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Forum: Sold Items
11-20-2013, 06:01 PM
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The shutter count is only 17,026.
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Forum: Sold Items
11-20-2013, 10:01 AM
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Sigma 70 Macro is sold!
Also, I lowered the price of the K-5 and the DA 15 Limited.
---------- Post added 11-20-13 at 11:05 AM ----------
I'll check this evening when I get off work and let you know.
---------- Post added 11-20-13 at 12:33 PM ----------
Sigma 50-150 is sold.
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Forum: Sold Items
11-20-2013, 08:39 AM
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Thanks for the interest. PMs sent to the first ones in line for the Sigmas. If sales are not completed today, I'll notify the next in line.
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Forum: Sold Items
11-19-2013, 08:36 PM
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I have the following gear for sale:
1. Pentax K-5 body - Includes box, almost new Pentax battery and two other 3rd party batteries, and most all accessories except for the disc. Excellent condition. It is around 1.5 years old. There is one small speck of dust only visible in the viewfinder, which of course does not affect images. $400
2. Pentax DA 15 Limited in excellent condition. Purchased in March of this year and used very little. Comes with box, pouch, both caps, and extra snap on cap. Very nice lens. $425
3. Sigma 50-150 2.8 HSM II in very good condition. This lens was also purchased in March of this year and was on my camera most of the time. Comes with box, lens hood, both caps, and bag. This is a pro lens and is sharp wide open. If I could only keep one lens, this would be the one. The lens only has one cosmetic scuff on the top where the lens hood screws on, which is visible in the photos. The scuff is why I call it very good condition instead of excellent. $525 SOLD
4. Sigma 70 2.8 Macro EX DG in excellent condition. Comes with lens hood, both caps, box, and bag. This is the sharpest macro lens that I have ever used. $325 SOLD
I am the original owner of all gear listed, and I took good care of everything.
After looking at the photos, I realized that I did a very poor job of cleaning the lenses, so if anyone is interested in any lens and would like to see more images, just let me know.
I will only ship to the U.S. and only accept PayPal. Prices listed include PayPal charges. Shipping charge is $20 for USPS.
Thanks for looking!
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-12-2013, 12:36 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-12-2013, 12:04 PM
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Or buy a D600 for $1500 and a Tamron 70-200 VC for ~ $1299 for a total of $2799 and get similar AF performance to the Nikon 70-200 VRII, or very close to it... If you don't want risk the shutter oil/dust problem on the D600, then add $500 to that for the D610. Is the better AF performance and better high ISO performance worth an extra $100-500? It is to me. To each their own...
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
11-12-2013, 10:18 AM
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Great review, and the AF performance results agree with what I see with my D610. The difference in keepers is like night and day, regardless of which lens that I use. I use the predictive tracking with 9pt AF-C instead of the 3D tracking, which has been known to loose focus if the color/contrast of the background is similar to the subject. The 3D tracking obviously worked well in the test though.
If I'm going hiking and want a light rig, I'll take my K-5. If I'm shooting fast action or high ISOs, I'll be using the D610. I don't have silly brand loyalty, and I pick the best tool for the job (for me). The K-3 looks like a nice improvement over the K-5, but I think I will keep my K-5. Congrats to those who are happy with their new K-3s.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-31-2013, 07:38 AM
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The 85 1.8G is one of the best lens available for FF and is tack sharp wide open, and it is only $496, substantially cheaper than the 55. So someone posts some comparison photos that contradicts all of the reviews and thousands of incredible photos taken with that lens, and the 55 demolishes the 85? The 85 is only a good optic? Wow...
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
10-30-2013, 12:36 PM
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The brand bias is sure strong in this thread!
I recall the initial reaction to the first sample photos from Ricoh as being less than stellar, and in many cases, very disappointing. Now, a couple of guys take some shots with questionable technique to compare a d600 and a K-3, that may or may not be a production model K-3, and the reaction is nothing less than stellar. I'll reserve judgment until I see actual tests in a well controlled setting and several sample images from a respected review site like DPreview, Imaging Resource, Photozone, etc. I looked at numerous reviews of the d600 and the high ISO samples from this thread look nothing like what I saw in the numerous reviews that I've seen. I love my K-5, but I recently bought a new d610, and although the difference between DX and FX is not that much, the improvement in high ISO and AF tracking is worth the upgrade to me. I have not shot enough photos to sing the praises of the d610 quite yet, but I am enjoying using it.
If the K-3 can match or improve the IQ and low light and AF of the d600, then kudos to Ricoh, but again, I will reserve judgment until I see a comprehensive assessment in a controlled environment from the big review sites with plenty of real world sample photos.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-01-2013, 03:19 PM
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Yeah, I've noticed a big difference in the WB set on my K-5 compared to what LR shows. When I set my WB to 5600K to match my Einstein 640 strobes, which are supposed to have very consistent color, the color temps jump to 6100 in Light Room. It's not really a big deal in Light Room as you can just correct the WB on one photo and then copy/paste the settings to all of the other photos from that session. It did have me scratching my head when I first noticed the variation.
You could use a gray card or passport colorchecker if you really need to get close to the true color temp. Most of the time, I end up adjusting the WB anyway...
Shoot in RAW at 5600K and adjust to taste.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
09-29-2013, 09:05 AM
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I bought a LN rated DA*300 from KEH for under $900 with coupon a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted to like the lens, but I decided to send it back. I took 100s of shots on a tripod, checked it on my Lensalign, and compared it to my 55-300. Maybe I received a bad copy because it backfocused severely requiring a +10 AF adjustment, which still wasn't enough. Also, the AF was terrible for a lens in this price range. I guess expecting similar AF performance to my Sigma 50-150 is asking too much. I also had more than one instance where the AF just stalled, and I had to focus on a different subject or use the quickshift to get it to work again, so I don't know if that is typical behavior or if this copy had a problem with the SDM. I couldn't see this lens being very good for fast action shots. Lastly, I compared several shots with shots from my 55-300. Yes, the 300 is sharper and the bokeh looks much more pleasing, but the IQ improvement was not as good as I expected. Again, this was a used lens, so maybe it was just a bad copy.
I made the decision to return it and wait until the K-3 is released and reviewed and decide between that or a Nikon D800 and hold off on a new telephoto.
Mike
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-26-2013, 01:01 PM
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Great shots of beautiful pets!
Here are a few that I took of our new family member, Duchess. My wife wanted to get a new dog for the kids, but I wasn't feeling it because I lost my 11 y/o Golden Retriever a short time ago. Anyway, I happened across a picture of her at a rescue place, and I knew my wife wanted a German Shepherd, so I had to adopt her. She was the favorite of one of the rescue owners, and I had to meet his standards before he would let me adopt her. She is a very sweet dog and the kids love her. Of course, she knows that she is my dog...
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
09-23-2013, 12:53 PM
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I'll leave out any comments about the religious aspect because religion and politics bring out the worst in people. I will say that regardless of any rules, which may or may not have been properly communicated, and regardless of the proximity to the ceremony and the spray and pray technique and loud clickity clack of cameras that obviously were not K-5s, I do feel it was the priest that handled the situation poorly and turned a day of joy and celebration into an awkward moment that will never be forgotten. He could have used a little tact or even humor to ask the guys to move back for a few seconds and then proceed with the ceremony even if the photogs continued. He could then chastise the photogs in private AFTER the ceremony. As some others have said, plenty of blame to go around...
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Forum: General Talk
09-13-2013, 07:55 AM
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I don't have any experience with that particular tablet, but I do have an Asus Infinity Tablet with the keyboard (and 2nd battery) dock. I love it, but it is not perfect, and cost about $500 new. It does have some issues, and I did root it, unlock it and installed a custom ROM to improve the lag. One other big limitation is the 1 GB Ram, which is just not enough for the android OS. In comparison, my phone has 2GB of Ram! Before upgrading, download a program from Google Playstore called Rebooter. When you starting seeing excessive lag, use that app to kill any background apps and see if that helps. I notice a big slow down when I have less than 300 MB available. Also, just uninstall any apps that you rarely use to help with the memory problem caused by apps running in the background.
The $250 budget will be a limiting factor. You could find a cheap laptop, but you would likely only get 2-4 hours of battery life, so that means plugging it in alot. I've looked at the Chromebooks before, and that may be a good one to look at further. I don't know if it can run FastStone though. If you can run it on Android, it should be able to run on ChromeOS, or at least a similar application should be available.
There are also netbooks that have 10 in screens that you can find around $200-250 that are smaller and lower powered versions of laptops. At least I tihnk they still make them, but I have no experience with them. If you do buy another tablet, stay away from Windows RT tablets. Good luck.
Mike
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-12-2013, 08:07 AM
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I certainly suspect that shutter speed is one big issue, but you need to eliminate as many variables as you can to properly test the lens. Definitely use a tripod with SR off using timer or remote and shoot a page of sharp text on a flat wall in a well lit area, outside if possible to eliminate any AF issues with some indoor lighting. If the text or whatever high contrast target you choose is not sharp at f8, you may need to do some AF microadjustments. I've never attempted to MF with this lens, so I can't comment on that. I do have the DAL version and my copy is good at f8, but I usually close down to f11 when I shoot near 300mm. I checked AF with my copy and did not need to make any adjustments.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
09-11-2013, 08:05 AM
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Thanks again PBandJ!
I was beginning to think that the code was not any good because after hitting the update button, the price never changed. After pressing the button about 8 more times, the discount finally appeared! I guess persistence does pay off...lol.
Mike
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
09-10-2013, 11:17 AM
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-05-2013, 12:52 PM
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And finally, some of my beautiful wife. I think I over beautified one of her photos with the age-defying filter, but she was happy with it...lol.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-05-2013, 12:50 PM
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Here are some from "Millionaire's Row".
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-05-2013, 12:47 PM
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Here are some photos from my recent trip to Fort Lauderdale. I woke up early one morning and decided to go up to the 11th floor terrace to take some photos of a sunrise. To my surprise, a guy already had the one tower staked out well before the Sun was up. Thankfully, there was a terrace on the other side of the hotel, so I set up over there. You can see the guy in one of the photos in the left tower. On top of the guy taking my good spot, he was a jerk and did not even say a word when I greeted him and remarked that we both had the same idea. BTW, if anyone else posts recent photos of Fort Lauderdale, I will know that it was you who was the jerk!! :lol:
Thanks for looking and comments are appreciated.
You can see higher resolution copies here: Forney Photography | Fort Lauderdale |
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
09-05-2013, 07:53 AM
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Beautiful shots! Unfortunately, it snowed 3 days during my trip in April, so I could not go to the top of Mount Evans and Summit Lake was snowed over. I was really disappointed by that, even more so now after seeing your beautiful shots of beautiful country. Well done!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-05-2013, 07:44 AM
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Another point to consider regarding carry-on vs. checked luggage besides vibrations, rough handling by baggage handlers, potential theft, temperature and pressure fluctuations in the cargo hold, etc. is the very real potential for lost luggage! I just returned this week from Fort Lauderdale. When we arrived, we found out that our checked bag was not on the plane! Thankfully, they just missed a cart at DFW, and my bag was delivered to me the next morning. Imagine if I would have had my camera gear in that bag! I did have my travel tripod in the checked bag though, but thankfully, it was still in the bag when it arrived.
Although I did not fly internationally, I would have packed my gear the same. Since it was just a vacation, I chose a medium camera bag with good internal padding and took my K5, 55-300, Sigma 70, Sigma 30, DA15 Ltd, flash, 3 batteries, and few other small items. I kept the bag at my feet instead of overhead so that I could monitor for any vibration from turbulence and then just pick it up and place it in my lap. If I needed more gear, I would have taken my larger backpack and did the same thing.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
08-21-2013, 01:20 PM
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I ordered on the 13th and just received my cancellation email. That was nice of them sending me the email saying that they were ready to ship my lens as soon as payment was received days ago and then cancelling my order today.
The $119 is still being held in my PayPal account after I placed the order NINE days ago. Unacceptable...
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
08-20-2013, 04:58 PM
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I personally feel that the email was a very poor response and does not directly address what happens with the existing orders that have not been officially cancelled. I emailed them this morning to check on the status of my order, and I never received a reply. Am I supposed to call back or wait for them to call me and ask for another $65? When they do and I cancel my order, do I have to wait for 6 days to get a refund to my PayPal like I had to do with Overstock recently? How is the response communicated to those from the deal sites who ordered and are not forum members? Wouldn't a respectable company call or email their customers to apologize and then explain what to do next?
I would have been fine if they would have cancelled all orders on day 1 or 2 and refunded everyone. With all that has transpired now and how they continue to handle the screw up, I'm really questioning if I want to give Ricoh/Pentax anymore of my business instead of just switching to Nikon.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
08-20-2013, 12:28 PM
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Same here. I'm not pleased that they have had my PayPal money for a week now, and I have nothing in return. I emailed them this morning to inquire about my order, but of course they have not responded yet.
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