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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
3 Days Ago
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Actually, might be a crossover movie - The Chuckinator.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
4 Days Ago
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Generally AI is used to generate images of humans, but in this case a human generated an image of an AI.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-10-2024, 03:19 PM
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I misread this at first, and thought you wrote 'It was in my house...' :)
I've had starlings, blackbirds, the odd sparrow, and fantails end up inside at various times, but having a kererū inside would certainly be pretty novel.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
03-31-2024, 02:21 AM
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Another one to try if you have a RAW file, is DxO PhotoLab (Ultimate Edition), and it's DeepPrime or DeepPrime XD noise reduction. It's slow, but quite impressive with it's noise reduction. DxO allow a 30 day trial, so you can see if it does what you need.
It's slow, but my experience is that it's really effective.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
03-22-2024, 07:59 PM
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A politician perhaps? Lots of words and no action.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
03-17-2024, 11:43 PM
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Should have yelled out. I could have maybe put a face to a name. I was off on a wild kitten chase (with even less success than a wild goose chase - I've actually caught one of them once), with my daughter Sunday afternoon.
While the kitten we saw yesterday, as expected put in no show today, I did take the camera, and the dog got a good walk.
It's been extremely dry here, so I haven't seen much water about in a while, but I found somewhere new for dog and human walking I hadn't been to before that I thought was quite scenic. It did involve a wee bit of a drive, but it was so nice to hear running water again.
I took my Sigma 17-70 for an outing for the first time in ages. I'd acquired a Pentax DA 16-85WR that I thought would become my walk-around lens, but in spite of WR, quick-shift and a useful zoom range, it's the most disappointing lens I've ever bought. It's really soft at the edges unless stopped down to f/11. I haven't tried the DA18-135 which I thought had those sort of issues, but I thought the 16-85 was meant to be better, however my copy definitely isn't.
I was hoping for D-FA 28-105 type quality, as that's a great lens, just not really wide enough on APS-C, and I thought the 16-85 was the APS-C equivalent, as it's a fairly expensive lens, but my copy at least, is extremely disappointing.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-29-2024, 08:59 PM
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Welcome. That's some good gear to start with. An M 100mm might be a useful addition, also, if you want flexibility without having to change lens, a 35-70 zoom is worth having. They don't have as wide an aperture as a prime, but do have good image quality for a zoom, and should be easy to find at a reasonable price.
I happen to have visited Joinville, and you have some interesting photographic opportunities. I remember getting some dirty looks at the yacht club many years ago, as I think it tends to be for rich people, and they didn't really like stray people photographing their yachts. Here in New Zealand, going to the marina and photographing boats coming and going is no problem, but in Brazil, the attitude seems a bit different.
If my memory serves me, you've got a variety of cityscapes, forest, coastline, so there's no shortage of photographic subjects.
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Forum: General Photography
02-25-2024, 12:50 PM
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I work for myself, so income can be unpredictable. When things are going well, I invest in gear if there's something I want, although I have lenses that cover me now from 10mm - 500mm (with varying image quality and weather sealing) so I don't NEED anything more.
The one other essential photography tools I have are a bike, my computer and a good pair of hiking boots.
My computer I need for work, so I'd have it whether I did photography or not.
Apart from camera gear, the other major expense I've found in relation to photography is travel, but a bike costs nothing to run day to day, and it's a lot more convenient than a car for photography as you can stop if a photographic opportunity presents itself in a lot more places than a car.
My wife has occasionally tried to convince me to go to the gym, but I have a camera and a bike, so I have all I need to get exercise with no ongoing expense, and I get to make art while I'm at it.
Digital photography can be an expensive hobby to get into, but once you've got your gear, it's certainly got to be one of the most affordable in terms of ongoing costs.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-26-2024, 02:25 AM
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I promised my daughter we'd go and stay in a DOC hut these school holidays. We finally got to do it this week. Of course I wouldn't go without taking a camera.
We intend to go back as there are two more huts within easy walking distance of where we stayed that we didn't get to because the weather was a bit iffy. Last time I was here was about 28 years ago.
I decided that I rather like the monochrome treatment.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-25-2024, 12:00 PM
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Ansel Adams might disagree.
At least digital post processing tends to be a lot cheaper than a lot of darkroom gear and chemicals.
I'd agree though that post processing shouldn't be seen as some sort of panacea to fix bad camera technique, rather it should compliment good camera technique when the camera alone can't deliver what you want.
In camera image processing even in an expensive camera doesn't improve over time, and a new camera is an even greater expense, however software can advance more quickly and more cheaply than hardware, so I can revisit images captured on an older camera and get results from them with software that simply weren't possible in camera at the time, but might be possible with a new (and very expensive) camera.
A new camera can't revisit the past, but new software can.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-13-2023, 06:26 PM
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Aren't all Pentax bodies 'vintage inspired' now, as the only ones sticking to DSLRs? Maybe a nice real or faux leather case like the old Spotmatics would be even more 'vintage inspired' ?
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Forum: General Photography
12-30-2023, 12:18 PM
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I used to be like that with Instagram, but I've largely given up on big social media. I've found the same with club photography. Initially it was helpful to learn to self-critique, but it got to the point that judge's critiques were so subjective that I realised I wasn't making photos to please me any more.
The monthly official themed competitions here are something I guess I should have a go at more. Themes are a good way to get out of your comfort zone and try something different, but on here, they're not too obsessive and are fairly democratic, rather than one person giving a highly opinionated assessment of an image.
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 12:49 PM
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I think something I need to get out of my head is the idea that I need to go somewhere to take photos.
I like going on hikes to remote locations to photograph landscapes and natural history, but there's a lot of subject matter without walking out the gate.
Apart from photography, gardening is one of my other interests, and I live on a quarter acre(1100m square) property where the house doesn't take up much of it.
I'm bit of a greenie I guess, so not much in the way of pesticides get used, so there's plenty of biodiversity in my back yard.
I actually got out with my D-FA 100/2.8 macro recently, and made a very pleasing image of a bean flower, and it left me thinking why had I never noticed how attractive vegetables can be before.
Apart from photographing stuff in situ, I could also try a bit of still life. I know shadowy painterly looking fruit bowls are a bit cliched, but I have the fruit, yet I don't think I've ever made an arty fruit bowl image.
The other thing I think I need to do more of is portraits. I have all the gear I need to make good portraits, but I tend to do more landscapes, because I don't have to ask them to cooperate, whereas I always feel a bit nervous about interacting with people, although I can actually do it quite well if I get over my anxiety.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
12-24-2023, 05:39 PM
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Happy Christmas everyone.
It wasn't just the two legged inhabitants of our home enjoying Christmas dinner. I prefer my meat dead and cooked though. ;)
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
12-14-2023, 01:56 AM
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I think this might be my most satisfying photo of the year.
I walk the dog most days along the riverbank a couple of km from home, and one day she found her way down through some fennel to a section of river that I'd not realised was accessible, and thought it was quite photogenic.
I took some photos that I thought were quite nice, but there were a lot of distracting dead sticks in the image caught up as driftwood on the river bank, and I didn't want to clone them out in Photoshop, as I thought that wouldn't be authentic, so I went back the next day with a pair of secateurs, and spent some time moving any loose distractions out of the way, a new technique I'll refer to as photochop.
In the process, I slipped on the wet rocks, and ended up sitting down up to my waist in the middle of the river.
Fortunately my camera was on the bank on a tripod.
The end result was what I'd originally imagined, and I had the bonus of making the return expedition in the morning when some flecks of light came through the trees and lit up the water.
It was a crazy amount of effort to walk away with one photo I'm happy with, but I feel it was worth it.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
12-12-2023, 02:58 AM
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
11-27-2023, 09:54 PM
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Part of a little known Pentax test programme that didn't quite work out, not just weather sealed, dishwasher friendly, except someone put the wrong detergent in the dishwasher.
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Forum: Pentax K-70 & KF
11-30-2023, 02:26 AM
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I have a K-70 and the older DA 55-300 because I got it used at a good price. The PLM version is definitely meant to be better, but I know it is possible to get decent wildlife images with the older version, just it's harder, so might be frustrating for a 7 year old.
My daughter is 12 now and uses my old K-x and has done since she was about 4. For the last 3 years for hiking I've taken a D-FA 28-105. It's a full frame lens, but it was going cheap, (as in 1/3 the price I could get a DA 16-85 for), and I've found it's served well. It's not quite as wide as I'd like for landscapes, but I've managed to get some nice landscapes with it all the same, and the extra reach at the long end is useful if you're only carrying one lens.
I've used it for some fungi and plants, but obviously it's too short for birds unless they're large or really close. (That has happened on occasion, and I've had some great images on the rare occasion it did.)
The 55-300 in its various forms is a bit long to rely on as an only lens for landscapes, but the kit 18-55 is light, and actually not too bad if it's stopped down a bit and you get a third party lens hood (assuming you have the D-AL kit version which lacks quick shift and a lens hood.)
I recently acquired a DA 16-85 with the express intent to use it as a hiking lens, but haven't had a chance to put it through its paces yet, to compare with the 28-105. By rights it should be preferable on a K-70, but I don't know if I'll miss the 20mm extra reach on the long end.
If you want to go hiking and travel light, it's a tough choice if you're interested in a broad range of subjects.
My natural history kit now is actually two cameras. I take the K-70 with a 55-300 on it for birds and the like, and I have an Olympus TG-6 for macro. It's tiny and fits in my pocket. The image quality of the TG-6 is much inferior as it's got a tiny sensor, but I'm not going to do giant prints of macro images, so it's good enough, and it's waterproof so I can take photos of fish and invertebrates in streams. It actually does a fairly decent job of macro photography.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
11-29-2023, 02:17 AM
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Scary. I'm not sure if it's called a senior moment. I'm too young to be a senior! I just had to ask my daughter the lock screen code on the tablet that I put on to keep her out, because she figured it out in a moment, and I'd forgotten it because I haven't used the tablet in ages. :o
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Forum: General Photography
11-30-2023, 01:42 AM
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82% of all the images this year I made between 18-100mm 35mm equivalent, so 12-66 APS-C, although that was split between a compact Olympus TG-6 and the K-70, hence using 35mm equivalent. What really surprised me is that I shot twice as many images on the TG-6 as the K-70 although the K-70 has much better image quality. One of the reasons I think is because I'm really into natural history and macro, and although the D-FA 100/2.8 produces much better macro images than the TG-6, often that requires carrying a ring flash, which makes for a lot of bulk, whereas the TG-6 with flash diffuser attached fits in my pocket, and it still does better macro than my phone.
When I look at just the K-70, the focal length distribution is different to overall, with a whole 14% at 450mm equivalent ie 300mm APS-C, but still UWA-WA my preferred focal lengths, although the DA 55-300 was my most used lens overall, which is a big change from the previous two years when the D-FA 28-105 was my most used lens, although mostly at 28mm all years as I didn't have a wider WR zoom. Landscape was my favourite subject, with the K-70 with my dog and daughter coming in next, but a good way behind.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
11-15-2023, 10:56 PM
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When performing on a floating stage, always keep a towel handy, just in case.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-23-2023, 01:08 PM
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Here's another from me, that's not easy, nor probably recommended to try to replicate.
It's a multiple exposure taken from on top of a hill during a large earthquake. I can't remember, I might even have had the camera on a tripod, but if I did, it didn't help prevent camera shake. :D
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
11-23-2023, 12:10 PM
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Tempting, but I need to earn some money. You'll know how my Saturday goes if I put in a bid.
I've got a stall with the local art society and I'll be attempting to sell some of my artistic creations including photography. Obviously a camera becomes a depreciable asset if it's used to generate revenue.
Here's another of my hand coloured cyanotypes. I don't know if there's a market for this kind of thing, but I'll find out tomorrow.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-22-2023, 12:42 AM
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Here's one from me:
I stopped down to f22 late in the afternoon not long before sunset, set the self-timer to 2 seconds, and then started swinging the camera around by its strap. I had a 35mm prime on so that I didn't have a big heavy lens unbalancing the camera causing it to point at the ground.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-17-2023, 03:54 AM
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Welcome in advance to NZ. Ironically my wife is visiting Japan in January, and I asked amongst Kiwi (what New Zealanders call themselves, not the fruit!) Pentaxians the same question, and got a similar answer.
In the end I picked up the lens I really wanted online here in NZ second hand; A DA 16-85/3.5-5.6 ED DC WR.
If you can pick up a used copy in Japan, by all accounts they're the best general purpose zoom for Pentax APS-C bodies. If you don't mind a lens that loses a bit of sharpness compared to the 16-85, the DA 18-135 would be another one to look out for used.
It's not as wide as the 16-85, but is longer at the zoom end.
With either of these, you could probably travel with just the one lens. NZ does have some quite big, wide open landscapes, so having a lens that can go quite wide is handy.
I'm into hiking, and dragging multiple lenses up a mountain (or two), can be a bit uncomfortable, so I figured if only take one lens it would make things easier.
The 16-85 is a lot heaver than the 18-55 and it's not really long enough for wildlife (in NZ that's mostly birds, as there are no native land mammals), but it would be more compact than bringing the 18-55 and the 55-300 together.
If you're not fussed about wildlife, then if your daughter can find a used copy of either of the lenses mentioned, that could be worthwhile for your travels.
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