Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-12-2021, 09:11 PM
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A 3D printed mock-up of the A* 85 f1.4 and its hood?
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
07-01-2011, 10:17 PM
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With respect, ogl, I'm sure you read sadness between the lines of color in a rainbow. I don't see any reason to be prematurely pessimistic about any of this.
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Forum: Post-Processing Articles
10-02-2010, 11:03 PM
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Sorry, some info on my profiles
1. Captured in RAW mode
2. feature at least 2 focus distances per profile
3. at least 4 aperture settings per profile (min to f11)
4. at least 4 zoom points (focal lengths) for zoom lenses per profile
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-16-2010, 02:35 AM
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This is about the Nikon/Canon/Pentax jumping ship at the sight of a body people.
Dear fellow Pentaxians.
I am a working professional photographer that lives in a country called Bulgaria. I have my own strobe studio that I use for portraiture, I shoot weddings, parties and other events. I am waiting for my big break into serious work (yes I do not consider weddings to be what I want to be doing). Above all these things I became a professional photographer because I really love doing it for myself.
I have a self taught background and really loved processing my own B&W work. It was a real pleasure!!!!!
Now I earn the equivalent of $250 dollars per wedding......and I am expensive here!!!!
Despite all the limitations of my equipment, I am able to pull of good results... better than those with full frame Nikons and Canons around me. They pride themselves on equipment and often sneer at mine.
I am under no illusion that If I were to use a more professional tool than my K20D and K10D combo I would get better results! But I can not afford two systems. You see, I am besotted with the Joy of photography. I love to take pictures!!!! Not so much process them. I know I get that from my Pentax K20D.
Its really sad that a lot of people are so struck by the specs and price of the D7000. The K-7 is described by all of its owners with words more akin to a friend than a tool.
I recently saw the DPREVIEW description of the K-7 against the D7000.
"The Pentax K7, which has slipped into the D7000's class by virtue of its current asking price, combines handling qualities of both the D7000 and the two Canons, and is arguably one of the most pleasant DSLRs of its type to hold and use."
The key word is also the last one. "USE"
I read a couple of comment that Nikon has won this round, or has beaten Pentax.
Nonsense. If you think that then you are really need to look again.
Technically they are like twins.
I see nothing to sway anyone one way or the other....
"but what about AF" I hear some scream.
You mean the dumbed down D300 array with 9 cross points, all of which smaller and clustered towards the middle. I think many need to check what the comments were when Nikon abandoned its very similar to Pentax array in the D2x.
AF was near identical with a better performance in some situations for the new D300 and some for the D2x. http://www.luminescentphoto.com/articles/CAM2000/CAM2000-Sensor-Placement.gif
We have a rather untested Safox IX+ that people are already dismissing. Its already second gen after the 645D and is said to be much faster by the few sources we have...... So lets wait and see.
Forgive me for straying but I thought I would answer that question before it was asked.
Now, the Joy of shooting. As I said before , I cling to my Pentax equipment because it gives me joy, I have shot a few other cameras that simply did not feel so right in the hand, and certainly did not give me pleasure (including a Nikon D700 and D80, Canon rebels and 40D). I have also used Pentax cameras that do the same..... the PZ-1p being a performance revaluation when I got it back in the day, but it did not feel great to use.
What strikes me is that I am willing to wait for something that I know I will like to use, and a big bunch of you are just ready to jump.
Go ahead, you are clearly just tech junkies, and for something that is likley to be a very marginal difference and a few more dollars at launch.
Go ahead and buy the Nikon primes you want. The 35mm 1.4 is nice. So is the 24 1.4 and 85 1.4.
I sit hear dreaming that I got the FA Limiteds trio before the price hike, but they are still cheaper than the Nikons.
What I am saying is that a lot of you clearly do not value the actual use of your equipment. You are very willing to give up on something that very few companies actually offer, and thats user satisfaction. I know the K-7 was not up to scratch at High ISO, and the focus was still slow at low light, I also know that the flash system needs development, as do some the lenses. Now that the camera aspect seems to have been addressed, what?.... the feeling of the way Pentax do things is gone? The K-7 which was designed like a glove is comparable to the D90 with a few more buttons? Save some money, buy your high performance Nikon and good riddance to you (although technically I think Pentax is actually a step above in some aspects)
I value the joy of photographing something. You value what???? IQ, speed, accuracy, focus point, VR, branding. If you find the D7000 gives you joy, go.....run....... thats good. If you value the Pentax way of taking pictures, really, is a few dollars at launch so much.. Take this into account..... the D90 launched at a street price of 999 US, its now 899, two years later.
The K-7 is now at a lower starting price than the D90, and it came out at 1150 just around a year ago.
By the time you go to upgrade, I think the K-5 will be at the same price as the Nikon.
So, take your pick.
Superior user experience or....... technically about the same but slightly cheaper at launch.
Oh and the K-r might be right up your ally anyway if you want something less for less.
In essence I am saying that you should not put so much worth in specs alone. The camera you use does not make you a better photographer, but it can be the difference between you being a happy/satisfied one to one that is not. I know you are not all professional photographers, and would advise you to follow your feeling and not so much spec sheets and prices. You do not need incrementally better performance, you need happiness and satisfaction.
As I said before, if you find that with the Nikon, GO!!!, but its much more likely you will actually prefer the K-5 if the reason you came to Pentax has not changed in the past few months.
Edit: Clarification. The title, My way or the Highway.... I am not saying you do things My way, more so looking from your personal perspective, or from the perspective of Pentax and how they intertwine. Each person has his own way, path. Each company tries to cater for that. Canon and Nikon cater for a larger performance market which Pentax has never really been part of the top tier.....excluding MF. Even with the LX, you can see trademark things like compactness and durability. I bought my PZ-1p on specs alone and regret not going for the MZ-S. Which is a very refined and crafted camera, in the vein of the K-7.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-01-2010, 07:25 PM
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Another profile - the DA 55-300.
I used 55, 70, 100, 200 and 300 focal lengths, and 3 different apertures. I figured that since I was using the same chart for all of them I had different distances (in fact, shooting the target at 300 mm I needed to be in the hallway to get enough distance) I figured I didn't need to shoot other distances. It's bigger than the one I did for the 35mm because I had more sets in it. I'd be interested what others think of it.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-13-2010, 12:50 AM
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I accessed it on my K-7 v1.03. Just use the same instructions as before. The AF adjustment method is the same AFAIK.
Put this in the MODSET.474 to enable the AF adj. menu: Code: [DEBUG_MODE EN]
[SW_DEBUG_MENU EN] Start up with the MODSET.474 file and the card door open; wait a few seconds then turn it off and close the card door. Then start it again and press the menu key.
The test mode menu is right after the wrench menu, but it's not visible until you hit it. Once there: Test Mode > AF Test > FocusCorr
I guess you'll have to dig through the thread for more FocusCorr info since I don't know anymore & lack a lens to really test this with ATM.
PS: While in debug mode you can still take pictures (to test the AF, whatever). But you might have to press the Info button to get to the Info screen since it gets replaced by a black 'DEBUG MODE' screen.
After you're done, replace the earlier text in MODSET.474 with the lines below and start the K-7 with the card door open. Wait, and then turn it off & close the door again.
Start up the K-7 again; it should operate normally. You can delete the modset file if you want to keep your sd card neater, but it's innocuous in its current state Code: [DEBUG_MODE DIS]
[SW_DEBUG_MENU DIS] Unfortunately, Pentax-Hack appears now to be Panasonic-Hack :/
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-24-2010, 11:17 PM
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As I said to your other thread (on the other forum):
I've done the same settings on occasion (cancel AF with AF-C).
My conclusion (and with hindsight, it's pretty obvious) is that this method cannot lock AE.
Obvious, because AF-C doesn't lock AE, and AF button only cancels AF (and does not really turn AF-C into AF-S).
So, I'd say that in this case, you'll have to first press AE-L, then AF to cancel AF-C...
Quite a lot of button pressing to mimic AF-S, no?
An interesting feature I stumbled upon while testing all this is that in AF-S with AF button set to "Cancel AF", a press/release on the AF button triggers a new autofocus cycle.
This means that you can wait half-pressed for the crucial moment (so SR is always active and ready), with periodical AF adjusts to follow your subject.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-21-2010, 01:00 PM
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-17-2010, 06:05 AM
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I know I am not posting an image here, but I think this will help many.
I know it takes a lot of effort to post images here, and like I do, many may see the image but don't bother to write a comment. So, we get lots of views but very little comments and thus the poster is not getting much feedback.
Thanks to Adam, I just noitced this 'rate the photo' tab on the top right corner of each post. You can click on it and pick a star which convey what you think of the image, which everyone should be able to do.
Comments are obvioulsy much much nicer, but at least a rating is better than nothing.
Also, I've been wanting to say this....the IQ of many of the photos posted here recently are absolutely stunning. Unlike a year ago when only a few images were up to say PPG quality, but now many are....it's amazing.
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Forum: Site Suggestions and Help
05-05-2010, 05:54 PM
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On User Control Panel, there is a "Latest Reputation Received" section just above the "Latest threads in which you've posted". At least, that's where I see it.
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