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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-22-2014, 10:55 PM
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YES PLEASE!
Or just make the 31 Limited WR ....
*sigh*
Dreaming is still allowed
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Forum: Sold Items
08-18-2015, 11:15 PM
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And we are back online, after I stupidly let me donation expire :lol:
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
08-13-2015, 07:19 PM
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That's interesting. I don't know whether there were big upgrades on focus peeking in the change from X100S to X100T, but with the EVF and focus peeking on the X100T I achieve much better results way easier than I ever could with my K30, K5iis or K3. Manual focus was one of the big flaws of the OVF for me. But might be the A7 is even better of course
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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-25-2015, 10:23 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-25-2015, 10:21 PM
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From my recent wedding shot, this was a spontaneous snapshot, not a posed pictured.
I prefer those anyway :p
The 31 1.8 Limited was on my K-3 most of the wedding. Great field of view, great performance.
I love this lens so much, it's scary sometimes.
Angi & Michi Wedding by René M., on Flickr
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
07-06-2015, 12:06 AM
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Ok, now that I shot 1818 pictures with the K-3 and the K-5IIs during the wedding, mostly using the FA31, I can now state:
Who in his right mind would ever think about selling Pentax stuff?!?!
:lol:
I might at some point buy some mirrorless, but damn what was I thinking? I will stick with my Pentax stuff!
I love it!
:D
As soon as I am done with post processing, I will upload some pictures here.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-08-2015, 08:13 AM
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I just got three little furry warriors to take care of.
Witness the manliest of all the manly machines of destruction.
Full album here: FLICKR: Churchill, Apollo & Frank
Some favourites here:
Apollo, Churchill & Frank by René M., on Flickr
Apollo, Churchill & Frank by René M., on Flickr
Frank by René M., on Flickr
you can't see me by René M., on Flickr
death from above by René M., on Flickr
Apollo, Churchill & Frank by René M., on Flickr
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
03-22-2015, 10:56 PM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
01-04-2015, 08:08 AM
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Forum: Ricoh GR
08-24-2013, 05:40 PM
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Same opinion here! :) (about the reviews)
I LOVE this forum, I really do. When I bought my K-30 half a year ago, this site helped me a lot to discover how-to's, others opinions and techniques, lenses, etc etc...
No I am selling the K-30 in the marketplace (my glass is already gone, just the body left), because I don't want to carry a DSLR around with me anymore, and I am going to buy a Ricoh GR today. I was thinking about the GXR, but in the end, GR fits better to my needs.
And as you say, the Ricoh part of this forum is a ghosttown. No one posting, no reviews, ... scary.
I hope we can bring a little bit more life into it.
But on the other hand, I understand it from a market point of view.
Shooters who take photography serious or even do it for a living will buy (and talk about) a DSLR in 99% of the case, and maybe have a good point-and-shoot as a side-tool (which they do not talk about that much I guess). And everyone who just wants a point-and-shoot will buy a cheap coolpix or whatever those things are called nowadays (or the will just stick with their smartphone if they are younger than 30 years old).
So the high class compact market itself is tiny, the GXR market whithin it even tinier, and therefore also this forum is tiny tiny tiny.
:D
Anyhow, I believe those cameras to be awesome products, and I can't wait to get my GR finally (have been testing it in the store last week and immediately fell in love).
Shortly about the GXR: I think it is a brilliant idea, but lives or dies with the market. If enough people buy it, new "lensors" will be produced.
If no one cares, it is just a curious footnote in a history book.
Kind of like electric cars in the 70's, where nobody cared about them at all and they were just a crazy idea with fleet tests.
Nowadays... comeback. :cool:
René
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Forum: General Photography
10-21-2014, 09:56 PM
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Hi there everybody,
I have recently seen a similar thread to this one, but I did not want to hijack that one.
Also, my question goes a little bit more towards the preparation and the gear.
As recently posted in another thread around here, I have been shooting pictures for the wedding invitations of two friends of mine.
I think they turned out quite ok, if not exactly amazing, but it seems the couple was quite satisfied.
Anyhow today in the office, the groom-to-be asked me whether I would like to shoot their actual wedding in July 2015, at a garden party in his parent's garden.
I said I would be happy to do that but did not offer it up front because of exactly the reasons that are usually discussed in this forum... bride/groom expectations, not wanting to ruin "that one special day", etc.... but he just laughed it off and said it's not going to be about "standard wedding photography", but they rather want just a documentation of the proceedings. And that they trust my abilities fully. When I suggested we should definitely alos do a second session, with well prepared bride&groom shots at a special location and nice lighting etc, he was actually positively surprised and agreed it is a great idea :lol:
So anyhow, I agreed to do it, and will set to preparing myself and my equipment until then.
I planned to go more into semi-professional portrait- and event-photography in any case, since I need to justify my expenses on equipment somehow :p it's quite too much for it being "just a hobby".
Here's the (photo) gear I already have (not all lenses will be used I guess):- K-5IIs
- Pentax SMC DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 WR
- Pentax SMC DA 55-300mm F4-5.8
- Sigma AF 15/2.8 EX DG FISHEYE
- Pentax SMC FA 31 F1.8 Limited
- Pentax SMC FA* 85mm F1.4
- Pentax SMC M-50 F1.4
- Cactus RF60 flash
- Cactus V6 remote trigger
- fold-able reflector
- 32GB memory card
- a tripod with quick release mount
- Battery grip
Here's the (photo) gear I plan to buy/borrow until then:- K-5IIs or the upcoming Pentax FF (:p) as second/first/backup camera
- at least 1 x 32GB memory card for each camera, one as backup
- a second Cactus RF60 flash
- softbox(es) for the flash(es)
- an umbrella
- some stands/tripods for positioning the flash(es) and reflector(s)
Additionally I thought I will need:- a step ladder for certain (group) shots
- lots of batteries
- a willing assistant I can pay with beer who will help me with holding reflectors
Am I missing something important on equipment level?
Looking forward to any tips / tricks / suggestions!
Fire away!
BR René
p.s.: two more shots of the happy couple :) (also cross posted from the other thread):
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Forum: General Photography
10-22-2014, 05:12 PM
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Well, that much is obvious! I don't think anybody would ever question these facts...
Not to forget, we are more intelligent! And humble!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
10-23-2014, 11:40 PM
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After a rough start of this thread I have to congratulate the main contributors on their civilized debate.
This forum keeps surprising me - even on a topic like gun control, which can get quite heated quite fast, this was mostly calm and about opinions, statistics, etc.
Well done, keep it up!
I am in general not "against guns", although I like that fact that I lived and live in countries where the idea of carrying around a gun would seem absurd to 99.9% of the citizens because... well, why would one be needed? But I understand that the United States of America have a certain tradition in this, and I understand that when you grow up with "having a gun" being normal, it might appear to you that it is your "right" to be armed. As weird as that might seem to me, it is none of my business, since I don't live there.
So I will not add much to that debate there.
But, as much as I admire the calm and intelligent way in which Mike debates his point, there is one question I would like to ask:
I understand the point you are making here. But why would a number of armed civilians be in any way a help against any of those "forces of evil"?
Crazy people inside of your country trying to murder people - that's what police is for.
Crazy people outside of your country trying to attack your country - that's what the army is for.
Why would you need armed civilians?
Even in that scenario, the trouble starts with "another civilian having a FIREARM"...
I am totally with you on that. I can imagine that many places in the wild, that are beautiful and well worth camping in, are, well, "wild", as in the name, and it would not hurt being armed if a wild animal comes looking at you like you are a nice snack...
But I cannot at all understand why civilians in any urban, suburban,... "lived-in environment" should be allowed to carry guns.
Again, I understand that I am not part of your system, which might well be why I don't understand it - I get that.
I am trying to understand it though. Go easy on me ;)
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Forum: General Photography
10-23-2014, 01:18 AM
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Be my guest :)
The guys are quite fast with answers so far, might as well make use of it !
As I myself have all the questions, I cannot offer much insight to your question, but will ask you... do you have a second body? I think that is more critical than the lenses from what I gathered so far...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-14-2014, 07:41 PM
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I would love to try out the 55 and the 77 actually! Especially the 77 to be honest, because I like the longer end more when it comes to portraits. And because the 31 is great :cool:
Unfortunately I am not doing very well with the 85 up to now, my pictures come out "meh" compared to what others do with it, but I know that's me and not the lens :o
Super GT 2014 - Okayama [Pit] by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5352 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
Super GT 2014 - Okayama [Pit] by @wullemaha, on Flickr
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-19-2014, 10:24 PM
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Thanks for the input from all of you.
Yesterday I had a nice shooting session with two friends of mine using the FA* again.
See some sample pictures here:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/12-post-your-photos/276044-people-first-p...vitations.html
I realized that for this kind of shooting, where I will arrive with ~3 lenses, a reflector, at least one tripod, a flash, cactus V6, batteries... it does not matter whether the FA* is a little bit bigger than the other lenses. The bag will be filled in any case, and my gym membership pays off when I lug all that stuff around...
But the quality itself... mhh... I love the lens.
Will keep it.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
08-14-2014, 12:49 AM
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Some various Super GT shots with the DA 55-300 (non-WR version):
Super GT 2014 - Okayama [Race] by @wullemaha, on Flickr
Super GT 2014 - Okayama [Race] by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5618 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5707 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5731 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
The lens is a joy to use for Motorsports due to is small size, especially when you see Canon and Nikon shooters lugging around their heavy lenses.
Those professional sports lenses might be far superior in image quality I am sure, but not needed for my limited abilities in any case.
Even though the lens is not the fastest for focusing, I think only for 1 out of 100 shots I actually missed the focus and had to wait for the next car or the next round.
For those types of panning shots (where you want to stop down anyhow, to achieve a slow enough shutter speed), it is the perfect lens!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
09-07-2014, 09:34 PM
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Hey there,
which one is it exactly, the A* or the FA*?
The seller has contradicting statements in his sales text...
 Quote: Be a professional-level photographer with the Pentax SMC-A 85mm f/1.4 camera lens... Although his pictures clearly show a FA*, which is autofocus.
SMC Pentax A* 85mm F1.4 Reviews - A Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
SMC Pentax-FA* 85mm F1.4 [IF] Reviews - FA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
What you can check: the FA* does not have quick shift, meaning you cannot be in "Autofocus-mode" and still manually focus.
There is the possibility to "disengage" the autofocus on the lens, by shifting the focus ring back/forth (don't have my lens here to check which position is "engaged").
If your focus ring is "disengaged", you can try to autofocus as much as you want, your lens will not care.
Try to check that. I hope that's all you need to do!
BR René
p.s.: beautiful lens, I love my copy!
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Forum: Lens Clubs
08-14-2014, 06:43 AM
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Forum: General Photography
09-01-2014, 11:18 PM
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I think I understand the emotional state you are coming from. But I think it's not as bad as you believe. First off, you cannot easily just "photoshop into the picture" anything that you missed, especially when we are talking about "that moment". Sure, nowadays a lot of crazy postprocessing is done (looking at the HDR-crowd), but not all of it is bad. I myself really discovered I like to do my own post processing from RAW files rather than relying on in-camera-jpg settings. But since I do postprocessing on my PC, I take much less pictures, spent more time actively LOOKING at them, delete any that are "hopeless", and generally try to improve how I take pictures.
Also, in the last few years, the hipster crowd has re-discovered that "old stuff is cool", so many young people go back to shooting film!
Sure, if you take a look at facebook/twitter/whatever, you will see millions of snapshots that are not really "artsy", but on the other hand digital photography has made it much easier to get good quality pictures with less effort/budget, which gets some people interested, and they may develop into really great photographers!
Just my 2 cents - always sometimes look on the bright side of life :)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
08-18-2014, 06:39 AM
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The first 2 were from Super GT opening in Okayama this year, the others from a rainy race weekend at Fuji Speedway.
Thought I am finished with buying lenses, but will have to upgrade from Tamron 17-50 to DA 18-135 WR and from the "normal" 55-300 to the WR version... because IF I ever get the zooms out, it's because I am out and about and can't carry my primes... so I will have to go for WR again
*sigh*
LBA...
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
08-27-2014, 07:01 PM
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Beautifully stated, and IMO quite true.
One thing I also just noticed in the past few months is how much some thoughts in post processing improved my picture output.
Not really on the topic of sharpness, but in regards to composition and lighting.
The time I spent looking at my pictures during post processing really got me thinking about WHY a certain shot did not work, which is how I learn to do it better the next time.
One step at a time.
Additionally, especially with a K5II or K5IIs, the dynamic range is incredible, and I really enjoy pulling out details from the shadows or putting back some structure into "not-quite-blown-out" highlights. I am still blown away by the fact that you can do stuff like the shot below just by using digital gradual ND filters instead of taking multiple exposures... I LOVE my K5IIs, and if you love your K5II as well, give here a nice short range zoom or prime to play with :cool:
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
08-09-2014, 05:04 AM
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Today I made a short walk around Odaiba area in Tokyo, because a Typhoon is supposed to be around the coast of Japan, and I wanted to get some impressive cloud shots. Unfortunately, no impressive clouds were to be seen. So I decided to take some multi-exposure pictures of the good old Rainbow Bridge.
Turned out, no multi-exposure needed :lol:
Damn I LOVE the dynamic range of the K5IIs ! :cool:
_REN5386 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5382 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5379 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5373 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
Also, here are some birds...
_REN5345 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
_REN5344 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
And some ships...
_REN5357 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
And other stuff...
_REN5352 by @wullemaha, on Flickr
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Forum: Lens Clubs
08-13-2014, 11:59 PM
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Well at least I am sure that I like this a lot!
Great play with the details, wonderful B&W!
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Forum: General Photography
08-13-2014, 04:30 PM
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Well there are many in this forum that I really really think are great.
But the one who never seems to post a bad picture has got to be Mike for landscapes:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeoria/
Portrait and different stuff... don't know. I don't keep track of other photographers to be honest
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