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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-26-2019, 11:30 AM
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VoiceofReason, I checked out your website, and I must say that you are a very talented astrophotogher. Those shots are truly incredible. Anything else I need if I get that $600 coma corrector? I do have a paracorr. Will that help with coma? Is there a way to attach the camera even with a paracorr on it?
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-25-2019, 05:56 PM
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Hello all! I am petitioning the forum for help with connecting my K-1 to my telescope. (In advance) I appreciate your help. I've always loved photography, and I've always love astronomy. I'd like to marry the two with the camera and scope that I already have.
I'd mostly like to photograph Messier objects, DSOs, maybe some planets (not so much).
Here is my telescope.
I understand that I will be limited to short exposures do to my mount, but I have heard that short exposures can be stacked to yield reasonably good images.
Can anyone provide a list of equipment that i will need to purchase to make this work, and a brief summary of the technique? Also, I have both a 1.25" and a 2" diagonal -- is the 2" be better for the full frame K-1? Where do I find the adapters for 2"?
Thank you!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-08-2017, 03:33 PM
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---------- Post added 02-08-2017 at 06:47 PM ----------
[/COLOR]
Ok, I switched the flash to Manual, and it is working now! Thank you for the advice! It appears that the flash will work with any mode on the camera, but the flash must be in manual mode instead of TTL.
I don't understand the difference between TTL mode on the flash and manual mode. Is the TTL mode normally easier to use? What advantages does each mode offer? Do you think I could still get TTL to work, or is manual my only option?
Also, what is the purpose of X-sync mode?
Thanks
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-08-2017, 02:17 PM
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Hi guys,
I am using a K-1 in combination with the Sigma EM-140 ring flash. It seems to have a synchronization problem, where maybe 1 out of 5 pictures is properly exposed. The flash always fires, but the image is dark. Just listening, it sounds like the shutter goes before the flash fires. I'm using it for dental photography and this is frustrating as time is valuable and patients hate waiting. Any advice on how to get them to synchronize is appreciated.
BTW, I've mainly been using the X-sync setting, 1/200 sec, F20, iso 200 if that helps with anything.
Thanks
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-23-2016, 09:53 PM
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Thanks all for your patience! When I realized that I was a week overdue to judge, I was horrified, and I logged on and was relieved that my PF profile hadn’t been deleted (thanks, Adam), and I hadn’t received any hateful messages either! I probably have ensured myself to never be a PF judge again, but here it is, top 3, in the spirit of the Olympics:
Bronze: Walibo1’s Glacier National Park – I am a landscape enthusiast and I can appreciate what it would have taken to get this shot. The photographer probably drove forever the day before to get to this remote park, and then was devoted enough to wake up early and scout out a good location before sunrise. I love the reflection, framing and the colors. Nice shot.
Silver: KWStoll’s Great Blue Heron – I loved that this was a mixture of technology spanning decades. How many other companies besides Pentax could use such a crazy combo of adapters and lens and a modern full frame body?
Gold: ddamski’s shot of the child’s window reflection is the winner. Ultimately this one is the winner because these are moments that you cannot plan, and these are pictures that could be cherished for generations. This kid’s kids will appreciate seeing this, and black and white adds an element of timelessness. Having children this age myself, I know these are hard shots to get. Great photo!
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
07-21-2016, 09:14 PM
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The K-1 is superb for astrophotography! Given my latitude, I was surprised in this to see what appears to be the colors of the aurora borealis. Also, a nice surprise was the Andromeda galaxy seen above the mountain. ISO 6400, 25 seconds with the Rokinon 14 f/2.8 @ f 2.8. I look forward to seeing other great K-1 Astro photos!
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-13-2016, 11:04 PM
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I just wanted to bump this thread and say how impressive the K-1's shake reduction system is! It's unbelievable really! I took a few handheld test shots of the stars, and was surprised. I am not good at resizing and reposting but the tests may be seen on Flickr, I was getting pinpoint stars up to about 1.3 seconds!
As a side note, I love the little refinements they added I discovered the camera mount light (but not the others) will turn on for about 30 seconds if you press the illuminate button while the camera is off. Nice touch! This has proven to be helpful during astrophotography. No more fiddling with a phone light while trying to switch lenses.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-10-2016, 07:30 PM
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Bummer you're having trouble with the image sync. I have been using it for an iphone, and it has been working well for what it was designed to do. I just wish it had a timer delay on it could replace a remote on family pictures. Hopefully Pentax reads the forums and makes improvements in the new updates. I think Image Sync is an awesome idea, has great potential, but does need some work. Best of luck finding your solution.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
05-05-2016, 07:38 PM
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I too saw the post last night and slept on in (or didn't sleep on it much) and placed the order about 6:30 A.M. mountain time. I got a confirmation email with a tracking number, but the order still says "pending." I've never ordered from Adorama before, but I will be disappointed if they advertised that it was in stock, but it wasn't. I will call them in the morning.
Looking forward to this camera, though, whenever it arrives! Also got a couple of new lenses, the Rokinon 24 f/1.4 for astrophotography and landscapes (should be a good match to the K-1), and the DA 50 1.7 which, from what I understand, is supported on the larger format.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-30-2012, 07:16 PM
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I always shoot RAW for HDR. Also, I had never seen Pentax lenses be an option in Lightroom (the dropdown menu shows everybody but them), but I found if you just check the box "Enable Profile Corrections" then click "Custom" it brings up the lens automatically. This is going to change my world.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-30-2012, 07:10 PM
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Wow, I had never seen the Chromatic aberration box in LR4! It helps a lot! Sure it's not as good as a 15mm limited, but checking the box is within my budget right now.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-29-2012, 11:21 PM
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Hi guys, lately I have gotten some great shots that I fear are being ruined by lateral chromatic aberrations. I need help understanding it, and how to rectify the situation!
I have a K-7 and the kit lenses which I got primarily for outdoor photos because they're nice and weather sealed. I've taken many pictures with the18-55 WR and am still trying to figure out the best aperture to shoot with to reduce aberrations.
Is the in-camera removal of any use? Haven't used it much, but my initial impressions are that it doesn't work so well.
Can Lightroom do it? I have lightroom 4 but can't find the 18-55mm WR lens profile in it.
Does HDR always make aberrations more noticeable? I like taking HDR photos, but then it seems to make the purple fringing / weird outlines worse. Any help with this?
Is it just that this is a cheap lens? Other than the lateral chromatic aberrations, I love this lens! It fits the bill perfectly because it is inexpensive so I don't have to worry as bad if it gets destroyed on a hike, and it gets pretty sharp (I think) around F7.
Here is a link to an example of what I thought was a good photo somewhat ruined by fringing / lateral chromatic aberrations!
I haven't posted on PF for a long time, but I appreciate the input from you guys when I need it. Thank you!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-27-2011, 12:05 AM
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Anybody tried astrophotography through a dobsonian telescope? I know they don't track but is is possible to get good results by taking short exposures and stacking the images?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-29-2011, 07:37 AM
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Nice! I might try this out.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-28-2011, 06:02 AM
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I just realized what you said. B & H sells the FA 43s for $569. When have you seen a used copy for $369? I bet it's been several years, and certainly before the K-x era since a good copy has sold online for 400 or less.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-28-2011, 05:56 AM
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South Florida's craigslist never has FA or DA lenses for sale. I check it out often. The only pentax anything I've seen is film cameras and unremarkable lenses. Ebay is a rip. Sure the FA 43 shows up in the PF marketplace every now and then, but I'm not an impulse buyer, and someone is always sure to be more impulsive than me and jump on it. So, yeah, I think that a new FA 43 is what I'm considering.
After a few more days of catch-in-focus with the fifty, I've come to a couple of conclusions. 1) CIF still doesn't deliver crisp images indoors (for me). This is because, since it only fires when focused, you have to be shifting around to find the sweet spot, or adjusting the focus. It can hit it spot on occasionally, but for me the majority are still slightly out of focus. And I still don't like how everything is only center focused -- makes for boring shots. 2) I don't like the colors out of the M50 as much as more modern lenses. Example, yesterday I shot about 50 pictures of my daughter by a window, and then I switched to the Tamron 90mm and took a bunch more. Comparing the images with each lens was no contest. Besides being loads sharper, the Tamron had much more contrast, and less "haze". The Tamron images just looked a lot better. Maybe it's my copy of the M50? Is it the lack of modern coatings? I'm starting to think that bokeh aside, I'm growing out of favor with this lens. I'd hope that a legendary lens like the FA 43 would clearly outperform my M50.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-26-2011, 08:03 AM
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My Pentax purchases have to be made on faith, because there isn't a Pentax retailer in all of Florida. I don't personally know anyone with a Pentax anything to borrow equipment from either. What I read on the forum and other websites pretty much influences all of my purchasing decisions.
I appreciate the advice thus far, and for now I'm thinking of holding off on the 43, although I see the dollar depreciate by the day and know it's only a matter of time before another price hike.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-24-2011, 08:10 AM
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After experimenting with catch-in-focus for a day or so, I think it gets me about halfway there. It seems to be pretty accurate in decent lighting. However, in low light it seems to struggle to find the focus point, and then I can't even try to take a picture. One other big problem is that I like to compose a lot of my shots so that the subject of interest isn't always in the center. I like to follow the rule of thirds frequenlty. Catch in focus only works on the center focus point, unless you manually change which point it uses, but who has time to do that for each shot? So like I said, it is a nice feature to know how to use, and I will probably use more than regulary manual shooting, but it doesn't replace AF with multiple AF points for me.
Seems like most people feel the actual image quality of the 43 won't be a huge improvement over the M 50 1.7. I thought more people would come out of the woodwork to say why the FA 43 was that much better. I was kind of hoping that would happen, because I really want that lens, but I can't justify the price yet.
The 35/2.4 seems like a good bang for the buck, but I really do value build quality and I especially like shooting with the M50 if not for that reason alone. It just feels like a littel gem mounted on the end, not too big, but solid as a rock. On the rock-solid K-7 it just feels like a match. I don't doubt the image quality that the 35/2.4 would produce, I just hope it would feel nice on the camera too.
Anyone out there want to defend the 43 before I put the idea of buying it on the shelf for a while?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-23-2011, 01:48 PM
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Thanks for the tip, I should have learned this sooner. Probably the best feature I wasn't using on the camera. Is there any way to get it to work outside of the center focus point?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-23-2011, 12:56 PM
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I mainly want to use it for indoors to take pictures of the wife and baby daughter, but, when I'm not doing that, I would like it to be my general use lens for lots of different outdoor things... parties, hiking, astronomy, the beach... whatever.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-23-2011, 12:16 PM
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Hello knowledgeable forum members! I currently have a Pentax 50mm 1.7 and I love it for it's low light performance, bokeh, build quality and size-- these are all things that I value. However, I don't have the greatest eyesight which makes focusing difficult, and I think I would greatly appreciate an AF around this focal length. Like many Pentax owners, I've come to the point where I am considering the FA 43. This lens just gets me excited. But I want to know, what differences could I expect from the FA 43 besides the AF? In short, it seems that the M 50 1.7 has the reputation of being a great lens, and the FA 43 is a superb lens with a legendary status. What differences in image quality would I notice? What would I gain in the upgrade? Thanks in advance for your responses.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-14-2011, 08:12 PM
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Excellent! It makes me want to go back!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-08-2011, 10:02 AM
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Got rained on this weekend with the K-7 and the 18-55 WR! WR isn't appreciated until it is needed. But for me it made the difference in my choice between the K-x and the K-7.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-03-2011, 09:05 PM
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Hello everyone! I've seen a lot of people talk about how delightfully surprised they were that their macro lens actually turned out to be one of their favorite portrait lenses. When I recently bought mine, I was surprised too! I thought we should share some examples of why we think these lenses are the bee's knees for portraits. Please feel free to post your photo and the MACRO lens you used for it. They can be candid, formal, or whatever, just as long as you used a Macro lens for it!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-03-2011, 08:21 PM
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Interesting thread. I'll chime in --
I don't care about the lack of "respect" the K-7 gets. Nobody on this forum chose Pentax because it was the most popular brand. My impressions are that Pentax owners in general are a little defiant to what's popular anyway. So why should it matter if the K-7 is popular or not? One of the reasons I chose Pentax was that it is unique in the Canikon world. If the K-7 gets bashed on by other Pentax users, in a funny way it makes mine feel even more unique, because I know how great of a camera it really is. And by the way, does it seem like most of these K-7 bashers are K20 owners that chose not to upgrade, many who never used a K-7? I've never tried a K20, so I'd never be able to say from first hand experience that the K-7 is better. All I know is the K-7 feels great in my hands and I very much like the results it give me.
Additionally, from my own experiences, it has done fine in low-light, and the AF has exceeded my expectations (see my birds in flight pictures that this camera nailed spot on), and most of its shots have been taken outdoors where I have appreciated it's ruggedness and seals. I'd say my bigger gripe is the dynamic range, as shadows sometimes look dirty.
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