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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-15-2014, 12:48 AM
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
12-13-2014, 02:32 AM
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Very generous of the forum to give away a 31mm...I had thought of buying one awhile ago but ended up with the 35 LTD, of which I still think is really nice.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-25-2013, 02:01 AM
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I think that's kind of a ridiculous statement. It's all about the quality control and what you want to pay for it. In terms of computers, all the best quality ones are all made in China, whether you go for a PC (Thinkpad) or Mac. Heck most computer components are made in China/Taiwan, with screens made in Korea, and computer components require much higher tolerances than camera optics. I had a "made in japan" lens that was terribly off center. Replaced with a "made in vietnam" lens which was much better. It's not like the physics of light changes when you enter a different country :p
I don't think you can really say that just because it was made in Japan it will be better quality. As I understand it, Japanese products 50 years ago were uniformly very poor quality. Even nowadays, from what I read the FR-S and BRZ, the halo cars from Toyota and Subaru are plagued with reliability and poor build quality issues.
As long as the manufacturer wants to pay for good quality workers and Q/C, it's not going to make a difference. When the manufacturer decides to cut corners though...
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
10-05-2012, 11:27 PM
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It's a feature not a problem. Soon to be patented by Apple.
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Forum: General Talk
10-02-2012, 01:48 PM
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Yup, that's a dead ringer for the bug I saw! Mystery solved. Your bug has a weird white eye though.
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Forum: General Talk
09-28-2012, 08:36 PM
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Cool. Thanks for the help everyone! Initially I thought it was something poisonous because it didn't seem scared of me at all :lol:
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-28-2012, 08:34 PM
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That's strange. Oh well. Thanks!!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-27-2012, 11:41 PM
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In a followup to my decentered out of warranty DA21mm Limited lens:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/189189-normal-...21mm-lens.html
I sent the lens in to be evaluated. Eric couldn't fix it, so I sent it to CRIS; they sent it back after working on it for little less than a week. I tested it out and wow they made it much much worse. Whereas the decentration was annoyingly visible in some shots, the "fixed" lens was horrendously bad. I sent it back noting that the problem was worse -- this time they had the lens for about a month trying to fix it, but I guess they gave up on it. Today I received the lens, and to my surprise it was a new DA21. So I guess decentered lenses can't be fixed but it all ended up working for the better, though I haven't had the chance to try out the new lens yet.
Interestingly enough the "new" lens has a lower serial number than the older lens which was purchased in 2009. It also came in a gray box instead of the black box of the original. It looks brand new though -- no scuff marks or signs of wear anywhere. I don't care about the serial number or anything like that, but how is it that I end up with a lower serial number? I thought the serial number referred to production date?
Thank you for answering this probably annoyingly basic question :)
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Forum: General Talk
09-27-2012, 02:04 PM
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-I don't think it's an assassin bug, since the photos I saw of the assassin bug showed that the eyes were black. The bug I killed has smaller and beadier looking red eyes.
-I live in the Seattle, WA area
-It does...kind of look like a stink bug. Oh great. However, the body is skinnier than in the photos. The stinkbug looks...fatter.
I did some internet searching and it might be this: leaf footed bug
http://digitalinsectcollection.wikispaces.com/Leaf-Footed+Pine+Seed+Bug
However, according to that link those insects don't live in the northwest. I've never seen this bug before but in the past 1-2 weeks I've seen four of them.
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Forum: General Talk
09-27-2012, 10:40 AM
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I didn't squish the bug -- I took a tissue to pick it up and flushed it down the toilet.
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Forum: General Talk
09-26-2012, 10:19 PM
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Found this a few days ago and took a picture of it. Pretty ugly bug with beady red eyes. It can fly, but not for an extended period of time as far as I can tell. It's also not very skittish for a bug. I've never seen it before -- anybody know what it is?
Picture was taken moments before it was killed.
Thanks!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-16-2012, 10:34 PM
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
09-16-2012, 10:29 PM
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Pretty cool photos, thanks for sharing.
Though during that time it was pretty much controlled by Britain and other Western powers, so it really wasn't "Imperial Rule" by that time. By the time the photos were taken Britain had been force feeding China with opium for over a hundred years and taken everything they had.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-09-2012, 12:32 AM
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Really? I thought the dust removal was ultrasonic. Whenever I activate the dust removal mechanism in the options menu it's practically silent.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-08-2012, 10:41 PM
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Just curious, but what's that sound the k-5 makes when you first start it up? What is it actually doing?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-07-2012, 12:02 PM
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I would wait for the 18-135 WR. It's weather resistant, covers all focal lengths you would generally need, and it's a lens you intend to buy anyways, right?
After you get the 18-135 and get to taking some pictures, check the EXIF data on the photos and it will show you what focal length you used to take that picture. Find the focal length you use most often and buy a prime based off of that.
I'm no expert, but that's what I would do.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-08-2012, 09:24 PM
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Well, got it back from Eric and this is what he said:
"Actually another one just like yours with the exact same problem came in the same day. I tried to help him and find out why the alignment isn't right. Or try to correct the focus problem. The is nothing I can really do to fix the problem. All I can do is rotate the internal optic and hope this fixes the problem. I also feel that the front focusing optic is trying to do it's best to capture the image on the edges and keeping them in focus"
Unfortunately, lens is not under warranty.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-18-2012, 12:39 PM
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Huh? I asked him specifically if he deals with that lens and he didn't really answer the question. According to his website he deals with lenses from 24-500mm so I wasn't sure if he would fix it or has any familarity with the lens. He gave a very nebulous response. In any case he seems to have great reviews and seems to be a good guy so I'm going to send my lens to him anyways.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-18-2012, 12:28 PM
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Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and send the lens to Eric to evaluate. Once I noticed the issue I can see it in every photo taken at a distance -- right side always blurrier than the left.
I found some postings of people describing (a little bit) how they fixed a decentered lens, but I've forgotten the keywords I used to find the link otherwise I would've posted it. At least it means that it can probably be fixed.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-15-2012, 12:45 PM
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Thanks for the advice. Sent something to that affect, described the problem included a link and a picture, and asked about if he deals with that focal length, but he just keeps on saying the same one sentence, "I'll take a look at it and see what happening." Maybe he hasn't fixed a decentered lens before? I don't know. Or maybe I'll just send it to Pentax. I wonder what the price difference is between Pentax and a small business. Any other recommendations for outfits in the US? Or in Seattle?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-14-2012, 03:42 PM
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I contacted customer service and they were unable to get an estimate for me. Does anybody have any past experience on how much it costs to fix a decentered lens?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-14-2012, 02:30 PM
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Does he fix decentered lenses? I asked him if he would fix my DA21mm lens which came decentered from the factory, and he asked me what that meant. Am I just using the incorrect terminology?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-12-2012, 11:47 AM
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I see. Thanks. It's probably out of warranty, but I'll see if they will do anything about it anyways.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-12-2012, 11:43 AM
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Thanks for the advice everybody. I did take some sample pictures and it didn't look very different, but I'm sure that varies depending on the lighting conditions. However, it just...looks...so...ugly like this. The scratches are deep enough to cast a shadow, actually.
As to how exactly the lens cap broke: it wasn't from any particular impact. The camera bag was slung around my shoulder and attached to my belt so it wouldn't move too much. With the camera and the lens attached, it was a perfect fit for the camera bag, not too tight or too loose. However, all the moving around was enough to uncap the lens and it snapped off the flexing part of the lens cap. After riding around for awhile, the edge of the lens cap was rubbing against the front element and resulted in the scratches that you see. I suppose it doesn't take much effort to scratch up those lenses -- it carved it like cheese.
When I took my camera out, I saw a number of white slivers on my camera lens and realized that it was because the lens cap just gouged out my lens.
The camera bag was a model like this in case you are curious: Amazon.com: Tamrac 5683 Digital Zoom 3 Camera Bag (Black): Electronics |
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-11-2012, 09:10 PM
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A week or two ago, my friends and I were going to try our hand at ATV riding. Knowing this, I figured I would buy the 18-55 WR lens from Amazon just for fun, thinking that with all the dust and dirt it would be a good match for my camera (I don't currently have a WR lens). I placed an order from Amazon. Instead of sending the 18-55 WR as pictured on their website, they sent the 18-55mm generation 1 kit lens. I contacted amazon regarding the mistake, and they sent out another lens. Well, the other lens they sent was the wrong one again. Not the one listed and pictured on their website, but the original 18-55mm DA/3.5-5.6 AL kit lens. Not even the AL II version.
Anyways, I went on this ATV ride anyways, and brought along my 18-250mm lens attached to my camera, sealed in an DSLR bag and zipped up. Through the course of riding, the lens cap came off, broke in two and started poking at the front element of my lens. After a few hours it looked like it gouged my lens pretty well. Thankfully all the scratches were on the periphery of the lens and not the center. I've read that scratches don't affect the performance of the lens too much but...man oh man my lens looks so horrible all scratched up. Is it possible to send it to Pentax to get something like this fixed? Or am I just out of luck...
Here's some pics. What you don't see is the fine, small scratches...
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