Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-13-2011, 04:36 PM
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I have been using the Tamron for well over a year now and once I got it dialed in on my K10 it has rarely come off. I shoot mostly youth sports (hockey and basketball) but also local bands in concert and competitions and have recieved some great praise for the quality and sharpness of the photos, have sold a few as well.
Good review if you would like to see some sample shots check out my site.
Thanks,
Bob
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
11-08-2009, 06:39 PM
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I use ifp3.com, they don't charge a percentage and give you plenty of tools to work with and keep upgrading. They will host your domain and your e-mail from the site will be directed to a e-mail account you specify. It seems a little pricey at first but you can deduct it from your taxes and is reasonable if you consider the cost of developing your own web site.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
06-09-2009, 07:03 PM
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Try the Epson ink that belongs in that printer first then check your settings. I have never had a print look like that from my 1400.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
06-07-2009, 02:39 PM
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I like the option of having a higher fps and quick a/f at my disposal does it mean I use it all the time? No. I use the a/f most of the time shooting basketball and hockey because of the rapid pace of the game, but I only use the burst mode on brake away type shots to get the whole sequence otherwise it is one shot and off the shutter button, just because you have the fps available does not mean you have to use them all the time and it does not replace good framing and technique.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
06-02-2009, 09:20 PM
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According to my camera shop they were sent a notice from Pentax around the first of the year stating that they would no longer be able to buy direct because their sales volume ($) did not meet the new required figure (I don't remember what it was but it was in the six figure range). They now had to order through a distributor/wholesaler and the orders that had been placed were cancled (wifes k-m and best friends w60) these were to have been Christmas presents. I don't think this was good buisiness on Pentax's part as the camera store was more than willing to sell them and brag about how nice a camera it was right along side being a dealer for the big C word.
Happy ending they got me the w60 by calling in a favor and instead of a k-m my wife ended up with a K20 at a good price, better late than never I guess.
Let the people who want to sell your product sell it don't worry about the ones that don't.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
05-31-2009, 03:39 PM
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Using burst mode should only be done when capturing an important sequence not for normal sport shooting. We as photographers need to know the shots we are looking for before hand and be ready to capture them when the time comes, heck even my oldest daughter (12) took a few shots at an AHL hockey game didn't like what she had and did finally nail one of the captian of the team because she knew what she was trying to get. This was done with a K10 and a Tamron 70-200 f2.8 I was impressed. Yes the top two brands may have faster autofocus but as has been talked about here on the fourm before the accuracy of the focus is sometimes questionable, I have personally talked to a Nik*n shooter and he hated the autofocus on both his rigs.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-31-2009, 03:19 PM
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Nice clean site, nice images maybe for the pages you are still working on place a coming soon or the like on the page so people know you are working on it.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
05-27-2009, 05:50 PM
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I think the $50 figure is good but I was getting lessons for much less than that from someone who has a masters in fine arts (photography) and she has and is teaching me a lot but also has a genuine intrest in my work and the art of photography. He brought a portfolio out to show you did he ask to see any of your work and offer an opinion? Did he ask you to take some sample shots to see where you were skill (eye) wise? You can choose to take classes with him if you are comfortable with him or continue to look around.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
05-27-2009, 05:23 PM
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You are a brave soul to shoot this event and not even had a chance to practice with the camera and lens yet. Congrats. on going with Pentax and sport shooting can be done very well with practice and well, more practice. I started shooting motorsports with a manual everything slr in the '70s now I use a K10 or a K20 (thinking about the K-7 though) you can use continuous AF or spot AF, I use AF.C most of the time if I am tracking (panning with the subject) and AF.S if I want to capture a subject at a partictular point, say on the horse or rings. For shutter speed it kind of depends on the age/size of those compeating the older and bigger(stronger), the faster they are a faster shutter speed of 150 or higher may be needed but the younger ones maybe to age 13 or so you may be able to go as slow as 90 to 125, ISO I usually allow a max of 800 so as not to add to much grain (K10) and use f2.8 to let a much light in as I can. Sometimes the shots are a little dark (hockey rinks and school Gyms are not well lit) but if shot in RAW can be corrected quickly. Being new to shooting sports try and stand to the side of the action and pan with it you should get your best results (the camera has an easier time focusing on action going across it instead of right at it or away from it). Good luck it will be a learning experiance but can be done, check out my site to see some sports shots and also low light band shots with movement. If I can be of further assistance please let me know.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-18-2009, 08:25 PM
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For what it is worth my private instructor and also my assistant, has looked at the material from NYIP and found it to be informative. Please don't get me wrong here I'm not promoting one school just giving info on the one I have, however she has her masters in fine arts (photography) and found the program to have some merit. She comes from a film background and earned a fellowship with her 8x10 (what a monster) but is being slowly pulled into the digital age so in that respect we learn from each other and work together, to better our skills.
Do all the research you can to find a program that fits YOUR needs and expectaitons and also you wallet. As Diane often says to me "follow your bliss" or in the words of Henry David Thoreau, "Go Confidently in the Directions of Your Dreams".
Good Luck,
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-18-2009, 05:58 PM
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Just lost eveything I had typed. Buddha NYIP that Gary had mentioned is worth at least getting information from, I am enroled in their program as well as going through a 2 year (nights)digital media program. NYIP=$1200.00 aprox. 2 year digital media program=30k aprox. This for me is about gaining knowledge to make a career change, the more I know and can do the more marketable I will be, be it self employed or on the open market.
hope this helps a little.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-13-2009, 07:23 PM
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Sorry to say this but you will need more than one portfolio as they should be focused on the differant areas of photography you are trying to pursue, i.e you would not want your sports photography looked at when trying to get hired to shoot say wild life. A couple of books I would reccommend, Successful Self-Promotion for Photographers By Elyse Weissberg and Photo Portfolio Success a guide to submitting and selling your photographs By John Kaplan.
I think these are good starting points and will give you some direction, I like you am taking the plunge but at a measured rate and doing both photorgaphy and videography. I try to do lots of research and study before jumping in head first because the rock just under the surface of the water hurts when you hit it.
Good luck in your endevor.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
04-29-2009, 06:46 PM
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Video is a nice me to feature, but if I want to shoot video I will use my VIDEO camera not my STILL camera. Each has their own place so instead of being a me to brand give us improvements in other areas, I shot a concert 2 weeks ago both video and stills and not once did I wish my K10 or K20 had video as I had my 2 Sony video cameras doing what they were designed for the only thing I wished is I had brought my assistant with me. As my dad always told me use the right tool for the right job, no video or live view required maybe a couple more fps and slightly better auto focus but don't fill my memory card with video.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
04-18-2009, 03:50 PM
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That was nice of you to buy your bf a K20 and not have a camera yourself, I bought my wife a K20 after she wouldn't give back my K10 now I'm buying a slightly used K10 as a backup body for my assistant to learn with as she comes from a old school film background (b&w medium format up to 8x10 cameras) we have shot both at the same events and even under dark conditions the results were close the K20 is a bit better in dark dark situations but otherwise the K10 held its own just fine, the feel and handling of both are the same so not much change to grab it and go. I you want to see some shots taken with both go to my site and look at the two battle of the bands galleries (Tammany Hall and WBCN Battle of the High School Bands) note the Tammany Hall show we used a 18-55 kit lens on the K10 and a 70-200 f2.8 Tamron on the K20 at the next show the K10 got a new Sigma 17-50 f2.8 much better results.
Good luck in your decision.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
04-18-2009, 02:55 PM
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I also use Ilford (Galerie Classic Pearl) works well with the Epson 1400 and my customers like it, glossy papers look nice until they get a fingerprint or two on them. I order my stock from Calumet. Just a note the 1400 is not ment for fine art papers look at the specs. and reviews I have done a couple of canvas prints with it and they look good but the printer didn't like it much so be careful.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-18-2009, 01:34 PM
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I shoot lots of kids sports mostly hockey and basketball, S/R on both hand held and on monopod, I only use my tripod for video at sporting events. I have used the Sigma 70-300 to shoot indoors knowing the images would be a little dark to begin with but corrected them later with little or no issue but outdoors it was fine, I also use TAV on my K10 and now on my Wifes K20 usually increasing shutter speed and opening the apature to get the DOF that I want. Depends on where I'm shooting as to wheather I pan or not but when I first started shooting it was pan all the time on dirt track stock and sprint cars (manual focus Yashica) now it depends on what I'm shoot for or at.
Check out the shots on my site and you can see some examples.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
03-17-2009, 06:37 PM
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If you get rid of the junk and then show the almost acceptable along with the good shots isn't the idea to show only your best stuff? At the battle of the bands we just shot I have gone through about 750 pictures between 8 bands and corrected as needed to show them as I want them seen alot didn't make the cut or were repeat type shots but I don't want to show "almost" shots if I would like more work from the bands I wasn't there for in the first place. Check out the Tammany Hall folder on my site and tell me what you think.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
02-27-2009, 06:29 PM
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I shoot kids sports every weekend from the end of August to about the end of April, it will be longer this year with my kids doing more sports this spring and summer. I have in the past only used the photos to create part of a "year in review" type of video but this year I opened a website and made the pictures available to both our teams and the teams that we played this has generated traffic to the site but not as many sales as expected, if you can get paid by the hour to shoot the event then get paid per print you will be doing ok but do check what your competition is charging before setting any rates. Parents from opposing teams always seam to show intrest but when it comes to parting with their money it is a little differant story.
Try shooting a game or two and see what kind of response and sales you get then you can decide if it is worth the effort.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
02-27-2009, 05:41 PM
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If you are going to allow them to use your photo that is fine but are you also going to let them convert it to balck and white? I would suggest that you offer a B/W version to them adjusted to your liking to best represent (Your) photo.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
02-18-2009, 05:08 PM
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As was said check out some of the mag. shots, try and work with the sun behind you, and most of all think about the type of shot you would like to see or show when you look through the viewfinder before you pull the trigger. If there is fast movement you will need to increase your shutter speed to stop motion if that is what you are looking for. If you can get out with a couple of friends berore this weekend to try a couple of ideas it may be worth it to set a baseline.
Good Luck.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
02-17-2009, 08:55 PM
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The article is called All Rights Reserved (about copyright laws obviously) starts on page 44, on page 47 they list some resources they are as follows: FilmTVContracts.com, MusicContracts.com, MediaLawyer.com, CopyrightWebsite.com, and Copyright.gov. I hope these will help. There is also some good information in the current book I'm reading Successfull Self-Promotion for Photographers (Expose Yourself Properly) by Elyse Weissberg.
Note: When in doubt have a lawyer check it to make sure it is in YOUR best intrest.
Good Luck and Congrats on being noticed for your work.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
02-10-2009, 09:40 PM
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I usually do youth sports (because of my children stills and video) but have had the best return so far on events by clubs the model airplane show on my site and the middle school chorus events, I was just contacted to do a shoot both video and stills for 5 regional chorus's at a the Hanover Theater in Worcester, Ma. in June aprox. 250 singers and about 12 hours worth of work. Now to line up all the extra people to pull this off.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
02-06-2009, 05:59 PM
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Hello and congrats on someone noticing your skill, after all they approched you. I would concider doing the shoot for free and add it to your portfolio but if they choose to use your image on the product you should get paid. Now how much is a different story and you would have to look into usage pricing it could be $.02 - $.10 per item distributed whatever it is look at the projected number of items shipped and it could add up to a tidy sum of money. So in the end my answer is free for experiance and $$$ for usage.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-03-2009, 10:34 PM
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I shoot alot of indoor sports (kids) basketball, hockey. I was shooting them with a Sigma 70-300 on a K10d and with some PP they came out very well but I knew I needed more light, I bought the Tamron 70-200 f2.8 and after some adjustment have been very pleased with the pictures. When I went bck and looked at my pictures and the range I was shooting in the 50-135 was not enough or I would have bought it, my camera shop normaly sells Sigma but said to me on the more expensive glass Tamron is usually sharper. If you look at the specs of the Tamron and the Sigma they are almost the same but I would like to try the Sigma for a day to see just how close.
If you would like to see test shots taken with the Tamron let me know and I will share them with you.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-03-2009, 09:57 PM
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Samsung should aquire Pentax from Hoya and put real money and effort into it or they could buy the rights to lets say Yashica/Contax which were well respected and grow them (the glass from them was Ziess designed). They should not market cameras under their own brand because that is not what they are known for and it will make it a much harder sell.
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