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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-05-2024, 03:42 PM
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Depending on the K5 body in question, your guess is very, very wrong.
A K5 that has bad AF has AF that is worse than useless.
How do I know? The AF on my K5 was worse than useless.
I ended up putting a Katz-Eye screen into mine and went back to manual focus unless I was shooting in daylight with no strong colour casts in the subject.
The AF was awful in any other conditions.
There were good ones out there, but as I mentioned previously, the AF issue was a big deal and can easily be researched on the K5 subforum.
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
03-21-2024, 06:27 PM
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You are a good doggie dad!
I've been doggie dad to 7 rescues over the last 44 years, and my wife is insisting we get #8 in a few months, after our trip to Norway. The average human age here is almost 80 (she's a bit older than I am), so I will keep this idea in mind!!
Although, we tend to go for the ~25 pound dogs - big enough that we don't have to worry about the local coyotes, hawks, or owls, but small ebough to lift if necessary.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
03-21-2024, 09:22 PM
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That write speed and the slow frames per second are what defines it as such. It’s not an excuse it’s what the camera is well suited for. It’s perfectly reasonable to seek another camera if this one is not the right one for what you do. It’s silly to say it’s an excuse. It also is unproductive to complain about it as if it was a design flaw. Cost and other factors shape these decisions.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
01-18-2024, 04:46 AM
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I think it's going to be a long time coming.
I would like to create firmware that incorporates my own custom image.
---------- Post added 01-18-24 at 08:49 PM ----------
Tell me if there's anything you want to do. If there's anything I can do to help, I'll do it:)
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-26-2024, 02:21 AM
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Mind you, Queenstown in the New Zealand alps is also directly in the path, and The Remarkables ski resort is not far out of town. Coastal Dunedin is also right in the path, and is likewise blessed with a vantage point at the top of the incredibly steep High Street. Totality peaks over the South Island of NZ at about 4:15pm.
Given Dartmoor Dave's advice about watching the umbra roll in from a great height, they might be even better options than Sydney!
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-21-2024, 04:16 AM
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Don’t think I’m going to be within three thousand miles of it, but after being on site for the last total eclipse in the UK, I’d recommend anyone who hasn’t seen one first hand to be there. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life and completely memorable!
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
02-09-2024, 04:16 PM
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One thing no one talks about every time this issue comes up, is to arrange the support for camera and lens such that the lens is horizontal, not vertical when walking.
An extended acra Swiss plate used as a handle off the body mount can be used to hang the camera from with a strap
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-09-2024, 12:11 PM
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PPA – Professional Photographers of America – has a write-up of the Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome (which they name in full six different times in the article) for their February 2024 issue.
https://www.ppa.com/ppmag/articles/magnificent-monochrome
It doesn't break new ground for those of us who have the camera or who really enjoy reading reviews, but it also doesn't feel the need to spend half of its words to explain (or complain) that not all cameras are mirrorless. Its tone is much more descriptive, written for a professional audience, rather than experiential, written for enthusiasts. There's not a lot of analysis, or opinion, and it's fairly clear that this is based on short-term loan rather than long-term use.
I do like that, right at the beginning, she writes:
Straight to the point, none of this "one to two stop improvement" faffle for pixel peepers and those who want to play along at home. It's better. Done. (Elsewhere she writes that "[a]t ISO 25,600, the medium and darker tones have what looks more akin to a fine film grain than high ISO noise.") All told it seems like a good link to send to people who know photography, are curious about the camera, and want an overview.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-23-2023, 02:15 AM
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I have owned K3 and KP and recently acquired an original K5 (£200ish with battery grip and just under 1400 shutter count). There are marked differences between the three cameras other than just specs. The KP has the best IQ IMO at higher ISOs. It has the tilt screen. It has the worst ergonomics. The K5 and K3 have the best ergonomics. I prefer the slightly smaller K5 but if you have bigger hands the K3 may be better in this regard. Between the K5 and K3 the IQ is different between the 2 but I find neither one better than the other. When sticking to low ISO's the K3 is great but get much above 800 and I find it disappointing, whereas the K5 still looks good at 3200. This is of course my subjective view. The AA filter and lower MP count are irrelevant for normal pictures at normal print sizes and are not to be worried over unless you really do need to do a lot of cropping. Both the KP and K3 are appreciably quicker when chimping, but if you don't do much of this it should not be a bother. Of the 3, the K3 has by far the best built in flash and the K5 the worst. If you ever want to process RAW in camera both the K3 and KP are superior to the K5. I would not hesitate to recommend either a K5 of any iteration or a K3. They are both fantastic cameras. The K5 is easily the cheapest option. K5ii and 5iis' are pricier and harder to find.
Personally of the 3 cameras I would choose the K5 for a general walk around camera with a small prime on as I find the feel in the hand just a little bit better than the K3 and a whole lot better than the KP. This is more important to me than all the extra bells and whistles of the newer cameras. However I have a K1 ii also, which I use for more exacting work. If I did not own this beast I would probably choose to use the K3 more as I rarely use the higher ISOs and the inbuilt flash is really good.
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Forum: General Photography
12-14-2023, 01:42 AM
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I'll come back to read the content of what was written at the link later, as I'm pressed for time now.
However, I did scroll through to see the photos.
For each one, someone came to mind: Thomas Kincade, "The Painter of Light" (which he 'borrowed' from critics' reviews of J. M. W. Turner's work, (1775–1851). I always found Kincade's paintings to be ... overly dramatic or maybe even kitschy or repetitive. "Exaggerated" might be another word for both Kincade and the photos at the link.
It's hard for me to be a fan of that work, because as photos they are (almost) entirely fabricated. When it comes to changing the lighting of a photo to that degree, it's really a creative construct more than a photo (to me). As a photographer, they don't seem real. They seem heavy-handed, almost kitschy.
"
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Forum: General Photography
11-24-2023, 04:11 PM
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If my photo gear were sentient they'd probably think I'm the "useless gadget".
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Forum: General Talk
11-10-2023, 10:42 PM
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Unfortunately, as a primitive and backward country, power for Australia's internet is done by pedalling to generate electricity, there are only 4 workers (3 shifts of 8 hours and a spare - not Harry) as most Australians are not aware of things like the internet and spend their waking hours hunting and gathering in the arid landscape, trying to eek out enough calories to make the next sunrise. Unfortunately, last week, it appears that the stone that covers the entrance to the cave where the power generation occurs, had been rolled back and the bicycle based generation machine had been vandalised. Been a complete bugger of a week. Apparently, it took 9 hours to get the power generation unit up and running again (out of bicyle chain joiner links). The telephone exchange operators were run off their feet as phone calls (land lines of course) rained in and SMS messages from people multi-tap typing on their Nokia 5110's, or firing up their latest and greatest 486 DX-2 66 computers, linking up to the new fangled interweb thingy with trumpet Winsock to submit the online help form with the latest version of Netscape Navigator or send a Eudora email message.
Thankfully, once the joiner link was installed, normalcy returned and people could get back to sharing pictures of the stuff they hunted and gathered that day :D. Pictures of the whole affair will be published when the kodachrome slides come back.
Apparently, productivity (kg hunted and gathered) was up 20% while the interweb was out.....surprising eh? :cool:
(PS - the above is based on real events but nearly all parts have been changed)
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Forum: General Photography
11-24-2023, 02:02 PM
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I just looked up the history of those little critters. At the time I didn't know they were brine shrimp but I grew up within a couple of hours drive of a brine lake where they could be harvested. My father was willing to spend his time satisfying my childhood curiosity and he took it upon himself to find out what sea monkeys actually were and was very willing to drive me to Little Manitou so that I could "catch them wild".
He always made it into a huge adventure: we were going to catch untamed ones rather than get the boring domesticated ones being sold from the back of Incredible Hulk comic books.
Anyway, the history of Sea Monkeys is far more fascinating than the little creatures themselves.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
11-16-2023, 01:42 PM
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When photographing birds, the hit rate on focussing on the bird's eyes fortunately seems high. Maybe I have a good technique, or do other K-3iii users have the same experience. Although eye focussing is meant to be limited to human eyes, active with focus settings on a zone, is there also a tendency for the algorithm to pick up bird and animal eyes. I have attached a few examples where the head of the bird is in a different plane to the body. For these examples, focus settings are typically AF Select or Expanded AF(S), with a typical aperture of f6.3 on the 150-450mm lens.
Interested to hear your views on this.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-10-2023, 12:03 AM
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The Pentax 18-250mm would be my choice, as it is sharper than both the Tamron 18-200mm and the Pentax 18-270mm.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-29-2023, 11:57 PM
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Without you saying so, how could I know? With respect, there was very little information provided in your original post - you gave no indication of camera and lens used, the settings you'd already checked, the tests you'd performed... and I had no idea of your level of experience - but, since you use Auto mode, I thought it best to start with the basics.
You've already tried selecting "AUTO PICT" mode, but what of the other modes - do any of those work? What mode is shown on the camera's display when you select AUTO? Does that change when you select other modes with the dial? Have you tried repeatedly moving the dial back and forth a few times to see if it might be a case of dirty switch contacts? Have you checked EXIF data in your photos to see what mode is being recorded? Is AF working? What lens is fitted? Does it have an aperture ring? Is that ring on the "A" setting? Are the lens and camera mounts and contacts clean? Have you tried a different auto-focus lens? Have you performed a Reset of all settings from the SETUP menu? etc...
Maybe you've already checked and tried all of the above and more. We don't know. The more information you give us, the less likely we'll be to waste your time and ours responding with unnecessary suggestions. Provide as much information as you can, and someone else here should be willing and able to help.
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Forum: General Talk
10-16-2023, 04:58 AM
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I refuse to own a smartphone. Every now and then someone will hand me their own wretched device to ask me to take a photo with it, or just to show off some feature they think is cool, and I find myself instantly and almost psychotically enraged for no reason that really makes any sense at all. And that's before I start trying to make the damn thing do anything, jabbing at it with these fingers of mine that no touchscreen has ever responded to properly.
The most annoying thing about smartphones is. . . everything. People's IQ levels seem to drop fifty points just by holding one of the evil things in their hand. They represent the death of everything that has ever been meaningful and good in human civilisation, and I despise them.
Aah. . . felt good to get that one off my chest.:)
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Forum: General Talk
10-15-2023, 11:32 PM
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I call them the No Peace Machines. The most annoying thing about them is you can be called wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, from the roof of a high building to under the floorboards searching for that dropped bunch of keys or while sat on Thomas Crapper’s finest porcelain fixtures contemplating the infinite. The more inconvenient the circumstances, the more likely someone will call.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-26-2023, 01:54 AM
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I can see why you feel it's relevant for you and some others...
It's a curious development, IMHO, where razor-thin depth-of-field and millimetre-perfect auto-focus have become deal-breaker requirements in what appears to be mostly amateur portrait photography (professional studio portrait photographers with their PhaseOne and Hasselblad cameras get by with far inferior autofocus and greater depth-of-field than this). It seems like something of a chicken-and-egg situation, in that I don't know which came first - a subset of photographers who, as a result of pixel-peeping, considered this capability important and missing from their gear; or, manufacturers offering it and folks subsequently deciding that because they can do it, they should and will, and it's now a must-have capability.
Don't get me wrong - I appreciate brisk and accurate auto-focus, and I agree that the latest mirrorless systems are amazing in this respect. I just don't have the same exacting demands and needs as you... and so far as I can tell, it hasn't negatively impacted the quality of my photography when viewed at normal reproduction sizes and distances (yes, at times I can detect a little focus inaccuracy at 1:1 on my 24" monitor, but I can also detect things like demosaicing artefacts - and those too become insignificant when I view the images "normally")...
Anyway, we've enough Pentax gear to choose from. For most of us, it's capable enough and suits our needs quite well. We can accept the compromises in return for the perceived benefits. We've always got the option to switch if at some point we decide we need something different. As always, it's a case of choosing the right tools for the job :)
I'm thinking of starting a "Fantasy Ricoh Imaging CEO" thread, along the lines of the "Fantasy Football" game. Given the number of "what Pentax should do" posts we've had in these forums over the years, I think it would be very popular... and it will have the same influence on Ricoh's actual activities as Fantasy Football does on the real game :p :lol:
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-26-2023, 12:03 AM
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I've also tried recent mirrorless systems, and I agree they focus very quickly and accurately. I guess the difference between us is that I haven't changed my threshold as it's not especially relevant to my photography.
Honestly, I've not found the accuracy or speed of focusing an issue with my Pentax DSLRs and mostly screw-drive lenses. It's not perfect by any means, but it satisfies my requirements and use-cases well enough. If it didn't, I'd switch - and that's the recommendation I'd make to anyone. Shoot what you like and what works for you.
Incidentally, I don't merely shoot landscapes or general travel photography at f/8... I frequently use faster apertures for practical or creative reasons, and occasionally shoot wide open (though I usually stop down just a little with any lens to get the best from it). I have no significant issues with AF accuracy... but clearly my threshold is not the same as yours and some other folks. If I needed unfailingly accurate focusing on the eyelash of an in-flight gnat at f/1.4, I'd buy a recent camera and lens from one of the many mirrorless systems available... but I don't, and I'm happy to compromise as there are other aspects of my system that I consider more important.
Given the state of the market and pace of development at Ricoh Imaging, I don't think we can ever hope for a complete range of PLM lenses for K-mount - so rather than lament that fact, we can accept the compromises of the system and enjoy whatever occasional improvements come along, or switch. As I said above, I'm quite happy to compromise.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-22-2023, 02:18 PM
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You might look at the Samyang 85mm if you don't mind manual focus. For senior portraits I assume you will be on a tripod and the kids will be posing. I find this lens very nice. It is available at B&H for $250.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
10-18-2023, 02:43 PM
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No flippy screen, no sale.
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Forum: General Talk
10-16-2023, 07:55 PM
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The "most annoying thing" with cellphones are the users.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
10-05-2023, 07:07 PM
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Good morning all. My cellphone accidentally took a ten minute video of my shoes yesterday.
It was pretty good footage.
It got weirder in the evening. My friend and I were having a few drinks telling each other our best chat-up lines.
Some of his were so good, I ended up back at his place.
If I can take a timeout here, PF contributor Chris Feola did an interview with me here:
Clackers: The master of dad jokes, beginner tips and Pentax cameras - Pentaxian Profiles | PentaxForums.com
I talk about my photography as a hobbyist, my influences, why Dad Jokes (spoiler: they're just a device to hook people into the tip, but fun to do anyway), and the future of this series of posts - 100 is coming up, and there's some thinking to do.
By the way, check out Chris' bio in the top right of that page, I found him great to deal with, just 'got it' and was super efficient, and then I read he has four thousand published articles, worked at seven newspapers and taught journalism at two universities ... he's a class act, yet example of the talent we have in these forums, and why I keep coming back to them, and pay to be a Loyal Supporter and help keep the lights on! (Yeah, that's a hint, do the right thing, guys and gals, this is a community! :D )
But this week I want to talk about a kind of shot in sports photography that isn't really a sports shot but can look good. It requires scouting in advance.
If you find a great location, setup conventionally for a landscape shot, and just wait for the competitors to enter the frame, and take a burst of shots. They are really participants in your scene.
You can do the same thing even if an event isn't on, if the laws of your land permit, you can take your landscape shots but don't go home until you get some with tourists or travellers or hikers or whatever in it as well. With a timer, it can be just yourself. With a flash, it can even be astro. Human figures somewhere in the frame - and you should compose to suit - give a completely different feel to the picture. The shot below was with the K-1 and DFA 28-105 kit lens. It's the Australian Road Cycling championships outside a regional city. The cyclists are props in this pic, most of the photo is about the local eucalyptus trees.
To finish with, there's the story of the farmer with a bear he had encountered and befriended driving down the road when a cop pulls him over.
The cop asked the farmer, "Don't you know it is against the law to ride with a bear in the front of your truck?"
The farmer replied, "No, I didn't knowed that."
The cop asks the farmer where he was going and he said, "To Memphis, sir."
The cop said, "I'll let you off the hook this time if you promise to take that bear to the zoo when you get to Memphis."
So the farmer promised he would. Several days later the cop spotted the farmer with the bear driving down the road and he pulled him over again.
The cop said "I thought I told you to take this bear to the zoo when you got to Memphis!"
And to this the farmer replied "I did, I did, and we had so much fun, I'm taking him to the circus."
No dig at farmers as simpletons intended, I'm the son of a wheat farmer myself. :)
Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com
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