Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
7 Hours Ago
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Welcome, look forward to your participation.
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Forum: General Photography
7 Hours Ago
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Not only do we have only a one year warranty in the US, we only have one repair choice and if the warranty is done, the cost will be prohibitive.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
1 Day Ago
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Echoing everyone else, post some samples with EXIF intact. And shooting in raw is a big advantage as you can fix things. Another very important setting is your metering, multi metering will work well for sunsets. I also use multi auto white balance, because if you have things in your image like water they reflect light and are another light source to the camera, If the colors look wrong you can change the white balance if you shot in raw.
The difficulty in sunrise is often that there is this bright light that is much brighter than anything else because it's not far enough up in the sky for illuminating the earth yet.
If you really want color in the sky, twilight is the best time, twilight is the condition when the sun is below the horizon, it starts before the sun is up in the morning, and after it sets in the evening. There is roughly about an hour of twilight in the morning and evening, it is divided into parts, civil twilight, closest to the sunrise or sunset, then nautical twilight, and also astronomical twilight. You can go on an app like The Photographer Ephemeris to get the actual times each day.
A sunset Yucca Sunset by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
Twilight, after sunset Clouds and Color by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
Another evening twilight Twilight Colors by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
Morning Twilight Fiery Sky by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
2 Days Ago
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I went for a beach seascape high key, this was taken during a somewhat bright morning civil twilight, KP and DA20-40, .8 sec, F8, ISI 100. The normal exposed photo taken right before this one of the same scene was 1/6 second, other settings the same. Attachment 629765 |
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
4 Days Ago
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Welcome from the states. Look forward to your contributions.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
6 Days Ago
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I think it's time for Pentax to find a new repair partner in the US, or sell parts to everyone.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
6 Days Ago
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I've used none of those so I don't have an opinion on any of them, I would go for the Pentax DA 20-40 myself as it is my favorite wide to normal lens. For more opinions check out the lens review section.
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Forum: General Talk
6 Days Ago
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I hadn't seen a lot from Michael lately and I googled him and found his recent obituary. I guess he was posting but I hadn't been in those parts of the forum lately. He aways had some interesting things, I thought he might be in prison from his motorcycle misadventure, lol. Obituary |
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-07-2024, 06:20 PM
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Is there such a thing as a 2x teleconverter that is autofocus? And if so is the IQ decent?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-07-2024, 06:11 PM
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I think for that to work Pentax would have had to put firmware and hardware in the lenses for for communication and execution.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
03-06-2024, 03:37 PM
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I took this one in 2012 with a K-30 and Kiron 28/2. 6 sec, ISO 100, did not record aperture, but probably somewhere around f8. The setting moon is behind some clouds so those clouds are somewhat illuminated, of course all the grounded objects are silhouettes. The six seconds probably helped the stars show up with that little movement. Old House by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
03-06-2024, 03:26 PM
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Taken over the Atlantic Ocean during nautical twilight with a KP and DA55-300 PLM, ƒ/6.3, 300.0 mm, 1/20, ISO 400. It's a streaky cloud going across the lower third, and the moon was at the right position to catch the gradient in the twilight sky. I bumped the ISO up to 400 to get a little faster shutter speed and freeze the moon, it also helped get that bird. Twilight Moonrise by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-03-2024, 05:12 PM
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My last post in this thread was of this same small ship or large boat, a sand pumper, this one was taking during nautical twilight Friday morning. Sand Pumping Ship by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-03-2024, 04:55 PM
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This common loon has a very sharp pointed bill Common Loon by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
Keep going on points, until it has it become . . . pointless |
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-03-2024, 04:52 PM
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When I searched my February photos, all my best ones (IMO) were taken February 2, as there was a brilliant sky that morning. I chose this one, taken with the K-3iii, DA*300 and DA 1.4 converter. Striped Sky by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-03-2024, 12:43 PM
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Sorry to hear about it Jason, at least repair in Europe must be cheaper than Precision Camera in the US.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-02-2024, 01:38 PM
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After reading Matt's post I have to add a disclaimer about my settings, I'm using a DA*300 or DA55-300PLM (with good lighting) with the DA 1.4 TC. Both of those lenses are fine to use wide open which is why I use Tv mode. I used to have an older DA55-300 (not PLM) which was unusable wide open, you would definitely need to use Tav on many lenses if they are not good wide open.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-02-2024, 10:24 AM
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I shoot a lot of wildlife, mostly birds but whatever I can find, and I have set up user modes in both my K-3iii and KP. I have one mode I named birds, it is set in Tv (shutter priority), at 1/640 shutter speed, variable ISO up to 6400, spot metering, AF-C with center spot focus point. Of course depending on conditions you can change these as you shoot, more often I'll change the shutter speed due to light conditions, sometime change the metering. I have another user mode I've named flight for moving subjects, it is also TV, 1/800 shutter speed, ISO variable to 6400, center weighted metering, AF-C with a 16 point AF. These of course are baseline settings so I can quickly change to them using the mode dial, and I have changed them when I've thought they could be improved. These are my setting for using primarily in open settings, beach marsh, longleaf pine savannah, etc. I would definitely have to lower the shutter speeds in deep deciduous forests, as I do on the fly in early morning or late evening. I do have my white balance always set to multi auto. I more often shoot in early morning or late evening when the light changes continuously, and setting the WB won't last too long, so if needed I can fix it in LR. Where I live now snow is not a problem, but I know it can be difficult with white balance from previous experience.
An example of a running coyote, this was shot with the K-3iii at those base settings on my "flight" user mode. Obviously there are no trees to confuse the autofocus here, and the K-3iii tracks well. You do have to get the animal in focus first, whether you did or not on the hare, they are fast and unpredictable, but AF-C really needs to be used there, or course dim lighting may have prevented locking focus on something moving so fast, that may have been nearly impossible anyway. The only rabbit I've shot on the move was swimming, much slower, I was unable to catch his leap into the water due to sheer surprise. Coyote Running in the Salt Marsh by Tom Ramsey, on Flickr
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Forum: General Photography
03-02-2024, 08:48 AM
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I don't have a K-5, I used to have a K-50 which was similar in focusing, I now use a KP and K-3iii which are both improved in the focus area. I do use live view a lot, but only on a tripod, and the KP and K-3iii have magnification and focus peaking, which is fantastic for manual focusing. A good sturdy tripod is indispensable. I shoot a lot at the beach which can be very windy as it was yesterday morning, the wind being no problem, sometimes wet sand can be a problem as the tripod leg can sink a bit.
The diopter being accurate is very important. You mentioned that the camera focuses on the leaf instead of the bird, are you using the single point for autofocusing? It really helps for critical focusing like a bird in a tree, I use the center point and re-compose, which I'm guessing you may also, but I still miss some too, but less on the bodies with more autofocus points.
I have never liked catch in focus, like you said, you can turn past it as it is sometimes slow, at least it was, I've not tried it on my current bodies. I have a had time holding the camera still while moving the focus ring with the support hand, that's just me.
Unfortunately only your doctor can help with the vision. I'm fortunate as I was corrected pretty well with contact lenses, and a year ago I had cataract surgery and now have excellent vision without correction (except for up real close), and that helps with photography.
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