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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
03-23-2024, 06:28 PM
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It's a snakefly, genus Agulla (Order: Raphidioptera; Family Raphidiidae). Good capture. These aren't uncommon but they aren't often encountered either. The larvae are predators on smaller insects and often are found under the bark of logs.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-08-2019, 04:54 PM
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Finally! After several times trying using cold/hot and rubber belt wrenches, the thing that worked was to very lightly pry the gap between barrel and hood with a table knife then the rubber belt wrenches. My assumption is that the prying disengaged the stuck or cross-threaded threads enough to allow the two pieces to move.
Thanks to all who answered this thread (no pun intended)
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
03-04-2015, 11:08 PM
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First let me start out this review by saying that I am not affiliated with the company producing the FlashQ. I was, however, a supporter of the IndieGoGo crowd-funding project launched in late 2013 or early 2014 to fund the development of the FlashQ.
I read about the project on one of the various photography sites I peruse and was immediately interested. The reason it caught my eye was that I had not been overly satisfied with an earlier purchase of the Cactus V5 remote flash triggers.
It wasn't that the Cactus isn't a great product for triggering off-camera flash, especially when working at considerable distances. What the Cactus V5 is not very good at is use at close distances. My intent was to use the trigger for firing my off-camera flash, mounted on a flash bracket, for macro photography. In a note to the engineers of the Cactus triggers I was informed that the minimum working distance was greater than 30cm. Certain orientations of transmitter and receiver would work at less than 30 cm but it was finicky to set up. The sheer size of the Cactus V5 was also an impediment to use in my macro rig.
From the website description the FlashQ looked tiny and it appeared to be designed with close distance use in mind (but no information on actual minimum working distance was provided). For approximately $50US I was promised one transmitter and two receivers and free shipping sometime in the late summer of 2014. I received regular updates on the progress of the project. A couple of delays occurred due to Paypal and supplier issues, and the demonstrations in Hong Kong. But even with these disruptions my FlashQ arrived at the end of November, 2014, only a couple of months later than expected.
When I unpacked it I was amazed by it's size - absolutely tiny! Transmitter and receiver each use 1 CR2032 coin battery. And once turned on the transmitter immediately paired with the receiver. Using the test button I was able to determine that the FlashQ reliably triggers the flash from 0cm to 10m. Perfect! So good in fact the I immediately went on the website and ordered a second set in white. Being Winter here I have only had a few outings with my macro rig but the FlashQ has so far performed flawlessly.
What else does the FlashQ have going for it? It uses 2.4GHz digital radio signals and has 160 discrete channels to auto-select from. It can handle up to 300V port sync voltage on the receiver, has a 3V voltage on the transmitter male centre pin and comes with sync port for studio strobes. Battery life is claimed to be 100k fires, receiver shoe also has a tripod thread mount and can sync up to 1/250 second.
The downsides? Well no TTL for and an auto power off after 15 minutes (which is either good or bad depending on your situation).
The FlashQ can be obtained from their website.
There is also new IndieGoGo project by the same team raising funds to create an ingenious wireless flash (Q20) that uses the FlashQ transmitter. I am also very keen on this flash for macro use because of it's small size, 6 stops of power output control and other useful features. This project can be seen at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flashq-the-little-cube-for-flash-photography#activity
Now what to do with those Cactus V5 triggers...
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
02-13-2018, 04:45 PM
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
01-17-2016, 08:00 AM
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When you don't have your camera you can still practice the art. Understand and think about the world around you. Learn about your subjects. Watch how lighting and viewpoint affects your interpretation of scene and subject. Think about how the scene may change depending on time of day or night. Challenge yourself to learn and try new techniques. Camera in hand or not you can always be improving your skills as a photographer.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-24-2015, 08:59 PM
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DNG files are not a "universal" format in the sense that any DNG can be read by software that reads DNG. The software still needs to understand the RAW data produced by the specific camera/sensor. For instance older Lightroom versions that came out before the K3 and did not get an update for the K3 will not be able to read the DNG native to the K3. The DNG must first be down-converted to an older DNG version acceptable to the Lightroom version by using the DNG converter. The converter version must be new enough to understand the data from that camera.
See: https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/kb/camera-raw-plug-supported-cameras.html for an explanation and list of Pentax cameras/DNG and the maximum Lightroom version they work natively with. This should help clear up some confusion.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
10-07-2013, 05:47 PM
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A very impressive set of improvements in this new K3 model. I for one am particularly pleased that the button placement (esp. the green button) has been changed. Moving from a K20 to the K5 I have not in 2 years been able to consistently choose the AF or Green buttons correctly on the fly. Now these 2 buttons are well separated with placements more consistent with how they will be used (ie green button right below aperture dial) and AF nicely off to the side where it can'i be confused with another but can be easily accessed nonetheless. And sticking with the same battery as the K5 also a bonus.
IMHO the Green button is the most significant differentiating feature from all the other brands - ever watch someone with a Canon try and shoot in manual mode?
Bravo Pentax/Ricoh for delivering a premium product!
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Forum: Pentax Q
03-01-2013, 11:28 AM
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For those in Canada:
I called Pentax service today and asked about ordering the tripod foot. The woman I spoke with said they had just sold the last one in stock and was curious about why they have had such a run on this part. So I explained that it works with the KQ adapter and that they may want to order several more. She told me to order the part I should send an email to service@prca.penatx.ca requesting the part (apparently they need it in writing) and include my address and phone number as well. They are to respond with the quote and we go from there.
Hope this helps the fellow Canucks searching for this part.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-08-2012, 07:09 PM
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frog beetle (fam. Chrysomelidae) probably a Sagra sp.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-12-2011, 08:15 PM
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Apologies if this was already mentioned elsewhere but a new article on ETTR was added to Luminous Landscape this month and it challenges the whole metering interpretation method used by DSLR cameras. Maybe Pentax could take advantage of this and be a leader again. :)
Optimizing Exposure |
