological and breast exams, referrals as required, school programs teaching kids how to resists peer pressure, a regional conference about child sexual abuse, cooperation with other human services such as Drug and Alcohol Services, Children and Youth Services, Community Action Programs, etc., etc., etc.
It is madness that the "have-nots" are growing in number because Government serves the "haves" who now are about 1% of us but possess 25% of U.S. income.
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Forum: Site Suggestions and Help
07-15-2010, 10:10 AM
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I truly appreciate Pentax Forums and the spirited community which contributes to informing, educating, and promoting Pentax photography.
But too often the acronyms are alien to me. I did search and find a thread with lists of the most common (and a few most exceptional :confused:). That helps, however, I am wondering....
Would it be possible to adopt a list of the standard abbreviations and acronyms, and then create stickies (or whatever the tech term is) that allow readers to roll their cursors over it to see the full term and/or definitions?
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-12-2010, 07:01 AM
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Marc's Ruby-throated hummingbird photo is super. In this thread I appreciate that there are photographers who take time to identify their bird photos with species and region. Be it birds, bugs, butterflies, or a flowers, I believe that any photographer serious enough to post a photo should be responsible for and serious about attaching the subject's identifying info (unless posting to ask for help with identification.)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-25-2010, 07:16 AM
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Seem like excellent suggestions. Thanks for quick response.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-24-2010, 03:14 PM
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Greetings!
SITUATION: When I moved up to a K20D, I was pleased to give my 3-year old *ist DL to a friend with whom I do lots of nature adventuring.
PROBLEM: Recently, when the *ist DL powers down after several minutes of non-use (as we'd set it to), the light touch on the shutter release often will not wake it from stand-by mode. Of course, this causes missed shots of birds and other very awake creatures.
TRYING TO DEAL WITH IT: She has to turn it off to power up again. Problem does not seem to be related to the AA NiMH batteries.
SOLUTION: Short of having it serviced, I'm hoping someone can offer a diagnosis with a do-it-yourself fix.
Thank you,
Bonnie
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Forum: Sold Items
09-18-2009, 01:23 PM
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Greetings, ah.....:
Quick note to say I love your photo of what I believe is a doll sheep. It is a terrific image for showing what that 300mm lens can do. Spot on!
best wishes,
Bonnie
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Forum: Sold Items
05-08-2009, 11:22 AM
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
03-23-2009, 08:07 AM
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It works! Reminds us that there are numerous methods to this madness! The second image -- of the wing display -- is, well, only one word comes to mind: scrumptious.
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