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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 07-14-2014, 03:30 PM  
Photokina!
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 855
Views: 104,443
I have seen limiteds in the wild twice, once a FA 43 being used by a guy with his kid at the aquarium and another time, an FA 77 being used by at the food court in my building (which is an office tower/high end mall/hotel) in the middle of a very popular tourist area. I also saw a pentax dual wielder having beignets at cafe du monde the first time I brought my first pentax out, I am not sure which lenses he had on because I was still a total noob but I think they might have been DA*s.

I did get stopped once by someone with a FF Nikon to get a snapshot of him and his family at the zoo and he complimented that he asked me because I was using a pentax with a prime lens instead of an entry level Canikon with a kit lens.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 07-07-2014, 01:41 PM  
Photokina!
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 855
Views: 104,443
I placed a $50 bet with my bookie that Ricoh will release a FF Theta. When it hits I will be a billionaire.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 07-02-2014, 06:23 AM  
Best lens for small product photography?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 34
Views: 7,628
A lot of those too perfect product shots are actually computer renderings rather than actual photographs. They actually make them using a software package called keyshot. Ironically enough, camera companies also use it to make their product shots for their advertising.

https://www.keyshot.com/gallery/
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-02-2014, 06:14 AM  
How did the best thread on the forum start?.
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 32
Views: 3,114
It was the only general talk thread outside of the general talk forum and therefore its posts were counted.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-02-2014, 05:59 AM  
How did the best thread on the forum start?.
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 32
Views: 3,114
That thread was the most active and it was a big old "like" circle.. how do they make chicken in jamaica.. during the post-a-thon contest.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 06-23-2014, 06:50 AM  
Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Coming for Pentax!
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 1,185
Views: 197,512
It is slightly more girthy and little bit heavier than the DA*50-135 and slightly shorter.
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II 06-20-2014, 12:06 PM  
Built-in flash "not available" with DA 10-17 etc., can someone confirm?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 6
Views: 1,322
The same thing happens with the DA 16-45 at the widest angles, the popup flash cast a shadow. You can easily address the problem with lightroom by making and exposure adjustment brush.
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 06-04-2014, 10:03 PM  
Economics of full frame
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 47
Views: 6,881
I am interested in the economics of trying out the mythical FF Pentax. I currently have an FA 31 and an FA 77, I would like to acquire an FA 43 as well soon so I think that is all the lenses needed to shoot film, but I do not have a film camera.

The cameras that I see which seem to be worthwhile are:
AF:
MZ-S - $400
SFX - $75

MF:
LX - $300
MX - $100
KX - $50

Sensors:
$0.08-0.22/exposure for BW
$0.07-0.31/exposure for Color

What is the good stuff, what is the junk?

Development:
$???
~$11/roll for development and CD

So if I gave myself a $200 budget, I am looking at yielding about 180-500 exposures: a KX (although MX seems like a more attractive ticket for admission), film, and development

Is this accurate? If so it is not that appealing
Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories 05-27-2014, 08:37 PM  
=Capture a stranger street style=
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 9,125
Views: 1,015,901
Attachment 223965

FA 31, f 5.6 K-30
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2014, 07:27 AM  
Resurrecting Pentax firmware hacking
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 765
Views: 298,004
There is no mirror so depending on how the programmed the camera that may result in either virtually identical firmwares if they just branched any mirror related logic or completely different firmwares if they let them strip/rewrite anything that involved a mirror.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-24-2014, 07:53 AM  
How many use back camera focus ?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 22
Views: 2,284
I just treat the green button in manual mode as AE-L b/c back button focus is just too much more useful. I usually use either AV or TV mode but when I get into a tricky lighting situation, I switch to manual and just try my best to remember that I am there.
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 05-22-2014, 06:51 AM  
Bentley/Apple Commercial - Shot with iPhone
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 6
Views: 1,206
It probably would have cost the same or even less. The cost of labor probably went up by tying the production crew's hand behind their back and forcing them to use that specific equipment. They probably had to overcome a huge learning curve of getting compatible, possibly even custom equipment, that allows them to mount that CZ cine lens and the video editing process probably took an excessive amount of time.

Cost of labor is going to blow away the cost of equipment on any production effort like that regardless of whether you shoot it with a phone, DSLR, RED, or film.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 05-21-2014, 11:41 AM  
Third party lens reviews: in need of a few basic guidelines?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 20
Views: 2,893
In defense of some of these dubious reviews, some people might legitimately love them for some kind of bonkers personal project like some of these crazy macro setups I have seen or they love it because they are tinkerers and love just screwing with them and getting them to work. Maybe a criteria like consistency of results and ease of use or is this lens usable by the mass market.... i.e. could you hand your camera equipped with this lens and set to green mode to someone and ask them to take a quick snap for you?
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 05-21-2014, 05:36 AM  
Third party lens reviews: in need of a few basic guidelines?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 20
Views: 2,893
Designing effective survey instruments and analyzing the results is a very interesting field.

The way the lens reviews are here does not lend itself to producing a valuable statistics. The qualitative stuff in the body of the reviews is basically the only thing that is useful to me.

To improve the value of the statistics, adding better "anchors" than poor to excellent. The anchors would probably be different by the class of lens
An example of what I mean would be for zoom lenses the anchors on sharpness would probably be:

1 - Soft unless stopped down 2+ stops throughout the range
2 -
3 - Soft unless stopped down 1 stops throughout the range (on par with kit lens)
4 -
5 - Ok wide open, better stopped down a little
6 -
7 - As sharp as a prime at the same f-stop at its best focal length
8 -
9 - As sharp as a prime throughout 80% of its range
10 - As sharp as a prime throughout 100% of its range

Or it might be effective to even have the ability to rate certain aspects of a zoom lens at the widest, mid-range (or even a couple of mid-ranges for superzooms), and longest focal lengths.

Changing the camera used to a drop down and the ability to put cameras used and a way to say whether the lens kept up with your expectations as you moved up in skill and cameras.

And another field instead of just pros and cons - a good, bad, and ugly. I would say that DA* lenses especially suffer from punitive ratings based on ugly experiences with SDM failure. It is even possible that the same lens might be rated okay by the first owner who had it and had the SDM fail and replaced under warranty (a con or ugly experience depending on the person), sold it to a second owner who rated it well because they never had any SDM problems, sold it to a third owner who had it fail and had to pay out of pocket for it to be replaced only to have it fail again (very ugly), they sold it to someone else who disabled the SDM and now they love it.

A lot of those overall ratings are driven by delivering on expectations and everyone's expectations are different and they are different for each lens.

Another thing that would be useful is a couple of questions about reviewer's background years of experience with photography, ILCs, and # of lenses owned. And a couple of questions that might expose sample variation problems as well as an opt-out to expose reviews by noobs like:
Required microfocus adjustment with a choice for "I don't know what this is" and "I had to send it in for service adjustment"

When someone adds a new review, you might want to hit them up to see if their impression has changed on the lenses they have previously reviewed. And to give a comparative ranking of their lenses.




Sorry if that was a lot to read
Forum: Photographic Technique 05-01-2014, 08:11 PM  
The button on my camera I never use
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 23
Views: 3,450
I actually wish they had independent buttons. Before I learned about back button focusing, I used ael often in certain lighting situations like if I had a very bright subject or very bright background. Bb focus is worth the loss of ael but I wish I could have both. My other wish would be that I could have a choice of what metering mode ael would use. Generally matrix metering is best but usually situations demanding ael also demand center weighted or spot metering as well.
Forum: Lens Clubs 04-29-2014, 07:42 PM  
The FA Limited Club
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 11,815
Views: 2,132,948
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-21-2014, 11:30 AM  
Resurrecting Pentax firmware hacking
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 765
Views: 298,004
@Adam might be able to get this information from his contacts at B&H and Adorama. For pentax, the percentage of K-30, K-50, K-500, and K-3 sold would probably tell you everything you need to know even if they wouldn't disclose absolute numbers.

How about setting up a way for people to vote with their wallets... A donation link for specific cameras in addition to the general one.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-20-2014, 08:47 PM  
Resurrecting Pentax firmware hacking
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 765
Views: 298,004
As was mentioned, K-5 (x) and previous generations used a much different architecture. Expending effort on them would be a waste. A major shift happened with the K-01, things stabilized with the K-30 and K-3 represents the next platform, there probably will be a K-50 replacement either this fall or winter based off of some derivative of K-3 tech. As far as camera bodies go, especially modding their firmware, why waste effort dwelling on the past?

It may be 6-12 months before this PHDK has a "killer app" and when it does, you want it to be available on something people can buy new or used.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-20-2014, 02:37 PM  
Resurrecting Pentax firmware hacking
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 765
Views: 298,004
I think a good next steps would probably be K-50 and K-500 since they are probably identical HW/SW and will have only the most minute changes between firmware. They represent a lot of Pentax's highest volume products in recent years. They are also affordable enough that someone might be willing to take risks with them.

After that I would say K-3 b/c by the time it gets off the ground, it would also reach that affordablity threshold where someone is willing to risk bricking it. K-3 is probably going to be the perfect jump off for 645Z, K-3 Mk2, or other successor product.
Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50 04-15-2014, 07:59 PM  
HELP, suggestions - needed "spouse mode" on K-30
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 7
Views: 1,354
I too have this problem, much more so since I switched to back button focus. Good luck explaining that one.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 04-14-2014, 07:24 PM  
Pentax 645Z Q&A with Ricoh Imaging
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 24
Views: 5,060
I didn't see it mentioned in the specs, but I assume max sync speed is still 1/180
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 04-10-2014, 06:51 AM  
645Z with HD video?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 20
Views: 3,607
If storage speed is a limitation, with 2 SD card slots they could pull it off using them in a RAID 0 configuration. They could even add a third slot on a camera the size and price of a 645 and do RAID 5 so that there would be fault protection. Although given the cost/energy demands of a quality RAID 5 controller it might be cheaper and easier to do 4 slots and RAID 10.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-08-2014, 02:17 PM  
Saw the Pentax K-50 being sold at Target
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 20
Views: 3,778
According to their website, it says that the K-50 is available for in store pickup. I did a search for stores with availability in my area and there were none. I changed location to Houston and there were a few stores. It looks like they are stocked in select stores.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-01-2014, 09:09 AM  
Why not make a Pentax LX digital?
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 74
Views: 11,068
DSLRs should have a mirrorless mode where the mirror locks up and it behaves exactly how a mirrorless camera behaves, no mirror slap every time you take a picture. This is common sense and it minimizes the competitive points that a mirrorless manufacturer can market on because a DSLR manufacturer can say "Everything you can do, I can do better."

An interchangeable viewfinder would bring it to a whole new level. One OVF, one EVF, and one Flush mount to reduce size would be a great start.
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 03-31-2014, 06:39 AM  
Three rumors of new Ricoh Pentax products in CP+ 2014
Posted By mikemike
Replies: 517
Views: 102,014
100% coverage at 100% of the sensor size. I suppose they could magnify, but I suppose that is best left to an add on so there isn't any distortion introduced by magnification optics.
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