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Forum: Lens Clubs
09-14-2013, 03:12 AM
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-25-2013, 06:11 PM
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Careful with the politics, guys! The mods will shut us down, and we'll have nowhere to go. :( :lol:
@ivorie , I'll miss your Chicago shots, but I'm looking forward to whatever you find in Florida. :)
@pinholecam , great Tokyo shot! Isn't it great that the camera you use for the 'quality' shots still fits in the pocket?
@panoguy , boring, yeah, uh-huh. Why don't I believe you? :lol:
Awesome shots there! Hong Kong at night looks like a photographer's dream.
I'm happy to see another DP1M shooter on here... but I though you had an RX1? :confused: You must love crazy compacts. ;)
There's the reason why we put up with SPP and all the little inadequacies of these cameras: the end result makes everything worth it. Also, internet wisdom (outside of Sigma's marketing material) indicates that this Foveon sensor gives about double the resolution of a standard sensor, so it's roughly equivalent to a 30MP Bayer sensor.
Still, like you said, it's no K-5. It's great for detail, and weak in other areas, especially shadow noise. As ivorie pointed out, there's some wiggle room, but it gets real messy real fast if you push it too hard.
Here are some shots from the dog park yesterday with the SD1M and the 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro. The macro function was unnecessary, but it's one of the only two lenses I have. The other is the 12-24mm; no good for shooting dogs. :o
I neglected to put here collar on before coming to the park, but she likes running around naked (or hanging out in the shade naked, as the case may be). ;)
This is why I don't want a golden retriever: they love the water, even if it's muddy. Skippy only likes mud when we're on hikes, which is fine.
Generally, I don't like small dogs, but I can make an exception for pugs.
I'm working on a dog park calendar for 2014. I wasn't sure what I'd use for the hottest month of the year, but this picture removed all doubt.
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Forum: Pentax Q
09-17-2011, 01:20 AM
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So as some of you read, I was experiencing very odd behaior with my external flashes and triggers. I've done testing with the following variables:
Is the Flash a PTTL flash and if so, is it in PTTL mode?
Allow or disallow internal flash to fire while retracted
Flash setting to ON (forced fill, rear curtain, red eye reducer, etc) or OFF
This is a total of 12 different setups. Below are the details and then the summary below that.
| Flash used | Enable/Disable while closed | Flash Mode | Results-------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------PTTL | disabled | ON | P-TTLPTTL | disabled | OFF | No flashPTTL | enabled | ON | P-TTLPTTL | enabled | OFF | No flashPTTL manual mode | disabled | ON | Fixed flash power regardless of setting on flashPTTL manual mode | disabled | OFF | No flashPTTL manual mode | enabled | ON | Fixed flash power regardless of setting on flashPTTL manual mode | enabled | OFF | No flashmanual flash | disabled | ON | No flash (NOT as expected)manual flash | disabled | OFF | Fires flash as full manualmanual flash | enabled | ON | Fires INTERNAL flash (as if no external existed)manual flash | enabled | OFF | No flash |
To summarize my findings:
When using a P-TTL flash in P-TTL mode, everything works as you think it should. The camera will use the external flash instead of the internal flash. P-TTL metering works.
When using my P-TTL flash in manual mode, things go pretty nuts. You can turn the flash off by choosing the Flash OFF setting for flash. But if you set flash to ON, the external flash only seems to flash at one level, regardless of what output I set the flash to. Full power or 1/16 looks identical. I used a Sigma 530 DG Super.
For a full manual flash or flash trigger is where it gets really complicated. If you allow the internal flash to fire while retracted, it will fire the internal flash when flash is set to ON, but the external flash is ignored. FLASH OFF yields no flash, as expected. But if you DISABLE the internal flash while retracted, you will get no flash (internal or external) when set to FLASH ON. That's counterintuitive. But if you set the Flash mode to FLASH OFF and disable internal flash while retracted, you can get the manual triggering we're looking for.
So in summary, the Q can use P-TTL flashes exactly as you'd expect. If you only do P-TTL flash, you're fine. If you want to use a P-TTL flash in manual mode, you're screwed. You have no settings that will allow this. And finally, if you want to use a manual flash or flash trigger, you MUST set the "Flash When Retracted" to "Do Not Discharge Flash" AND you must also set the flash mode to FLASH OFF. These are the only settings that will give the results you want!
Edit 2011-09-30:
I just discovered that while you can sync the internal flash to an adapted (non Q) lens to 1/13 second, you cannot do the same for manual external flashes. When using a fully manual, no electrical contact lens in front of the Q, I cannot find a way to get my external manual flash to fire at any shutter speed. However, in the same setup with no lens electrically attached, I am still able to use an external PTTL flash and sync it at up to 1/13 seconds. This is troubling because I'd like to be able to use adapted lenses AND my external manual flash at once.
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
01-20-2013, 06:15 PM
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I'm going to forward this post directly to Pentax so that you get the reply you deserve :) Stay tuned!
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
01-24-2011, 03:28 PM
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No, I do not know from a very reliable source that there is a FF Pentax coming this year. Different story here. :p
To start from the beginning: I have always been a sucker for subject separation and shallow depth of field which is why I have piled up a bunch of pretty fast glass.
Also, I was one of those fools hoping for a sign of a FF Pentax at the last Photokina for being able to put this onto a whole new level, but there was "just" the K5.
So I recently pushed myself to what I had been thinking about for quite a while already: Hunt down a cheap Canon FF DSLR to use my beloved Pentax lenses with. I managed to catch an old, well used 1Ds.
So far, that is no big news as it has been done before. I remember one thread regarding FA ltds on a 5DII. However, as the aperture lever and protection shield of Pentax lenses protude too far into the mirror box, this requires the infamous leverectomy.
I did not want to do this to my precious lenses - and besides, I wanted to be able to still use them on my K7 - so I decided to do it the other way around: Modify the mirror box. (This is what it usually looks like)
 
Clearly visible here, I grinded off a considerable amount of metal and plastic from the left and the bottom of the mirror box. The only tools I used were a Dremel and a black marker which is why it does not look perfectly clean, but it works like a charm. One day I might replace the marker paint with some less reflective matte paint, but for now I am happy with it.
I did not compromise the camera's contacts. Should I ever end up with a Canon EF mount lens, I can still use it on my camera without any restrictions.
Using a PK-EOS adapter that mounts the lens top up instead of at 2 o'clock like most adapters do, the mirror is able to pass the lever and shield and I can use any of my Pentax lenses that have an aperture ring with it. Without any modification to them, just the way they are.
I have barely touched my K7 since then. The 1Ds is a freakin' huge and heavy monster and it makes my K7 look like a high ISO wonder above ISO 400, but in terms of subject isolation it obviously smashes the K7 against the wall. Oh, and the big viewfinder is nice, too.
I am still - or rather even more now - looking forward to a "real" Pentax FF DSLR (at about the size of a K7, pleeease). But until this happens, my enhanced 1Ds will do the job.
Some of the first results:
SMC-A* 85mm/1.4 wide open
SMC-A 50mm/1.2 wide open
Vivitar 28mm/2.0 Close Focus @ 2.4
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Forum: Pentax Lens Articles
01-30-2012, 06:44 PM
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(Posted as a request) . If anyone can take this a step further and elaborate on the rear elements I'd be grateful!
Also note: I am using made-up names for some of the parts (front element assembly?) Any corrections will be appended to the text of the post.
Step 1: focus the lens at 4 meters (< 14 feet).
Step 2: grip the lens by the aperture ring (or mount, or anything attached to the mount, ie: a camera) and the front protective cover and twist the front protective cover clockwise until it falls down and hangs loosely.
 
Step 3: grip the focus ring and the front element assembly and twist the front element assembly counter-clockwise until it disengages.
Step 4: remove the lens hood from the front protective cover and set aside.
Step 5: attach the front element assembly securely to the lens by turning it clockwise
Step 6: attach the front protective cover to the front element assembly by pressing it up and turning it counterclockwise.
(I could swear I took a picture of this...)
Step 7: continue turning the front protective cover counterclockwise until the front half of the lens disengages from the back half and set the back half aside.
Step 8: remove the front element assembly from the front protective cover by turning counter clockwise.
Step 9: twist the front element assembly apart by rotating the front element counter clockwise.
In this state of disassembly you can clean most of the lens surfaces and the aperture blades.
I think that's it for the easy stuff. Pretty sure the rest requires unscrewing tiny little screws on the mount but I haven't gone that far yet.
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