Forum: General Talk
02-09-2009, 09:02 PM
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I just saw the email sent out appealing to members to donate and would like to extend my appreciation on behalf of all Australians to any international members who choose to donate and those who bother to read the articles as well.
Latest reports are that the toll has reached 173, and it's a long way from over.
For the international members who wouldn't have seen as many details as we have - on that Saturday, the fire danger index was around 400. An index of 100 indicates any fire that starts will likely become uncontrollable. Firefronts moving at up to 120km/h due to the driving winds, cinder-sparked spot fires forming kilometres ahead of firefronts, forests that have had drastically low rainfall for 3 years...
Vylen - same deal this time, New Zealand's going to cop it.
One of the most telling images to surface out of this - koalas usually aren't the friendliest of things - if you try to pick one up, they'll usually go postal on you. Yet -
At the same time, north-eastern Australia (northern Queensland) has been affected by heavy widespread flooding. Amazing country, isn't it.
Rest in peace to all those who have lost their lives, condolences to the thousands who have lost family, friends, colleagues and their homes, kudos to the thousands of emergency workers involved, and thank you to the individuals, corporations and governments who have been so quick to respond to this catastrophe.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-01-2009, 01:55 AM
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At the end of the day, no, there obviously isn't any info about whether the AF is going to be improved for the next gen Kx0D body.
I was convinced that Pentax was the best choice when I bought the K10D 2 years ago, and as some of you keep missing I do think there are things going for it, just that as some have picked up, what I'm getting at is that Pentax has the worst AF on the market by now and it needs to be fixed.
I could've chosen the 40D, 50D, D90 as points of comparison... I just picked the A700.Oooh cutting coming from someone who has nothing better to do than introduce pointless personal insults on photography forum! Really, I'm hurt. The part about the cars was hilarious though, thanks for that (make me laugh more - what do you drive?). Cut it out and stop servicing your own ego.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-31-2008, 07:13 PM
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Because I want to show off than I can afford it? That's amusing... I'm 17 and pay for all that I've got out of my own pocket. And no, I don't go on Ford forums and brag about my 2001 Mitsubishi Magna either. It's what you choose to spend money on, it's irrelevant how much you have. I don't waste money on getting hammered at weekends for example.
I wasn't even going to compare the A700 and K20D's CMOSs, someone else raised the point that the K20D's was superior when it's not, although I'm not concerned by that.
At the end of the day I do like Pentax and there's some things that they do very well. As some here have accurately interpreted, all I'm looking for is that Pentax recognises the biggest failing of their recent bodies and makes amends to make them at least level with the rest of the market's capabilities.
Oh, and I don't get why people seem to be taking personal offense to this either.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-31-2008, 09:37 AM
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Oh, except for, um, noise (A700 noticeably better, and a useful ISO200 base sensitivity) and dynamic range (MUCH higher resolving power in highlights), less prone to hot pixels...
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-31-2008, 08:47 AM
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Nailed it :) It should do what the competition does. Sony's not in a great position financially and hasn't been for a while but they still manage to develop a camera like that, and the A900... and A200, A300 and A350 all being on the market at once. And let's face it, all Sony did was buy Konica-Minolta's tech and run with it... and Pentax has been making cameras for 50 years. It's called evolving with the market.
There's some very good things about the Pentax system, some that should have been fixed and forgotten about by now.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-31-2008, 01:41 AM
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Actually, an A700 with 16-105 is $520 more than the K20D with 16-45 at DCW and as well as the extra reach, there's a superior (if lower resolution) 12.2MP CMOS, 5fps, longer reach, VGA res 3" screen...
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
12-31-2008, 01:25 AM
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I agree, it's a fantastic addition and the vastly improved ergonomics make it a much more pleasant tool to use. Mind you, I paid about AU$180 for mine imported from the US rather than the AU$290 it costs locally and at that price it'd be somewhat painful purchase.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-31-2008, 12:34 AM
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Funny, I do all of those things (except manual focus - not practical for motorsports... actually most of that's not suitable for motorsport). It's still slow and inaccurate, and that's not going to change unless Pentax ditches the 5 year old SAVOX VIII system which has been carried through since the *ist D, which in the world of technology is positively ancient.
Yes I'm being arrogant and rude, but I'm sick of what should've been replaced years ago and wondered if there was any knowledge of any indication that this will be fixed for the K30D, otherwise I'll be getting something else for anything with a moving subject. And low light.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-30-2008, 09:42 PM
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Thing is, I've gotten to the point where the K10D's focusing attempts seem absolutely feeble. With a 16-45 at wide angles, most of the time, it can't even resolve focus and keeps trying to push the lens past infinity, so I have to twist the focus way back the other way before it even manages to figure out how to get the horizon in focus.
I've tried a K20D with my Sigma 70-200, it's a little better at tracking but still slow and none too accurate.
Now... I've had a play with Sony's A700, and that does a stunningly good job WITHOUT the need for sonic-drive focusing in terms of both speed and accuracy.
So - will the K30D actually have any improvement in AF performance?
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-07-2008, 06:11 AM
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Good point. I posted that at 1:30am my time though, so it was a fair effort ;)
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-05-2008, 08:54 AM
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Haha, exactly, takes longer to figure out how to abbreviate in the first place and takes the responder longer to read. Yeah, that works :D
Let's just take a minute to fix the OP. I won't even bother with the grammar much.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-05-2008, 07:30 AM
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Far out, some of the English in this thread is shocking, didn't you people go to school? Yeah, it's the internet, but far out some of us actually make an effort to allow others to easily read our posts...
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Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2008, 07:11 PM
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Yep, so given that it really is quite a powerful flash and it's now worth more due to the Aussie dollar weakening further against the US dollar and I'm sick of waiting for replies from vaguely interested parties both here and on another forum I'm withdrawing it from sale.
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Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2008, 01:53 AM
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PM replied - now costs AU$357 to get one of these from the US! (according to www.xe.com)
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Forum: Sold Items
09-01-2008, 04:57 AM
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If it doesn't go soon I'll probably change my mind :)
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Forum: Sold Items
08-31-2008, 05:32 AM
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Free bump for the best and last of the Creative harddrive players!
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Forum: Sold Items
08-26-2008, 03:39 AM
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Cheers for bumpage, it's a great powerful little flash - my favourite photo I've taken with it -
(my school formal, in case you're wondering...)
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Forum: Sold Items
08-25-2008, 05:10 AM
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WITHDRAWN Item for Sale
Metz AF-48 flashgun [AUST] Item Description
Flash is as new. Manual and original packaging included. Hasn't even been through a full set of batteries! (sanyo eneloop 2000mAh if it matters...). Was purchased from the US earlier in the year.
Features:
Selling for funds to consolidate my lens lineup with different gear!
Price is based on what it costs in the US - US$250 + US$40.65 shipping, converts to AU$334.75, plus 2.5% currency conversion - AU$343 landed. Locally, they're $459 Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
Yes Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling Item Condition
Used
Like New Item Location
Adelaide, Australia Asking Price
$275 Shipping Charge
$12 registered/insured Shipping Services
Aust post Shipping Destinations
Other (Elaborate Below) Accepted Payment Types
Paypal, direct deposit Additional Details
Australian shipment ONLY, cash on pickup / direct deposit / paypal. Have a couple of trades on this forum, several on OCAU, and a link to my/mum's eBay account if you require, PM for details.
Please send me a private message if interested in the item!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-28-2008, 06:42 AM
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Yes, disappointing neither the US or Canada have a WRC round as surely you have got some spectacular routes tucked away somewhere...It's the ONLY motorsport :D
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-27-2008, 02:42 AM
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Agree 110%, I've been around weddings since I was a kid and the traditional formula is spectacularly dreary. Love it Dave!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-27-2008, 02:39 AM
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Yeah, I found the same yesterday with the rally. It can do the simpler stuff fairly well but is very easily confused. Brilliant photos :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-26-2008, 06:46 AM
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Thanks Daa :) it's a great community here so I really should frequent like I used to, only thing holding me back from photography regularly ATM is that I hate Adelaide and dismiss most photo opportunities I see. I'm moving back to the east coast of Oz in November so my K10D will see regular action again then,
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-26-2008, 06:44 AM
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Swift was getting an absolute caning - one of the more entertaining cars! Most of the cars got this corner completely wrong, went in far too quickly and went straight ahead -
This Golf was the worst, went straight ahead then held it flat through the following 2 corners strung together so it was just bouncing off the limiter for a good 5 seconds or so -
This one held the slide -
And the most awesome car of the rally...
^ was faster than a few of the rather timidly driven WRXs.
Thanks for looking goodnight!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-26-2008, 06:36 AM
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<3 Molly!!! Her driving's great and the car sounds brilliant - you can hear it coming well before ANY other car on the field. She's only 2 years older than me... that's attainable isn't it??
Most of the Galants running look worse and worse every year, the numerous Datto 1600s are better looked after it seems -
Escort -
Evo went in a little hot -
hai guyz has anyone seen a reer bumper lolz
Nice drift...
... uhh, you're running out of space...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-26-2008, 06:36 AM
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Hi everyone, long time no see, got a bit disheartened with my K10D for a while thanks to the useless low light focusing and the fact that my Metz AF48 flash doesn't really do P-TTL properly as far as I can gather. Anyway, headed out into the Adelaide Hills forests today, and discovered that the AF-C performance was much better than I remembered - far, far from Nikon standards, but not as bad as I remembered and I got a lot more successful shots and it was really nice to worry about manual pre-focusing so much, which isn't that successful a lot of the time.
On with the show...
Well, wasn't today fun :D After last year, the organisers of RallySA decided they couldn't be bothered setting up the major spectator park at Mt Crawford or whereever the hell it is, so for anyone still interested in the event it was pretty much free reign as there weren't many officials around. I went to 3 different areas, and by far the best was where the spectator park WOULD be had this been last year. With all the plastic barriers and most of the tape gone, it made for much better photography! There were only 2 officials on the entire site, basically - one told myself and someone else to move "behind the yellow safety tape" and we ignored them because we were out of the danger zone of the corner and protected by trees.
Uh, background stuff, all photos taken with a Pentax K10D and Sigma 70-200 f2.8 EX DG, aperture/shutter priority, a few are cropped, otherwise unedited, just resized.
Morning - just out of Birdwood, leading into a stage start -
Kiddies love it -
Mid-morning, near Lenswood, taking a back road from Lobethal -
Note the car number and the sign -
The naked spectator park - |