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I can report that a year later my "trick" of using the foam is still holding fast...in fact, I never have given it a second thought until today when I saw that this thread had postings to it..

All FWIW, of course.

Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways 12-02-2014, 03:41 PM

Win an FA 31mm Ltd: PF 3 million post giveaway!
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 2,237
Views: 144,678

I'll stand up in the count!

Forum: Pentax Q 10-16-2014, 03:28 PM

I want the next Q
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 69
Views: 7,031

fs999, don't let the naysayers get to you, I really like your concept illustration.

I, too, would use my Q10 a helluva lot more if it were more amenable to photography outside on sunny days, there is just so much info and detail that you can't see when all you have is an LCD screen...so, I have to drag my bigger K5 along for use then.

LCD displays aren't a "new way" of photographing, quite far from it, it is actually a throwback to view and plate cameras of the 19th century, but even my Crown Graphic has a pop-up shield over the ground glass to help compose and focus in brighter light conditions, but the Kalart and optical viewfinders do just as well, for the most part...maybe something along the lines of the viewfinder hood/magnifier like on the Rolleiflex I have could be implemented somehow? But, the Q out in the sun is just useless, without, that is, a loupe/hood...then it's OK..but, talk about big...there goes the size advantage....

People who's eyesight need correction also benefit from eye-level viewfinders with adjustable dioptric correction, or as I did with my OM series of cameras, an eyepiece that fits the viewfinder with a correction lens for my eyesight, looking into the K5's viewfinder is a joy even when using preset aperture, manual focusing lenses...

I do like the idea of the removable evf that would slide into something like a flash shoe and make contact with the camera to supplant the back panel display...that way if you didn't want to have the slightly larger size of the EVF on top, you could take it off...

It would have also been handy at a recent Ian Anderson concert when the ushers were looking around for people with cell phones and compact cameras with their displays pointing out where each and every "photographer" was so they could be told to quit taking pictures....the Q10 and I got popped, too...so, I only ended up with one half way decent shot of him...bummer...

Indoors, though, the Q is fine. Night time, the Q is fine. Bright, sunny days? Meh.

It almost makes me wish I wouldn't have spent the money on it and bought some other kind of small "bridge" camera with an optical viewfinder, I sure would have used it more during the day...

So, why do I carry around the Q10?

For the same reason that I carried the Pentax 110 SLR, or the Minolta 16 or 110 SLR, or a Minox, or an Autoron, an Olympus XA, or an Olympus Pen Half Frame...to have a small camera that isn't perceived as a "professional" camera, a camera that is less intimidating to subjects, or one that is small enough to put in a pocket of my cargo shorts, one that I can take with me just about anywhere without having to take a physically larger device for the shots....I loved the XA out on motorcycle road trips, it would easily fit into one of the locking storage cubbyholes on my Yamaha Seca Turbo, my KX (35mm) was just too much, and even my OM-1 was a few times the volume of the little XA...but with the XA I could at least see through it's tiny viewfinder on a sunny day to compose my shots....not always something easy on a sunny, summer day in south Texas with the Q10....

And your larger grip?

Well, with my XXL size hands anything that keeps me from fumbling something is definitely appreciated!

As always, YMMV

.

Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 10-07-2014, 04:01 PM

Lens release button replacement
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 70
Views: 26,826

An update to my situation:

I took three layers of one inch wide, 1/16" thick 3M Indoor Foam Mounting Tape, stuck them together with the protective paper only on the outside surfaces, and punched out a 1/4" "plug" using a 1/4" punch.

I then took a thin paper clip, heated it up with a portable torch, and used to to punch a hole in the center of this foam plug.

Then I took the protective paper off one side of the foam plug and attached it to the bottom of the lens release button, removed the other protective paper, and installed this in the camera...the photo below shows the sticky side.

There is enough sponginess to allow the button to travel and function properly, and I'm pretty sure that the adhesive is going to keep that button in place for a good long time.

It's stiffer than one I made from white 1/4" thick foam weather stripping and a touch of contact cement, but I feel like it is never going to accidentally come off again and should be a bit weather resistant...

Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 09-23-2014, 08:49 PM

Lens release button replacement
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 70
Views: 26,826

Ahh Damn, mine just fell off tonight...at least it was while I was sitting at the dining room table and I didn't lose the part....I found this thread and started reading...a first I was getting happy seeing that Pentax was sending out replacement buttons...but, by the end of the thread was starting to feel depressed...so, I have just stuck it back on the body using some Blu-Tak putty...

I guess I'll have to try and call this week and see if I can get anything resolved....

I was really happy with my K-5 until this....

Forum: Pentax Q 07-24-2014, 11:56 AM

Very excited to recieve this. then,..
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 8
Views: 1,632

I bought one from eBay and found the same thing, it just wouldn't mount on the Q10...so, I took a close look at it and saw a small screw in the mounting flange on the Q side of the adapter.

I removed this little screw and the adapter would now fit into the Q10 without any problem....

Was much cheaper than trying to send the thing back all the way to China only to find out it was made that way...

I guess their tolerances are just a bit out of whack with the Q mount to sometimes make things not fit quite properly....

Good luck!

Forum: Pentax Q 07-14-2014, 09:48 PM

New Q serial camera on the way. Maybe...
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 48
Views: 5,729

Looking at a viewing screen to compose seems as ridiculous to me...the Q10 feels like one of the Rollei 35S cameras, small but a good performer, and I never had any problems bringing one of those to eye level...or an Olympus XA, Minolta 16's, Yashica Autorons, Minoxes, Pentax and Minolta 110 SLRs...then again, I've been peering thru viewfinders for over fifty years now, everything from my first Brownie Starflash to the Kalart synchcronized on Speed Graphics, and all points in between....using the display is more like when I use my Rolleiflex or Mamiya 645 1000S and their waist level viewfinders...except for the fact that the images aren't flipped around and 90 degrees from what you are actually photographing...

Every time I am outside and it's daytime.

Maybe, and I do appreciate the Q10's small size...but, I have XL hands and a bit larger size body would actually be more ergonomically correct for me...my K-5 sans battery grip is too small for me to comfortably use....but, with the grip it's just right....I found the same thing when I went from my Pentax KX (film) to the Olympus OM system, an OM body with their motor drive or winder was so much easier for my sausage fingers to manipulate that it wasn't until the K-7 came on the scene that I started getting serious about Pentax again...

I do have one of the optical viewfinders that were used with rangefinder cameras and auxiliary lenses to help when pointing the Q10, but not having the information that an EVF has makes it a lot less useful than what could be...and the "gain" that they have makes night time photography easier, too...

I also picked up one of the cheap Chinese magnetic view screen loupes and that does help, but even having an EVF that fit into the flash shoe would be less cumbersome than the loupe.

The Q10 is a great little camera and I am glad I have one....I'm also glad I have a "real" DSLR for those times that the Q just won't cut it...

Forum: Pentax Price Watch 07-08-2014, 12:25 PM

Pentax Q10 red $169
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 5
Views: 2,999

Dang! I got ripped off! I bought one from them a couple of months ago and it was $175.00!
JK, it's a really neat little camera, I bought some of the generic Q Adapters from eBay and can use this little jewel with all my K-mount, my OM Mount, and my Pentax 110 lenses...

The red color also makes it appear less intimidating than "real" camera colors and since the camera is so small It is easier to carry with me in lieu of my K-5.

The BuyDig deal is a good one, mine was absolutely new, delivered quickly, and with no hassles at all, and that's how online buying should be!

You can also keep an eye on eBay for the Q10, after I bought my red one I saw "buy it nows" for the silver and black model for the same price...truth be told, I really would have liked that color combo better, but I'm not complaining, I love the little Q.....unless it's outside in daylight and the screen just gets washed out...then it's a squirt and pray kind of deal...

Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 08-23-2013, 01:25 PM

Pentax 35mm/50mm pricing mixup discussion
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 204
Views: 19,749

I never received one word from the Pentax web store about my order or it's cancellation, even though I sent them a nice email inquiry as soon as I found out about my PayPal cancellation....that's a pretty bad way to run a business...well, it's a pretty good way to run a business, into the ground, that is!

I work part time for an internet/mail order high end audio dealer and we certainly would not be in a good position with our customers if we pulled a stunt like this....reputation is everything....

Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 08-21-2013, 08:31 AM

Pentax 35mm/50mm pricing mixup discussion
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 204
Views: 19,749

Put me down as another with an order on the thirteenth receiving a PayPal cancellation notice this morning....bummer....

This is the first time in years of on-line ordering that I have ever had this happen, anywhere.

I'm disabled and on a very slim income so every dollar I spend makes a difference to me, and yes, $60 means food for at least a week, so it's not that little of an amount for me.

I love my K-5 and the fact that I have been able to afford tons of older manual focus lenses for pennies on the dollar and have them work well was one if it's big selling points, but I really wanted an autofocus 50 for taking pictures of my four-legged children...I got my first camera 54 years ago, a Brownie Starflash, and have been a staunch supporter of manual focus, but as I age it gets increasingly difficult to get a good focus with wider apertures and maintain it as the dogs move....

Oh well, live and learn...but, put me down as one more unsatisfied customer of the Pentax webstore...and, with no explanation in my email.

.

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 04-04-2012, 12:49 PM

Pentax Unilateral Pricing Policy
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 1,013
Views: 98,271

There is no doubt about that....but, still there is nothing that makes up for actually holding something in your hands and examining it to see if it will work for you...

A case in point: Several years back, (OK it's been a couple of decades) I was very interested in pairing down my OM system of four bodies/winders and a dozen lenses into a Leica R system....I went to the local Leica dealer, put the R-4 into my hands...and hated it's feel...my XL hands were clumsy on the camera...it was so strange to me after my years with Pentaxes and Olympuses that I decided to stay with my OM gear as an OM body with a winder or motor drive fit just right, and weren't too clumsy without the drive...

Kind of like my K-5...if I didn't have the knock-off battery grip I'd have two fingers of my hand uncomfortably positioned under the camera body and not like it at all! With grip = nice!

Well, it is still about controlling prices in the distribution channel...no mention is being made of differences in the wholesale pricing....I bet there that quantity purchases will still get better discounts than individual purchases...if not then there is no incentive to purchase large quantities, which drivies up the number of units manufactured, which keeps more cash flow to the manufacturers, which helps keep more people employed...so, there really doesn't appear to me that there should be any downsides to making a bit of a discount for large quantity purchasers...

The other side of that is that there may be more profit for B&M's to have quality staff, or like the local CanNikSon store here, have enough profit in the units to actually make it worthwhile to spend the time with a customer and educate them about the Pentax line....

As always, YMMV and Money Talks/BS walks.....

But, let's just all hope that Ricoh does not try and do direct marketing of the Pentax SLR line...that has been the death knell of more than one audio manufacturer I know of....

.

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 04-04-2012, 12:01 PM

Pentax Unilateral Pricing Policy
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 1,013
Views: 98,271

Perhaps what Ricoh is doing is paralleled in the business I am most familiar with: High End Audio.

I work part time for an internet/mail order dealer of such things and may have a bit of insight into this situation....

Many manufacturers are interested in nothing more than brick-and-mortar stores where customers can go to hear, see, touch, and learn about the equipment...B&M stores do serve a valuable function. Yet, there are hobbyist magazines that describe in detail the sound qualities of different pieces of equipment (much like we discuss things like bokeh and color rendition) and generate interest for more exotic gear in wide ranging areas...

BUT, there aren't the number of stereo shops around (like there were back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, their demise parallels that of the stereo shops) to serve all those who may want something besides the normal consumer grade, disposable dreck sold in most stores today. My own city used to have five "specialist" type stores and dozens more of a more pedestrian type that all did quite well...back then....today, one of the original high-end shops has gone way more mass market, but still has a bit of better gear, and the fellow I work for went from being a B&M to home-office/listening room based business,...that's it for traditional high-quality stereo shops, that is, unless you want to buy some of the cheap stuff at Best Buy or somewhere similar....

So, where do these people go for their upper tier gear?

To the Internet and the retailers there.

The manufacturers realize this and so have instituted programs, like Ricoh's, to protect their B&M dealers...

Things such as:

Protected areas, i.e., you have to ask a customer if there is a dealer in their area selling the gear that they are inquiring about. Big no-no to sell into a protected area without a manufacturer's OK on each individual sale....

Minimum advertised and minimum selling prices. This especially helps protect the B&M's from being undersold by retailers with vastly reduced overhead expenses.

Introducing just these two policy changes can cause a drastic effect on perceptions and sales, and not always for the positive, that can take buyers by surprise....

But, you can throw in free shipping and no tax and maybe get a sale, maybe not...

I, too, had to buy my K-5 from B&H as the local dealer listed by Pentax as a dealer, wasn't....I was unable to put my hands on any Pentax (well, since my film KX) locally, I had to rely on written reports and what I found here on this forum. I also know that their price (at the time) would have been likely less than what I could have made a deal for locally, especially considering that there would have been an extra $123.75 in tax added to any local sale...

It just may be that the manufacturing world is just trying to come to grips with the wild and wooly world of the Internet in an attempt to "equalize" things and give traditional shops a chance to survive and provide their services to the buying public....

Will this help or hurt?

I personally miss the camera shops I used to hang out in back in the 70's and 80's....I learned a lot, went to camera club meetings, went to swap meets, bought, sold and traded gear, learned about working on cameras...and had a lot more local interaction with the folks on the other side of the counter...I got decent prices, too, and understood that the shop keepers had to make their ends meet, so it was one helping the other....

Today, there is only one of those camera shops that has survived as it serves a large number of professional photographers, but very little of the hobbyist scene remains....

I find it out here on the Internet....

Take this for what it is worth, just some thoughts from a cheap old fart that's been snappin' a shutter for over fifty years...

Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 12-12-2011, 03:29 PM

Yellow Takumar
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 16
Views: 3,671

I have a 24mm f2 Zuiko for my Olympus gear that has turned yellow...a while back I took some shots on the same roll of film with it, a Zuiko 28mm f2.8 that hadn't yellowed, and a Tamron 35-135 that also hadn't yellowed...there was definitely a much warmer cast to the shots from the 24 than the others, almost like an 81C or 85C filter was being used...

Now understand that this is with film, with a digital camera and digital images all that can be manipulated in or out....

Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 05-26-2011, 08:33 PM

K-5 Query, advice needed for purchasing decisions...
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 4
Views: 1,457

Thanks, kenyee, for the answers, for those who might read in this thread and wonder what kenyee was replying to, here's the original questions I asked:

Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 05-26-2011, 04:31 PM

K-5 Query, advice needed for purchasing decisions...
Posted By Rick_B

Replies: 4
Views: 1,457

OK, long winded post eliminated, going back and reading more of the forum information, will post again later if the answers aren't clear.

Thanks

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