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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-04-2012, 12:09 PM
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So a summary of my day out:
Temperature turned out to be -20C. I went out at 07:55. Beautiful sunrise, and clear skies.
Clothing
Feet: wool sox and leather boots.
Lower body: wool boxershorts, wool pants and windproof ski pants
Upper body: cotton perforated "wife beater", thin wool shirt, thick wool sweather and thick parkas
Hands: leather gloves with wool lining
Head: Buff headnecker and russian style faux fur hat
The hands were the only problem of the day. Obviously, to handle a camera you need fingers, so mittens were not an option for me. I am lucky that my parkas has fleece lined outer pockets, that helped warm my fingers, but I had severe spells of "nail bursts" during the trip. It was expeced though, as I suffered frostbite during my army service on my fingers and my earbuds - those are always the areas that get hit first, when winter kicks in.
Lower and upper body felt perfect for the entire walk - dressing in layers is key: keep the wind out, and put three or four layers on the upper body and you'll be fine, even in -30C.
I did use cold weather cream on my face before going out, as the cheeks and nose are unprotected from the chill - glad I did. The Buff really was handy in keeping my breath from fogging the viewfinder. Kept me warm also. Buy it, if you don't have one.
Equipment:
Took the K-5 with the FA43, 0.6 and 0.9 ND filters, a polarizer, my Domke F-3X and the Gorillapod.
The K-5 performed without issues. Obviously the viewfinder will fog a little and the LCD will be slower in -20C, but the camera functions flawlessly. Upon my return I left in in the Domke bag on the bedroom floor, and then took the bag out in the living room after a few hours. A quick function test this aftenoon turned out as expected: no issues.
The Domke F-3X is my favorite bag because of it's compactness and ability to hold more than expected. Today it was almost empty, but I was still glad I brought a bag (I don't use a neck strap, but a leather grip, and holding the camera in my hands for the entire walk would have left my fingers so cold I would have cried).
Forget the Gorillapod in low temperatures: the joints of the legs gets mushy, and will fail you. Also, the ballhead became hard to manipulate as it froze (propably true for all other ballheads as well). I regret not bringing a "proper" tripod, even if the weight would have been greater.
Shooting
I tried using ND filters to capture smoke and frost. The remote did not work (propably user error), and since the Gorillapod did not handle the cold, most of my shots on bulb got ruined. I used Live view for many of the shots, which worked well, even if the LCD got slow. It is impossible to avoid some fogging of the viewfinder in these temperatures, but using the Buff helped a lot - I had no real problems using the viewfinder for my walk.
I turned off SR before going out, which turned out to be a mistake. The cold and the stress that follows ("get the shot off before your fingers fall off") made many of my shots turn out unsharp due to camera shake.
Conclusion
All in all, a fun day. As always I went out optimistic, thinking that this would be the day I turned in to Robert Kapa, but, alas, I came back with the usual mediocre set of shots. Still, I had fun, and I also learned a few things. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed in the thread for their helpful insights, and I hope you enjoyed your World Pentax Day - wherever you are.
Here are my two keepers from the day:
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-03-2012, 02:21 PM
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If you prefer a prime lens I would like to recommend the FA31. Good for indoors with f1.8, great sharpness and if Pentax ever releases a FF camera it will be compatible with this as well. Of course, lens choices are very personal, and you might prefer a zoom lens, but as far as primes go you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is disappointed with the '31.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-03-2012, 01:26 AM
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For sure!
I'll be touring the Lillestrøm area. There is a walkway on the river bank, surrounding the town, where there are a few nice opportunities (a farm besøksgård), a factory, a small boat harbor, some bridges and the train station - all in all about five km walk, I suppose). I might finish up in the city centre, but if you know Lillestrøm you know that it is not known for it's architectural brilliance:)
I plan to start the day at 07:45 to be ready by sunrise and then just walk around seeing if something presents itself. I have to finish up at 12:30 due to family obligations.
If this sounds tempting send me a PM and we'll exchange contact details. If not maybe we could do a Oslo Pentax day with other Norwegians at a later date?
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-02-2012, 07:08 AM
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Saving on electricity to afford more Pentax gear.
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Forum: Pentax K-01
02-02-2012, 07:00 AM
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Paired with a FA lens, the K-01 doesn't look all that bad, but I find it hard to love this design. Now, if Pentax had chosen to go the legacy path, and designed a camera that paid tribute to the Spotmatic or MX I would have been overjoyed. Seeing that a small form factor has not been an important factor in designing the K-01, the end result is somewhat dissapointing - a Pentax-retro-SLR design should be entirely possible within the size of the K-01.
A part from that I love that they have released an APS-C sensor camera, and that it has a K-mount. To me both these facts are more important than the design itself. I also like the fact that the green and red button are customizable.
Alas, the absence of a viewfinder means that I will not purchase the K-01, but should the K-02 be released with a viewfinder I will buy one in a heartbeat.
I am frankly surprised that Pentax did not release this camera with a viewfinder, seeing that everything else about it is so SLR-ish (large form factor, APS-C sensor, K-mount). That makes the target group full of previous and current SLR owners, many of which dislike using a LCD display for framing. One can only hope that an external viewfinder is on it's way, or that the K-02 will feature either an optical or a EVF. Like someone else said in another K-01 thread this week: it took Sony a while to get the NEX-series right.
Therefore: for a first attempt at mirrorless I don't think Pentax has failed with the K-01. I am just sad to say that I will not be one of the buyers.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-02-2012, 06:32 AM
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Thanks for all the good advice guys, much appreciated! A lot of hints both when it comes to equipment care and dressing up that I will take with me on the day.
After reading the responses I will take my FA31, and keep the camera and lens in the bag to acclimatize on the bedroom floor (should be +12C more or less) upon my return.
Oh, and yes: -17C is cold, to those above who wondered about that comment in the original post. What I meant was that -17C is not so cold that you can not dress to stay warm, and just as important: not colder than that I expect the K-5 to function reasonably. And the bonus is that I can keep a can of beer in my bag, and it will be nice and cold even after a couple of hours of shooting (the beer brought solely for the purpose of avoiding dehydration, of course).
I'll update this thread Saturday evening with my experiences from the day.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
02-02-2012, 01:09 AM
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Thanks, Adam!
I agree, it is a little on the slow side, but I really don't mind all that much. Indoors I use it mainly for portraiture and low-light family stuff - all quite static subjects (except for the three-year-old!). When outdoors in poor weather and low-light (both of which we have in abundance in this country) I find it an excellent walkaround lens, though my FA31 is by far my favorite lens!
Bottom line: I live very well with it:)
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-02-2012, 12:56 AM
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I am planning on taking my K-5 for a spin on World Pentax Day on Saturday. The weather foreceast in my area says expected temperatures of below -17C.
I would really like to use my FA31, but I am a little bit worried about condesation, once I get back to my appartment. Is it an advantage to use a WR-lens to avoid condensation problems when the camera returns to normal temperatures? I searched the forum, but could not find an answer to this particular question.
-17C is really not that cold, but I still would like to be on the safe side, so I plan to put the camera with lens in a sealed plastic bag, and let it adjust in the fridge for a couple of hours, before I move it to house temperatures.
Any one else have experiences with cold weather shooting, or insight they would like to share?
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-20-2012, 02:34 PM
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In anticipation of the eventual (?) FF Pentax DSLR, I've sold of all my DA-lenses, and built myself a FA-kit instead. It suddenly dawned on me that I now have a weatherproof body, and no weatherproof lens! This made it easier to justify to push the button and order a 55mm DA* from B&H on Wednesday. The lens duly arrived this afternoon, and I got the chance to try it out when playing with my son's Thomas the Tank Engine-track.
Maybe I bored him to much, because in the end he found it more interesting to watch over the neighbors, rather than playing with me.
Ah, well: I am happy with my new lens, and even happier to still be using Pentax gear, after starting taking photos with a Spotmatic II, at the age of twelve, some 25 years ago.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
03-11-2011, 02:48 PM
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Hi there,
when I was a boy I started shooting with a Spotmatic II. After having given up photography, I picked up the hobby again a few years ago, shooting first Canon digital, and recently a Leica M8 and M6.
However, how fantastic both digital technology and rangefinders might be, the joy of discovering that my mother had kept my Spotmatic all these years made my heart beat faster. Strangely enough, when I put it to my eye for the first time in 23 years the first thing that struck me was the smell of the camera. At an instance I was back in my childhood. The nose has the ability to dramatically get the emotions flowing, I guess, and the vulcanite of the Spotmatick really has a distincitve smell - I promise, it's true:)
The camera too felt the same, even if my hands now are bigger, and even though I had not touched it for years, it all immediatly felt the same.
It is generally accepted that cars are objects that arouses emotions. But to me, cars are no more than industrial products that help me get from A to B. Cameras are different. I do love my Leicas, and I must admit to being a rangefinder kind of photographer, but the Spotmatic is the only object I own that has the power to bring me back to my childhood in an instant. That is some power, for something made of steel and rubber.
Tonight I loaded the camera with film for the first time in over 20 years. The shutter speeds seems to be working. But even if age has damaged it beoynd repair, I will never discard it. Just knowing that it is with me is enough, and I will cherish it to the end.
I finish with taking liberties with a well known quote: "This is my camera, there are many like it, but this one is mine".
Thanks for the attention. I have enjoyed reading the forum for a few days, and look forward to keep reading, and hopefully participate with some posts from time to time.
Best regards,
Fritz
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