Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-11-2024, 07:32 PM
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Such a weird mount to lens diameter ratio too. The lens looks tiny, kinda like an Industar 50mm F3.5. I guess these new mounts are designed to have a 0.95 feel at home.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-07-2024, 07:29 PM
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Cool lens - sadly, they don't make stuff with this quality anymore... |
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-07-2024, 07:35 AM
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I understand Pentax reasoning, but it seems they compromised so much on the product (half-frame, zone focus) that I’m not sure it will have a market overall. Maybe in Japan - but, Pentax desperately needs more than Japan market. Then, when this sells poorly, will be used as a reason to stop the project.
By being too afraid to bet big and make a SLR, they risk never getting there.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-24-2024, 01:39 PM
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Older sensors had stronger color separation on the color filter array (the Bayer filter). Newer sensors in the CMOS era started focusing on resolution and dynamic range so toned down the color filters to let more light thru - but as consequence, color information have to be “boosted” by the processor. The side-effect is brightly colored subjects like red flowers blow out more easily on the newer sensors, because the processors are clipping the signal of the red color channel sooner.
That’s also what makes the Foveon sensor so great at colors and so bad at low light: the sensor has strong color separation since the 3 color filters have the same area (as opposed to the 1:2:1 ratio of the RGB Bayer filter), but disposed in layers lets less light thru.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-01-2024, 12:54 PM
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My travel kit is KP + DA 15mm, DA 20-40 and DA 55-300mm for similar reasons, the later one being collapsible takes the same space as the other two.
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Forum: Pentax KP
01-29-2024, 09:36 AM
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I've noticed the battery contacts on the D-Li 109 aren't gold plated like the ones on the old D-Li 50 (a cost cutting measure?), so this is probably necessary.
A good way of dry cleaning these contacts on-the-go is using a pencil eraser.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-28-2024, 01:27 PM
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This is a great resource, thank you!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-28-2024, 07:31 AM
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1) can you post a picture? It probably isn’t fungus, when the balsam separates it creates patterns also.
2) I believe all these lenses prone to separation used the vintage balsam, the newer UV cured resins are really strong and hard to separate even if you try
3) if the balsam is dried up (got in contact with air) it gets brittle and I’m not sure just heating it will make it viscous again
4) i’ve managed to separate elements by boiling it, and managed to recement with synthetic balsam (not UV-cured, the one used on microscopes)
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
01-27-2024, 01:28 PM
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What was your expectation exactly? Should ISO 200 and 3200 be indistinguishable (even with noise reduction at zero)?
I’m seeing mostly luma noise (as opposed to color noise) in the sample, which indicates it’s pretty good actually.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-24-2024, 03:08 PM
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Unfortunately these bodies suffer from a design flaw, a plastic support of the mirror that overtime may bend and make the photos appear crooked (with relation to the VF) and also affects the AF accuracy. I bought the GP version hoping that Pentax fixed this somehow on later batches.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-15-2024, 06:30 PM
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Pentax K10D Grand Prix. Brand new in the box, #3167 of 5000. |
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-14-2024, 04:48 PM
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The colours of this camera are just too good, I had to get a new one :) |
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-14-2024, 04:47 PM
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Pentax K10D Grand Prix. Brand new in the box, #3167 of 5000. |
Forum: Pentax KP
01-11-2024, 08:33 AM
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I use it all the time here, in rainforest, in dusty environments… it’s okay, it’s a PENTAX.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-09-2024, 06:50 PM
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As mentioned, there’s the Custom Image feature.
Unfortunately, Pentax chose to cripple the more interesting, film-like Custom Image settings by only enabling if you have certain lenses mounted. 👎
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Forum: Visitors' Center
01-09-2024, 08:52 AM
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There’s a lever (metal tab) on the mount side of the lens. Have you tried moving it? What happens, or is it stuck?
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-07-2024, 08:24 AM
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According to this forum post, it has been listed for $4500 in 2017, so I would adjust for inflation and start at that. Rarest Pentax NOCTA 300mm |
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-27-2023, 07:32 AM
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We had a few products and firmware updates, which is a good sign.
On the other hand, the products were mostly variations of previous versions, nothing major.
I’ll give it another year, since we don’t know to what extent the pandemic and the shortage of semiconductors have impacted Ricoh’s plans. It probably set them back 3 years in terms of new developments.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-16-2023, 10:22 AM
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Thanks. As another member reported, it seems there’s a known lack of performance on the Mac version, as no one complaining of performance on Windows.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-14-2023, 03:26 PM
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Thanks for the tips. Performance didn't seem to improve by much though (or anything, really), any command is supper sluggish.
I'm happy with the output I get from SP11 the most, but it's *much slower* than DXO or any other software I've tested. I'm on Mac, I wonder if it's faster for you on Windows.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-13-2023, 03:45 PM
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So... I read the darktable manual and watched a video explaining the "scene referred" workflow. After the video it "clicked" to me and I was quite pleased with the initial results.
Test #3: Color
I used this test scene to exercise how to retain the color on the highlights while at the same time raising the shadows and not introducing any color casts.
On darktable, I adjusted the exposure for the midtones and then used the filmic control to recover the highlights and set the shadow. Adjusted the white balance and added local contrast ("clarity") since the filmic control tends to flatten the image. Darktable (Filmic)
I then tried to replicate the same result on SilkyPix. Again, adjusted the exposure for the midtones (but it was 2.5+ as opposed to 2.7+ on darktable), used the highlight control to recover the highlights and avoid hue shift, and added local contrast ("clarity"). SilkyPix 11
Even though it got close, I couldn't get an exact match only with exposure/white balance adjustments, the shadows seem washed out. This is probably due to how darktable filmic control works better at preserving chroma.
In terms of usability, I found darktable to be a much faster _software_ than SilkyPix, which is frustratingly slow. On the other hand, SilkyPix has simplified controls that only take me a moment to tweak, while I tend to waste a lot more time finding my way between a myriad of options in darktable. SilkyPix also has some useful presets for each control (e.g., highlight control has a "hold for sunset" preset) that cuts me a lot of time guessing. So in general I took less time in SilkyPix even though darktable is faster. I imagine that after I configure/add similar presets to darktable it can get to the same level of simplicity.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-13-2023, 07:54 AM
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These comparisons were made using DNG.
Can't assume SilkyPix 11 and DCU5 are interchangeable though. I'm using SilkyPix 11 – which I should be significantly different than DCU, as it can only be based on an older SilkyPix version, without the latest demosaicing algorithm.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-13-2023, 06:29 AM
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May I ask what those tweaks are?
I've noticed that, the CPU fan goes crazy when using it, so it's a hint the software is using mostly the CPU instead of the GPU. I would be 200% happy if they optimised the speed of the software, it's the one that gives me the best colours with minimal adjustments so far.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-12-2023, 09:39 PM
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I've tried quickly but I confess I need to read up on it – couldn't understand more than half of the options on the user interface.
Here's the color test with darktable:
SilkyPix
darktable (defaults)
It looked off by default, but after disabling the Filmic RGB and Color Calibration adjustments (what do those do?) it got closer to SilkyPix.
darktable (disabled Filmic RGB and Color calibration)
The software was quick and responsive though, which is my main complaint against SilkyPix. So if I can get similar results I might use it. I'll test the demosaicing next.
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