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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
04-08-2013, 09:36 AM
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I just got my K5 from amazon, but they were only fulfilling an order for Beach Camera, who is authorized, so I will purchase this. Thanks.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-05-2012, 04:19 PM
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Thanks for commenting. Here are a few more...
A little closer to sunrise...
Moonrise at sunset...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-04-2012, 09:43 AM
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I'm really starting to like these long exposures around water. Those who have never seen Perce Rock, are missing a treat! I would love to have included the house on the left, for scale. However, the lights were too bright. This was a ~4 minute exposure about an hour before sunrise [you can see hints of the sunrise and star trails behind the rock], with a near full moon behind the camera.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
12-15-2010, 06:41 PM
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Thanks for the nice comments. I've seen and photographed many sundogs, but usually it's just the partial relections on the left/right, never the entire rainbow.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
12-14-2010, 06:00 PM
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Unfortunately, I only had the K100 with me for the extreme conditions...
Attachment 78248 |
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-24-2010, 09:45 AM
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Is that really a pic? Looks like photoshop...
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-10-2010, 09:42 AM
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If you're in the US, East is probably best.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-09-2010, 04:57 PM
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Thanks for the replies...
I was on a tripod, probably not mirror-up. I'll look for a good brick wall.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-09-2010, 04:14 PM
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Faster is better. You have to expose for a long time to improve your chances of catching one and not cut it off. That leads to noise and star trails [unless you track]. Last year, in my second shot [it wasn't completely dark yet] I got the best shot so far, for me.
K20, 28mm, f1.7, 30s, ISO3200
Attachment 68017
I like the detail, but don't like the noise and star trails when my goal is meteors. Last weekend, I tried some test shots with the same hardware, but for 20s at ISO1600. Clouds were coming in and the sun was coming but I got a nice colorful meteor.
Attachment 68018
You also have to be careful of satellites and planes. There are a ton in the northeast and you can be fooled. Seeing the continuation in the next frame is a dead giveaway. Here's an example of a satellite or something.
Attachment 68019 |
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-09-2010, 03:35 PM
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Just took a few test shots with my new lens, and the few shots at 16mm seem to be very blurry in the upper right of the frame. It's really obvious in the trees. Everywhere else in the frame looks fine. Is this operator error? I am a novice after all. Is there a better way to test the lens and not the photographer?
Here's a link to the jpg, raw is similar. K20, 1/250, f6.7, 16mm, ISO100
http://www.scorpion-bowl.com/WebHost/Public/IMGP4742.JPG
Here's a resize, although not very useful...
Thanks,
Gary
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-26-2010, 03:52 PM
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Here's a test shot with a K20, 28mm, f1.7, ISO100, for about 25 minutes. At the 100% crop I've highlighed 3 common defects throughout the image. I'm guessing the dark spot is a dead pixel, the white one a hot pixel, and maybe the other is dust on the sensor? I used powerpoint to add the circles and that lost some image quality.
What's the best way to deal with the defects? Manually edit them? Does the pixel mapping feature in the camera do anything for this?
Thanks for any help...
Gary
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-15-2009, 12:47 PM
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Here are my results with the K20. Essentially the same conditions as my post above, 30 seconds may be a little too long. This time I was lucky to catch a meteor. Now I need to play with stacking...
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-12-2009, 04:04 AM
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I have a few questions before I start out with my new K20. Since the noise reduction isn't optional at these speeds, how is it applied in the camera? If I shoot raw+jpg, is the noise reduction frame only eliminated from the jpg? and the raw file includes just the light-frame data? If so, isn't jpg the best for noise, or can you still win with raw and post-processing?
For night shots, I usually use my 28mm f1.7, some have indicated I may get better results [away from the center of the view] up near f4. Any thoughts if shorter times at f1.7 versus longer exposures at f4 would give better results?
Here's an old pic...
K100, Sigma 28mm, f1.7
iso 3200, 30 sec
one frame
no tracking
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-20-2009, 06:13 PM
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Thanks guys...this was five shots by 1, I probably should have used a step by 2. It was on a tripod, with no 2-sec delay. I tried to make it quick since the fish kept jumping and disturbing the water. As mentioned, stopping down may have been best. Here's the result. Now I just need to see if it's worth buying photomatix...Thanks again...
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-20-2009, 02:03 PM
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Hello All. I've seen some excellent info on here...I've just upgraded from a K100 and have a question on a picture I took. I'm not sure what to post, but I'll start with the bright jpeg from the raw file [using photo lab, no other processing]. I'm creating an HDR, but I'm posting only the two extremes. In the fast exposure 1/2000 the darks are very dark, noise free, at ISO100, but the slow exposure 1/125 , still ISO100 looks very noisy, especially in the grass and the reflection toward the left of center. Is this noise or am I being fooled by the dew, reflections and the light fog? It has an HDR look before the processing. I'm also having a hard time with low-light focus, so that may also be an issue. The lens is a sigma 18-200 at 18mm, f3.5.
Thanks...
http://www.scorpion-bowl.com/WebHost/IMGP0476.jpg
http://www.scorpion-bowl.com/WebHost/IMGP0480.jpg |
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-02-2009, 04:47 PM
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Just happened to see these guys...new K20, ISO1600, 300m, f5.6, and still only 1/45...
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-01-2009, 02:51 PM
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Thanks...I think extended brackets are for things other than exposure, and JPG only.
I've been using the 2 sec delay. You'd think with the longer exposures in bracketing, that they would mirror-up once...especially with the mini-earthquake from it...
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-30-2009, 09:54 AM
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Is there any way to get the mirror to lock-up and not cycle during the 3/5 auto-bracket shots? I would have thought the one-press option would do this, apparently not.
Thanks,
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