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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-31-2011, 10:33 PM
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For whatever reasons, there is a general disrespect toward Pentax K mount system wherever I have been to for the last 2 decades. This is true even by experienced photographers who know the Pentax history well. The Pentax 120 systems are however, quite different and well respected. My advice to any potential buyers, if you care how you will be perceived, DON'T BUY PENTAX. If you are the confidence type and know what you are doing, go ahead and be different.
My opinion is that Pentax products have lagged behind for the last 2 decades, and AF performance being the most obvious, but Pentax have been doing pretty much nothing to address it. Now, if anyone asked whether there is any genuine reason buying Pentax today, the only one I can come up with will be LIMITED primes which are unique. BUT, the majority of people actually benefit from good zooms much more than awesome primes, and today's Pentax zooms just aren't that great to be honest. Can Ricoh raise Pentax from the almost dead? I believe so. Will they? That's remain to be seen but it will be a very steep uphill struggle, especially when the world economy is in such deep trouble.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-14-2011, 11:58 PM
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It looks like a just bought a new one..immaculate.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
06-03-2011, 03:54 PM
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Q: What's the difference between a full-time photographer and a pizza?
A: The pizza can feed a family of four. :lol:
But seriously, I have been doing photography professionally for 6 years now. Everyone warned me it would take the joy out of photography. You don't see many full-time pros knocking off work and going and shooting for themselves, but I do. Better yet, I am often shooting for myself when I am shooting for clients. Not always, but often. I love being a photographer, and if anything, doing it professionally has enhanced my joy of it personally, and also driven me to get better, and expand my mind photographically.
However, I barely make enough money to get by. I supplement my income with web design, graphic design, consulting, and tutoring in photography. Little bits of things here and there. For a while I was working in my old job (biochemistry lab) for up to 20 hours per week. It works for me, though, and I'm very happy despite being financially stressed now and then.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-27-2011, 06:40 AM
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As a photographer I want to be able to photography anything and everything I see. But as a person who has worked with kids and who is very conscious of her own personal privacy I don't think it's necessarily right to photograph certain things sans permission actually.
I love photographing old and interesting houses and children, but a lot of people get very funny about you photographing their property without permission and most parents do not like strangers taking pictures of their kids without asking either. Both for good reason. These days someone photographing your property could very well mean they're prepping for a robbery. Or they could be taking pics of your kids to sell or worse. You just never know.
I don't have a major problem with being on a public street and photographing most adults going about their business. But I do tend to ask a lot before I go there when I am taking portraits and I never ever photograph a child without explaining to the parent that I am learning to be a professional photographer and that I am basically practicing my informal shooting skills. In most cases I will offer to let them see what I am photographing, and to send them a copy if they like. If they strongly object to my photographing them or whatever it is, then I don't.
Artistic license IMHO is not an excuse to be rude. If it's going to make someone uncomfortable to be the focus of a picture then I don't take it, no matter how much I want to. I actually wouldn't want my picture taken sans permission and I'd object so I do have to be fair I think and ask.
I make only one major exception to that rule. If I am walking around in a heavily populated area and I spot someone doing something that is very much geared towards attracting attention then I don't feel too hesitant about snapping a pic or two. If some guy is going to walk around in drag like Marilyn Monroe I don't seriously think he's going to mind if I take his pic, you know? Ditto people walking around with brightly colored hair or totally uninhibited people who seem to think that kissing to the point of trying to inhale their partners tonsils is perfectly acceptable behavior in public.
I'm not perfect. I do have manners so most of the time I do ask, but every now and again I will just take the darned picture if I think I can get away with it too. Sometimes you just have to go for it and make your explanations later, shrug.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-21-2011, 12:56 PM
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Canon and Nikon are market leaders - it's a safe purchasing decision and at the end of the day they make better cameras and lenses than Pentax (debatable I know, but I've shot with Canon high end lenses on a 1-D)
If someone asks me "what camera should I buy?" I always say "buy a Canon in the price range that suits you."
But if someone asks me "why do you use Pentax?" I'll say "the Canon and Nikon pro gear are too expensive and too heavy for me. I use Pentax, because they make stuff that fit my hands that I can carry. And it was the first SLR I bought, and I saw no reason to change over the years."
At the end of the day, it's all about how useful a camera is to me - how often I will use it and how much fun I'll get out of it. I simply cannot use a big Canon or Nikon body with the heavy optically stabilised lenses, so they end up sitting on a shelf.
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Forum: Pentax K-r
03-31-2011, 07:11 PM
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I love mr k-r by the way. Its an amazing camera even with the ff issues. I do expect them to issue an new firmware update to fix the issue. I have many great pics taken with my K-r. I just missed focussed a bunch of indoor Tungsten shots.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-30-2011, 05:37 AM
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Unless that lens is parfocal, it will *not* hold focus when zooming. I would not consider that particular result an indication of a lens problem, unless you know for sure that it is not a varifocal design.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-28-2011, 02:14 PM
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Smeggy, I still have my K20D and have given it a run alongside the K-5 I have now, and I can say the difference is quite clear. The K-5 is more direct, more sure with locking on focus and is not any less accurate with focusing in low lighting as far as I could tell. So I do wonder whether your previous K-5s had issues.
Tommo (and others interested), I gave my K-5 with v1.03 a low-light run with my DA 12-24 and DA 18-55 at their widest focal lengths, and after about half an hour of 'testing' I finally managed to get my K-5 to front focus! Once.
At about EV1-2 I took about 20 shots with both lenses knowing the exact focus point, and despite trying different AF points, different focus distances, using AF assist lamp or not, out of all these shots I got one from the DA 12-24 front focused by perhaps a couple of centimetres. But I could not get it to replicate the front focusing again. So I gave up.
I accept focusing won't always be perfect under these conditions, but from what I've seen the focusing has been pretty much spot on each time I've challenged it. Any more difficult conditions and I'd be wondering what I want in a photograph of the dull scene before me.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-23-2011, 09:57 AM
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Here ya go...a quick-n-dirty pic of K7 with the "new" Tenpa 1.36 (they claim some recent improvements that escape me at the moment). Taken with K5 at ISO 3200! (pardon me, I still get excited over that.)
So, obviously, the Tenpa is bigger than the OME-53, but that big eyecup is what helps block extraneous light. You can fold it back or remove it if you need to save space in the bag or something. The eyecup is quite soft and comfortable on the eye socket. Plus, the size of the assembly helps keep your oily nose off the lcd.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
03-18-2011, 09:53 PM
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Observations (leaving aside test imperfections ;)):
EDITED TO ADD: A single digit adjustment to the AF in the first shot will not perfectly center the DOF. The result is a very similar amount of focus miss, but towards FF.
The K7 will only lock 1 out of 4 tries at EV 2.2 in tungsten lighting with this lens, and is not always in focus when it does lock. I was surprised about this as the K20 hunts a bit but usually locks at this light level, and is consistent when it does. I gradually increased the light until the focus locked every time and was even more shocked to see that the K7 would not lock consistently until I hit EV4.5!
The K7 focus shift performs in a very similar manner to the K20 in this test.
I ran another set of shots at f4.0, where I set BF in the 5500K light, and the camera will barely hold DOF (FF) at the lowest light level of EV 2.2 (assuming it locks and is in focus when it does). This is very similar to the K20, in my experience.
The K5 is clearly better than this, at least in these test conditions as it holds f1.4 DOF pretty well in the same lighting.
I will post a K20 sequence soon.
Ray
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-13-2011, 05:14 PM
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And here's my favourite shot of bubs. Yes I was naughty and took it at 2.2, but 1/200 and 800 ISO. It turned out the way I hoped :)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
03-11-2011, 11:23 PM
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From what I read, most RAW images need some sharpening. There is a quite nice overview of this in this article (the discussion of sharpening is in the second half of the article):
Photoshop | Kelvin Photographer
Best regards,
Håkan
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
03-05-2011, 12:32 AM
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Not to say this guy is 100% legit, but crazy sh-does happen in real life sometimes.
I got my first real photography mentor via an offer made during a casual conversation on a BART train. I barely knew how to use any camera at the time, but there was a guy beside me with a DSLR and we got to talking about my P&S and shooting raw versus other formats and some other stuff and somehow he realized I was pretty serious about learning to do the whole photography thing right.
He asked me if he could take a look at the pictures I'd taken that day. Well, newbie or not, I must have done something right because not only did he take a higher end memory card out of his own pack to give to me (because he knew I was shooting compressed for lack of more money to buy any more right then) but he also gave me his card and invited me to come and see him and his wife in their studio. After that he did end up mentoring me for a while before I finally left that area to come back here.
For the record he's a long time pro out in the SF Bay area. I'm still a student of his, albeit I'm mostly studying with him at a distance these days. I actually have a new mentor here that he helped me find too.
First mentor has certainly never handed me a $1300 camera, cough, laugh, I wish, but actually he IS the reason I'm heading out there later this month. I'm helping him digitally archive some more of stuff for the better part of a week and getting some one on one tutoring time out of it. Also a free airline ticket and a place to lay my head.
Actually paid? Probably not, but who CARES? No complaints here, baby. I've got 5 days and 4 nights in San Francisco to look forward to, full access to the benefit of his experience for a few hours, and likely I will get the opportunity to play with all his lighting stuff, his new K-5 and probably to handle whatever new Nikon DSLR he has now too.
I can understand why some people might want a potential photo assistant to swap out gear though from working sometimes with him. I'm fortunate in that he is actually a guy who likes Pentax but who also often works with Nikon or Canon sometimes. He's pretty flexible in terms of file types and he doesn't sweat going from one system to another too much. That just makes assisting him a bit easier. But there's no denying getting all the people in the same studio on one system does tend to make for a more efficient work flow.
From what I've seen he tends to use whatever camera and lenses work for the job and that will make his clients more comfortable. But when he's shooting for his own purposes? He's usually got the latest weatherproof Pentax DSLR in his hand and he also uses a lot of older lenses then too.
Cross training is always smart. Whether you're talking software or cameras, I don't think anyone should limit themselves to just one thing. I believe in learning to use several brands of cameras actually. Personal preference is one thing, but if you're continually willing to lose work over it? Then I think it's probably not such a good thing to be hanging onto a particular brand all the time, at least not when it comes to working on the job.
I'll likely will forever be a Pentax person. I have a sincere love of Pentax cameras that seemingly knows no limits. At home it's Pentax. Neither Canon nor Nikon really fits me as well in terms of my needs, but that doesn't mean I'll never own another camera. It just means I'll not part with my Pentax DSLR to have one.
If someone handed me a Nikon and told me I had to learn to use it to do a job? You can bet I'd learn to use it fairly quickly. I'd probably swap it for my K-DSLR the minute I got off work, but I'd still use it on the job if I had to.
I'm not saying the story above was real. I'm not saying it's not. I'm not much into judging people, particularly online that's just not my thing. What I am saying is that strange things do happen once in a while. My whole photographic journey thus far has been a crazy wonderful thing for me. The teachers I've had, the equipment I've gathered it's all been a big huge bit of serendipity in some ways.
In the end I seriously doubt that I'll end up shooting for Vogue like Ben, but just the very idea that I'll be a pro photographer of some sort some time in the next half a decade totally makes me grin because I never once EVER thought I'd really get to do that for a living even though I have loved doing photography from the first time I ever picked up a camera.
If there are such things as fairy godmothers when it comes to photography? I figure I must have the most efficient crew of fairy godmothers on the planet because the unexpected opportunities I've had thus far to gain tools and learn my craft have just been amazing.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-21-2011, 06:12 PM
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So, my report will go online on Wednesday. I'll publish it on my blog and open a thread here in the news section (because it is about a new publication). Any objections?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-03-2011, 12:54 PM
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This chart may help if you can understand how to read it; (The green and red values show 2 example calculations).
Start with an EV, then slide to the right and pick an fStop, then slide up and pick a shutter speed and finally, slide to the left and and you see the needed ISO, also you could go in reverse to find what EV you are shooting in.:confused:
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-03-2011, 03:37 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-30-2011, 03:00 PM
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My two "lemons" haven't stopped me making great use of my new camera.
I bought my K-5 before Christmas; by the new year I had identified sensor stains, but was about to leave on a trip to India so put off replacing it. After returning I found 2 images from the whole collection where the stain was visible and fixed them in a couple on minutes in PP.
I exchanged the camera for another copy. It too had a relatively low serial number and, indeed, testing showed sensor stains. I held on to the exchange as I was soon to leave for a trip to the San Francisco area. So far I haven't seen any real world photos this trip which show up the issue. On the other hand ISO 3200 in indoor settings has been a revelation. Night and day compared to my previous K-10 at high ISO; I've got many shots I wouldn't have thought to try with my previous body.
Once I'm back home I'll get another replacement while my warrantee is still good, keeping going if necessary until I get an unblemished copy -- once the bad stock has worked its way through the retail channel it should be OK.
I don't count myself as an uncritical Pentax fanboy, but despite having had two sensor-stained K-5s (so far), there's no way I'd have wanted to wait to own this camera. It's been great to use for my 1000 odd actuations in the last six weeks; the stains have had (almost) no real world effect; and I've got so many shots I wouldn't have managed with my previous camera. Count me as happy despite the issues.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-28-2011, 10:47 PM
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Having been the lead electrician at a convention and meeting room facility, I believe it would be very unusual for the lighting to be 100% tungsten, which is another word for incandescent. The resulting heat and cost of using the lights would be prohibitive. Also, unless the space is very large and the ceiling is over 40feet, it is unlikely that mercury vapor, metal halide or sodium vapor lights would be used. These are very intense lighting sources. It is more likely that the lighting is either florescent or a mix of fluorescent and incandescent, the florescent for instant on and economy and the incandescent for its dimming capabilities. Fluorescent lighting will change colors dependent on the part of the 60hz cycle you are experiencing at the moment your shutter opens. Any shutter speed faster than 1/60 will likely catch only part of the cycle and show color shifts randomly.
Looking at your picture, It looks like the perimeter is incandescent and the center is flourescent, a typical setup in meeting rooms.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-28-2011, 01:05 PM
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Two more test shots with phase AF, DFA 100mm 1:2.8, f=2.8, center point focus etc. as above, light sources indirect daylight and indirect light from a 7 W CFL (nominally 3000K) instead of the tungsten bulb, for the eye the light seems much whiter than the tungsten bulb.
#1 indirect daylight : EV 0.65 (t=5s) : camera WB 7525K : focus OK
#2 CFL : EV 0.39 (t=6s) : camera WB 3339K : focus OK
So it seems that with the right kind of light my K-5's phase autofocus can work just fine, even in low light. Direct light from the CFL results in much higher EV values with which my K-5's phase AF seems to work just as well as at EV 0.39. Unfortunately tungsten light is a problem.
YMMV.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
01-02-2011, 07:42 PM
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All shot with the K5 in Raw, tungsten light source (it is dark here now), FA 50 f1.4, exposure equalized as much as possible with the filters on by moving the lamp to get as close as possible to the same shutter speed at ISO 100 f2.0:
Image on the left was shot through an 80A filter (blue, ACR color dropper on whiBal card says 5850 color temp)
Image in the middle was shot through a Y2 filter (Yellow, ACR color dropper on whibal card says 2850 color temp)
Image on the right was shot through R2 filter (Red, ACR color dropper on whibal card says 2000 color temp, but I think that this is the lower limit of ACR, so the color temp is probably lower than that).
I did not try and remove the resulting color casts so as to make which one is which more clear.
Note that all are a bit back-focused, which is probably where this lens is calibrated in bright light), and that if anything the focus shifts a bit to the back from blue to red. This could well be just normal AF shot to shot tolerance, however.
Note also the somewhat fuzzier appearance as the images move from blue to red. This is EXACTLY what I would expect CA from the lens to produce as we move towards near IR. The red is not as well corrected and focused by the lens, which produces lower contrast and a softer appearance, but did not result in any significant focus shift, and certainly not to FF.
Ray
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-29-2010, 07:22 PM
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Ray, I don't think we disagree.
I agree the problem emerges when light fades. I only wanted to illustrate that the spectrum plays a role large enough to shift the point of problem by several stops.
A more complete study would be a 3D plot plotting defocus against luminosity and color temperature.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-25-2010, 07:05 AM
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Merry Christmas Fer.
I would say ... This is basically how YOUR CONTRIBUTION in this thread has evolved. The thread itself evolves like a wake up call for many K5 users re the issue concerned. And that was the purpose of opening it .
Merry Christmas to everybode in this forum by the way !
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-24-2010, 09:07 PM
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No worries here either :)
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