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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-27-2016, 11:42 PM
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Thank you, JPT, for the very informative report. I have a Pentax K-5iis and am very happy with its quiet shutter. I tried a Nikon D810 in a camera store and found its shutter to be at about the same level of quietness. I do not have a Pentax K-3, nor have I heard the shutter in that camera, so when you say that the K-1 shutter is a bit louder than the K-3, could you also let us know how much louder it would be than the Pentax K-5iis or the Nikon D810? I will be buying the K-1 for low-light, interior photos, often where no flash is allowed. A quiet camera is essential, in order not to disturb the proceedings. I don't suppose you had a chance to try a screw-driven lens like the FA77 Ltd on the K-1? Is that any quieter than the K-3 or K-5iis? Any extra information would help us all. Many thanks.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-18-2016, 11:39 PM
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Hi, Adam.
Since some of the lenses that I will be using with the K-1 include the FA 77 Ltd and the FA 43 Ltd, if possible, could you try a screw-driven lens on the K-1, to check if the in-body auto-focus motor is any quieter than the one in the K-5iis or the K-3? I hope that the shutter will also be at least as quiet as the K-5, hopefully even quieter. Could you also check the shutter sound level?
Would it be asking too much to also check the auto-focus speed of the new 24-70 f/2.8 Pentax zoom lens (Tamron re-badge?) in very low-light (-3 EV)? Am I asking too much? Since we will only be getting the K-1 around mid-April, early May (in some places), it would be helpful to some of us here to have this information as soon as possible, before buying. Many thanks.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
01-19-2016, 03:43 AM
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Number 6 is my choice for best seasonal photo.
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
01-19-2016, 03:30 AM
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Regarding landscape and nature photography, the best piece of advice that I ever came across was in a book by Freeman Paterson. He refers to a state of mind that he uses when photographing subjects in nature. This goes well beyond mere photographic technique. He calls this "relaxed attentiveness". Although it takes some practice, his own sublime images are proof that it is well worth the effort. It is like being "in the zone", almost a Zen like state of mind, in which one becomes so attuned to nature as to almost become one with it. The photographer no longer merely sees through his own eyes, or the camera lens, but he almost enters the subject itself, penetrating to its very essence. Viewers of the resulting images often see beyond the mere physical presence of the object photographed. Some of them also experience a bit of what the photographer may have seen and felt when he created the image.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-19-2015, 03:42 PM
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Hello,
In my voting post, I said: "I prefer #10, but #7 will probably win. I voted for #10, for its other-worldly look, almost like an expressionist painting. #10 also looks other-worldly, but in a macabre, ghostly, almost evil way. This is merely my subjective opinion, of course. Others may not see any of this at all. But, that is what makes photography and art interesting. Each observer has their own perspective or impression of the image, what it makes them feel and think of."
It should have read: #7 also looks other-worldly, but in a ...
Not that this is of much importance, but just to be accurate.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-17-2015, 10:55 PM
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I prefer #10, but #7 will probably win. I voted for #10, for its other-worldly look, almost like an expressionist painting. #10 also looks other-worldly, but in a macabre, ghostly, almost evil way. This is merely my subjective opinion, of course. Others may not see any of this at all. But, that is what makes photography and art interesting. Each observer has their own perspective or impression of the image, what it makes them feel and think of.
Good luck to all the finalists.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-16-2015, 10:24 PM
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Tungal.
I think that your image shows a lot of humour. The theme is "motion". Maybe the theme should have been "things, people or animals in motion". Your variation on the theme is "extremely slow motion", which I find very humorous and clever. Good luck. Yours should win for the funniest motion entry. Anyway, it is a fun contest.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-10-2015, 08:41 PM
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This depicts motion, both upward and downward motion. The imagery is both beautiful and artistic. It seems to transcend the elements in the photo to what the essence of motion is. It is also multi-directional motion, since there also may be cross wind blowing the birds and the spray around. That's what it says to me, at a glance. I would choose this one as the overall winner.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-10-2015, 08:31 PM
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What an amazing image! It's like a ghost playing the violin. Very imaginative rendering.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
12-10-2015, 08:27 PM
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I nominate the snail with the flower for "slow motion"; it's (hopefully) in motion, nonetheless!
Go snail go!
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
12-15-2014, 10:56 PM
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Congratulations, shuber. The newer cameras, like the K-50. K-5IIs and K-3, offer so many more options and possibilities for creativity than ever before. Great time of year to practice on your new camera, too. Merry Christmas!
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Forum: Homepage & Official Pentax News
12-11-2014, 03:30 PM
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I wonder if B & H Photo would issue me a refund, since I bought it at $596 only two weeks earlier? Maybe I should have a word with Santa.
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-11-2014, 03:07 PM
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OK, you woke me up from my hibernation. Are you happy now? Merry Christmas now, from my fellow bears, since we will be back in hibernation by then.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-23-2011, 09:52 AM
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Well, it's like this, henryp. I was thinking that, if I encouraged B & H to more carefully package their customers' orders, that their reputation with people who received these orders with the "flimsy plastic pouches" still inflated (or with better padding), would be even better than it already is. But that was before I understood how B & H Photo look at packing customer orders. Thank you for all the packaging information.
As you have seen already, another reason for my asking the original question, henryp, was so that B & H might consider using more reliable cushioning material. However, since the manufacturer has seen to all this for you by making the original packaging sturdy enough to prevent damage, my original question is no longer relevant.
Thank you for the explanation of your packaging policy, and also of how manufacturers package their lenses and cameras for shipment.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-22-2011, 09:08 AM
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Very kind of you 5teve (clever way to write Steve, if you ask me). I see that you are from Perth, on the west side (from my perspective) of Australia, a land that I would dearly love to visit one day. Since 80% of communication is non-verbal, you are quite right in mentioning how difficult it can sometimes be to expain oneself by the use of text alone. There is always the possibility of being misunderstood, regardless of how well intentioned one might be. There are a lot of people of good will on this site, so I am happy to be a part of it. Fair dinkum! (Did I use it properly?)
I hope to have more interesting things to contribute in future threads.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-22-2011, 07:47 AM
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Thank you, eddie1960, a fellow Torontonian. My motivation for buying from B & H should be clear to you, but since it does not seem to be, I will offer a bit of an explanation. I usually buy my lenses from Aden Camera, in Toronto. They seem to have the best prices, although other vendors will price match, if you deal a bit. It so happens that last summer, Aden's price for a DA 40 was about $100 more (if I remember correctly) than the $339.00 price asked by B & H. Today, their price is $419.00 in Canadian funds. They listed the DA15 as $709.00, with the indication that it was "coming soon". Their site still shows this today. So, that was over $200.00 more than B & H was asking. Even last summer, the Canadian dollar was very close to par with the United States dollar. I do not think that buying a lens from B & H is grey market, but perhaps I am not as well informed as you are.
With regards to your remark about sales taxes (now the HST), I paid a lot less than I would have, had I purchased from Aden. On the other hand, Aden had the DA70 for $499.00, when B & H had it for $599.00, if I remember correctly. Anyway, Aden had the best price anywhere. So, I bought the DA 70 from Aden.
I think that this thread is going off topic, so I would ask the moderators to please close it.
Thank all of you for your input and help.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-22-2011, 07:27 AM
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Good day, 5teve. Thank you for your interest in this. One of the reasons that I love this forum is that people take the time to respond to members' concerns. From your contribution, it appears to me that you have the mistaken impression that I am somehow being ureasonable. If what you and henryp have stated is correct and manufacturers package their lenses and cameras in such a way that they will rarely suffer damage in transit, then, of course I accept this as the way things are done. I did not start this thread to cause anyone consternation, but merely to understand better.
By the way, 5teve, I did not intimate anywhere that "6-8 months after receiving such a badly packaged item(s) you havent had them 'tested' or found any fault". What I said was that I checked the lenses as best I could, not being an expert. I also did not say that the lenses showed any visible damage. That being said, I do remember a case where a customer had bought a DA15 lens from B & H and had to return it for severe decentering, or some such problem. He wrote about this in a review of the lens. His was the only such complaint, however. He ended up returning the lens.
Did anyone here stop to consider that one of my reasons for bringing this up was to help B & H get even better customer reviews, because of their care in packaging the lenses? I guess I am naive in that way.
Thanks to all who took the time to help my understanding of shipping methods.
Best to all.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-21-2011, 04:38 PM
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Thank you for your answer henryp. So, you are saying that there is no need to put any kind of extra cushioning or shock protection, in the form of air pouches or foam "peanuts", or that kind of thing. Then, why bother doing so?
Can you tell me this, henryp? When B & H receives its lenses and camera bodies from the manufacturer, are they protected in any other way than by the boxes in which they are packaged? I have not had the opportunity yet to have my lenses tested by an expert, since last summer. On the surface at least, they seem to be functioning. Whether or not they are functioning as they should be, has not yet been determined by me, since, as I mentioned in my original post, I am not an expert in this.
Thank you for your input, but I am still not reassured.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-19-2011, 03:45 PM
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Thank you for sharing your experience on this, Wlacan. You may be right about repetitive types of jobs and people who pack the orders not caring, but if I owned a business lilke B & H, I would want all of the people who worked on an order to care about the customer and for the reputation of B & H. The packagers have one of the most important jobs in the whole process. Their main job should be to make sure that the customer receives the goods that he ordered and paid for - in good condition. At least, that is how I see their job.
I think that even if a job like that is repetitive, it should give some satisfaction to those doing it that they have made another customer happy. But that would mean that they would have to take some pride their work. They are the last people to handle your new equipment before you open the box.
Does that not sound like an important job to you? It does to me, since I want my new camera and lenses to be handled with as much care by them as I do myself.
I guess I must be too optimistic a person.
Best to you.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-18-2011, 08:16 PM
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Hello, B & H. I purchased a Pentax DA40 Ltd lens and a DA15 Ltd lens last Summer. The lenses arrived, but I was very worried about how the lenses arrived. You have changed the way in which you package your photographic equipment in the last couple of years, because when my lenses arrived, I was shocked to see that the very flimsy, very thin, air pouches that were supposed to surround and cushion the lenses were totally flat - in other words, no protection at all for the lenses. I contacted your customer relations people, but all I was told was that I had better test the lenses to make sure that they were functioning properly.
I did not find this answer helpful, since I am not a lens expert and do not know how to test a lens for damage, other than the usual thing an average person would do, like check the focusing, see if any elements were cracked, or anything sounded like it was rattling inside, etc. As far as lens element alignment, or that kind of thing is concerned, I do not know how to test for this.
What I am trying to say is that I should not have even been asked to do this, since, if my lenses had been packaged with more protection, I would not have wondered if there was some hidden damage to them.
My question is: Does B & H Photo still use this flimsy air pouch system when packaging delicate optical equipment today, in March of 2011? I ask, not to embarass or cause a problem for you, but merely to know if it is safe for me to order a Pentax K5 and a new lens or two. Is there some way for me to know if you are using enough protection when packaging my order? Can I specify extra cushioning material that will not flatten? I will even pay a bit extra for this.
A helpful answer would be very much appreciated, as this is the only complaint that I have ever had with B & H. I love your service and prices, but not your packaging. If I can be assured that my new camera and lenses would be properly protected, I would buy them immediately from B & H . Best regards.
P.S. I posted this question earlier today, but probably in the wrong thread. I hope that someone from B & H Photo will have a satisfactory answer.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-18-2011, 07:58 PM
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Thank you for trying to re-assure me. You may be right with regards to the strudiness of original manufacturer's packaging, but sometimes it is still not enough to prevent some lenses from suffering internal damage, like a lens element becoming misaligned, because sometimes the shock is just so great to the packaging, that it does affect the lens. If the original boxes were enough to fully protect lenses all the time, no matter the situation, then B & H, Adorama, or other companies would not bother including extra padding with their shipments.
The only reason that I brought up this matter is that when I opened the shipping box, the air pouches were not full of air; they were totally flat. All that was between my lens boxes and the shipping box was a flimsy, thin plastic film. If the pouches had stayed inflated, then I would not have had any concerns at all about sufficient shock protection.
I really do not want this to happen again. Let's say someone orders a couple of thousand dollars worth of photographic gear from B & H. Is it not reasonable for the customer to expect them to include sufficient protection for the gear during the entire time that it is in transit to the customer? How much would this cost them? Probably a few cents.
Prior to last year, B & H shipped their orders with more protection for the contents. I am simply asking that they better protect their customers' orders, like they used to do. If B & H Photo will not guarantee better protection for future orders, then I will have to stop buying from them. I wonder if they really care about losing customers.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
03-18-2011, 01:06 PM
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Hello, B & H. I purchased a Pentax DA40 Ltd lens and a DA15 Ltd lens last Summer. The lenses arrived, but I was very worried about how the lenses arrived. You have changed the way in which you package your photographic equipment in the last couple of years, because when my lenses arrived, I was shocked to see that the very flimsy, very thin, air pouches that were supposed to surround and cushion the lenses were totally flat - in other words, no protection at all for the lenses. I contacted your customer relations people, but all I was told was that I had better test the lenses to make sure that they were functioning properly.
I did not find this answer helpful, since I am not a lens expert and do not know how to test a lens for damage, other than the usual thing an average person would do, like check the focusing, see if any elements were cracked, or anything sounded like it was rattling inside, etc. As far as lens element alignment, or that kind of thing is concerned, I do not know how to test for this.
What I am trying to say is that I should not have even been asked to do this, since, if my lenses had been packaged with more protection, I would not have wondered if there was some hidden damage to them.
My question is: Does B & H Photo still use this flimsy air pouch system when packaging delicate optical equipment today, in March of 2011? I ask, not to embarass or cause a problem for you, but merely to know if it is safe for me to order a Pentax K5 and a new lens or two. Is there some way for me to know if you are using enough protection when packaging my order? Can I specify extra cushioning material that will not flatten? I will even pay a bit extra for this.
A helpful answer would be very much appreciated, as this is the only complaint that I have ever had with B & H. I love your service and prices, but not your packaging. If I can be assured that my new camera and lenses would be properly protected, I would buy them immediately from B & H . Best regards.
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