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Forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive
02-05-2024, 12:06 PM
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Gosh I miss that lens...real deal!
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Forum: Sold Items
11-16-2023, 03:10 PM
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Thanks, and agreed. I turned down a trade offer...That sexy and somewhat rare silver model should have disappeared...oh well, I'll keep waiting. Price seems reasonable since it includes shipping/insurance and PayPal fees...
K5 sensor is really impressive. Editors seem to like the images it produces...
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Forum: Sold Items
10-09-2023, 12:30 PM
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bump with price reduction
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Forum: Sold Items
08-26-2023, 09:59 AM
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Forum: General Photography
09-05-2023, 09:30 AM
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There are lots of gloves that will keep you warm...but will those gloves let you operate your camera? From my experience, most won't let your fingers be nimble enough. But now for the past 15 years or so, I've been thrilled beyond words with the Black Diamond Glove Liners--Midweight Screentap Gloves. I have pairs in my various photo kits, pairs in my truck, pairs in my boat, pairs stuffed in pockets of my various coats...best glove for both usability with little camera buttons and for warmth. As liners, they are slim enough to fit into whatever heavier outer glove shell you already own during those down moments when you don't need nimble fingers.
I live in the North and recreate outdoors almost daily year-round. These gloves are the absolute best for handling equipment in the cold.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
06-12-2023, 03:30 PM
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Mr. 77 isn't big...
It's delicious!
Yeah, yeah, wide open yada yada. Stop him down to f16 and amaze yourself! Shoot some mixed natural floral colors...reds, greens, whites, tans...pseudo macro stuff is a strength of this lens. The intimate landscape stuff...it was originally designed for fashion photo work so really seems to like portrait distances and subtle differences in hues...
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-29-2023, 01:24 PM
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MZ-S with its modern whir...less clunk. Maybe it's the sound of the scribes engraving the shooting data on the edge of each frame?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-17-2023, 12:15 PM
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As a star lens Fan Boy I've owned:
M* for K mount
M* for 67--multiple
A* for K mount--multiple
FA* for K mount--numerous
None of the DA* or DFA* hummm...
For several decades the star was/is the designation for Pro quality lenses--noting that what is considered "pro quality" varies a bit from one decade to the next. And as mentioned by others, not all star lenses measured up with the FA*24/2 being one in particular that struggled to shoot an acceptable image. My copy was pitiful on film and I only kept it for a couple wasted rolls. However the FA* 80-200/2.8 was the market-topper with better resolution (3rd party tests) than all the other brands and got even more sharp as you zoomed toward 200mm which no other brand of 80-200's could do. I still shoot this one rather than the modern * zoom.
For the OP, what the letters are in front of the star really just indicates the era of the lens. M* is older, like '80's vintage. A* is late '80's into the '90's. FA* is '90's into early '00's and both DA* and DFA* are what an old feller like me calls late-models. The star means it's a pro quality lens for the era
Limiteds have been well described by other posters. But I have to comment on the original 3 Amigos--the first 3 Limited lenses (31, 43 and 77 MIJ with colored pouches) were designed by a long-time Pentax engineer and were designed specifically for the unique rendering. Unique coatings too, rather than standard SMC. Many have forgotten that the 77 was designed for fashion photography and rendering of both textures and colors, flesh tones too. I think I still have the original Pentax press releases for each of the 3 Amigos and I still love shooting all three of them! Call it pixie dust, micro-contrast, unique rendering or whatever, they do phenomenal work. They are also typically reviewed positively for their performance wide open. I personally think that where they shine the most notably is when stopped down into the f.11 and f. 16 world, but that's where I hang out most often so I'm biased.
And finally, just because a Pentax lens has no * or Ltd. designation doesn't mean it's just a pedestrian consumer lens. There are some real dandy "plain-jane" lenses in the Pentax archives. The now old-school FA 20-35/4 is a full-frame killer of a lens that has produced numerous published images for me. I'm on a freelance blogging contract for a multi-brand manufacturer of outdoor products and have surprised myself with really nice product photos using the 20-35/4...definitely NOT what the lens was designed for, but it works really well for that purpose as well as the expected wide ish outdoor action shots. Pretty much every one of us on the forum has one or two of these non-pro lenses that we love just as much as a * or Ltd. lens.
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
12-29-2022, 04:49 PM
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Agree with Chris, the sounds that flash generates are from the zoom mechanism and it's surprisingly loud on that flash.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-07-2022, 05:26 PM
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What a fun and fine lens! Mine made the Alaska trip a couple times before I sold it to a forum member in Alberta Canada. The 10-foot minimum focus distance is crazy!
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-07-2022, 10:07 AM
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I use the Irix 150 Macro in my "big kit" and the Pentax 100 Macro in my small field kit. Sorry for your budget.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
11-16-2022, 09:41 AM
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Ricoh dropped the silver macro for U.S. market at 9:06 and I was slow...didn't get my receipt until 9:13. Mountain Time
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-15-2022, 12:57 PM
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For years I let the published MTF figures sway me away from the 20-40...Broke down and bought a minty copy in silver last month and I wish I had done it sooner! Mostly using it for photojournalism stuff and have sold perhaps half a dozen images from it already. Sure, pedestrian journalism stuff--not fine art--but editors...even paid-blog editors...are famously picky about images and the 20-40 has done a fine job both for people subjects and boring product shots too. It sure looks nice on the silver K3 and K5 bodies...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-31-2022, 01:20 PM
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Have the trio and like all of them very much! You'll be happy as heck with any of the three. Mostly these have all been backups to other fun lenses but...
Now that the 20-40 sells for such a cheap price on the used market I have to steer you that way. Recently got the silver 20-40 in as close to actual mint condition as is realistic on the used market for $381 including shipping and insurance from Japan to U.S. Had a couple published (paid) images from it the first 30 days and it's now on it's own dedicated K3 premium silver edition from another forum member's Canadian kit. So in my kit, the 20-40 has won the debate all while being one of the cheapest lenses in the kit. (other lenses were mostly purchased at new price).
Note that most of my walk-around is actually boat-around so the zoom helps a bit with constrained space. Also, the small/tiny hood doesn't block on-board flash which can be a problem on other lenses (FA 20-35 for example, another darn fine walk-around lens).
When actually walking around I pretty much never have just one lens. The Limited series are so tiny that they fit in a pocket so you can carry a couple without carrying a bag or wearing a vest. But what's on the camera? For me and for now 20-40.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
01-12-2022, 08:45 AM
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Hundreds or thousands is much different than hundreds of thousands! Now it sounds more like fun than the heavy chore I was envisioning.
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
01-08-2022, 10:57 AM
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Woo hoo! Rare "get", glad some of my discussion in the reviews helped in some small way! The extension tube was the solution for me on the crop sensor.
A system like this is the only way I could envision a "hundred thousand" image copy session. Be careful to retain the Kodachrome color palette if possible. Your digital settings will almost certainly alter the colors and I'm not sure that shooting RAW and batch processing will prove to work well since color cast in the images will vary depending not only on the film but on the light conditions when the originals were shot. To work with hundreds of thousands of images means trying to individually "massage" each image as a RAW capture would require decades of your time! Experiment a bit with the neutral Kelvin settings which could retain atmospheric conditions--like sunsets--in the originals without too much change.
Good luck with your project!
Additionally, you seem to be planning for the highest resolution RAW files you can possibly get on all the copies. Since max resolution would likely only be of value for images selling to a publisher or for extremely large prints, I can't believe that even a tiny fraction of those hundreds of thousands of images would merit such treatment. I'd copy the 200 or so images that might be sale-worthy with large RAW files if you are so inclined but with various film emulsions all shot presumably in differing natural light you will not be able to batch process for color cast. This makes adjusting for color cast while shooting the far better option to save you a few decades of post processing time. And note that though I'm not a true professional photographer I have sold more than 1000 images for publication including full page glossy images and cover photos and I'm 'fessing up here--I'VE NEVER SHOT A RAW IMAGE NOR POST PROCESSED A SINGLE RAW IMAGE. I've sold 30x40" prints for several thousand dollars and shoot primarily for support materials for my articles and books and nowadays paid blog content and I've never been able to come up with a single reason to even consider shooting RAW. I don't shoot snapshots but all well planned and dialed in JPEG's (I select color rendition through several methods provided in our cams--often through choices like the Reversal Film option or Kelvin scale). Sorry to ignore the truth about RAW offering more range for change, but I'm only interested in saleablility and shooting RAW has absolutely nothing to do with the marketability of images! But though not shooting RAW I go overboard to make in-camera settings work for me...I go so far as to bracket white balance on key images to avoid having to do it in post. But that's my bent. The fun of photography is we all get to choose our own "bent"
---------- Post added 01-08-22 at 11:57 AM ----------
Couldn't resist doing a little math.
150,000 images at one minute per copy equals a year and a quarter of full-time 40 hour work weeks to copy them all. And that's at a blazing one minute per image for the copy and processing.
At a more realistic 3 minutes per image that would be 4 years of copy work at 40 hours a week!
If you don't push and take your time and choose to post process each RAW image and it takes a reasonable 5 minutes per image you are looking at over 6 years of working 40 hours a week!
Probably forced to batch process and lose the individual color cast of each image to ever complete the project?
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Forum: Lens Clubs
02-21-2010, 01:42 PM
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Several thoughts...
Number one--as a favor to all other humans who may be near you on your photo excursions...turn off that blasted beeper on your camera! Can't think of any reason you'd want it...especially not tied to the focus indicator (it's in the function menu on most Pentax cameras).
Second, with "big guns" you should ignore the focus indicators as they'll be blinking in and out all the time. That's because you focus at open aperture which on your 2.8 lens plus the high magnification is a sliver of depth of field measured in millimeters. Those indicators have enough "fluff" that they can't see the eyelashes on a bird--they blink for focus on the beak, then not, then blink focus on the backfeathers, then not then light up on the perch etc. Unless you are using the center point only as a focusing aid then recomposing, you'll find that all subjects other than completely flat ones will blink all over the place as the subject's torso is at different range than the feet and different range than the head etc.
Third, learn to trust your eyes. Focus on the portion of the subject you want sharpest--generally the eyes--and shoot. The camera blinkies for focus aren't pertinent as stated above. Whether or not you are in focus is determined by your eyes when using telephoto lenses. I have owned the A*300/2.8, F*600/4, FA* 300/4.5, SMC 500/4.5 and currently shoot an FA*600/4 and an FA*250-600/5.6 so I speak from considerable experience. Actual wildlife subjects don't make good fodder for autofocus indicators. This is also why autofocus isn't always a great option--and I almost never use autofocus with telephoto lenses. Remember, our camera bodies are Pentax which means we really don't have much autofocus capability anyway. So don't worry over your 400/2.8 being manual focus. It's actually a non-issue.
Fourth, I blow a lot of shots by "hammering" the shutter button causing vibration or wiggle. You'll want to keep the shutter finger "tame".
Fifth, with that heavy and high magnification lens, you are in the "technique zone" where every tiny thing you do is critical for sharp shots. Your tripod is a bit light, but can work with great technique. My first year with the F*600--about 1994--was frustrating as my technique was subpar and my tripod a bit light. I shot very few publishable images that first year. I've sold hundreds since with better shooting technique and a ridiculous and heavy tripod.
Sixth, the body to lens joint has some slop in all camera systems. The amount of slop varies from lens to lens. Try to wiggle your camera body on the back of the lens. Notice how you can pull it down or push it up a millimeter or so? If you shoot with it torqued up, down or all around then all shots will be slightly out of focus--like the shots you've been getting. Pushing the camera into optimum position--meaning flat with the sensor parallel to the plane of focus and parallel to the front element of the lens--is critical. Thus the shooting position pushing against the camera to flatten it into place described by an earlier post.
Seventh, Telephotos don't resolve like fast 50mm lenses. Every shot you make through a telephoto is less sharp than every shot you make through more "ordinary" focal lengths. A $20 used 50mm lens will pretty much always outresolve that several thousand dollar tele. Be careful you don't pixel peep yourself into frustration! In the film days, critical focus for publication quality images was typically analyzed through an 8x loupe. If it stood up to that magnification it was sellable. I often use 8x or 10x on the camera zoom of the LDC screen to "rough" analyze my shots. If it holds up at that magnification, then I can submit it for sale (so it may be worth keeping and post processing). If the subject's eye isn't in focus at 8x, the image is a throw away. Way over 50% of your shots will be throw aways when dealing with moving targets and tight tolerances. I recently had 91 keepers (based on focus) out of 412 bird shots made from a blind with perfect stability etc. An unbelievably high success rate for me. When further edited for composition and comparative excellence for potential sale, less than a dozen were worth keeping. Since I did that in just an hour and 45 minutes, I consider nearly a dozen to be a great session! So don't expect unrealistic success ratios!
Sorry for the novel, I'll save the rest for another day...
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Forum: Pentax Price Watch
12-30-2021, 12:54 PM
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Forum: Sold Items
12-23-2021, 04:18 PM
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Regarding the "lost stop" difference with the 600/4, yes, in the film era it was a really big deal. Trying to shoot 50 or 100 speed films at dawn and dusk, even the 600/4 was quite challenging. Less of a deal with digi. Heck I even shoot an occasional shot at 400. Haven't ever tried to market anything shot at higher ISO than that...oh wait, I've sold a couple for publication at 1600 through the old K5-the noiseless one-but they were technical shots not artistic. Nowadays, a stop ain't much of a deal.
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
12-04-2021, 09:03 AM
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Yes, the dividers work great in the bigger cases. I have one that can fit both my smaller kits but it ends up too big for my near-daily boat trips. Great for cross county drives. And also yes, the reason for posting was to show how much increased capacity I attain with this soft case padding method instead of pick-n-pluck foam or dividers.
---------- Post added 12-04-21 at 09:16 AM ----------
And again, that's part of the reason I posted. With so much interest in how we all carry our gear, I want people to see an alternative designed for how it works during shoots and how it travels. Not suggesting everyone should do as I do, but rather suggesting that dialing in each of our own systems may not follow the usual bag research process.
Seems dangerous to have loose items in the case, but now 30 years of semi-pro photo work with just under 1000 paid published images and what seems like zillions of road, water and air miles without a single scratch. And I'm not easy on equipment (I've rolled down a tundra hill in Alaska with my kit, slid down rock scrum hills in Montana and sat through tremendous deluge rainstorms in Florida...stayed in Inuvialuit whaling camp on the Arctic Ocean eating caribou and beluga whale...my gear has been there!).
Hopefully nobody is confused and thinking my gear travels without cases...the Pentax soft cases are part of the reason this system works at all! The pics without cases was for insurance purposes and to show people what's in the kit. The kits travel and carry and work with everything in the soft cases!
Part of the key is to have the correct depth cases so the typical dimensions of cameras and lenses fit tighly enough that the egg-crate foam under the lid compresses everything. I have to push the lid down VERY hard to latch either kit. The gear is not loose inside at all! The smaller case is a Pelican 1400 and the bigger one is a 1500. Great interior dimensions for tight fit with camera gear.
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
12-03-2021, 02:30 PM
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Took insurance pics last night and figured since bags and packs get the most questions on the forum I'd share my personal solution for field work. Yes, I own several backpacks, a couple sling bags and a couple vests but day-in and day-out I just keep grabbing the Pelican cases of which I have several sizes.
Pretty much only shoot outdoors and in unpaved locations so sand, grit, dirt, snow, moisture and windblown "stuff" are things to avoid. Backpacks carry well--especially when trekking more than a mile. But backpacks aren't so great when trying to actually work...just set that pack in the dirt or snow or wet grass and see! The Peli cases aren't my choice for trekking, but for typical quick jaunts from the vehicle they can't be beat. And they carry like a briefcase for those little half-mile from the vehicle shoots. Set the Peli case on any filthy ground or soaked ground...all is good!
Tight packing and egg-crate lid foam compresses everything so there is no movement, even when some items are removed.
Big Kit is my pro pack:
K3II, 15 Ltd, 21 Ltd, 31 Ltd, 43 Ltd, 77 Ltd, 150 Macro w/Flash Bracket, FA*28-70, FA*80-200, 540 FGZ plus Polarizers, Pano Brackets, Flash Accessories etc.
Little Kit is my boat kit. Almost 100 Days a Year On the Water, plus I generally have the Little Kit with me when traveling with the Big Kit
K5 Silver, FA20-35/4 for people in action journalism type shots plus occasional landscapes, 100 Macro for gear and critter close-ups, F*300 w/1.4x for birds, otters and shoreline critters, 360 FGZ, Ricoh WG-M2 4K Action Cam
I have an action cam kit with several Ricoh WG-M1's and accessories...different discussion...
Again, though I own killer packs including Kinesis modular, nothing protects my gear even close to as well as hard-cases. And they are the absolute best for working in the field!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-21-2008, 08:40 AM
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The general concensus is that the * and Limited lenses are "pro quality" glass, meaning sharper and contrastier (is that a word?) than "consumer quality" lenses. Color rendition is stunning on both * and Limiteds. The out of focus zones are also smoother than ordinary glass. And you are correct that the Limiteds are also fairly unique optical formulas. They started out as very unique perspectives with the first three Limiteds being the 43, 77 and 31--not sizes offered by other companies. Some subsequent Limiteds are even numbered--perhaps a conscious attempt to be less odd? It isn't that *'s or Limiteds are supposed to be better than the other--both are considered pro quality. Both are the flagships of Pentax lens design.
Big difference between the FA* and DA* lenses--DA*'s are weather sealed, FA*'s are not. DA*'s have SDM autofocus capability. SDM didn't exist during the time the FA* lenses were being built. FA* lenses work on all Pentax SLR's...full-frame film or possibly future digi full frame bodies as well as all the Pentax digital SLR's--with the 1.5 digital crop factor. DA* lenses only work with digital cropped SLR's--no film SLR capabilities with DA*. I haven't yet snapped for the DA* lenses, but a close associate has and without looking up exact weights, the DA*'s feel much lighter than the bulky FA*'s in my kit.
By the way, Limited lenses are not weather resistant like the DA*'s. And Limited's are available in both full-frame--FALimited--and cropped digital versions--DALimited. So if you plan to shoot any film, you'll want to look for FALimited lenses (some lenses labeled DA actually have a large enough projected image to work with full-frame. Check the specifics of individual lenses. Or ask for help on this forum.)
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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
04-12-2021, 10:48 AM
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Back when Pentax was headquartered in Colorado (pre-Ricoh) I had them send my FA*600/4 back to Japan to tighten that spot...it does mess up focus with the "slop" in the joint. The Japan fix only lasted a few months. So back to Japan my lens flew...only to get loose again. So one of the customer service guys went an extra couple miles to work with his techs to come up with a permanent solution. I hand-carried my 600/4 to them. They tightened it on site there in Colorado and used some sort of Loc-tite type product (I think) and the lens is still tight to this day--decades later (lens is now owned by a forum member in Australia). But of course, none of the Pentax in-house techs is still working in-house on such things. Hope someone stateside can get a solution for you! Good luck!
In the meantime, to assure focus across the frame you'll need to push the camera body tight to the lens when shooting. If you let the camera body hang it's weight or if you hang on the body it will move it that one millimeter which will render half the frame ever so slightly out of focus. Drove me nuts until I figured it out...
The F* 600/4 held tight for me for several years and is holding for the buddy I sold it to, but the F*600/4 is ten times harder to locate than the FA*
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-07-2020, 02:48 PM
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Crisp, stunning images with all three as long as you can get your own technique up to the quality of the lenses. Telephoto's are unforgiving of marginal technique. I've owned FA*--twice-- and currently own the F* --had to have the tripod shoe b/c I pretty much only shoot from a tripod. Buddy with DA* seems to get equivilent images but different color cast than the old star lenses. Digi body messes with the color cast anyway so buy any of the three and be happy!
Note that the 67mm front filter on the F* and FA* accommodates more and less costly filters--polarizers and even macro close-up lenses (old 6x7 tele close-up lens works fabulous on F* and FA*).
Note also that the FA* has sort-of quick shift focus by pulling or pushing the focus ring if I recall correctly...or is that just the other FA*'s? Pretty much never use autofocus so didn't use the function and haven't attempted it with the F*.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
08-07-2020, 04:23 PM
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Hardest part of landscape work--other than lighting--is the layers of interest. Unfortunately your foreground is "trees chopped in half" that serve as a fence to block the eye from moving into the image. I'm terrible at multi-plane landscapes that judges commonly look for, especially hard to get the various planes--foreground, mid-distance, background and infinity to tie together nicely with each other and with the subject. In addition, with well-known landscapes judges will be evaluating on uniqueness. How did you handle this subject in a manner that hasn't ever (or seldom) been seen before. Generally, the tourism overlooks and parking lots rule you out as "same old view."
To avoid such critical eyes, I've always avoided the contests and just tried to get editors to like (and buy) my images or galleries to hang and sell a few. It's much easier to get publication quality images sold than it is to get past the reviewers of such "judged" forums.
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