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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-05-2020, 04:29 PM
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Tempted by the conjunction between Venus and the Pleiades star cluster, I finally worked up my nerve to try the astrotracer function on my K-1 with the DA* 300 lens.
I am pleasantly surprised at how easy it really was, and pleased with the results.
The 3-axis rotation scheme gave me a "Calibration complete" on the first try! And GPS acquisition occurred right away. It took me a couple of tries before I realized I had to use "B" mode exposure. (Anybody know why - seems to me setting a shutter speed should work with no interface problems?) Then, I remembered the push-start / push-stop mode for B so I didn't have to hold my finger on the trigger which of course wiggled the camera no end (I was too lazy to go find my remote release!). Even still, I had some obvious camera motion effects, until I started holding a piece of dark paper in front of the lens at the start and end of the exposure.
Voila, pretty nice round stars for exposures up to 20 seconds.
Here's my best result. About 10 seconds at f/16 and ISO 12800 (yeah, not the best set of parameters - I'll do better next time, when the Moon isn't so bright) Other than cropping, and resizing (40%) plus some level adjustment and fixing of a few hot pixels in PSE, this is pretty much SOOC jpg.
I then went and tried the Orion nebula. Again, very good tracking (but too much moon for a deep nebula exposure!). So, once astrotracer is set up, it appears you can wander around the sky without recalibration. Nice.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-17-2019, 01:25 PM
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Reviewing the video, I see you are correct with an estimate of about six foot. I have corrected my comment. OTOH, I actually checked relative size with lens, camera, and tape for 24mm before posting and measure about 9 foot vertical FOV at 10 feet distance. Allowing for the 93% viewfinder coverage, that is pretty close to the 10 foot figure given by the FOV calculator at the linked page below:
Camera Field of View Calculator (FoV)
The model/manikin (pedestal included) occupies a little over 50% of the vertical dimension of the example for 24mm at 10 feet. That is what skewed my estimate of height to about 5 foot. I suspect that the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III used in the test might shoot a little wider than the nominal focal length. Either that or the photo was taken from further back than shown in the video.
Addendum: I am usually not this compulsive about things. It was just that the 24mm shots appeared far wider than my experience with the focal length.
Steve
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Forum: General Photography
05-10-2019, 04:35 PM
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This really reminds me of Life of Brian. "All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"
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Forum: General Photography
12-16-2018, 05:42 PM
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Because the APS-C is just that much better.......
Nah, probably what Dave2K said.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-10-2018, 06:42 AM
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Fantastic captures. I was thinking to post some of my crystal captures, but seeing these made mine look so bad I decided not to post! Gotta try again. :>)
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-05-2018, 12:50 PM
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page 56
---------- Post added 08-05-18 at 08:55 PM ----------
He is using the Pentax wireless remote. If he changes the default setting in C3/21 "Auto SR off" he will still have SR when using the remote. I don't understand why this would be appropriate however, as I assume the camera would be on a tripod at this time.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-04-2018, 02:03 PM
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That is correct. The K mount version is, as far as I know, the only one allowing aperture control from the camera. Win.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-11-2017, 07:02 AM
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Hello everyone! I am really excited to be a part of the Pentax community. My new camera arrived a few days ago and I have a lot to learn. I am blown away by all of the options and customization that can be achieved.
I have been shooting Canon for a number of years and recently sold my Canon 6D, 24-70 Tamron, IS, and some other gear. I will keep my T2I, Tamon 90MM, ring light, etc. for Macro.
The genesis of these actions was the purchase of the DP2M. I instantly fell in love with the camera and I quickly realized the shortcomings of my much more expensive canon cameras.
Fast forward a few years and I have been seeing the announcements of newer cameras. A7R, D800 and D810. Everyone kept telling me to hold
off for a new canon. That they would "catch up".
I have been researching the Pentak K1 and was intrigued by the build quality, the sensor shift functionality, I mean everything about the camera looked like I would be purchasing something that completely blows away my Canon and other higher Canons that were well outside of my price range.
I finally sold the aforementioned 6D, various lenses, etc. to fund the Pentax K1 purchase. I have been an avid fan of the M42 screwmount lens. My favorite being the 50mm 1.4 super takumar and the Meyer-Optik Görlitz 4/300 Orestegor – f4; both are absolutely outstanding.
I loved the fact that the K mount has been used for so many years and there is an abundant supply of vintage lenses that I can use native without any type of adapter.
Before the K1 arrived I ordered a few lenses on Ebay recently. The Pentax 50mm 1.7 SMC FA. Cant beat the price. I mistakenly purchased the Zykkor MC 135 2.8. Didn't realize it was a Zykkor. Perhaps I will like it? I'll put it through some paces today. Since I love shooting landscape I was really happy to score the original 28MM 3.5 Pentax SMC.
As a matter of fact I shot with the 28mm lens this morning for the first time. I read the glowing reviews, thanks to this forum, and knew I had to have it.
Again - thank you for this wonderful site and I am grateful to all of you who so generously share your knowledge of photography.
You can view my work at robertoaloiphotography.com. I hope to be able to contribute to the ever growing collection of fine K1 images. :cool:
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-10-2017, 07:10 AM
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Of course you can ask what "best" means, and you would be right. By "best" I mean the highest lens rating. You might be thinking (quite incorrectly, as it turns out) that Pentax makes great small prime lenses - such as the FA 77. I had some free time and thought I would crunch some numbers from the lens review database, and I can tell you that you are completely wrong. Pentax is all about telephoto lenses. Out of the 10 lenses with highest ratings only 3 are shorter than 200mm. These the A* 85mm (at #4), DA 35 f2.8 (at #7), and K 30 f2.8 at #10. The list of highest rated primes is this:
Lenses Rating Price User Reviews $ per point of rating
1 SMC Pentax-A* 200mm F4 Macro ED 10 1614 10 161
2 SMC Pentax-FA* 200mm F4 Macro ED [IF] 10 2407 7 241
3 SMC Pentax-A* 400mm F2.8 ED [IF] 10 3200 4 320
4 SMC Pentax A* 85mm F1.4 9.93 975 14 98
5 SMC Pentax-FA* 300mm F2.8 ED [IF] 9.9 2832 10 286
6 SMC Pentax-F* 300mm F4.5 ED [IF] 9.88 967 34 98
7 HD Pentax-DA 35mm F2.8 Limited Macro 9.86 497 15 50
8 SMC Pentax A* 200mm F2.8 ED 9.83 740 6 75
9 SMC Pentax-A* 300mm F2.8 ED [IF] 9.83 2850 6 290
10 SMC Pentax 30mm F2.8 9.76 247 25 25
To be honest, I was surprised by this list...
As you can see, these lenses are pretty pricey. Do they offer the best bang for the buck? Not at all. Here is the list of the 10 lenses that offer the best bang for the buck (or dollar per point of rating).
Lens Rating Price # of user reviews $ per point of rating
1 SMC Pentax-M 50mm F2 8.22 24 91 2.92
2 SMC Pentax-A 50mm F2 7.84 34 63 4.34
3 SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.7 9.38 41 207 4.37
4 SMC Pentax 55mm F2 9.21 53 14 5.75
5 SMC Pentax-M 135mm F3.5 8.57 50 94 5.83
6 SMC Pentax 55mm F1.8 9.36 55 65 5.88
7 SMC Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 8.27 54 75 6.53
8 SMC Pentax-A 50mm F1.7 8.99 62 124 6.90
9 SMC Pentax-M 28mm F3.5 8.81 63 38 7.15
10 SMC Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 9.25 78 97 8.43
In general though, there seems to be little relationship between price and quality as expressed by lens rating. That might not be surprising though, as no lens is rated below 7.7.
Urgh... These tables look correct when I type, but once I post them they are all jumbled... Sorry...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-05-2017, 07:56 PM
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The FA20 is a stellar little lens. The resolving power isn't quite as great as the DFA15-20 @ 20mm, but it still holds up very well on the K-1. Of course, it has the advantage of being tiny, and taking 67mm filters (as does the FA*24), so I can't quite bring myself to part with either ;)
I used both primes recently for "Single In" challenges. Here's the album for the FA20, and the FA*24 |
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
02-02-2017, 02:52 PM
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Last month we had a longer than usual freeze that created some neat structures.
These are ice spikes on a twig.
K-1, Voigtlander SL 125mm, f 13 @ 1s, ISO 100
M
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-12-2017, 10:51 AM
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New images are written at the next available space. Endurance of flash memory is a key specification, not very well disclosed, at each erase cycle, charges remain trapped into floating gates, and so after a number of program/erase cycles, the ability to distinguish between a bit value of 0 or 1 diminishes until some bits get flipped when reading the cells. Also I've already evaluated memories having endurance of several million program/erase cycles, the endurance cycles of high density SD cards for consumers is something like a few thousands, up to something like 10 000 cycles. And the durability may be different from one brand to another (what is not written on the package for the consumer). 3000 cycles is rather big. But if you want to max out the life time of your SD cards, you just can continue to shoot until the card is almost full and delete the first folders; doing so, the camera will continue to wirte newer photos into the first physical pages of the card. However, if you use format instead of deleting one folder at a time, the camera will always write the first photos in the first pages and the so, the life time of the SD card will not be maxed out. For cameras, it's not much of an issue, if you take new photos into freshly formatted card every day, and your flahs memory card endurance is 3650 cycles, you can take photos for 10 years without trouble. Chances are your 32Gb SD card will be obsolete within less than 10 years.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-03-2015, 07:31 AM
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An upgrade to DCU5 has been posted, with significant improvements:
[Main changes from Version 5.4.1]
Added Diffraction Correction on Lens Correction.
*. For captured image file that is corresponding camera and lens.
Added Fringe Correction on Lens Correction.
*. For captured image file that is corresponding camera and lens.
Added ON/OFF setting for RAW development of RRS (Real Resolution System).
Added [Recent files] list menu on Laboratory mode.
Added new lens name [HD PENTAX-D FA645 35mm F3.5 AL [IF].
Added Tone curve inversion reset button. (Easy use for Negative-positive reversal, film duplicator and etc.)
Optimize to tone curve of Adobe RGB.
Corrected – Miss displayed of highlight correction for before K-5II camera
Corrected – Can’t memory input history of address bar on Browser mode.
Corrected – When develop RAW image that has been trimmed, Image quality tag is remained RAW.
Corrected – Displayed un-printing range on margin setting in print..
Corrected – When image transmit in a maximized state from IMAGE Transmitter 2, maximization is released.
Corrected – When select “Option” ⇒ “File management” ⇒ “default location” ⇒ “folder at the last saved”, fail in simple image import .
Corrected – RAW image develop failure when capture image with changing aspect ratio by K-01.
Correspond to compatible reading of parameter file for Windows and Macintosh.
Correspond – Windows 10.
The upgrade is available at Digital Camera Utility 5 Update for Windows : Software Downloads | RICOH IMAGING
Cheers,
Lou
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-07-2017, 05:43 PM
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I got these and they worked well.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
01-22-2017, 07:52 AM
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Do you guys ever take pictures? Or do you sit around all day monitoring websites for price drops on lenses you aren't going to buy? Just sayin...
:)
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
12-26-2016, 12:39 PM
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Another option might be to use a piece (or pieces depending on thickness) of neoprene on the vertical leg to space it out from the camera body. That way you could open the battery door AND keep your strap loop.
Neoprene can be found very cheaply at dollar stores in the form of pencil cases, iPad/tablet cases etc. Just de-construct it (i.e. cut it open), cut to size and affix with strong, double-sided, carpet tape. Neither neoprene or it's usual cloth covering frays so you don't even have to worry about sewing it. ;)
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
12-21-2016, 12:34 AM
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I resent the imputation that the Pentax K-1 is in any way an astrological camera! It is NOT a pile of idiotic superstitious nonsense. Wash your mouth out fwbigd.
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Forum: Sold Items
12-12-2016, 12:44 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-12-2016, 11:36 AM
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Actually you are both wrong. :)
The two seconds timer does flip the mirror, then wait 2 sec for the vibrations to die out and then fires the shutter. This mode is great when you don't have a remote with you and still want to use mirror up.
The 12 seconds timer are ment to be used when the photographer wants to be in the picture himself, press the button and run away to join the rest of the group in front of the camera. After 12 seconds the picture is taken. The mirror is NOT flipped until the time is up.
The remote 3sec timer does flip the mirror, waits 3 sec and fire.
If 3sec isn't enough, use remote and mirror up, first press flips the mirror, second press fires the shutter.
For even less vibrations, use remote and electronic shutter (with the K-1) (OBS not suitable for action scenes due to rolling shutter)
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Forum: Sold Items
08-26-2016, 08:44 AM
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WOW...can't believe this one is still around. If I hadn't just bought a new car, I'd be all over this one. But alas, all I can right now is offer a free bump....
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
03-01-2016, 07:34 PM
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Sure, I simply brace my hand under the tripod mount on it, go to a kneeling position, and put my elbow on my knee. I breathe in, hold my breath, make sure all is steady, and go for it. I also use a higher shutter speed. here's one I got of the moon handheld.
Attachment 300849 |
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Forum: General Photography
01-23-2016, 05:41 PM
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Shouldn't the moon be a lot bigger, being in front of those clouds and all?
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
12-09-2014, 06:19 PM
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Well, here is an overview of the whole story - with the ending. I was interested in what actually happened to the lawyer, and this has the (good) ending....
:cool:
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-03-2014, 03:03 PM
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As a 17 year seller on eBay, I swear I could run this web store out of my basement without a hitch.
After some searching I did find a staff photo.
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