|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
03-17-2024, 02:57 PM
|
| |
As a photographer who has not upgraded computer software since buying Photoshop 5... (I took a few years off, but kept playing with it from time to time) are either of these programs full photo editing programs down to saving the final image (as a jpeg, tiff, etc.)? In other words, are they mimicking only Adobe Camera Raw as a raw editor, forcing me to send it to another independent program, or does it act like ACR then opens in its own version of PS5? (I hope I'm making sense.) I don't want to run 2 programs, a raw and a final editing program.
97% of my editing is in ACR. Rarely am I doing anything in PS5 itself other than making a layer to create a black border around the edge of the image, then "save-as". In retrospect, Lightroom could have been my program, but not now, I have no interest in a subscription model.
If one, or both, of these is a soup-to-nuts program, with what I stated above, which might serve my needs the best? Thank you for your guidance.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-18-2024, 01:45 PM
|
| |
Has anyone sent this into Pentax yet, at a level beyond front line customer service (who will just give the non-answer to send your camera in for repair)?
I've not experienced any of these pattern issues, but I haven't shot anything at those very high ISO levels.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-18-2024, 06:51 AM
|
| |
I've decided to add a red filter, I ordered a B+W dark red for playing outside. The yellow filter has done well, but the changes are quite subtle. It does clean up a scene for haziness, but darkening of the sky seems dependent on my angle to the sun- 90-180 degrees from the sun gives the greatest blue sky darkening effect, but subtly. I'll reserve final judgement on the yellow filter a bit longer, but I may trade it in for an orange, following the experiences shared earlier in this thread.
On that note, even with adding an orange, would it make sense to keep the yellow for indoor situations, such as public venues like museums and such? Or would an orange filter prove beneficial for indoor photos? (Pause... yes, wm brant uses yellow for "human places" images, mentioned in message #6 above.)
I'd previously mentioned the "chunky filter ring" of the Heliopan on the 15mm. It has caused no vignetting issues at all, their filter ring works fine with the 15mm and with the built in shades of the 15mm and 35mm I own.
Thanks again for your insights.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-13-2024, 01:17 PM
|
| |
I've only had the camera for a few weeks, and only a couple good chances to spend time with it. I've bought, and I'm stopping with, 3 prime lenses- HD 15mm Limited, HD 35mm Limited Macro, and the HD D-FA100mm Macro. So far, all three are meeting, or exceeding my expectations. The highly regarded 15 and 35 will also permit modest cropping to mimick other focal lengths of wide and normal. The 100mm will be mostly for it's intended macro work, maybe for a bit of telephoto work if the need arises.
I also own a couple old Pentax M lenses in 50 and 135mm, I'll experiment with those and time goes by.
I used the previous green band DA primes before I sold off my K-3 and always enjoyed their performance and lighter weight vs. high end zooms, hence my dedication to small primes only now. No more lens hoarding anymore for me!
|
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-11-2024, 06:29 AM
|
| |
Holy smokes! Thank you very much for the objective and insightful explanation, and answer, quite helpful.
-------------
So, the *best* monitor to buy for use with the Monochrome is one that does not exist at the consumer level- a monitor that shows only tones of black and white. My first new TV set was black and white... Pong looked great on it. I knew I should have held on to it.
(edit)
That 13" BW TV cost me $60 back in about 1979. Things have changed! But now I'm curious and I'll keep looking. BW monitors for the medical field-
http://https://www.monitors.com/collections/screen-type-grayscale |
|
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
02-10-2024, 10:59 PM
|
| |
I've read through recent monitor threads and all are based on color image editing ("... and it does pretty well with black and white, too."). My only camera now (barring the cell phone) is my K-3 III Monochrome. I'm using the new camera as an excuse to finally upgrade from my +/-15 year old NEC Multisync P221W (which included an X-Rite(?) calibration system). I can still calibrate it, but at about 5600 hours of use, well, I think it's time to get off my wallet. I'll keep it until it fries as a second monitor.
What monitor traits are important for B&W raw image editing- no color conversions. 100% sRBG, yes. How much % of ARBG will be important? Brightness rating suggestion? Contrast ratio suggestion? (I'm assuming contrast ratio would be quite important for B&W file editing.)
And... if there is a particular brand or model to look at, I'm all ears. Think mid-level price range. Vague, but I'm looking for better than base level quality, but I don't want to go into 4-digit pricing. Thank you for you input and ideas.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-06-2024, 06:45 PM
|
| |
Hello again. Thanks to all for your contributions. This afternoon I ordered the Pentax HD DA 15mm Limited and the medium yellow Heliopan filter I linked in my first message. It seemed like a safe bet filter to get myself going with. If I had more research time when I hit the buy button, I may have added an orange or a red to the shopping cart, too. Red could be next. This filter looks to have a somewhat chunky filter ring, so I'll have to check right away if it vignettes on the 15mm. B&H said I could return it if necessary, then look for a lower profile filter ring. I'm happy with my decision to not lens hoard like I had in the past, and to keep them all at that same 49mm filter size. If and when I add more filters, they'll be able to move across my lens stable without issue.
The Heliopan filter (German-made) is a brass ring filter. Costs more, but boy, if you muck up fine aluminum threads on each other, you're asking for trouble. And the yellow lens is a solid performer glass. I have owned several TIffen filters, and a few Hoya as well, but I wanted to be with the brass ring filters. B+W filters are another price level up from the Heliopan.
If anyone else has any colored filter advice or experience, please feel free to chime in, thanks.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome
02-05-2024, 08:57 PM
|
| |
Hello. I've looked through threads on this Mono forum regarding colored filters, but so far (unless I've missed something in the highly detailed threads) the threads seem to be owners who understand the topic performing filtering experiments to see what is optimal for this sensor. Well, this is new to me, so I'm just looking for a good starting point.
My gear- the Mono camera, Pentax HD DA 35mm Macro Limited (more normal view use than macro), Pentax HD DFA 100mm macro AW (macro and tele use), and possibly purchasing this week, the Pentax HD DA 15mm Limited. All 49mm filter sizes. This kit is my return to the DSLR realm after a 4-year hiatus. I about drowned myself in lenses and gear during the ownership of my 4 previous Pentax DSLRs, and all that gear is now elsewhere. This lean and mean kit is where I'm stopping, I've cured my LBA.
My interests- outside, natural light, and just about anything and anywhere that doesn't involve pointing the camera at someone's face. (People in the scene are fine, but I'm not a candid people photographer.) Scenery that is interesting, both urban and rural, in all 4 of my Minnesota seasons, and offers lots of tonal range to utilize this B&W sensor.
From what I garnered in the other threads, yellow, and maybe orange, may be a starting point. Red if I'm looking for seriously contrasty partly cloudy skies. I do have a polarizer in this thread size, too, but it may not give me what I'm looking for if the lighting conditions aren't right for a polarizer.
I don't what cheap quality. I'm willing to spend the money for a good quality workhorse of a filter, or two. I'm not looking for high-buck filters if a $50ish will do the job well. Do you have brand and model/color # suggestions? I'm open to ideas to consider. Could this be my starting point, this "medium" yellow offering from Heliopan?
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/21634-REG/Heliopan_704903_49mm_Medium...981&
Thanks for helping me get going in the right direction.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-25-2011, 08:35 AM
|
| |
An update on my experience- On my 'puter, in MS Word, I went into the symbol library and pasted a couple black outline shapes (I think a star and an arrow), formatted them to have a pretty thin black line, stretched them out to be a few inches long on the sheet and placed right next to each other, and printed it on my laser printer. Then I hung it on the wall and systematically shot each lens at -10, -5, 0, +5, and +10, comparing the results on the computer screen. This is after my upgrade to 1.11. Where before I reported I was back to 0 without further testing (up from the negative settings I was at previously), my "further testing" revealed that I was pretty consistent at +5 showing the sharpest black line on the paper. If I was testing a zoom, I'd set the lens in about the middle of its focal length range. One or two of my lenses sat at other numbers. I have not taken the time to do finer testing than the increments-of-5 that I used, maybe if I get bored... I'm not sure if this was the best protocol, but it seems to have helped.
Here's a shot from the North Shore of Lake Superior from 2 weeks ago, after the above-mentioned testing. I was probably 125 yards or so from the subject (those crashing waves on the distant rocks). K5 on tripod, Pentax 55-300 at 190mm, F/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100. Raw capture, processed in ACR, further sharpening applied in ACR, saved as both a 16-bit tiff for printing and as a >1meg jpeg, dumbed down even more at Photobucket. Cropped pretty much only to show a 16:9 format rather than 2:3.
More images from my visit to Lake Superior here- Steve's View of the World: Season's Greetings from St. Paul and the North Shore
My test target (it's full size), for the above lens, this was the +5 test image. All the test images were captured and viewed as raws, then viewed at 100% image size on screen in the Pentax Digital Camera Utility program, concentrating on the lines and line intersections. The outline targets proved more useful than the solid black triangle shape.
 |
|
Forum: General Talk
12-25-2011, 07:26 AM
|
| |
Santa brought me a KatzEye focusing screen with rule-of-thirds grid, and a (still to be shipped) C-Loop camera strap and mount, and the new tripod mount plate system (see here- M-Plate: A Multi-Function Camera Tripod Plate System by Custom SLR — Kickstarter). In reciprocation, I gave Santa the new luggage she's been wanting, a book, and a couple CD's.
Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season to All!
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-01-2011, 04:16 PM
|
| |
Has anybody else upgraded the firmware and then rechecked your findings?
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-29-2011, 07:50 PM
|
| |
Hey, good for you! I really think you're going to love that lens.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-29-2011, 11:02 AM
|
| |
I had the same issues, then I downloaded the firmware upgrade (ver. 1.11, which you might have to find at the Pentax Japan site) and my back focusing problems were pretty much cured. I was then able to reset the camera menu settings back to zero for each lens. Give it a try. I've not tested each lens again to tweak it one or two points plus or minus, but my subjects look much more in focus on the computer screen.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-29-2011, 04:56 AM
|
| |
On the back of the camera, the button on the right side (or the three o'clock position) of the OK button, this is where you find the color/lighting preset combo's you can pick, including customizing those combinations. Scroll down that list shown, you'll see "sharpening" down near the bottom, along with contrast, etc. Increase in-camera sharpening here. If you scroll horizontally across the top of that same screen, you change the in-camera coloring combinations (bright, natural, film-look, B/W, etc). Verify these functions in your manual, in case there's another mode to pre-set sharpening in-camera that I'm not aware of. Each time you choose one of those combinations at the top of that screen, all the settings in those choices on the vertical of that screen change in those little bar graphs, then you can tweak those bar graphs yourself, too. (I hope that doesn't sound confusing, because it's really easy to play with.) I'm pretty sure all these options are just affecting jpeg output and not RAW output, but again, your manual should verify that. It's pretty much an in-camera jpeg "pre-editing" mode.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-28-2011, 10:22 PM
|
| |
I'll answer with my experience. My K-5 was back focusing. I noticed it when using my Pentax 55-300. So I did some experiments with other lenses, noticing the same thing. Got into the menu and was correcting all the way to -10 (I think it was -10, or was it +10... whichever one is for back focusing, see the owner's manual) to make the focused point look like it was in focus. My firmware was 1.01. I did an upgrade to 1.11 from the Pentax Japan site, and all seems well again. Moved the fine focus menu back to zero for all the lenses and all is well again.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-28-2011, 09:11 PM
|
| |
Thanks Gerrit, I appreciate the thoughts/comments.
Looking at your photos... I think Nova Scotia is up near the top of the list for a future international expedition for us. My sister was there a couple years ago and she'd go back in a flash if she could, probably to stay forever.
Funny you mention the 18-250mm- I just sold my Tamron version along with my K20D to a co-worker, he's giving it to his father for Christmas. My previous K100DS wore the 18-250 exclusively for the few years I shot with that camera. Great lens, but I could do without the self-zooming feature.
A friend of mine bought the new Pentax 35mm 2.4 earlier this summer for his K-5. Light and inexpensive, and he's been having a ball with it, it's mounted a majority of the time he says, taking all kinds of different shots with it.
Steve.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-27-2011, 09:23 PM
|
| |
Hi- new guy here...
In September my wife and I went on my first international vacation, to Scotland. In preparation, I told my wife I wanted to travel light with camera gear and I bought two new lenses to go with my K-5, the DA 15 and 21mm Limiteds. (Both together were half the weight of the Sigma F/2.8 18-50mm I was going to take, and very friendly, weight-wise, to have on the camera/in my hand all day long for a week.) The trip photos were more memory/snapshot in nature than fine art attempts. I shot about 960 photos in the week, over 900 were with the DA 21mm. I posted about 100 at my blog site. Except for one waterfall shot, I edited none of them other than to convert from raw to web friendly jpeg size, so there is no color or light tweaking, no post-capture sharpening, resolution is dropped way down as jpegs, etc. Of the images posted, a few will be captured with the Pentax 55-300, a few with the 15mm Limited, and the rest with the 21mm Limited. Peruse at your leisure. Sorry I didn't identify the lens or shooting info with each image, but you'll get the point. These are both terrific lenses (the Limited lenses), and just today I sent in an order for the DA 40mm Limited. Scotland photos- Steve's View of the World: Snapshots from Scotland Click on an image and that entire posting of photos will come up in a text-free, larger format slide show. I love this 21mm Limited. And I'm not afraid of a little cropping if needed to "zoom in" on a subject in a photo to emulate a 28mm or similar lens, esp. with the K-5.
|
|
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-27-2011, 07:35 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
11-27-2011, 07:33 PM
|
| |
Hi Gang,
I'm new to the board, but I've watched from the background for a while. Not new to Pentax, though. I'm on DSLR #3 (currently the K-5, previously the K20D and K100DS, both of which are in the good homes of new owners) after cutting my teeth with an old film K1000 15 years ago. Still have that ol' pup, too. My wife used that same camera in high school photography class, so in '96 I bought her a used one for our anniversary, thinking it might rekindle her interest in photography. She enjoyed it in high school... not so much of an interest the second time around. But I was completely fascinated by the machine itself, and in learning how this little marvel worked, one thing led to another... And now, here I am, trying (not too hard) not to be a lens collector. But what's a guy to do when bitten by the DA Limited bug?
I'm not so much into any particular field of photographic study- whatever catches my eye, really, and mostly in the normal to wide views. I've taken a few formal photography courses, and I attend at a couple local clubs. Candidly photographing people scares me, this is my greatest weakness, and I know I've let a lot of great opportunities go by because of this. And often I photograph too much with my head and too little my heart, these are the things I'm always struggling with.
I hope to chime in when I can, and not cause too much trouble along the way.
Steve.
My photo blog-
Steve's View of the World |
