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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 09-19-2012, 07:29 PM  
Pentax Ricoh's reply to your comments at our interview
Posted By Confused
Replies: 302
Views: 49,979
Hi Adam

As others have mentioned beforehand, what I desperately require in the foreseeable future from Pentax-Ricoh is a decent weatherproof relatively affordable full-frame DSLR body with 5-exposure HDR (Raw & Raw + Jpeg) capabilities, preferably with integral GPS for 'geo-logging' photographic locations. In fact I was genuinely delighted to hear about the recent announcement concerning the availability of Samyang's T-S 24mm 1:3.5 ED AS UMC FF tilt & shift lens with Pentax mount, which would appear to compete favourably on price (supposedly about £1000.00) with both Canon & Nikon's more expensive offerings ? Personally I mainly specialise in architectural and landscape photography, so have no pressing need for either the typical 5-8 FPS capabilities that professional sports or news photographers require, nor for High Definition 1080p video capture, interesting concept that it is.
It's a sobering thought that over the past decade, competitors such as Canon have produced both the full-frame professional EOS-1Ds Mk I & Mk II DSLR bodies as well as the EOS 5D Mk I, II & III FF incarnations, with the relatively 'affordable' EOS 6D arriving soon. Nikon have manufactured the D800, D600 & D4 FF bodies, whilst Sony offer their Alpha 900 FF DSLR body and just announced Single Lens Translucent (SLT) A99 'crossover' pseudo DSLR. I shall conveniently gloss over Hoya's acquisition of Pentax and proceed to the current set-up. So where do Ricoh-Pentax currently stand in the full-frame marketplace ? I don't wish to appear unkind, but the expression "up s**t creek without a paddle" springs to mind ! Pentax DSLR cameras have seemingly offered extraordinary good value over many years and the inbuilt Shake Reduction system is invaluable, but (and it's a Big BUT) I simply don't intend to hang around much longer in the vain hope that Ricoh-Pentax just might possibly consider manufacturing a Full-Frame DSLR body. I need one NOW and not in TEN YEARS TIME !!!! Is that absolutely CLEAR !!!! I sincerely hope that Ricoh-Pentax management 'wake up' soon and 'start to smell the coffee' before it's too late...capiche !....end of rant....LOL !
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-27-2012, 09:25 AM  
Considering coming back from the dark side...
Posted By Confused
Replies: 63
Views: 10,072
Hi Rory

I only just came across this particular thread and took note of the fascinating little snippet of information you provided about Nikon's NEF proprietary format:

Quote: "not sharing the coding for it" (with Adobe's Lightroom) meaning that "some image information can be clipped out during import."

and also

Quote: "What many people do, is use ViewNX to import, export as TIFF, and then work with those in Lightroom. I find that using non-default camera profiles in Lightroom eliminate this need in most photos."

I know I ought to feel slightly guilty about it, but I hardly ever find myself shooting Raw files nowadays as I don't particularly wish to spend all my spare time manipulating digital images at the Post Processing stage. Also Tagged Images generally result in huge file sizes, but naturally provide a wider and more flexible choice when attempting to wring the very finest detail from digital photographs. I guess the ideal solution would be for the camera body to have 2 SD slots, one dedicated for capturing RAW files and the second one allocated for standard JPEG's ?

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2012, 08:06 PM  
Pentax O-GPS1 GPS Unit....Questions ???
Posted By Confused
Replies: 11
Views: 3,426
Hi mike

Thank you for replying so rapidly to my original post…… the World Wide Web is truly a thing of wonder ? I’m very sorry to hear about your current frustration with the new Pentax O-GPS1 GPS unit and it’s malfunctioning astrotracer function. I have never experienced photographing the sky at night, but if what I’ve understood so far about this device is accurate, it potentially opens up all sorts of serious possibilities for tracking and photographing the millions of stars and galaxies in outer space…..that is, when it works as advertised !!!
Living in London with it’s massive ‘light polution’ problem makes star-gazing particularly problematic here, but back in 2008 my wife & I spent 4 ½ months on a memorable world trip, stopping-off first at the cities of Chicago and then Seattle, before driving south via the beautiful Mount Rainier National Park to Portland. We followed the tortuous winding coastal route of Oregon through it’s giant redwood forests, eventually arriving at San Francisco.
The weather was astonishingly clear in SF during our stay and we were told at the time by locals that it was pretty unusual to be able to see so far, due to the prevailing mist or fog that often builds up and starts rolling across the bay, obscuring the view for unlucky tourists.
A further drive took us down to visit Hearst Castle, before flying from San Francisco onwards to Australia. There we spent a couple of months exploring significant areas of the ‘real’ outback and it’s myriad selection of charming Victorian towns and small settlements, whilst also taking in major cities such as Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, Melbourne (family members), Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania. In between this period, we also spent six weeks in New Zealand and extensively covered both the north and south islands, before reluctantly heading back to Australia. From Perth we flew to Hong Kong, arriving back in London just in time for Christmas. Phew…..were we both totally knackered, but I’d been doing all the driving, don’t forget !
Anyhow, whilst travelling through the delightful island of Tasmania (it’s located a few hundred miles south of Melbourne) we found ourselves skirting along the east coast, but in a northerly direction, having left behind the remarkable city of Hobart. Outside the two main Tasmanian cities of Launceston (north) and Hobart (south), there are hardly any significant areas of population to talk of and therefore to all intents and purposes, in most areas at night there is virtually zero light pollution to speak of. By the time we had checked into our idyllic lakeside accommodation and had eaten a meal, it was absolutely pitch black outside and so I decided to have a short stroll to the edge of the lake to breathe in some clean fresh air. At which point I merely happened to look skywards for an instant and was utterly blown away with what I saw. I remained riveted to the spot and can honestly say I have never EVER before seen ANYTHING remotely like what I experienced that night……..it was as though the entire heavens was shimmering and sparkling above me as far as the eye could see. In fact I distinctly remember calling my wife over in great excitement and the pair of us just stood there for many minutes, gawping in total amazement at the billions of twinkling pinpoints of light……but oddly, there was no sign of the moon whatsoever ? Something to do with being in the southern hemisphere perhaps ?

I recall an occasion some years back when the SiRFstar III chip began to gain widespread acclaim in newer Sat-Navs, so I’m both surprised and disappointed to discover that the Pentax unit takes 3 or 4 attempts before it finally locks-on. I once experienced a strange anomaly when driving a hire-car through France for a few days and couldn’t understand why our usually brilliant Garmin Sat-Nav began announcing turnings or junctions virtually at the very last second. It transpires that most French cars now come fitted with heat-deflecting front windscreens as standard and this seriously degrades the signal strength to portable screen-mounted Sat-Navs. The only solution is to fit a wired sensor extension cable that’s mounted to the rear window, which is not made of heat-deflecting glass.
Prior to the meteoric popularity of the internet, I would not have considered a GPS feature in a camera to be a particular advantage. However, with popular photo-sharing sites such as Flickr widely accepted and Cloud servers gaining momentum, it’s clearly a neat feature allowing viewers to visit sights which grab their attention. Enabling others to follow in your footsteps sounds like a nice idea and Latitude, Longitude and Elevation seem pretty obvious requirements for this, but oddly enough, direction hadn’t actually occurred to me when plotting a location. Incidentally, glancing momentarily over that comprehensive ‘arsenal’ of lenses & Pentax DA’s that you’ve accumulated seems a mighty impressive collection……if I owned that much kit, believe me I doubt whether the wife & I would still be on speaking terms….which sometimes wouldn’t be a bad thing, if you catch my drift…….LOL !
Actually I find it quite interesting that you have acquired BOTH the DA 10-17mm and the Sigma 10-20mm……..any particular reason ? I would have thought that to some extent they more-or-less overlap each other’s territory ?, but I can only comment about the Sigma, which still gives me slight goose-bumps every time I frame an image through the SLR viewfinder. Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s an astounding optic and it has earned my respect. Mentally you simply need to visualise ‘when’ and ‘how’ to exploit it’s innate ability and I often use the versatile ‘zoom’ function’ to precisely frame a shot, rather than needing to walk either forwards or backwards some considerable distance. Admittedly a full frame lens it is not, but I can live with that compromise, until Pentax/Ricoh finally pull their ‘proverbial’ finger out and begin manufacturing a full-frame DSLR…..does the term ‘Hell freezing over’ spring to mind !!!!

Now, in reply to interested_observer, I can’t imagine it’s not possible to incorporate a smaller device inside a Pentax DSLR, as they must do so in the case of the Optio WG-2 GPS D.C. ? Battery life need not prove a problem, assuming that an on/off button were provided and a separate battery compartment incorporated in the main camera body ?

As you correctly observed:

Quote:“If it is going to record direction pointing, it needs to determine where it is within the earth's magnetic field, and that is the reason for the somewhat complex calibration across the three axis.”

I believe this is absolutely true and may well have some bearing on the overall size and design of the Pentax O-GPS1 GPS unit.

Quote:“ The actual GPS signals from the satellites are very weak and can not go through a lot of material. That is why you need a direct line of sight to the satellites. The same thing happens under trees and within deep city canyons with tall buildings. That is why GPS is also coupled with accelerometers and gyros in a lot of applications, so that you can have continuous coverage”.

This is more-or-less precisely why my 5-Series BMW has a sensor fitted to each ABS-hub and actually tracks my progress in real time when for example I drive under the Dartford Tunnel, which crosses the River Thames some miles upstream east of central London.

Quote: “It records the data, however a lot of the mapping software uses the same data in a different format. Its a case of ddd.ddd vs DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds)

Here I naturally bow to your greater knowledge and experience, as I have very little useful comment to add to the subject.

Quote: “In deep city canyons, you can also get a lot of multipathing of signals - this is the reflection of the GPS signals off the walls of the buildings - an indirect path vs a direct path. The positioning is all done on a time basis. If the signal is reflected, (time triangulation) there is additional time taken for this and it will throw off the position, or create a position that does not make any sense”.

Well, I was sort of aware of the “spitching” phenomenon which tends to badly affect both analogue and digital radio signals, so no real surprises there !

Lastly:
Quote: “It never achieved signal and position lock in Seattle, hence it still thought it was in Chicago”.

Having had time to reflect properly on this, had I not been so knackered from the tiring flight and all that this entails, I should have considered activating the Garmin whilst outside our low rise hotel rather that attempting to do so surrounded by loads of tall buildings ! Lesson learnt the hard way !

Thank you both for your valuable contributions

Best regards once again
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2012, 10:32 AM  
Pentax O-GPS1 GPS Unit....Questions ???
Posted By Confused
Replies: 11
Views: 3,426
Hi

I suspect that like many others, I have been intrigued by the tantalizing arrival of Pentax's dedicated O-GPS1 GPS Unit, which unfortunately has virtually zero appeal to K10D owners such as myself, mainly due to technical incompatibility issues. Thus far, my only experience to date with GPS devices has been using a Garmin Sat-Nav whilst driving in unfamiliar areas, but what puzzles me slightly is how the design engineers have ingeniously managed to cram such complex miniaturized GPS technology into a 'relatively' inexpensive compact model such as the waterproof Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS D.C. but somehow not done so yet in a Digital SLR ?

Secondly, why does the O-GPS1 GPS Unit need to be quite so cumbersome in comparison with an integrated Optio WG-2 GPS camera ?

Thirdly what happens when a photographer needs to fix a flashgun onto the camera's hot-shoe, at the same time as the GPS unit is mounted ?

Fourthly, would I be correct in assuming that the Pentax Optio WG-2 GPS Digital Camera loses all it's GPS tracking data whilst submerged under water (to a maximum depth of between 30 to 40 feet), or might it still function whilst scuba-diving just beneath the surface for example ?

Lastly, I read somewhere that the Pentax O-GPS1GPS apparently doesn't record the mapping co-ordinates directly into the Exchangeable Image File format (EXIF) data ? Is this factually correct and if so, for what reason ? I called a very respected Pentax retailer today, who stated that as far as he was concerned, it does record this data into the EXIF....who is correct on this ?

I personally tend to shoot a fair amount of architectural photography whilst on extended vacation in the UK and mainland Europe and am assuming that purely due to fundamental laws of nature, either a DSLR with add-on GPS unit or a Compact camera with integral GPS simply can not 'lock onto' the necessary satellite signals and provide the correct co-ordinates, whilst taking pictures indoors ? I am guessing that photographing building exteriors doesn't normally pose too much of a problem for a GPS to 'lock-onto' enough available satellites, unless the unit is fooled or compromised when surrounded by an abundance of high-rise skyscrapers in large cities such as New York etc.
Indeed, this very scenario is precisely what happened to us a few years ago, having flown into Seattle from Chicago. We hired a taxi from the airport to take us to our accommodation and having checked-in and freshened-up, a little while later we took another one to pick-up our hire-car from the central depot. We completed the necessary paperwork and then I hooked-up our Garmin Nuvi Sat-Nav, loaded with the entire US North American mapping data. I punched in our hotel address and so off we went.....but not very far ! Yep, precisely zilch...nada...nothing. I'd used the Garmin previously whilst negotiating our way around the streets of Chicago and I reckon that it thought we were still there.......thanks a bunch, guys ! Eventually I had no option but to flag down yet ANOTHER taxi and trail meekly behind him, whilst he escorted us all the way back towards our hotel.....sheeesh...talk about embarrassing !!! Of course the next day, the bl**dy sat-nav worked absolutely faultlessly, so we simply put the whole experience down to a combination of bad luck plus inexplicable technical gremlins etc.
Anyhow, if any members can answer some or all of these questions, I'd be greatly obliged,

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Medium Format 03-02-2012, 09:33 PM  
Good news, some of my 645d images now on www.CNN.com
Posted By Confused
Replies: 27
Views: 4,468
Hi Harklee

That's a nice set of photos you have there. As others have already said, many congratulations. If you'll forgive me taking liberties with the last of the four images which you took, i have attempted what might be termed an (admittedly fairly crude !) 'improvement' by bringing out more of the foreground detail by selecting that part of the image and letting PaintShop Pro X4 'One Stop Photo Fix' do some of it's 'handywork' ! As you may gather, I am far from an expert with software manipulation, but I'd be interested to hear what you think ?

Best regards
Confused
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 09-05-2009, 02:20 PM  
Incorrect bulb mode function?
Posted By Confused
Replies: 8
Views: 4,301
Hi reytor

I'm afraid this sounds suspiciously like the K-7's infamous enforced +30 sec DFS issue......see below:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/667182-post18.html



I totally agree.....It's quite simply one of the latest model's most "dumb-assed" (read needlessly f***ed-up) features sic if you ask me !

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 09-02-2009, 12:30 PM  
Searching For A Really Good Tripod
Posted By Confused
Replies: 8
Views: 2,574
Hi C.W Tsorotes

Re your observation:



This more-or-less bears out my own experience.....



I now own two tripods, a Giottos 9351 MTL for travelling - see personal mini-review below:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/267560-post1.html

and here's some links to Giottos site:

http://www.giottos.com/MT-9.htm

http://www.giottos.com/MH-3.htm

and also an older Manfrotto 055 for ultimate stability, which I can sling in the back of my vehicle when I don't expect to have to lug it too far.
Your conundrum is a common one - should you buy a really sturdy tripod, only to gradually find yourself leaving it at home more often due to it's sheer weight/bulk etc ? Ultimately you must decide your personal priorities !

Best regards
Richard

P.S. Incidentally, we passed though Geelong last year en route towards the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide and spent an enjoyable time watching the yachts sailing around the harbour - it's a nice little spot !
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 08-28-2009, 09:04 AM  
OK thats it ---
Posted By Confused
Replies: 95
Views: 12,772
The common adage "once burned, twice shy" springs to mind where Sony gear is concerned and having experienced my fair share of unsatisfactory and costly experiences in the past from this clodhopping corporation, I wholly endorse the sentiments below:




In fact I reckon that if Akio Morita were able to observe what has since become of his once innovative company, he'd undoubtedly be turning in his grave by now. Up to a point, the headline-grabbing price of their latest α850 DSLR offering might at first appear fairly significant, but the developmental process by which cutting-edge technology and feature-laden gizmology is gradually pared-down and incorporated into lesser/cheaper models over an extended period is a well-established business practice. Prospective buyers would be well-advised to bear in mind that the initial outlay for a FF body is invariably only the starting point in what can rapidly turn into an incredibly expensive purchasing chain. The initial excitement of obtaining an "affordable" FF body may well be tempered by studying the retail pricing lists for Sony's current range of lenses, which will surely bring many prospective purchasers down to earth with an uncomfortable bump. The final denouement comes with the unnerving realisation that a 24MP sensor is pretty merciless at exposing mediocre optics and suddenly you could find that your piggy-bank has begun emptying at an alarming rate in order to acquire all that your heart desires. Just don't say that you haven't been warned !!

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 08-05-2009, 04:16 PM  
In camera HDR with the Pentax K-7
Posted By Confused
Replies: 14
Views: 6,073
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 08-04-2009, 02:30 PM  
Picked up the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-f/5.6 EX DC
Posted By Confused
Replies: 15
Views: 3,372
Hi raider

At the risk of stirring a hornet's nest, try defining the term "better" !
I've never actually handled the DA12-24mm myself, so it would be pretty unfair to comment on it's abilities when attempting to compare it with Sigma's 10-20mm. In my case, it just so happened that a long-standing C***n-owning friend had sent me some photographic examples featuring his Sigma 10-20mm lens. Viewing these images, I instantly realised that I simply had to get one too, which you can take as a ringing endorsement of the optical quality of this Sigma lens. However, I completely concur with the previous comments stating that:



Thus far it has been my experience that when photographing landscapes, this type of lens often has a tendency to almost appear too wide (through the viewfinder) on many occasions, which is where the invaluable "zooming" facility of the Sigma comes into it's own for perfectly framing a picture. A fixed focal-length wide-angle might obviously not afford such an option without a great deal of legwork, although many would argue that prime lenses offer the ultimate in sheer optical quality. All things considered, such a decision will be both a personal and financial one which only you can arrive at......good luck whichever path you follow !

Best regards
Richard

P.S. See link below to view one of my hand-held photos taken with Sigma 10-20mm as an example of foreground subject leading the eye into the rest of the image:

http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff156/Tamron18-250mm/?action=view&current=IMGP3633.jpg
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 08-01-2009, 02:36 PM  
Picked up the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-f/5.6 EX DC
Posted By Confused
Replies: 15
Views: 3,372
Hi Big G

I'm convinced that you'll grow to love exploiting the amazing capabilities which the Sigma 10-20mm has to offer where creative photography is concerned. As far as typical landscape composition goes, it has been my experience that images can be immeasurably improved by including something significant in the foreground, with which to draw the viewers attention into the rest of photograph. View the example below to see what I'm getting at !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madrarua/1142767424/

The Sigma 10-20mm is also utterly invaluable for taking architectural interiors/exteriors, particularly in many locations where tripods/flashguns are officially prohibited. This is where Pentax's inbuilt Shake Reduction comes into it's own for capturing sharp hand-held photos.

P.S. Here are some links to more superb images taken with the Sigma 10-20mm on the Flickr site. Don't forget to click on the "magnify" button just at the top left of each of these photos to view them full-screen in all their glory....have fun.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/browni63/2172665238/in/pool-sigma10-20/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kolorabi/938405184/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49938315@N00/2120328330/in/pool-sigma10-20/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corica/901655045/

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Photographic Technique 07-20-2009, 06:52 AM  
Why I HATE Umbrella Lighting...
Posted By Confused
Replies: 103
Views: 29,328
Hi Ben

Now you've gone and bequeathed me an inferiority complex I never realised I possessed before, because I don't even own a lighting set-up (flashguns don't count.....lol) !
And please leave my "paradigm" precisely where it was....I do require a certain comfort zone, you know !

Best regards
Richard

P.S. I bet the Victorian used 'parasols' instead......
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 07-20-2009, 06:07 AM  
Calling Tamron 10-24mm owners
Posted By Confused
Replies: 10
Views: 2,436
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-20-2009, 04:47 AM  
do you care how you clean the camera after assignments?
Posted By Confused
Replies: 23
Views: 5,605
Hi Reportage

If you're really feeling uptight about this sort of thing, try putting all your photographic gear into a dental autoclave.....that should sterilize everything properly........lol !! Only kidding folks.....

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 07-20-2009, 04:23 AM  
Calling Tamron 10-24mm owners
Posted By Confused
Replies: 10
Views: 2,436
Hi causey

Re your comment:



I may be wrong here, but if I were you I'd definitely take a look at the links below:

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/3519/Tamron-10-24mm-F3-5-4-5-Di-II-LD-Asphe...entax-Fit.html

Tamron (Pentax Fit) AF SP 10-24 mm Lens F3.5 4.5 Di II

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-18-2009, 06:54 PM  
Poll: How important is HD Movie recording to you?
Posted By Confused
Replies: 12
Views: 3,530
Hi

I'll fourth that . . . actually, it means nothing to me. If I wanted to video, I would buy a video cam . . .

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-18-2009, 06:48 PM  
The K7 and long exposures
Posted By Confused
Replies: 154
Views: 44,234
Hi pentaxmz

Re your sentiments + 1 !



Enough with this stupid "2 steps forward, 1 step backwards" approach.....too bl**dy right they should fix it and pronto too. I mean, it's not exactly flippin' rocket science, but a basic photographic requirement imho. I'd never owned Pentax gear prior to purchasing the K10D so I have no historic vested interest as such, but to be brutally honest, I'm starting to get pretty tired of hearing the lame excuses emanating from the typical apologist fanboy types ! Much as l'd like to upgrade to the K-7, I won't be doing so unless this DFS issue can be properly addressed, which sadly means yet another potential lost sale for Pentax. Let's hope their marketing dept are listening, but if past experience is anything to go by, somehow I seriously begin to doubt it...lol !

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-18-2009, 08:05 AM  
Limited budget...what should I do?
Posted By Confused
Replies: 19
Views: 3,485
Hi whbroker

Re your decision:



In the unlikely event that I were ever to change systems, the Sigma 10-20mm would automatically be my first purchase. I've never once regretted buying this marvellous lens and I suspect that neither will you, especially after you've begun to fully exploit it's unique qualities ! Enjoy......

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 07-17-2009, 03:59 PM  
Spiked Feet on Tripod, recent experience
Posted By Confused
Replies: 29
Views: 12,891
Hi Russell-Evans

Thanks for the useful info.....it just seems slightly odd that the U.K. distributors apparently don't seem to be aware about the existence of this particular accessory, although to be fair it says suitable for MT series versions but not MTL models !
Natually I haven't the faintest idea whether there is a concealed/hidden thread built into the base of each leg, but I'm obviously very reluctant to remove one of the existing rubber feet in order to find out, just in case I can't fix it back on again properly ! In any case, there would always be the remote possibility of the protective rubber foot getting knocked-off and lost by accident, which is why I still happen to prefer the Manfrotto solution.

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 07-17-2009, 11:42 AM  
Spiked Feet on Tripod, recent experience
Posted By Confused
Replies: 29
Views: 12,891
Hi Phil

I think these might have been the items you were after ?

MANFROTTO MN190SPK2 Spike Adaptors Steel CODE: 170823
Price: £24.99 *(including VAT at 15%)

Apparently the official specs say that these feet are designed to fit 19mm diameter leg sections, so these would probably fit the 18mm diam leg sections of my Giottos MTL 9351 tripod if I wound a tiny amount of black gaffa tape around them etc. BTW I phoned Giottos to see whether they'd produced a similar type of accessory yet, but unfortunately it would appear not thus far !

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-15-2009, 03:22 PM  
The K7 and long exposures
Posted By Confused
Replies: 154
Views: 44,234
In reply to nostatic's comment:






QuoteQuote:

The *vast majority of users find this a non-issue and Pentax has chosen not to address it. If it is that important you should move along and stop trying to tell Pentax how to design their cameras.



With the greatest respect, I find this type of sweeping generalisation thoroughly patronising and am happy to exclude myself from the *herd mentality ! If you'd ever taken your DSLR out to take night-shots of cityscapes or fireworks displays, then you'd clearly appreciate the crux of the problem !!
I think it fair to say that every camera brand has it's fair share of strengths and weaknesses, but IMHO this faux-pas on the part of the Pentax K7 design engineers is simply unforgivable, particularly given the negative feedback they must have received about the dark-frame subtraction shortcomings of the K20D. This was an entirely preventable issue and I am extremely disappointed that Pentax have failed to address it satisfactorily with the new model.

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 07-13-2009, 03:35 PM  
Spiked Feet on Tripod, recent experience
Posted By Confused
Replies: 29
Views: 12,891
Hi again Albert

Just found these two links for anyone else interested:

Ice Pick for Canes and Crutches - MAF703610001

Aids for Daily Living - Adaptive Abilities

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 07-13-2009, 03:16 PM  
Spiked Feet on Tripod, recent experience
Posted By Confused
Replies: 29
Views: 12,891
Hi Albert

What a genuinely ingenious and useful idea those spikes are ! I have never seen anything remotely like these devices before and am wondering if you know of any direct links to web-sites where I could order some from ? Unfortunately the only ones I can find thus far are of the five-spiked variety, such as those illustrated in the links below:

http://www.shopwiki.com/Ice+Grip+Tip+For+Cane+Or+Crutch+-+1+ea

http://www.elderstore.com/5-prong-ice-grip-cane-attachment.aspx

Any assistance in tracking down some of these exact ones you've illustrated would be much appreciated,

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-13-2009, 02:38 PM  
The K7 and long exposures
Posted By Confused
Replies: 154
Views: 44,234
Hi Ray

I'm genuinely astonished to read your observation that:



One of the main reasons why I initially decided not to upgrade from my current K10D's to the K20D was the infuriating limitation surrounding it's infamous dark-frame subtraction issue. To discover that the K7 is similarly blighted in this respect whilst employing Bulb mode almost beggars belief ! Have Pentax learned NOTHING whatsoever from their previous mistakes ? It's almost as if photographers are not to be trusted to think for themselves nowadays or make independent choices. Quite frankly, I find this sort of patronizing attitude from manufacturers incredibly irritating.
The automotive parallel to this type of idiocy is to be observed by the ever increasing appearance of so-called automatic "user-features" such as rain-sensing windscreen wipers or light-sensitive headlights on many new cars, the undeniable inference being that many of today's drivers are deemed either too lazy or stupid to use conventional controls. Maybe this is true, but thankfully I still have a few functioning grey cells left ! :rolleyes:

Best regards
Richard
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 07-08-2009, 09:10 AM  
15mm limited for interior/real estate photography?
Posted By Confused
Replies: 25
Views: 11,062
Hi joeyc

Good luck and enjoy your new Pentax 14mm F2.8. Just a few words of general advice when composing interior real estate photos. I've taken the liberty of "adjusting" one of ivoire's images (his original is the bottom one) to underline the point, but I personally find it preferable to keep the plane of the sensor perfectly vertical when composing interior architectural photographs. Simply adjust the perspective of the image by either raising or lowering the height of the tripod as required, because it avoids the undesirable effect of "converging verticals", not to mention an awful lot of unnecessary work afterwards at the post-processing stage.
You might also be interested to learn about a remarkably clever piece of free software entitled ShiftN

ShiftN

designed by Marcus Hebel, which I discovered some while back. Click on the link below to discover more about it.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/583358-post48.html

PTLens is also free and does a great job of removing unwanted lens pincushion/barrel distortion, vignetting, chromatic aberration and perspective:

PTLens

Best regards
Richard
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