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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
02-19-2024, 07:45 AM
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I know this update is well after this promotion ended, but in case it comes up again in the future: The $40 credit hit my account today, 4 months after the original purchase and 3 months after Amex support told me the purchase wasn't eligible. Still a win!
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
11-27-2023, 03:17 PM
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In case anyone else looks at this - My purchase was billed under Hunt's wholesale business header, which makes it ineligible for the $40 offer. Nothing on the product nor the checkout showed it as such, I think it's just the business entity they used to process the online order. Not sure how to get around that other than visiting a physical store, which isn't an option for me.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
10-28-2023, 08:44 AM
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I made a purchase after enabling the discount. Fingers crossed it gets coded right and I don't miss out 😆
Thank you for posting! Might have not noticed it otherwise.
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Forum: General Photography
10-19-2023, 04:25 AM
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
09-11-2023, 01:19 PM
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I have the RX100 IV as my pocketable alternative to a DSLR. I was drawn to the relatively fast zoom lens and view finder. I considered the M3 as it was slightly cheaper, but thought the overall improvements on the M4 were worth the extra money. Obviously there are improvements as you go up through the line, Mark 5, 6, 7 etc. But I found the M4 to be the right balance of features and cost (on the used market) for what I wanted. When I was researching options in late 2021, it repeatedly landed at the top of my list. Other options either had a fixed lens, no view finder, or started getting into a different price bracket.
I also found a reasonably priced underwater housing for it so I could take it snorkeling. Housings for DSLRs are very expensive and I'd rather take a risk with the RX100. I switched back and forth between using that and my mobile (Pixel 7 Pro) when we took a cruise earlier this year. I also bought a cheap cabled remote for it off Amazon and have used the cable to connect to my Pluto Trigger so I could try and catch lightning and long exposure shots using those features.
Video features don't matter to me as most any videos I take are just for personal use and my mobile covers that well. I did enjoy the slow-motion mode when swimming with the sharks and used that to grab some frames as usable stills, but that's really it.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-23-2023, 07:22 AM
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I use the Sigma HSM II 70-200 with my KP for high school football, equestrian, volleyball, and basketball. Like you, I wanted the Pentax model but seeing as this is just for fun for me, I haven't yet justified the price. I can push ISO up to 6400 and get very usable shots with a bit of post. If the lighting is really bad (as the football field lighting here sometimes just shuts off...) I can go to a higher ISO and make the photos B&W so the noise looks a bit more like an artistic choice.
My other target with that lens is wildlife and birding. I'll alternate between that Sigma and the Da* 300. I've never tried the 55-300 PLM, but really haven't had any concerns about the focusing speed. Turn on continuous AF, medium or high frame rate for bursts, and it works really well.
I also get a lot of use out of the Pentax 18-135 with indoor sports because sometimes the action can get quite close. If you're asking about 70-200, I'm guessing you're not getting too close to the pool. But a WR lens in that scenario might not be the worst idea. It is a touch faster (I think?) than the 55-300 and definitely in the affordable camp.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-30-2022, 05:21 PM
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For our local high school football, I use a KP with a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 HSM from the sidelines (off the field in the spectator area). ISO maxing out at 8000 or even 12800 gives me plenty of usable shots. I've also used the DA* 300 f/4 for some nice tighter shots, but definitely gets a bit trickier with the light. With a newer body like the KP or K3iii you'll get a larger MP count giving you a bit more flexibility in cropping the image than you might with the K-50.
Sigma 70-200 Sample
DA* 300 Sample
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
05-13-2022, 04:46 AM
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If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can store unlimited photo files, which includes RAW files. Not great for sharing or embedding, which I agree with the Flickr approach.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
02-01-2022, 05:51 PM
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Quick note that you should check the "in stock" filter. Those numbers you see are totals of what they have some sort of entry for, not what's in inventory. Pentax lenses (K and M42) in stock is less than 100, and less than 30 are M42 screw mount.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-06-2022, 05:25 PM
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The front end of the 580-02 hood holds a 77mm filter. Have one here on my desk I just checked to confirm.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-29-2021, 06:07 PM
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Ships from Amazon Global Store UK, for any non-UK Pentaxians taking a look. Free delivery (to my area) would arrive Jan 26.
Great deal, just thought that worth noting.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
12-10-2021, 03:42 PM
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They don't have a menu option for Pentax, but if you search for Pentax they have a variety of lenses and bodies. I've bought from them and been happy with the process and quality.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-07-2021, 06:01 PM
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@shyrsio - It's sold by Amazon Warehouse, which means it was a returned item. Likely not converted to FF, but Amazon wouldn't have any way of knowing. Only notes are "item will come repackaged".
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-27-2021, 09:00 AM
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Yes, one should always get approval to go inside the fence at a sporting event. I've already spoken with the school and they're more than happy for me to do so. (Something about getting free photos for them to use :lol: )
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-27-2021, 07:31 AM
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@aslyfox - I was on the sidelines and moved up/down depending on where the action was. Looking at the photo from the first post in this thread, I was outside the fence on either side of the larger stands. I mostly stayed even with the QB/offensive line after it became apparent that the defense was quite good, so the ball wasn't moving forward much. However I was getting some decent shots from about 50 degrees in front of the O line (to get players moving down field). I got lucky that 80% of those plays came toward the sideline I was on. For future games, I'll go inside the fence and move around a bit more now that I have an idea of how the coaches/refs position themselves and where I could be to not intrude on the action. Hopefully they'll have more scoring opportunities for me to capture :-)
I started the game in single-shutter mode, but did turn on continuous/medium for a while. I found low to be too slow for the running plays and high seemed like overkill. I still ended up capturing approximately 500 photos. I bounced between single-point AF and 27-point, but I'm not sure if one yielded better results than the other. I'm going to get my kids to run around in the back yard and get some practice in with AF options.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-27-2021, 06:54 AM
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Absolutely! Although this was my first test of high ISO with a KP and I'll admit I was quite surprised at how well the images turned out all things considered. Obviously needed some post, but the fact that they were usable and really didn't need a ton of work made me quite happy. I knew the KP was well regarded for performance in that ISO range, but really didn't think it'd work as well as it did.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-25-2021, 11:44 AM
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Thanks! I had thought about shortening exposure time (after the fact, of course), but there is usually very little time between lining up for the snap and the fun that comes after the snap. Maybe I could put some presets to good use and set one up for fast-pace and the other for slow-pace.
A D FA* would be wonderful, but even used are selling for well above my currently justifiable amount. I've been bouncing back and forth between the Sigma 70-200, Tamron 70-200, and FA* 80-200 options. I've also been considering the DA* 50-135 and 60-250 f/4.
I used DarkTable to minimally process the DNG file, then Gimp to edit levels/contrast/saturation. I used a plugin for Gimp called G'MIC which has a smooth setting that seemed to help with the noise. (And all of the above was free!) Although the Topaz option only being $80 seems like it might be worth the investment.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-25-2021, 10:42 AM
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Here's a sample from the game. I mostly used the Sigma 70-300 but did switch to the DA* 300 for a bit. As expected, the DA* resulted in much better picture quality, but made framing quite tight. The Sigma turned out some decent shots at focal lengths keeping f/4 in play. F/4.5 started being too dark. I also knew going in that the Sigma is a bit soft wide-open. The attached samples are all after quite a bit of post, of course.
Considering what I was working with, I was happy to walk away with about 30 keepers and it was a lot of fun to go out there and learn a few things! I definitely need to practice with AF on fast-moving subjects. Unfortunately, our team was very outmatched so there weren't many offensive plays to capture. Maybe next time!
Thanks again for all the feedback! I'm off to figure out which of my kids organs to sell to get a 70-200 f/2.8.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-24-2021, 12:54 PM
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Here are the photos I took to evaluate scale/distance. They're not much fun, but hopefully give a good sense of the differences in each focal length. I took a series with the DA 18-135 and another series with the Sigma 70-300. I was standing outside the fence at the bottom corner of one of the end zones, which I'd guess was about 15 yards from the sideline. The 18mm photo should give an idea of where I was in relation to the field.
I'll be sure to circle back around and post some samples from the game along with EXIF data. These were all at ISO 800 and as wide open as the lens would allow at each focal length.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-24-2021, 07:37 AM
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Thank you all for so much valuable feedback! I had a chance to get out to the field this morning and took my 70-300 and my 18-135 to do some experimenting with the focal lengths. I am so glad I asked you fine people for advice! It would have been a disappointing game this weekend if I had just gone with the 300. I've only really used longer lenses for wildlife shots and hadn't fully considered that people are just a bit larger than birds and may fill the frame that much more. I'll readily admit I'm somewhat "distance challenged" and being 40-60 yards away seemed like a way bigger distance than it actually is once you get a lens over 100mm involved.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-21-2021, 05:44 AM
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This is awesome, thanks!
I really appreciate the real-world sample shots! Really helps put scale/perspective to it.
Oh, I plan on it. I'm not expecting to end up with anything professional looking, just the best I can. I'm really just going to get some practice in with gear I own and trying to better understand correlations to settings/results. If I'm able to get a few decent shots that maybe their yearbook team could use or to put in the school's eNewsletter, then great. If not, then off to digital recycling they go!
Thanks for the advice! I know my shutter speed isn't going to quite be high enough to prevent blur, but I'm OK with that. Based on the math and examples from this thread, I'm assuming I'll be in the 150-220mm range with that zoom for most of the action.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-20-2021, 05:43 PM
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Very true. I guess I was more thinking if there were a lot of 3 and outs and the team never made it too far down the field (towards me in the end zone) before having to punt. If my fantasy football teams have taught me anything over the years, it's that you never know what might happen in a football game!
Maybe I'll get one of my kids to take the K-r out with the 18-135 to practice with while I play with the Sigma and the 300. I don't want to carry all those lenses myself!
Thanks, as always, for the feedback!
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-20-2021, 05:26 PM
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This is what I was starting to realize/worry about. Glad that I was at least thinking in the right direction before just wandering off with a 300mm prime on the camera!
I have since found this blog post that had some great examples of focal lengths and distances with a person on stage for reference. Made it very clear that with a 300mm lens (full frame), I should plan on being at least 100ft away to get a 6ish foot person in a horizontal frame. Considering a football field is 160' wide, it matches up very closely with what you're describing. Maybe I'll go sit on the away team's bleachers and get the home team's bench :cool:
Very good points. I've never seen these teams play before, so I'm not sure how high (or low) scoring may be. I'll probably take the end zone approach for at least the first quarter and see how it goes.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
09-20-2021, 03:05 PM
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I'm heading to a local high school (American) football game this weekend and figured I'd take the camera (KP) to get some practice with sports photography. It's a very small "stadium" and will not be well lit. Unfortunately, I don't yet own a 70-200 f2.8 lens. My options are:- DA* 300 f4
- DA 18-135 f3.5-5.6
- Sigma APO DG 70-300 f4-5.6
- DAL 50-200 f4-5.6.
I was originally leaning to just using the 300, but I'm concerned that I'll be too limited in where I'll need to position myself. It's also homecoming, so I may take my FA 50 f1.4 for more of the event/candid shots and then switch to the zoom or telephoto for the game shots.
I've attached an image of the field, with the lights circled in red. If I were around mid-field, I'd think I'd be too close for most shots between the 35 yard lines and maybe not in a great position as they move closer to the end zones. I don't have any experience photographing football, so maybe that placement assumption is incorrect. Should I more strongly consider the Sigma so I can move up and down the field and crank the ISO to 12800 if the lighting necessitates? I'll have a monopod and/or tripod with me. I could either be along the fence line or I could go up into the stands.
With the gear I have access to, what would your approach to this event be?
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
10-19-2020, 11:56 AM
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go.skimresources is analytics tracking used for externally-bound links. My ad blockers are always triggered whenever I click on an eBay link from these forums because of it, but it's actually pretty harmless. If you're not blocking ad links, then it will ultimately resolve to the URL that OP posted.
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