|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-16-2024, 12:16 PM
|
| |
With the FA 20-35:
 |
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-07-2024, 03:44 AM
|
| |
Enjoying the varied contributions from everyone - keep it coming!
And even later to the party, here stumping up 5 for 2023 - 3 early morning and a couple of shots in the dark.
1. Boambee Beach with the DA*11-18
2. Redhead Beach with the Sigma 18-35 Art
3. North Sydney Panorama from Observatory Hill with the DA*55 - 3 landscape images stitched
4. Redhead Beach and Sigma 18-35 Art ........again!
5. Carina Nebula with the DA*300mm on a Kp (and attached to a Star Adv. GTi)
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
03-05-2023, 01:40 PM
|
| |
And the rest of 'em, all with the 150-450 on the K3III
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-02-2023, 01:31 PM
|
| |
I have an SMC DA*16-50 2.8 that was converted to screw drive AF and I like it a lot.
I do like the images I see from the Tamron but I like Pentax colors better. When I bought the DA*16-50 I could have bought a Tamron 17-50 2.8 for about half the price but I still went with the Pentax partly because of WR and build quality, but also because I like the images from the Pentax better. Especially for landscapes, traveling and scenery, the Pentax lens at f5.6-f11 will give you such beautiful colors and such good microcontrast and color separation, I think it was the best choice for a standard zoom in the Pentax APS-C line.
I even like my SMC DA 16-45mm f4 better than the Tamron and Sigma offerings (and I would like to say again, they are fine lenses, I just like the Pentax colors and rendering better). As far as sharpness goes, they are all sharp enough.
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
03-02-2023, 07:27 AM
|
| |
The best of probably hundreds of attempts to capture a swallow on the wing. They fly sooooo fast. Pentax 150-~450mm @ 450mm
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
03-02-2023, 01:42 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-27-2023, 07:01 PM
|
| |
Maybe some elderly Colonel dressed in white ... LOL!
Regards |
|
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-26-2023, 08:17 PM
|
| |
sunrise today at the marsh
|
|
Forum: General Photography
02-26-2023, 05:49 PM
|
| |
I'm too young for powder, but I have used flash bulbs (the kind that made a mess if the bulb was cracked). The flash gun had a reflector with metal pedals that folded up and it was on a Braun rangefinder camera that my mom gave to my dad for Christmas around 1958 (a couple of years before I was born). The flash gun died by the late seventies, but I used the camera until 1990.
Some pictures from an after-convocation party in 2015, bouncing my on-camera flash off the ceiling in the dining nook (it's my in-laws 900 sq. ft. house) for fill-in against the bright light coming in from outside..
This is at 40mm, I was standing back a few feet, shooting through a wide passageway from the living room, the first shot with flash usually gets this kind of reaction:
Then I moved a bit closer and increased the focal length to 53mm, trying to focus on my daughter's reaction when she discovered my mom had taste-tested the icing:
Then I zoomed out to 24mm, by this time nobody was paying attention to the photographer:
 |
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-23-2023, 02:21 AM
|
| |
I would go for the 100mm macro. Adapting the 135mm is likely to be a hit and miss affair. Close up lenses help, but you can do a lot better. They can be used on the 100mm macro, if you want.
Do keep in mind that there is light loss involved with extension tubes. In practice they are quite fiddly to use, The focus range of your lens is truncated to something much shorter. If you want to go longer, you have to swap out the tube. Same with closeup lenses. Once again, the 100mm will work better with tubes, since it has a larger range of adjustment. Also, macro lenses are designed with flatness of field in mind.
Another thing, if you are going for AF lenses the focus rings are not ideal. They lack in feel and resistance, making manual focus a chore. A 100mm macro will do autofocus right down to its minimum focus distance. How well that works in the real world, I am not so sure about.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-12-2019, 05:39 PM
|
| |
Yes, the FA 35mm f/2 does extremely well also, and on FF, which it was designed for, it provides a FOV like a 24mm on APS-C. The latest incarnation also has HD coatings. Both are still available. This is one reason for the appeal of a FF body for me- my FA 35mm f/2 will easily outperform any 24mm f/2 or f/1.8 on my APS-C body!
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-17-2023, 01:51 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-09-2023, 02:27 PM
|
| |
A new film comprising 10,500 individual photographs, mostly shot with a Pentax K1, was taken over 5 years in all seasons to capture and showcase the stunning beauty and varied landscapes of a part of the island of Ireland which is often dubbed 'the forgotten county'.
Youtu.be
|
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VnbgphXCoVE?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
|
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-16-2023, 09:15 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-13-2023, 09:28 PM
|
| |
I'm guessing that it was the SDM motor having difficulty moving the gears in the lens.
My understanding of the problem is that on a lot of the early SDM lenses there is a lubricant on the internal gears which gets more viscous (hard/thicker) with age and non use of the lens. At which point the SDM motor cannot generate enough torque to turn the gears against the viscous lubricant.
Periodically exercising the lens on the camera or manually on or off the cemera serves to loosen up the lubricant to the point where the torque generated by the SDM motor is now sufficient to turn the gears and focus the lens.
Your description seems to match this situation.
So use the lens frequently, or if you let it sit for mor ethan a week, exercise it by fitting it to a camera, manually turning the focus ring back and forth a couple of times and them AF with the lens. This should keep the lubricant from getting viscous to the point where the AF motor in the lens oes not have enough torque to turn the AF gears.
Regards
Chris
|
|
Forum: General Talk
02-13-2023, 08:10 AM
|
| |
I made a graph of all my past relationships...
there was an ex axis and a why axis
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-09-2023, 11:04 AM
|
| |
Lighting is a big issue that will transform these. You have many shots with the light behind the subjects but no fill lighting. Using reflectors or flash (possibly with color filters to match the lighting temperature) is a skill that you need to invest in before grabbing new lenses.
Also you have a shot where your subject’s face is blown out. You may need to work on using the histogram and perhaps spot metering or at least biasing exposure to avoid blowing the highlights. I think working on techniques will help more than anything. Your framing and posing is on target - just need to tinker with the desired outcome and adjust techniques to match. Some of it will take a lot of practice.
|
|
Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
01-03-2023, 10:50 PM
|
| |
Taken around 10pm on 10/1/22 at Cannon Beach, Oregon. Camp fire was in front of Haystack Rock with the moon directly behind the rock. My intent was to capture the Milky Way, which was above the moon, but the light from the moon obscured most of the Milky Way. Exposure was for 20 seconds at iso 800.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-07-2023, 04:34 AM
|
| |
A Sigma or Tamron 17-50 f2.8 would be my preference over the Sigma 17-35 *by a mile* unless you had a very unique kit situation, like sharing the 17-35 with a full-frame camera and you want to keep your lens count low. Or one of the Sigma 17-70's, any version, which I imagine can be purchased for that 120 pounds if not well under if you shop carefully, but those are variable aperture jobs which isn't so helpful here.
The 18-135 is a great lens, I'm a big fan of the thing, but you're correct that it isn't great for indoor shooting with lower light to contend with. You're sort of stuck; this system doesn't have autofocusing glass available for low cost which really addresses your situation. One of the old f2 28mm primes would but they're all manual focus which I don't enjoy using much on a K-5 II. The Sigma 24mm f18 and 28mm f1.8's are nice, I own one of each, but I doubt you'll find one on the used market for that 120 you mentioned. They haven't been available new for some time. But those are really what I would want, or the Sigma 18-35 f1.8, but again those are much more costly.
Short version: Sigma 17-50 or Tamron 17-50 with a sharpness & build quality edge for the Sigma, rendering preference for the Tamron, but keep in mind that's highly subjective.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
02-04-2023, 07:53 AM
|
| |
St. Ives Harbour, Cornwall - Lighthouse at the end of Smeaton's Pier
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
02-02-2023, 01:38 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-01-2023, 04:29 AM
|
| |
Au contraire. For me, it is 100% a personal preference. There's no "right way" to envision and create a photographic image. No idea why you would think otherwise. :)
|
|
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
01-29-2023, 07:07 PM
|
| |
So I had to re-register. I'm fairly confident I have used the forums in the past. I message with Kerrick James and he almost always suggests going here with questions. He did in our recent convo, I tried logging in and got nothing. Tried all of my emails (all of you, who remember the days of having multiple emails to keep from going over the message limits, know what I'm talking about! lol). NONE of my emails came up. Eh, so I signed up again.
Just in case anyone see's this and says, "HEY Mike isn't new"! haha.
Is this like being "reborn"? ;-) RE-Pentaxianed? is that a word?
First camera: not sure
First Pentax: ZX-50 and ZX-5N at a local camera store in the 1990's. Yep, a film dinosaur. Want to confuse a youngster? ask them to load film in a 645. I had a Mamiya Pro TL. Still have it. That was my test for assistants.
Anyway,
Hello everyone.
Mikel M. Louder
MML Photo
Mikel M. Louder Photography
Pasco, Washington USA
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-28-2023, 04:31 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-27-2023, 11:36 AM
|
| |
| |
