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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-28-2012, 05:00 PM
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Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I don't see a transcript in that thread. (Yes, I searched for "transcript".)
Therefore, here's yet another request to have you post that English transcript that you obviously already have in hand. I'm making this request for two reasons:
1) A video is not likely to be [text-]searchable by any of your forum tools or by Google, and
2) Those of us with dialup connections are largely unable to download a video file.
So, how about it, can we get that transcript?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-25-2012, 07:41 PM
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You might check out Robin Kanta Photographic. Lens hoods, Front & Rear Caps, and Body Caps in California. They have rubber threaded hoods and generic metal threaded hoods.
The collapsible rubber hoods would work great for your 18-135 zoom, since you could collapse it to suit the focal length you have it set to -- much better than any fixed-length hood could ever be. And the 62-mm version is only $5.00.
However, I'd recommend that you phone them at 800-296-5196 to confirm their stock, because they are sometimes out of stock on hoods.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-14-2012, 09:22 PM
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Yup, in Oregon you'll prolly need your 55-300 to catch the Roosevelt Elk at Dean Creek just east of Reedsport, and the Bald Eagles on the Umpqua and Rogue rivers. And your 35 macro will indeed come in handy for the wildflowers coming online right now.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-27-2012, 07:16 PM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-23-2012, 11:29 AM
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Adam, I'm still hoping to find that [English] transcript. Have you posted it anywhere here or in any other thread?
To stay on-topic in this thread, evidently we are required to add at least one spurious comment about FF. :p OK, here's mine:
I'm thankful that Pentax/Ricoh clearly has NO plans to sell a FF body -- because it means upcoming K-mount lenses may take full advantage of APS-C crop factor and better high ISO, by being smaller and lighter. With a little luck, such lenses will also be slightly less-expensive, or more likely, have slightly better glass or more features (WR?) at whatever price point Pentax has chosen to aim at.
My personal dream is for a DA 200-560 f5.6 LTD WR at half the weight of a Bigma, and a US$999 price point. :D
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-18-2012, 11:20 PM
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[LOL] Holy cow, it can't take THAT long!!
Seriously though, considering (1) that the interview is in Japanese, and (2) that the video will be far too large a file to download over a dialup connection, the video will probably be a waste of time for 99% of the folks here on Pentax Forums.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-13-2012, 11:13 PM
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
10-05-2011, 10:38 AM
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Just thought you might be interested in some astounding photos taken by the iPhone 4S that Apple announced yesterday. There's a good selection at AppleInsider | Apple showcases iPhone 4S camera with high-resolution sample photos
... and you can click any of the reduced-size photos to get 100% crops.
You really need to pixel-peep the full-size to appreciate them -- the 100% crops I've attached are just very small portions of 3264 x 2448 originals. Here's one full-size squirrel: http://photos.appleinsider.com/4scamera-111005-1-full.jpg
Here's some flowers, back-lighted by the setting sun: http://photos.appleinsider.com/iphone4scamera-111004-2-full.JPG
According to Apple's announcement, the iPhone 4S camera has "8-megapixels, 1080p HD video, a custom f2.4 lens, and an advanced hybrid IR filter... The video camera function now features real-time video image stabilization and temporal noise reduction." They say the [JPG] photos are "unretouched", but don't mention what sort of processing is going on in the iPhone software, nor how much control the user had over the results.
But look at the macro-like minimum focus distance, extraordinary depth of field, superb bokeh, and lack of chromatic aberration in the squirrel picture! Check out the wonderful dynamic range and perfect white balance in the beach sunset!
The camera module is not manufactured by Apple, of course. According to the article, it's multi-sourced: 90% of them for the 4S are produced by OmniVision, 10% of them by Sony. So clearly, the development and manufacture of the camera sensor and lens did not require a gigantic capital investment. This bodes well for future sensors in Pentaxes, and all DSLRs for that matter. We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.
PLEASE NOTE: I'm NOT suggesting that the iPhone 4S will replace the Pentax K5 any time soon -- these photos were taken under fairly good conditions, plenty of light at least.
What's obvious, though, is that extremely small and very cheap sensors now have the ability to produce fantastic high-resolution photos. A corollary is that the software to support the sensor is entirely feasible.
I'm guessing:
1) The entire market of point-and-shoot cameras costing over $100 may well die in the next year or two.
2) The development and production cost of full frame sensors will soon be impossible to justify.
3) There will be a huge market for photo-specific software for smartphones, to cater to the semi-pros.
4) There will be an entirely new market in extremely small telephoto lenses for smartphone cameras.
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
05-25-2011, 08:50 PM
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I'm looking for a lightweight parabolic reflector for recording bird songs, at least 20" diameter, with both tripod mount and handle for hand-held. I'd prefer no mic. Can't find anything parabolic on your website (except light reflectors for $6000...) but maybe I'm looking in the wrong department?
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-16-2011, 10:50 AM
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OK, glad to hear you didn't have any problems installing the firmware with the filename in caps.
The error I encountered was not on the Mac, it was on the K5, which was not connected to the Mac at any time. I used the MacbookPro's built-in SDHC slot to write the unzipped binary file to the SD, then moved the SD card into the K5 for the update. When I held down the Menu button and turned on the K5, it said "There is a problem reading the Update file," or something similar. When I moved the SD back to the Mac, renamed the filename to lowercase, then moved the SD back to the K5, it worked perfectly.
To repeat: the error was not in the Mac, it was in the K5.
This is going off-topic. I need to investigate to figure out exactly what the cause was. Will post an explanation if I discover anything relevant to this thread.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
03-15-2011, 11:12 AM
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Here's another tip for a first-time firmware updater, at least one who's downloaded the Mac zip file: the .zip file unzips to a binary named "FWDC209B.BIN", but for the camera to find it, it needs to be all lowercase, "fwdc209b.bin", exactly as stated in the README file. So you'll need to fix the filename before you actually perform the update. (This has been a problem in previous firmware updates, too.)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-07-2011, 10:16 PM
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Do you ever notice side-to-side gradations of darkening, using the polarizer with a wide angle lens like the 12-24? Roger Cicala of LensRentals mentioned this in his article on wide-angle lenses:
A Broad Guide to Ultra Wide
"Because the angle of view is so wide, the angle at which sunlight enters the sensor will vary from one side of the image to the other, unless the sun is behind you. For example, if the sun is to your left, the left side of the sky will appear lighter and less blue than the right. Wide angles love overcast days and lots of clouds. Pure blue sky—not so much.
A polarizing filter only polarizes light entering at certain angles, so it can actually make this phenomenon worse. Unless you absolutely need it, a polarizer is generally a bad idea on an ultra-wide lens."
Anyway, a good 77mm CPL for the 12-24 is going to run you over $100!
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Forum: Sold Items
02-27-2011, 06:17 PM
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Another PM sent on DA 21.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-12-2011, 01:28 PM
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Well, obviously it's going to take more than one TC to turn your DFA100 into a 300. Stacking two TC's would surely be a waste of time. But that admitted, here's one opinion of TC's:
I've only used the Tamron 1.7 and Vivitar 2.0 teleconverters, so my experience is limited. But I found with a Tamron 90 macro lens, I could get JUST as good an image from the 90 alone and cropping in post-processing, as I could using the 90 plus the 1.7 TC. In other words, for image quality, the 1.7 TC gets you absolutely nothing you don't already have.
When you add in the cost of the 1.7 TC and the hassle of adding it to the camera when you need it, it's a waste of both money and time. Also you need to consider that in most cases the TC causes the camera to save inaccurate EXIF data. Also, of course a TC cuts out a LOT of light, so it can prevent you from taking a picture in a low-light situation. In fact, in marginal conditions the TC can cut out so much light that the AF refuses to focus.
My experience with the 2.0 TC + 90 was VERY slightly better: under some conditions, cropping or digital zooming really could not give quite the image quality the TC did; close, but not quite. But even with the 2.0 TC, considering all the tradeoffs of cost, hassle to install, low-light, plus one more item to carry on your trip, made the TC a bad idea.
There's no free lunch. That's why there's the Tamron 70-300, and the DA* 60-250. And large camera bags.
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Forum: Sold Items
01-09-2011, 11:05 AM
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PM sent, for trade with DA 12-24.
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Forum: Sold Items
01-08-2011, 02:02 PM
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PM's answered. K-7 is still available.
---------- Post added 01-08-11 at 07:34 PM ----------
Sale is pending. Will move this to SOLD status as soon as payment has been received.
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Forum: Sold Items
01-08-2011, 11:02 AM
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Dropped price $40, added option for 8GB SDHC.
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Forum: Sold Items
01-07-2011, 04:25 PM
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PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing
Item for Sale
K-7 BODY, excellent, free shipping
Asking Price: $610, or $640 with SanDisk 8GB Extreme III Class 6 SDHC.
Item Location: Oregon, USA
Item Description
Everything in the box: K-7 body, Pentax battery, charger, manual, CD, strap, cables, etc. Firmware 1.03.00.22 installed, shutter count 11,328, never any problems. Reason for selling the K-7: got K-5, which is nice but not $800 better.
Are you the original owner of the item being sold? Yes
Are you selling or trading this item? Selling. Would consider trade for DA 18-135 F3.5-5.6 WR.
Item Condition (Key)
Excellent. Would be "Like New" except very slight scratches on monitor. (If you look hard you can see it in the Back photo, below "MF".)
Shipping Destinations: United States, except AK, HA
Shipping Charge: Price includes UPS Ground shipping (typically less than a week), insured, to anywhere in US 48 states. Other methods at actual cost. (Will not ship outside US.)
Shipping Services: UPS, USPS, FedEx
Accepted Payment Types: PayPal
Return Policy & Additional Details: Satisfaction guaranteed: if you encounter any problems within 10 days, I will refund the price.
Please respond via private message.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-31-2010, 06:06 PM
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Using Tim Jackson's chart version 2.00 with the K-5, I got -6 for the DA 35 Ltd, -1 for the DA 55-300 at 260mm, and like you, found the 12-24 right on the button at 19mm. My Tamron 90 macro was -5.
I was very pleased how quickly all four lenses locked into focus, much faster than the K-7, and no hunting. Just a note: I have the focus set to center spot.
So true, you do need to be precise unless you enjoy wasting a whole lot of time. Suggestion: set the aperture to the widest the lens will allow, thus making the depth of field as short as possible and making out-of-focus areas stand out.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-29-2010, 11:04 PM
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Nope, no stains. Serial # is 390xxxx, firmware 1.01, purchased from Eugene, Oregon Shutterbug store on 12/29. :D
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-28-2010, 07:24 PM
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Since the shutter count was zero, that means neither Pentax nor B&H had checked for stains, right? Interesting...
Or is there some decent way to check for stains without taking a picture??
And, is there any way to look at the shutter count on the camera (without taking a picture, copying it to a computer, and inspecting the EXIF)?
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Forum: Ask B&H Photo!
11-27-2010, 03:12 PM
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I've downloaded the Trial version of Apple's Aperture 3.1, the most-recent version, (600MB) from Apple's website. After testing it, I'm impressed, and ready to purchase a full version from B&H.
For obvious reasons, I do not want to purchase the boxed (clearly buggy 3.0) version and then have no choice but to download another 600MB over my dialup connection in order to get the 3.1 update. So my question is, if I purchase the "Aperture 3" package from B&H, would there be any problem using only the serial number that comes with it, ignore the 3.0 DVD in the box, and register my existing 3.1 trial, thus converting it into a Full version? Is there a "gotcha" I'm missing here?
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Forum: Site Suggestions and Help
10-07-2010, 08:19 PM
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Last few months, I've been running a utility called Little Snitch on the Macs I use. It's a great piece of work: it watches your internet connection; when ANY application receives (or sends) any packet from/to any internet address, it asks you whether you want to allow the request to proceed. (It keeps a record of your permissions, so it only asks about a given domain once.)
It's truly astounding how many sites request URLs from totally unrelated sites, particularly Google. Little Snitch is a stroke of genius, if only because you can turn off almost all ads of ANY KIND, not merely the images. You can also turn off those obnoxious Google maps that so many websites want to call up, which take MINUTES to load over an analog connection! You can also refuse to let Google download the most-recent version of GoogleTools, which is a multi-megabyte affair.
It's also surprising how many applications other than your web browser and your email program end up setting up sockets to send or receive info. For example, besides my web browsers, there's always a DNS responder (presumably does nothing but call up my internet provider to resolve domain names.) There's also something that calls up Apple from time to time, and tells Apple my "settings", whatever that means. And of course there's Adobe, trying to call home to be sure my copy of Photoshop is legit. (It is, but I hate it that PS checks.) Little Snitch tells me right now that a grand total of 31 applications have requested a connection since I got this Macbook Pro back in May.
Anyway, the reason I mention Little Snitch now, is that sometimes "PentaxForums.com" shows up on the list of running applications with a socket. That's unusual, but the extremely weird part is, this can happen even when I have not navigated to the Pentax Forums site since I launched my web browser! In the browser, there is NO clue whatsoever that this is going on -- no spinning beach ball, no indication that any resources are loading into the browser. (They're not.)
I tend to think that this behavior (a stand-alone app specifically for PentaxForums.com) is unique among all the websites I visit, but to be honest, I have not checked Little Snitch all that often, and I don't really get around to all that many websites anyway (other than ones that I have designed myself. ;)
So my question for you, Adam, is: can you think of any code of any sort that might stay running and requesting packets, apparently independent of the web browser application itself? Is it some kind of stand-alone Java? Is it something to do with Push technology? (I have Adobe Flash disabled, so it's not that.) Or is it a separate thread (CPU thread, not a forum "thread") set up by the browser specifically for the PentaxForums site (i.e. even when no PentaxForums tab is open?)
If you can think of what it might be, is there any way to turn it off?
Your expert opinion would be welcome.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-13-2010, 02:48 PM
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A firmware upgrade might not be an option -- that sort of low-level image processing might be done in hardware by a separate chip which has only two or three rates available. If so, there would be no way to add it via firmware.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-02-2010, 05:04 PM
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