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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-08-2014, 09:16 AM
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Having got my astro-tracer in August last year, I finally took a trip to a proper dark site. I had a bit of mixed luck with calibration and star trails, but a few shots (even quite long ones) came out really well. These are probably the best of the bunch:
Overall, pretty happy. Looking forward to my next observing trip- I'll be going to Siding Springs for some 'real' observing in July, so I'll take it with me then.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-27-2013, 05:50 AM
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Because PF is quite slow and in my opinion not great for viewing photos- especially compared to the improved Flickr interface that works very nicely on phones and tablets too. Flickr is also hugely popular, and it tends to be the first place I go to see examples of lenses used in anger.
A
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-26-2013, 08:06 AM
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Hi All,
I'm hoping a few people might have been lucky enough to get the 60-250 for Xmas. If you are (or already have the lens), then have a think about putting your photos in the 60-250 Flickr group. I set this up a while back, in particular I wanted to help people investigating the lens:
Flickr: The Pentax DA* 60-250 Pool
Cheers,
A
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-15-2013, 03:22 AM
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Ivor, possibly. I have a recent Silver 43 Ltd, but the rest of my gear is black. It's hardly been used, so is in top nick (and still has some warranty on it even). I meant to order black originally...
A
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
10-04-2013, 08:26 PM
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This photo was taken in Shark Bay WA Australia earlier this year. My day job is as a professional astronomer (Aaron Robotham | The University of Western Australia - Academia.edu), but I'd still rate this place as just about the darkest site I've ever been to- it's truly 100s km from any large settlement. The foreground lights are beacons around a remote communication pylon, you'd only have to walk a few hundred metres away to have an uninterrupted dark sky all the way to the horizon.
I've recently bought a Pentax Astro-Tracer unit, so I'm looking forward to getting some new astroshots when I next get the chance to get out of Perth.
Cheers,
Aaron
Attachment 189952 |
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
05-02-2013, 08:21 AM
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I can't complain yet- Pentax Australia prices still look broadly fine (no change yet). And now for some lenses they are significantly cheaper than the US- that probably hasn't happened many times in history.
Has there been much history of US prices being reflected elsewhere, or are they fairly independent to the rest of the world? I'm guessing the latter, since European prices have been so much higher for so long.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-19-2013, 08:32 AM
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That's funny- it looks normal size on mine...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-17-2013, 05:01 AM
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Here is the promised cat pic. Just in after a night's adventuring :-)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-16-2013, 07:03 PM
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Based on the link I posted, I assumed I was getting the black one- it's the colour in the picture. Checking again though, it didn't actually specify anywhere what colour it would be. So even if I minded about the colour I probably don't have real grounds for complaint, plus I think silver looks cool (even on my black K5 IIs).
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-16-2013, 10:54 AM
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Yes sure. Current ones are in dim light (high iso), and he's out gallivanting round my neighbours gardens right now, but I'll grab a couple in the early morning light :-)
Sorry to hear about your stolen lens. We should keep a serial number list for stolen gear on PF!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-16-2013, 09:49 AM
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Yes, I remember the price being pretty steep only recently. I guess the price drop is due to the strong A$- they claimed in my order email it arrived in a crate in Melbourne on Monday (standard re-stock I assume, or fastest shipment ever).
I've already grabbed my first few test pics (as always, cat centric). Very nice. Very hard to tell apart from the 55 DA* when DoF is matched, but obviously smaller and prettier :-D
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-16-2013, 08:16 AM
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I was amazed to find the 43mm Ltd $584 for new in Australia:
https://www.crkennedy.com.au/pentax/index.php?q=node/325
I ordered it on Saturday, assuming it would be on back order forever, and it arrived in the post today (Tuesday am). Oddly, they delivered the silver version, 2010 date with Hoya paper work. Still, I'm pretty chuffed at the price, and I can't really bring myself to complain about the colour- it'll just make it easier to find on my shelf :lol:
Looking through the pages, most prices are below that of any other online Oz retailer (makes sense, since CR Kennedy is the supplier), but the 43mm looks competitive full stop- it's the same price (~exactly) as B&H in US dollars.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-01-2013, 04:36 AM
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Here are some recent pics I managed using my new favourite combo (K5-IIs + 60-250 DA*):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60588666@N04/8608643133
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60588666@N04/8609750546
They were moving pretty fast during Free Flight, and a good few were passably sharp. These were nigh on perfect. It coped very well even in situations with a lot of confusing background trees. On my K7 these tended to steal the focud, but this performed somewhat psychically :-)
When I have some better internet I'll try to upload the actual images on PF...
A
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-18-2013, 10:41 PM
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I didn't use a tele. I'm still not sure if this is really worth the hassle. Maybe for astro-photo with static infinity focus (modulo temperature), but probably not for wild-life. That's my current thinking at least. I'm keen to try the astro tracer out- but even without it I got some nice shots last week at Shark Bay in WA. Check it out on Google Maps- it's *very* remote. It's amazingly dark, and in fact probably darker than some of the real astronomy telescope sites I've visited for work. Certainly darker than Siding Springs in NSW. I included the foreground turbine lights for effect, it was easy to get a shot without any light pollution.
The first link is close to the S-pole, so not much star trailing. The second link is of Orion, and this is more of a pain being on the equator (same exposure). The astro-tracer might work nicely here. Because I spend a lot of my day mucking about with astronomic imaging, I don't fancy making that my hobby too, so exposure stacking isn't something I want to invest time into.
Little Lagoon + Big Night 2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Little Lagoon + Big Night 1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! |
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-18-2013, 02:20 AM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-15-2012, 07:01 AM
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I have both a K7 and a K5-IIs. The improvement in AF and sensor performance is quite amazing. I've compared astrophotography from a year ago (with the K7) to now- even where you do see noise coming in, it is much less structured and natural on the K5-IIs. In every day use the iso performance is absolutely fine, but the AF is still notably better- BIF photos with my 60-250 can be attempted in confidence.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 04:49 PM
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Great to see LR4 does the job easily.
I was surprised about it's presence on the left building. It must have something to do with the window pattern being offset.
A
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 08:27 AM
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Just to demonstrate it is Moire, here's the same seen but at F4 (previous was f5.6).
Both were shot with 35mm Ltd. You can see the coloured bands going at a different angle now. This lens is probably too sharp for it's own good :-D It's noticeable how blurry (but moire free) similar shots with my K7 are.
As for removal in PP, I haven't tried yet. If somebody wants to have a stab, the raw is at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10495241/_IGP6273.DNG
Looking around, LR4 looks like it might be able to do the job. I only have LR3, and that doesn't have any moire removal tool per se.
Cheers,
Aaron
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:58 AM
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I meant to add a comment on PF. I'll need to do some tests, but one added benefit *appears* to be that PF is much better controlled on the K5-IIs than on my K7 in high contrast lighting situations. Can't comment re K5 or K5-II.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:55 AM
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I was stopping on the way back from doing some bird photos- certainly can't see any hint of moire in those. The top 4 in my photostream are recent K5-IIs photos, the rest are trusty old K7:
Flickr: asgr's Photostream |
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:41 AM
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Yes, that's the main example. That building is not pink and green, it's regular office block grey. You can see colour artefacts on the one to the left of it too.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:21 AM
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It's worth noting that moire is persent more subtly on the building on the far left. It's much less dramatic, but the repeating structure is much coarser.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:11 AM
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Here is the full picture.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-02-2012, 06:06 AM
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Here's a close crop of Perth in Australia using my new K5-IIs. You can clearly see strong Moire on a number of the buildings. This is pretty hard to spot in the full image, I had to hunt around a bit to find it.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-24-2012, 05:46 AM
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Just got the last K5-IIs from Gerry Gibbs Camera Warehouse in Perth. So far so good! :-)
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