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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-31-2020, 05:24 PM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-11-2016, 06:42 AM
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I have made "settings" mistakes on several occasions which is a sure fire way to learn your camera! I think though that my not firing issue is limited to my DA* lenses. The DA* 50-135 has never worked and my DA*300 "sometimes just finds focus and won't fire. When I switch to my non DA* lenses everything is fine. Well, most everything is fine... the photographer is still error prone.. ;-)
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Forum: Pentax KP
03-03-2018, 07:48 PM
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Love your story Helen Jo.... you're kinda a Pentax GodMother... ;-) Hope you have many years enjoying your new Pentax. There are sooo many wonderful and helpful members on the forum. There are also some fantastic women photographers. I'll mention my favorite so that you might take a look at her work. She really is amazing. Her name is Keitha McCall Tell Us About Your Photo, Keitha McCall - Columns | PentaxForums.com
As a fairly old guy I love to see young photographers grow and refine their talent. Keitha has a lot of talent! Enjoy the Pentax Forum and happy shooting!
Bob
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-14-2018, 06:14 AM
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Not much to see here it seems. Nice adjustments to a nice camera but until Ricoh gets auto focus that competes with Nikon/Canon I'll stick with my K3ll. Would love a Pentax full frame but it has to do a lot better with autofocus.....
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-04-2018, 06:05 AM
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Beautiful bird and photograph!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-03-2018, 09:00 PM
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
08-02-2017, 06:02 AM
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K3, 6400 iso, 10mm, 2.8, 44 sec exposure. Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. Wife said "you should frame that"!! ;-)
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Forum: Pentax Q
04-26-2017, 06:39 AM
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Well, I guess I'm learning that often "many" shots are taken and few are chosen... I'm learning to use my Sigma 500mm, 4.5 and its very hard to get sharp shots like I see posted from the folks on the 300mm thread. Lots of tricks and techniques to learn but you post a lot of good stuff. ;-) Bob
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-07-2017, 08:19 PM
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I'm hoping that I can get some recommendations here or suggestions of another thread on the forum for answers. This past year I've purchased both a Sigma 300mm 2.8 and Sigma 500mm 4.5 from forum members and both lens appear to be in near mint condition. My first goal in getting back into photography after 25 years away from SLR photography is to photograph birds. This 300mm thread has been a wonderful learning experience about technique and tools which is why I chose these two particular lenses. A number of outstanding photographers here use these two lenses and produce some of the most beautiful, razor sharp photographs. I have a K3 and a K3ll and am still in the learning curve of digital photography but am getting some of the basics sorted out. The 500mm lens is reasonably sharp but I suspect isn't 100% matching up with the camera body to give really sharp pictures but its close enough that it might just be my limitations. The pictures I see posted here often are so sharp as to be nearly unbelievable. I know that this is a combination of all the gear operating at its best as well as great skill of the photographer. I'm probably a long way from that level of ability so the 500mm lens might be tack sharp and I'm not. The 300mm, 2.8 though is way off. I've struggled trying to do fine focus in camera adjustments in my home at a distance of 25 feet using a meter scale at a 45 degree angle. Once I get the lens adjusted I can go outside (where it is very cold this time of year) and shoot objects like wooden fences and roof parts that are 15 to 30 feet away and the lens seems pretty sharp. When I drive to the local river where there is no ice I can shoot Mallards from 50 to 60 feet away (makes them pretty small) and when I enlarge the pics on the back of the camera they are ALL way out of focus. I've been fiddling with this for a week now and am nearly burned out and am hoping someone can point me to an exact method of adjusting big telephoto lenses. Anybody have any ideas? Anybody in the US that can do this precisely?
Thanks, Bob
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-08-2017, 09:02 AM
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Hi Jacamar,
I have made up similar charts and read lots of recommendations on the forum for AF fine adjustment. In fact I've done it several times with the Sigma 300mm, 2.8. The recommendations are to set the focus charts up a distance of 30 to 50 times the focal length of the lens. At 40 times the distance of the 300mm is nearly 40 feet away. Not only do I not have a clear shot of 40 feet inside my house, at that distance those fine lines are nearly impossible to define with the 300mm lens which is why I used a distance of 25 feet which is a more likely distance for me to be shooting small birds. I think I got the lens pretty close to being in focus and when taken outside and taking pictures at that distance everything looks pretty good but then if I turn around and shoot ducks at 60 feet everything is out of focus. I don't know if its me and poor technique or a damaged lens. I'd love to drop it of with an expert who could sort it out.
Thanks again for responding, Bob
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-08-2017, 07:02 AM
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Thanks rkappleby, I did take the plunge and purchase the Wimberley gimbal for my heavy manfrotto tripod and it is quite nice with the 500mm f4.5. I use it when I'm trying to fine focus the 300mm, 2.8 Sigma. Using the 300mm and 500mm lately has been from my car as its just too darn cold and slippery with ice and snow. I put a piece of pipe insulation on the top edge of the window and rest the lens on that. Quite stable actually, and the 500mm works fine in this case but the 300mm is still missing most to all shots with everything out of focus. If I hand hold it at home and shoot 15 to 30 feet shots I get sharp focus but far away all blur. Maybe the thing is damaged or something. Anyway, it is very frustrating as there are no photography shops or Pentax users anywhere near where I live and I've invested a ton of money to be able to take bird pictures and its looking like it simply isn't going to be possible. I may see if I can send both Sigma lenses and both of my K3's to Sigma to do a complete recalibration of the lenses and adjust them to my camera bodies. Don't know what else to do.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-01-2017, 06:53 AM
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I can almost see the silhouette of your car in the eye of the blackbird!! Now thats sharp.... ;-)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-29-2016, 10:27 AM
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Wow! Beautiful picture of a pissed off bird! ;-)
---------- Post added 12-29-16 at 11:41 AM ----------
Nice picture of a woodpecker I've never seen. However, the ornithologists have chosen a not so obvious name for some unknown reason. I bet we could give it a more obvious name like Red Rumped something or other... When you do your bird photography book "Shooting Birds from My Car" or "Drive by Shooting" maybe you could also come up with interesting bird names? We could all come up with suggestions ;-)
---------- Post added 12-29-16 at 11:44 AM ----------
Ken, your pictures with the Sigma 500mm 4.5 are razor sharp as usual. Did this lens shoot this sharp right out of the box or did you need to do a little in camera adjusting?
Thanks
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-20-2016, 10:07 AM
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Hope you end up with the lens you want at the sale price. I thought I'd mention that I have done repeated business with both B&H and Adorama and they both are excellent. I have no problem recommending both businesses.
Good luck, Bob
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-02-2016, 12:19 PM
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DITTO for what BlackTalon said... Adam does a lot of work helping us find the best deals on gear. This year is a little ho hum but maybe some nice deals will pop up closer the Christmas.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
12-01-2016, 07:13 AM
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That is an absolutely beautiful bird Gary... I've never seen one before and so much sun for November!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-10-2016, 06:13 PM
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I'd skip the DA 50-135... I bought one new from B&H last year and it failed within a week. I sent it back and they sent me a new one which lasted about three weeks before it also stopped focusing. Haven't used it since. DA focus motor systems are failure prone. My DA 300 is generally good but it also struggles to focus on occasions. When I can afford the new series of zooms for the K1 I'll buy them for my K3's because they WORK!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-14-2016, 06:59 AM
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Noel, you made me laugh out loud!! ;-) Kind of the way I felt last evening while standing in the dark in the middle of a road with 500mm on tripod trying to set up camera and lens without flashlight... :-/
Bob
---------- Post added 11-14-16 at 08:02 AM ----------
WOW! fine piece of art that is....
---------- Post added 11-14-16 at 08:26 AM ----------
Well Gary, there are soooo many very good photographers on this forum and particularly in this 300mm thread but there are three or four who have one way or another figured it all out and consistently get outstanding pictures. It is wonderful for the rest of us to see these works as they give us examples of how good it can be along with hints of what it takes. Your pictures hit all the composition buttons but also have perfect exposure and near studio like setting and lighting. Your backgrounds are creamy, smooth and uncluttered so that everything is about the bird. I I guess what I'd like to know is how do you find birds consistently posing perfectly in the right location? If you had a blind I could imagine it happening maybe frequently but you're in a car. Speaking of the car, I have this American vision of an English guy cruising around in a late 60's Bentley wearing a nice wool tweed jacket and smoking a pipe while doing all of this! ;-) (I watch too much BBC TV) Oh, and the titles for your birding photography book could be "Shooting Birds from a car" or simply "Drive by Shooting" which would sell well in some parts! ;-) Best regards, Bob
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-13-2016, 07:29 AM
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If Gary were to do an online course on bird photography I'd sign up and pay for it in a heart beat. His pictures are beyond amazing, almost impossible it sometimes seems. At least Gary could write up a book on bird photography techniques... I can think of a couple great titles, it would sell millions!! ;-)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-12-2016, 08:17 AM
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Thank you Clackers, of course you are right and I have had contact with the conversion guru "UncleVanya" and will likely have him fix the mess but I haven't cooled down enough yet from getting taken by Ricoh for $2,000 for premium lenses that are faulty. I know, I have some "issues" about all of this but thats just me. Thankfully, I found this wonderful Forum three years ago along with its great, helpful members. Both lenses are fine optical designs and I don't mind the screw drive sounds at all so it will all work out in the end except... OK, I'm taking deep breaths.... think I need to go take some pictures ;-)
Bob
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-09-2016, 06:13 PM
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Just amazing photographs..... now for a picture of GC "scoping" from his car... ;-)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
06-04-2016, 10:48 AM
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Please do post lots with different lenses. In addition to being beautiful it will be a great lesson to many of us about the photographic characteristics of each lens on the same subject. AND......you can convert/infect others with LBA addiction and thus feel better about getting yet more lenses... ;-) Me, I'm already infected and enjoy your pics.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
03-01-2016, 07:03 PM
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Well....... it's "your" fault Kath! I gave in this morning and ordered the Wimberey.... the guy at B&H also said that it was the "one to get". Now I have to cover it some how so people won't I'm some kind of expert photographer! ;-) I've found that when you cary around the best gear that people think you know what you're doing at least that happened to me many times amongst birders. Anyway, I am looking forward to getting it and mounting it on a tripod and getting some experience with the 500mm. Hopefully then I will start to get some sharper shots. Now if the temps would just start to warm a little and the ducks would begin heading north.... ;-)
---------- Post added 03-01-16 at 08:07 PM ----------
You know, I never have given that a thought. I even have a tilt/pan head on my big Manfrottto / Bogen tripod that I've used for a spotting scope but never gave it a thought. Everybody says gimbal so now I'll be able to try both and see how they compare. Thanks for the suggestion. Every little tool and technique might help... ;-)
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Forum: Pentax K-30 & K-50
03-01-2016, 07:10 PM
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Just tell them the red camera is the camera for crazy pictures! They may just give some crazy poses........ :-0
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-23-2016, 04:39 PM
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Alan, your shots are simply stunning! The bird on the post seems three dimensional. Just amazing. Couldn't you post one or two really lousy shots to give us some hope? ...... ;-)
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