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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
07-26-2020, 04:39 PM
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Short-eared owl, actually (Asio flammeus). Beautiful birds. Looking at your Flickr stream, you saw Tawnies the next day though. Now that's what I consider a luxury ;).
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
05-03-2019, 01:14 PM
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Funny, I never realised the k1000's production continued for so long. I somehow always assumed they died out when the M-series was introduced.
The lens is a something-to-200mm zoom. I can make out "Asahi Optical co." and "200mm", and the guy does some trombone zooming (oh, I miss that) in the scenes. Edit: I think that narrows it down to this one (the M series is slightly different). I also noticed he packs what looks like a lens brochure or a manual. The art director obviously has a good eye for detail...
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
05-01-2019, 04:21 PM
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Apologies if this is the wrong subforum. I was just watching the first episode of the new series "Chimerica". The lead character is a photographer, and the first six minutes heavily feature a K1000, being used in 1989 (weird year for that model, but hey, those things still work flawlessly today, so why not). Six minutes in, and it's 2016, with the guy having moved on to a Canon DSLR. Typical ;).
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-03-2019, 05:51 PM
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I haven't tried the Z7 (don't think I've ever seen one of those in the flesh, even). I also haven't really tried AF-S with the D500. The lack of fast switching between AF-modes on that thing is a giant PITA when you're coming from the Pentax ecosystem (or from the Nikon D7x00 series, for that matter); like many others I do not find the "shooting banks" system particularly useful compared to switchable user modes. My workaround for stationary birds is simply to take my finger off the AF button once AF-C locks focus instead ;).
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-01-2019, 04:24 AM
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I meant performance-wise. The loss of a stop of light will decrease AF speed and accuracy somewhat. In the past week we've had both very bright and heavily overcast days, and the difference in AF performance under those different circumstances is really noticeable.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-28-2019, 05:34 AM
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I think you won't be disappointed. I got a D500 plus a Tamron 150-600 G2 some time ago, and was surprised to find hardly any improvement over the performance of my K-3II + DFA 150-450. in many aspects I actually preferred the Pentax combo, to the point that I eventually reverted to using it. However, a week ago I received my 500 PF, and now I finally understand the D500's reputation. I'll be curious to read your experience with the teleconverter; something tells me that you may end up feeling you don't want to use it with that wonderful lens if not absolutely necessary.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-15-2019, 06:44 PM
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There's a PZ-10 (z-10) in the back, but don't forget the rather prominent little ME right up front.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-16-2018, 03:12 PM
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That, and the much larger depth of field. When you use only a telephoto lens, it's perfectly possible you completely miss a bird sitting two branches behind the one on which you're focussing, because it's all drowned out in creamy bokeh ;).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-24-2018, 03:58 PM
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I have both the K-3 and the K-3II. Even though I use the K-3II for most things nowadays, I have to admit that in my experience, it's the other way around. My cameras perform about equally well with distant birds, but when I go out for close-by erratic birds (snipes and the likes) I pretty much have to bring my old K-3, or else everything becomes a mess.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-25-2017, 04:57 PM
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Handheld. I was pointing straight up when it started happening, which may be an unusual position for the SR mechanism. However, it kept doing it until I turned the camera off and on.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
07-25-2017, 01:48 PM
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Hey,
Today while I was photographing a displaying Goshawk with my K-3II, an interesting thing happened. At some point right in the middle of a continuous series of shots, the camera started to vibrate and rumble audibly, pretty much like an exaggerated version of what happens when you engage the dust removal routine; it was rather reminiscent of the mirror flop issue that I have experienced a few times with my K-3, although now no mirror flopping was involved and the camera just kept shooting properly exposed images. However, the images taken during that rumble were blurred compared to the ones taken before it happened, all the more obvious because it happened in the middle of a series. Problem persisted until I switched the camera off, but thankfully did not return after I switched it back on straight away (i.e. I didn't need to pull the battery to remedy the problem).
It seems to me the shake reduction mechanism went crazy for a bit. This is new to me, although I don't read every thread on the forum. Has this happened to others before?
Details that may or may not be relevant: I was shooting at AF-C, high frame rate setting, with DFA 150 -450mm. Temperature was about 20 C, air humidity close to saturated (just before it started to rain). I've taken about 41,000 shots with this camera (bought new), first (and so far only) time this has happened.
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Forum: General Photography
07-09-2017, 07:37 AM
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Not really. I carry it virtually everywhere, with a long tele attached (which might mean I'm insane); worst things that tend to happen is me not being able to get it out of the bag in time (Eaurasian Honey Buzzard flying low over my street when I was just getting home from work, a few years ago) or that I don't have the right lens with me.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
07-06-2017, 03:22 PM
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FWIW, it's not a required field. I left it blank and my entry was accepted.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-16-2017, 03:42 PM
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That's interesting. I use at least the first two for similar purposes, but with somewhat different settings (typically with the DFA 150-450 @450mm)
U1: 1/2000 F8 TAv, auto AF point selection from full grid, AF-C, high frame rate continuous shooting, SR off.
U2: 1/400, F8 TAv, centre AF point, AF-S, low frame rate continuous shooting, SR on. (Shutter speed used to be 1/1000, until I realised the keeper rate went up when I lowered it, due to the SR being less effective in the 1/800 - 1/1250 range)
U3: like U1, but with centre-point AF only. On my K3-II that is, which often struggles with getting a proper AF-C lock in some light (bright sunlight, mostly). My K-3 is much better at that for some reason, so on that one it's like U1, but with +1 EV exposure compensation.
If time allows, I adjust aperture and shutter speed with the two control wheels (with SR on/off toggle under the RAW/Fx button), but if I have to act on the spot because something unexpectedly darts by, just blindly turning the mode dial while bringing the camera to my face is often enough to get a semi-decent record shot. Of course, occasionally I forget I had already turned it, so at times I take shots in completely inappropriate modes, like X synch ;).
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-21-2017, 07:17 PM
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It appears to be even larger. (OK, had to google whether it was just an unfortunate typo or a term I had not heard in this context.)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-19-2017, 05:13 PM
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His argument is that people claim that the high-ISO performance of the K-3 is terrible, so he's posting high-ISO shots taken with a K-3 to challenge that claim.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-14-2017, 04:57 PM
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I don't know if this is possible, but can't see why not: ask someone with a windows machine to burn an ISO file of your CD, then transfer that file on a USB drive to your new mac and mount it in your Mac's OS as a virtual CD drive.
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
02-09-2017, 06:59 PM
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Refunding you is good service indeed, but TBH it sounds like they didn't even try... it only took three weeks (drop-off to pick-up; the process required international shipping) to fix the same problem in mine, but even when I dropped it on a concrete floor a year later, repair (including replacement of the front lens group) was still possible (expensive, but possible) and was so well-performed that the lens performs like new.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-01-2017, 05:57 PM
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Wow, thanks for your very elaborate reply! Funnily enough I've never tried Lightroom because my irrational fear of Adobe rivals my irrational fear of Canon, but it looks like I should definitely give it a try....
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-30-2017, 03:17 PM
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Yeah, that qualifies as a success indeed. I'm curious, how do you get the blue skies to stay so clean while preserving all that detail in the birds? I always struggle a bit to get the noise reduction right with my K3II (and K3 before that), although switching to DxO software helped a lot.
After a three month wait, I got my DFA 150-450 back from repair. Half the lens has been replaced with new parts. Mental note for the next time: always check if the zipper is closed when you carry your camera bag while walking on a concrete floor. Anyway, from last week (crops to about 25% of original frame, click for larger versions):
Great Bittern taking off:
 fK3II0396_DxO by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
Iceland Gull in flight (in mist and rain, but that may not be too obvious):
 fK3II0235_DxO by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
Here's a couple of slightly older ones, with the DA* 300. Zoo pics, obviously, due to a lack of free-roaming Mandrills in the greater Amsterdam area. I'm not entirely unhappy with that fact.
 fK3136307_DxO by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
 Some day... by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-25-2017, 05:00 PM
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Hard to say. The description in the add is all over the place, to the extent that it describes at least two different lenses. If it's the one written in the boldest typeface, "Exellent-!! Tamron B003 AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II VC for Canon ", definitely not.
I'd either stay away or ask the seller in advance to be more specific, just so you have a reasonable expectation of what you'd be getting.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-25-2017, 03:23 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-15-2016, 08:22 AM
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Quite some time ago I dropped my 150-450 om a concrete floor. It seemed to be fine and I took a great many images with it afterwards, but then a while ago the zoom got stuck again. Repair service diagnosed massive internal damage, including the front lens group needing to be replaced. Yikes... the repairs cost half the new price of the lens. Ugh. Anyway, temporarily back on the DA* f/4 300...
Short-eared owls playing in the fog, shortly before dusk.
 Short-eared owls (Asio flammeus). by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
Hen harrier, same fog. This one is with the 1.4x converter.
 Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) in the fog. by Orang J. Goreng, on Flickr
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
11-12-2016, 05:59 PM
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Here's a few handheld videos I took with a K-5 and a cheap fast 50mm lens like several people recommended early on in the thread (the two lenses used are old-model Pentax lenses, sometimes available on the used market for very little money). I very rarely shoot videos, mostly because I find it a serious pain having to look at an LCD screen rather than through optical viewfinder. Given how a K-5 can't do autofocus during video, it means you constantly desperately see me trying to find proper focus (and fail). Of course, there are little third-party view finder attachments you can buy to aid in focusing if you want to do this kind of thing more often; these videos really serve as an example of what an unskilled beginner can do with this type of kit, much like you asked.
The audio on the first video was recorded through the internal mic, but on the other two I synched the video track with a recording made by someone else on a less inappropriate audio device. Keep in mind that the original image quality is degraded a bit by the YouTube algorithm.
Caution: language on the first one NSF either W or the ears of the sensitive/easily offended.
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OP2E7QUZ90U?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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(K-5 + Pentax SMC-F f/1.7 50mm)
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o0VbXc1M3Yo?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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(K-5 + Pentax SMC-M f/1.7 50mm; this is a late 70s manual focus lens)
You Tube
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/25llt88Z10o?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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(K-5 + Pentax SMC-F f/1.7 50mm)
Photos taken with a K-5 you'll easily find on this forum, but FWIW some I took (with that same lens) at that last show (other band, though) are here: Hiperson | Flickr |
