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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-06-2012, 10:55 PM
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I haven't posted in quite a while so here are a couple of my recent shots. The K5 takes more talent than the mark IV and D3 to get soon on focus in these situations, and I would say those are much better for pure sports photos, but they are also crazy expensive. It really becomes an issue of pure AF speed when you are using large (300mm or so) fast (f4 and below) lenses with shallow DOF, which is where the top end Canikon's really shine. THey also have advanced algorithms to follow subjects as you pan or as they cross your field of view. That being said the K5 can definitely do the job
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-15-2011, 01:42 PM
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As requested...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-15-2011, 01:34 PM
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My brothers and I took my dad golfing for an early fathers day last Sunday. We went to an amazing golf course in the foothills near Denver called Arrowhead. It is nestled between some of the most awe inspiring rock formations, and because of their otherworldly appearance my dad and his golf buddies call it golfing on Mars (hence the title). We had a great time, and I brought my camera along because I knew there would be some good photo ops.
This is the15th green. If you look between the two monoliths, you can see the tee box about a hundred feet up and about 180 yards back. There was a group waiting behind us, so I could only snap a few shots and didn't really have time to set up. This is sort of a vertorama/portrait-panorama. It is composed of about 20 shots, and includes anywhere from 3-5 different exposures per shot. I did it all handheld, and in less than a minute or so. If you could see the full size shot the detail and resolution are pretty stunning. Really happy at how it turned out...
flickr.com/benison
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-08-2011, 10:35 AM
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This forum post is about shooting welders on film, but offers some good advice, like don't wear contact lenses as they can be welded to your eye from the intense uv light. I wouldn't worry about your sensor though, I can't image the arc is too much brighter than the midday sun, and I shoot that alll the time with no problems...
Photographing light from welding torch - Photo.net photo.net Forum |
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-05-2011, 10:43 PM
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This is a cross post from "show us your photos forum". These are two shots I took last weekend for a photo contest, details below...
The contest is a 2 photo narrative, so the pictures have to tell a story. I headed out to eastern Colorado this last weekend to shoot the pictures. I just love it out there, it is such a barren beautiful landscape. We ended up finding this great desolate farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. It also happened that once we found this place (after stopping by a few other locations, while driving around all afternoon) I had time to do inside and outside shots, then the sun set, so the lighting was perfect. The stars come out so quickly out there, and I had a stroke of inspiration to shoot the sunset, leave the camera on the tripod until the stars came out, then shoot another exposure to help with the feeling of vast isolation, and the passage of time.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-05-2011, 11:47 AM
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yes. this is the correct answer. One of my favorite lenses. If I hadn't replaced it with the new sigma 8-16mm it would still be on my camera...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-04-2011, 10:52 AM
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Thank for the ideas and thoughts everyone. I ended up going with the color. Hoping it helps them stand out as there are over 500 entries...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-02-2011, 11:23 PM
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Some quotes from Grapes that I thought really fit this story, wish I could include one of these with the entry...
They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat.
The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it.
But the machine man, driving a dead tractor on land he does not know and love, understands only chemistry; and he is contemptuous of the land and of itself. When the corrugated iron doors are shut, he goes home, and his home is not the land
Men who have created new fruits in the world cannot create a system whereby their fruits may be eaten. And the failure hangs over the State like a great sorrow. ...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-02-2011, 09:45 PM
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Thanks everyone. I'm definitely leaning toward color at this point. The more I look at it the more I like the color, and feel that if I go B&W it would only be an attempt to pander to the judges, rather than stay true to my art...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-02-2011, 09:28 AM
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Thanks for all the comments and interest guys/gals.
Yucatan, wow, what an amazing comment. I can't tell you what a perfect description that is of how I often feel when entering these places. I will see little reminants of what life once was for the people that lived and died, an think to myself how many different dreams and asperations, hope and laghter, hard times and bountiful harvests, took place behind these walls. It is haunting and beautiful to think of this, to really feel it first hand, and see the orderly creations man gently forces on nature being taken back by the often fractal-like order expressed and ultimately imposed by nature itself.
Honestly you really captured many of my thoughts and truly get why I love shooting this stuff so much.
Thanks DCMsox, I actually have many more than ten shots of similar subject matter, as I drove through eastern CO, nebraska, south dakota, and wyoming last summer, and even going back the summer before, when I first discovered the true contrasting beauty of these high plains ghosts. I'm actually planning on putting together an gallery showing sometime this summer, and maybe a coffee table book or a calendar wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Seems like most are starting to lean toward the color versions. I could always desaturate them just a bit more, to get a bit of the best of both worlds...
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-01-2011, 11:58 PM
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So, far it seems like most like a color B&W combo. I'll start to keep a tally as I get more input. Also any other processing thoughts are welcome (i'll post a sepia too, as suggested and any other ideas that you guys come up with).
Again thanks for the ideas/compliments
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-01-2011, 11:38 PM
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Thanks for the compliments,
I can definitely do one of each, but I'm worried it might lose some of it's continuity. You guys don't think so?
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-01-2011, 10:50 PM
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Fellow Pentaxians,
I need your opinions. These are two photos that I am preparing for a photo contest. My topic is the title of this post. The contest is a 2 photo narrative, so the pictures have to tell a story. I headed out to eastern Colorado this last weekend to shoot the pictures. I just love it out there, it is such a barren beautiful landscape. We ended up finding this great desolate farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. It also happened that once we found this place (after stopping by a few other locations, while driving around all afternoon) I had time to do inside and outside shots, then the sun set, so the lighting was perfect. The stars come out so quickly out there, and I had a stroke of inspiration to shoot the sunset, leave the camera on the tripod until the stars came out, then shoot another exposure to help with the feeling of vast isolation, and the passage of time.
Anyhow, I'm trying to finalize the images and I can't decide on color, or B&W and I wanted to get some pentaxian/fellow photographers opinions. The contest is all about the narrative and less about the technical aspects of the pictures. I also want to evoke a Grapes of Wrath/Steinbeck feel to it (I was even thinking of making the title a quote from Grapes, so many amazing ones). I'm personally leaning toward the B&W, because I feel it puts more focus on the stroy, and less on the pictures themselves, but everytime I look at the color versions I waver a bit because I like them too.
Let me know what you think, both about the topic title, and the shots.
Love the feedback, and thanks in advance.
the two in color;
Now in B&W;
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-01-2011, 11:52 AM
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That glacier shot is a stunner. The clouds, and the mountains, with the depth in the ice. Very good.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-01-2011, 11:51 AM
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Love the portraits, very nice comp and colors/tones
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-24-2011, 02:28 PM
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Thanks guys,
I see where you get your name Smeggypants, but I like where your head is at...
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-24-2011, 09:10 AM
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In my opinion you are treating the k-5 like a piece of expensive china, not a professional grade photography tool. I throw my K-5 (and my K-10 for years before I got my K-5) in my backpack everyday. I have left it in the car during hot days, and cold nights. I don't do this on purpose, but when you take a camera with you everywhere, things happen. It was built to be a serious piece of equipment and can stand up to the rigors of intense field work. Ask any pro photog how much abuse their gear takes, or just look at all the duck tape covering their lens hoods, and the scratches and dings all over their camera bodies. The k2000 doesn't even hold a light to the k-5 on any level (pun intended, i guess). You have an amazing camera in the k-5 so I would suggest you take the training wheels off and really get to know your camera, instead of letting it collect dust on the shelf. The best camera, is the one you have with you....
Just my humble opinion.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-24-2011, 12:51 AM
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In downtown Denver. I am using my new (and already beloved) sigma 8-16mm. It is a really fun lens, and I feel like I am getting the hang of it, although it has very special and unique characteristics. See below for exif ect...
Thanks for the compliments. The pp (post process) is my own special brand of HDR, which combines many aspects of traditional tonemapping, with selective masking. I use a bunch of filters and photoshop techniques that varies a bit with every shot because they each pose their own challenges. I often think of the creative fun that I have trying to reach a satisfactory zeitgeist for the shot, as similar to the advanced techniques used in darkrooms of old (especially master such as Ansel Adams). I think of the old masters toiling away in the dark, feverishly trying to create an image of the beauty they saw in their mind's eye. Always learning and advancing their techniques. Not to compair myself to such photography gods in any way, but I feel a connection to them. I often find many vocal critics of post processing on forums I have been apart of in the past, but when you really get to know all the inticacies of photoshop, and you are freed from the shackles of the technical tripping blocks involved with mastering the software (I still have a lot of mastering to do), then the sheer variety of different ways to achieve the same end product lead to an almost endless improvisational ability to reinvent and extend what the pixels of the camera sensor captured to match what the mind saw and felt.
I digress, here is a great tutorial to get you started with some more advanced HDR techniques. It is by no way a complete guide, but I find that it has a lot to sink your teeth into if you are just starting...
HDR Tutorial | High Dynamic Range Tutorial
Why don't you put a good word in for me with Nat Geo. I could use the extra income ;). Seriously though, I don't think the shot is on the website, but if you have seen it, please let me know (I had a shot get on there before, and I didn't know until someone told me later).
This one wasn't but I have actually been published on the nat geo website before. It was a real honor and I hope to get on again some day.
I'm glad you liked the last lion shot. Here is another I snapped, along with a couple more from the day. My girlfriend and I only spent about an hour and a half at the zoo that afternoon because it was pretty late when we got there and we both got hungry, otherwise I might have gotten a few more...
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-21-2011, 04:04 PM
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Very cool work Andras, really like the tones and the feeling in the shots. I'm normally not a huge BIF guy, but that crane shot is stunning....
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-21-2011, 04:01 PM
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A couple new ones I took last week. In love with this camera....
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-14-2011, 03:10 PM
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Sorry, this is a cross post, but all these shots were done in TAv mode (which I love for sports). Some of them I even pushed the shutter speed up to 1/6400 (overkill, but I was shooting fast moving objects at around 700mm).
Here is my contribution. I only had one good day with the K-5 before the season was over, but I've also had a chance to shot some super low-light aps-c (dance recital) with great results too. Sorry for the low contrast images, it wasn't the camera or the lens, it was just a very hazy day (I have versions with pp to fix it, but these are straight from camera).
APS-C; 5 point; sigma 100-300; f 4; 1/6400; ISO 800
First a rapid fire series (I have a lot of goods ones from this day but too much trouble uploading all of them):
Touchdown!!!
Second, a couple of my favorite action shots from a day of shooting on TAv mode (like the above series), which is a pentax only option which my canikoner sports shooting friends are very jealous of (with a bit of post):
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-12-2011, 01:43 AM
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Here is my contribution. I only had one good day with the K-5 before the season was over, but I've also had a chance to shot some super low-light aps-c (dance recital) with great results too. Sorry for the low contrast images, it wasn't the camera or the lens, it was just a very hazy day (I have versions with pp to fix it, but these are straight from camera).
APS-C; 5 point; sigma 100-300; f 4; 1/6400; ISO 800
First a rapid fire series (I have a lot of goods ones from this day but too much trouble uploading all of them):
Touchdown!!!
Second, a couple of my favorite action shots from a day of shooting on AvTv mode (like the above series), which is a pentax only option which my canikoner sports shooting friends are very jealous of (with a bit of post):
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-06-2011, 01:56 PM
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Ya, I'm pretty sure that one is a stain too, tried everything to clean it. It is big, perfectly round and has it has a distinct halo.
I'll definitely be sending it back at some point soon, but keep me updated, as I would be very curious about your experience and the time it taks for you to get a new body back.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-05-2011, 03:51 PM
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Hey guys,
I am a happy K-5 owner and it has helped me produce some amazing photos so far. For a couple of examples check out my stuff in the post below.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-5-forum/123731-no-more-tests-jus...ml#post1323234
That being said, I have just realized that I have a pretty big single stain spot in the middle of my sensor (there is dust everywhere, which comes and goes with cleaning and is true for every sensor, but the dark spot in the center with a halo will not clean and is quite visible in many shots even down to f8). It's really not the end of the world, as, when it is noticeable, it is easily clone-able, but I still want a virgin sensor eventually.
blue sky, 300mm, f32, Bow highlights crop.
My question is, how long are people averaging on warranty repairs for stains? I just called pentax and essentially they will email me a shipping label and then I send it they fix/replace it and then I get it back. The ETA from them is 3-4 weeks. I need the camera to shoot a couple basketball games (low light, speed, focus that my K10 or D90 can't do) in the next few weeks, for paid gigs. Sooo, I want to take a survey of how long it's taking to get bodies back from pentax. I already sent a camera back to the pentax online store for a faulty flash, and they were so kind that they sent me a body and only had me return mine once I got the replacement. The problem is that it has exceeded the 2 week return policy to send it back to the online store, and in addition the people at pentax assure me that if I send it to them (warranty)I will get back a stain free body (if I exchange it, I may just get another stained sensor).
I live in Denver, so I'm pretty close to the repair facility in AZ, but let me know thoughts, and ideas.
The other thing to consider is that the 1 year warranty extends from the date of return. So I have no problem waiting for these issues to be sorted out over the next month or so, then returning it. That way my warranty would actually be extended from my date of purchase by the amount of time I wait, if that makes sense.
-Alex
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-31-2010, 07:45 PM
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Loving everyones pics...
A couple very different things I have captured so far with my new favorite toy. If you want full shooting details, check my flickr site,
flickr.com/benison
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