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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-22-2018, 11:16 AM  
K-5 or D300
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 13
Views: 2,156
I don't know what I'm looking for really I guess! I found my K7 in the cupboard the other day and I think making this thread and reading your replies has made me realise that maybe I just want a new 'toy' which could explain the appeal of the D300. But as @Ramseybuckeye says, I have no Nikon lenses - but I'd consider the 50 manual as the only decent Pentax lens I have, to be fair.
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-22-2018, 10:09 AM  
K-5 or D300
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 13
Views: 2,156
I think cameras made after about 2009 are better than me, so I don't really see the need to buy a newer one. I mean, I'm skint too, don't get me wrong! I was just looking at D300 cameras on eBay and I just sort of fancied one to play with really - it didn't occur to me until today that a K-5 would be the same price as the D300 had been discontinued before it even came out.

I used to get frustrated with the focus ability of the K10 and K7 - is the K5 a lot better?
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 11-22-2018, 09:08 AM  
K-5 or D300
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 13
Views: 2,156
Hello.

I currently own a K-7, and previously had a K10d. I own a 50/1.8 manual lens, an 18-55 kit lens and an old 70-200 Pentax AF lens from the days of film. I also have an old Pentax flash.

However, most of my recent photography has been done with an Olympus OM-D EM10 with 20mm f1.7 Panasonic lens. I bought the Olympus for two reasons - firstly because it's small and was easy to fit in a bag with baby things, when I had to carry such things, and also because my K-7 was slow to use - I always had the manual focus 50mm on it because it was so, so much sharper than the kit lens that it seemed a waste of a shot to not use it, if you see what I mean.

My K-7 has since lost the diopter adjustment lever and is stuck at a setting where the viewfinder is blurred for me, and as I recall the hot shoe was unreliable. I took my K10D apart to try and fix an issue with the input dial though, so I'm not averse to trying to fix the K7, in theory. I never really liked it as much as the K10 though - I only got it because I had to claim on my insurance for the K10 when it was dropped, and the K7 was the current model then.

I quite fancy getting more into photography now the baby is older, and I quite fancy getting a dSLR again. The Olympus is nice, but it feels a bit 'synthetic' - even when you turn the focus ring in manual mode it's electronic.

So, I always really wanted a Nikon D300 for the focus speed and [whisper] it looks nicer than the Pentax models [endwhisper] and I notice that they are pretty cheap now on eBay. I'm not a Pro and never will be, by the way. However, I've noticed that the K-5 seems to go for about the same or a bit less - and obviously it's a newer camera - but aside from insanely high ISO settings, what would I gain over the D300 I really wanted but couldn't afford 10 years or so ago? What would you do, and why?
Forum: Photographic Technique 07-08-2013, 06:05 AM  
How do you get great lightning photos ?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 25
Views: 5,283
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 07-06-2013, 03:34 AM  
Best Prime Lens?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 41
Views: 5,552
I use my 50mm Mf1/.7 for everything now, pretty much. If I want a wider shot I take a few and stitch them together with Hugin.

The lens was £7 and is more than sharp enough. Food for thought?
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 06-16-2013, 01:38 AM  
Stitched Panoramas / Brenizer Method
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 26
Views: 7,662
Thanks for the ongoing tips :) I can't use ICE as I run Ubuntu, but I am happy enough with Hugin: it too has a very attractive price :)

I've not tried the weighted string method to remind me where to rotate the lens, but I did try a reasonably close 3-shot stitch of a shop-front when I pointed to about the centre of the 50mm and rotated around that, and it seemed to be pretty accurate in terms of parallax. I must work out where the no-parallax point is and make myself a pano head - Pryds: Build Your Own Panoramic Head (Novice Approach) Pete's Cheapo Nodal Samurai Homemade Panoramic (Pano) Head 'L' Bracket. - as I say, the results from rotating it around the centre of the lens barrel seem ok so I guess it's roughly there!

(will edit to add sample image later - host i splaying up at the moment)
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 06-11-2013, 04:38 AM  
Stitched Panoramas / Brenizer Method
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 26
Views: 7,662
I do try to have a lot of overlap having ended up with gaps in my earlier tests:

More Panorama Experiments par Northern Soul, on ipernity

but it doesn't seem to take so much longer if you go out of sequence - this is three shots taken in the order middle, right, left. I guess if you did many more shots and they were out of order processing time would suffer badly though - good point!


Abandoned Building by the Railway par Northern Soul, on ipernity
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 06-11-2013, 04:24 AM  
Stitched Panoramas / Brenizer Method
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 26
Views: 7,662
I bought a M 50 f1.7 and I love it, so it's always on my camera because photos taken with the 18-55 now look a bit fuzzy to me. It's rewarding to use, but it's a tad long on APS-C so I've started taking multiple exposures and stitching them if I want to capture a static scene that's wider than the lens allows.

I'm shooting RAW and processing the files in darktable, then stitching them using hugin and I'm fairly pleased with the results (albeit I need more interesting subjects - the shots below are part of my learning process)

I just wondered if anyone has any tips I might be able to use? I'm handholding so the rotation of the camera isn't perfect, so on shots like the one with railings I sometimes get things not quite lining up - or rather I always get things that don't quite line up, but it's more obvious when there are man-made straight lines!

Anyway, here are a few of my test of concept shots. Any ideas for things to try in the software or with the camera much appreciated, as would be any shots taken with a similar technique to inspire me. Ta.


Frog Walk, Sheffield on Northern Soul, on ipernity


Frog Walk, Sheffield, Looking toward the Cemetery. on Northern Soul, on ipernity


The Tramway, Sheffield par Northern Soul, on ipernity


Grafitti in Sheffield par Northern Soul, on ipernity
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 06-11-2013, 03:20 AM  
I totally messed up my first event- need encouragement and/or advice....
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 54
Views: 6,201
Or use darktabkle and GIMP and don't pay to buy or to use them ...
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 05-24-2013, 03:20 AM  
BREAKING NEWS: Flickr Just Gave Everyone One Free Terabyte of Space!
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 85
Views: 7,799
ipernity.com is how flickr should be. Heck, it's how flickr was earlier this week. There is even an 'import from flickr' tool. It has the same pricing plan as 'old' flickr.
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 05-21-2013, 07:22 AM  
BREAKING NEWS: Flickr Just Gave Everyone One Free Terabyte of Space!
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 85
Views: 7,799
I'm now looking at ipernity. It's like old flickr, plus you can upload documents.
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 05-21-2013, 01:20 AM  
BREAKING NEWS: Flickr Just Gave Everyone One Free Terabyte of Space!
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 85
Views: 7,799
Did you mean "I have to agree with earlier comments, 1TB of free storage can only encourage people to upload any old rubbish and bring down the average quality of the site."

I had unlimited storage for $25/year. Flickr's old pricing encouraged you to do so as there were limits on free accounts. Now there is no incentive to pay because it's twice the price, and all you do is remove the ads for that.

The comments that were part of the community are hidden behind 'click here for more comments' links even when there is room to show them and you only get two lines to comment in - albeit the box scrolls down as you type, but still it doesn't encourage considered opinions to be expressed, just comment son the level of the average facebook comment.

That combined with the Facebook-style mosaic and the effectively unlimited storage means I fear flickr will become the worst of a combination of Facebook and Photobucket.

They might as well have changed the name to 'that site that people used to upload photos to' while they were at it.

Also, where the hell are my sets? I want those next to my pictures when you look at my profile.

I am Pro (well, I'm not now, there is no such thing as Pro now) so I can renew at the old Pro rate for as long as Yahoo decide that they have to let me before I decide it's too much effort to move and make me pay $50 for something that used to be better and half the price. Don't imagine for a moment that if you are Pro now it will remain half the price it is for everyone else. The pricing model suggest that showing you adverts is worth $50 to them, so they won't let you avoid them for $25 forever.
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 05-20-2013, 05:52 PM  
BREAKING NEWS: Flickr Just Gave Everyone One Free Terabyte of Space!
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 85
Views: 7,799
I loathe it - it's flickr dumbed down.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 05-19-2013, 04:13 PM  
DA 35mm f2.4 AL vs M 50mm f1.7
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 23
Views: 11,792
Some real food for thought here - thanks everyone. I hadn't considered the 40 XS before - that could be a good compromise, especially as I take my camera pretty much everywhere with me.

The angle of view/perspective thing is very interesting - I need to read up more!

I have thought about a katzeye screen or similar too, but I do quite like AF as it means I can use the camera without my glasses :)
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 05-15-2013, 03:01 AM  
DA 35mm f2.4 AL vs M 50mm f1.7
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 23
Views: 11,792
I have a M 50mm f1.7 which was an absolute bargain at £7 ($10US) It is so sharp that it is my 'always on' lens, even though focussing is a bit difficult with the standard focussing screen.

When I use my other lenses now I'm always a bit disappointed that they are not as sharp as the ones taken with the 50mm. However, it's a little long on a cropped sensor so I was thinking of getting a 35mm DA instead, as this would allow me to use AF again, as well as being a little more of a 'natural' length.

I was wondering though how the lenses compare. Will I be disappointed with the 35mm after the 50mm in terms of image quality and sharpness? Would you recommend something else at 35mm instead? I don't mind manual focus too much, but AF would be nice - AF and focus shift would be ideal. I also don't mind buying secondhand - so any recommendations or advice would be much appreciated.
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 04-11-2013, 01:54 PM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
I notice that there is a k-7 profile on the new version of darktable - thanks!
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-10-2013, 01:49 PM  
Why have you all started using the k-7 again?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 19
Views: 3,000
Nothing wrong with the k-7, it's my only camera :)

I wouldn't get another if it broke, but hopefully it will last a good while yet so there will be plenty of k-5s for me to buy second-hand when the time comes!
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-10-2013, 12:27 PM  
Why have you all started using the k-7 again?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 19
Views: 3,000
I've just noticed that the usage graph for the k-7 on flickr shows that all of a sudden a lot more k-7 shots are being uploaded.



Must be the nice weather I guess? :lol:
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 01-17-2013, 08:32 AM  
Resale market for common film SLR's pretty dead, right?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 46
Views: 5,539
I'll agreed with that. My 50mm/1.7M was £7 ($11 US) Unfortunately postage was £4 ($6.50) because it came with a camera attached to it, but it was still an absolute bargain.

As I am genuinely a rear cap short now, I use the film body as a rear cap for my kit lens.
Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands 01-15-2013, 06:15 AM  
Who buys old 35mm Leicas?
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 7
Views: 1,208
A friend of mine at school worked for years on his Saturday jobs and so on to buy an M3. I wondered at the time why he'd bothered, but then I guess that 20 years later he could get his money back at least, so it will have cost him nothing to own.

I do wonder how the values of old bodies will hold up when you can't get film any more though.
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 01-03-2013, 09:25 AM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
Thanks for that - it makes quite a difference doesn't it? And one-click sounds a lot better than fiddling about with the settings on my slow laptop :)
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 01-03-2013, 08:03 AM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
Thanks - I was struggling to get an image with over and under exposure at night - I ended up with an Ikea lamp pointing at the wall with a picture frame in front of it. I guess the bulb doesn't have much in the blue end of the spectrum then!

If you could show me the results on the following file http://ubuntuone.com/45jUfezj04hA1Depr9wgnb that would be fabulous. It's a slightly off-focus image of a splendid old car I saw at the local shopping centre the other day. My best effort at de-noising it is here

Thanks again - as a k-7 user the ability to remove noise is very important :)
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 01-01-2013, 04:57 PM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
Sorry about that - I closed my laptop before it had finished uploading - d'oh!

It works for me now.

Thanks again.
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 01-01-2013, 04:04 AM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
Here is a zip of images taken with the k-7 at all ISOs (in 1/3 steps)

It's 250MB though - let me know if that's too big and you'd rather a better solution. Thanks again.

http://ubuntuone.com/7Xnm3X3cIONrK6yoDVtaIa
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 01-01-2013, 02:59 AM  
Darktable is getting profiled noise reduction
Posted By Northern Soul
Replies: 21
Views: 6,688
I tried to do the k-7 last night, but I didn't seem to have the tools in my install (1.1.1 on ubuntu)

I then followed the instructions to install fron GIT (no real idea what that means!) but then I couldn't run darktable at all.

I will upload my images when I get chance - may have to create a dropbox account too. Thanks!
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