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Forum: Site Suggestions and Help
06-25-2013, 09:24 AM
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Users should be able to delete their account IMHO. It is the user to determine if an account is a benefit, not PentaxForums. I guess this is mainly a problem for PentaxForums, because it has only a limited number of active users. It would look rather awkward when the larger part of its 50,000+ members shows up in (old) posts with an 'Unsubscribed' label.
Europe is working on a 'The right to be forgotten' proposal exactly because social sites are reluctant to allow deleting accounts. Its better for PentaxForums to have such an option in place not to look disagreeable or before they are forced by law later on.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-01-2023, 07:59 AM
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The warm shade of the brickwork is complemented with window frames and doors in the same color.
Nikon 1 V2, 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-02-2023, 03:08 PM
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This is a 'Ricoh Auto Half E' I recently found at a local dealer.
These little half-frame camera's are surprisingly dense, completely from metal, size WxHxD = 90x70x40mm, weight 330 gr. Most fun is that it has a spring-motor for automatic film transport.
It still needs some cleaning, replacing the seals in the back, and it looks the lens is a bit foggy. Then running a roll through it to see if the light meter is OK.
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Forum: Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Other Camera Brands
01-28-2023, 01:20 PM
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I recently did an inventory of the Nikon Z-series for a mirrorless camera, and I am very impressed with the Nikon ecosystem as a whole: the hardware, the software, user manuals, accessibility of the web sites, the web shops.
The logic and ease of use of the camera user interfaces, including the menus, is unprecedented and consistent among all their models, even going back to my Nikon 1 V2 and the film cameras F5 and F6 I have.
Nikon has two types of user manuals, the 'User's Manual' which is a relatively compact quick start, and a 'Reference Manual' which is a complete and detailed description of all the features. These manuals are an excellent introduction to the camera when you want to check for skeletons in the cupboard. The manuals are regularly updated with supplements or replaced by a new version depending on the camera and lens firmware updates.
Nikon has also an extensive range of high quality software, free downloadable from their web site without any hassle: NX Studio (comparable to Pentax DCU), Nikon Picture Control for editing and organizing Custom Controls, Nikon Transfer for transfer pictures to your computer, Nikon Wireless Transmitter Utility for transferring photos via WiFi, and a bunch of apps for your phone (Android, iPhone). All the software is top quality and regularly updated.
A subtle but striking habit of Nikon is to avoid feature creep on their camera's [1]. Only the features who are useful and necessary are present, but not more. They avoid an impenetrable forest of functions that makes so many camera's unpleasant to use (Pentax K3-III, Olympus EM1X). So this is a professional habit and a sign of a well organized development department that is able look beyond the details. What also helps is the well organized and straightforward menu structure in the camera's to find your way without the necessity to use all kinds of buttons with double functions.
All the Nikon web sites worldwide have a simple structure where you can go straight to the info you search, with each camera or lens having their own page with a general part and with technical specifications. This looks simple to implement, but is is amazing how some other brands produce a convoluted mess. This shows Nikon is a downright professional brand which is able to organize their stuff in a consistent and logical way among everything they do, no matter if it is a camera, the software or a web site.
These are a number of aspects that arise when you get acquainted with Nikon as a new customer, and I experienced it as a relief, being accustomed to Pentax.
If you want more info I can recommend the excellent web site from Thom Hogan, with reviews of all the Nikon Z camera's and lenses (and more), with also comparisons of features between the models, which makes it easier to choose. [2]. Another good source with more informal info is the 'Nikon Cafe' forum [3].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_creep
[2] Thom Hogan | Z-System user
https://www.zsystemuser.com/
[3] Nikon Cafe |
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
01-26-2023, 08:04 AM
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Hint to Pentax: This is an expensive way to change the color of our camera. What we really need is electronic ink for the paint like on the BMW iX Flow, so that we can select our own color in a menu.
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
01-23-2023, 03:55 PM
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So how can you talk about the embedded image all the time. When you open a RAW in DCU the photo you see is NOT the embedded JPEG. It is the Custom Image reproduced with the Parameters list from the RAW. If you directly save this photo with 'File | Save As with Image processing' you get exactly the same image as if it was saved from the camera with RAW+.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
05-25-2021, 12:39 PM
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Display the histogram during Live view:
Menu C4 | Monitor Display | Live View | > | Shooting info display | > | Current display pattern = L1 (L2, L3).
L1 (L2, L3) Customization | > | Histogram, check with OK
Display the histogram during instant review:
Menu C4 | Instant Review | Histogram | > | On (default = Off)
Two small histograms for brightness and RGB are also shown when viewing images with the Playback button [<], and INFO is pressed twice.
If you want to show this screen immediately after the Playback button:
Menu C4 | Monitor display | Playback info display | Standard info display | > | check Histogram
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
01-16-2023, 06:14 AM
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I'm with @ramseybuckeye (post #2) and only save my photos as RAW. Then there is no need to sift through files in two different formats RAW and JPEG for the keepers.
Instead of using one of the many 3-rd party RAW processors I use Pentax DCU which guarantees exact JPEG copies as if they were shot in-camera.
This is my process.
1 - The RAW's are opened in Pentax DCU to decide which files are kept, and the rest is deleted.
2 - After that, the Laboratory tab is selected for developing the RAW's into JPEG's in a desired Custom Image style. If you select a Custom Image beforehand in the camera (but setting RAW and not RAW+) the Laboratory view directly opens with that specific Custom Image including all the slider positions and lens corrections.
3 - The JPEG(s) are saved with File | Export to a selected destination, file name, and quality. Optionally all RAW's can be converted at once in a batch process by selecting all the files first (Shift key).
The JPEG's saved with DCU from the RAW are the same as if RAW+ was selected in the camera, but now you only develop them for the keepers.
Saving only RAW in camera is a neat process and it is flexible because DCU has all sorts of the extra features (more types of Custom Images can be saved from one RAW, custom parameter files can be kept for reproducibility, etc). A useful side-effect is also that you can store more of them on a card, and of course the photos are stored faster.
This is a universal workflow which can be adopted for other brands as well; for example with Nikon NX Studio (NEF/RAW) or Olympus OM Workspace (ORF/RAW).
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
05-28-2021, 10:16 AM
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I have tried the O-ME53 on the K3-III to gain some positive diopter value, which for unknown reasons did not work in the same way as on my K5-II, but probably because it makes the screen look out of focus at all diopter settings. Also your eye must be unconfortably close to the eye cup to see the whole screen and then it still shows some vignetting. All-in-all I find the O-ME53 compromises the high quality of the viewfinder and you gain virtually nothing because the screen is already big enough.
I also find the original eyecup on the K3-III too floppy, and I have replaced it with the smaller eyecup FR.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-27-2022, 02:25 PM
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What I see on forums, there are lot of people asking how they can *increase* grain. Well, shoot half-frame! Actually when you want the opposite the solution is to shoot medium or large format. This is the only serious method to choose how much grain you want; not the film type, not the developer and not your developing method.
That said, nowadays you have plenty of software to reduce noise, which also works on grain. So you can 'upgrade' a standard 24x36 or 18x24 frame from film in your editor after scanning, for having the looks of digital. You can, however, set the amount of reduction, so if you still want to see some grain you can set a parameter to your taste.
p.s. This is Kodak T-MAX 100 from an Olympus Pen EE half frame camera. After scanning and cropping the grain in the image is first reduced with Neat Image Pro (which also needs an extra sharpening step), and then edited as normal.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-27-2022, 11:42 AM
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
12-27-2022, 01:21 PM
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I'm not too exited about the idea to make compacts first, we have seen enough of them. However, what Pentax could do is to make a half-frame camera (18x24). That would be very special. You can make it incredibly small, and it sprouts out 72 frames from a standard 35mm roll, which would effectively halve the price of the film. A further improvement could be to make it all metal, not only to make it attractive, but it would allow them to increase the price and earn a larger margin.
Ricoh has made loads of half-frame camera's in the past. They can delve into their own archives and reverse-engineer a few for the technical details. So, instead of a compulsory compact I think a half-frame would be a fun project for the film-guys at Pentax, and a nice little gadget for the rest of us.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-04-2022, 08:09 AM
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New houses on the outskirts of the city.
HP5+ colorized in post.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-22-2022, 08:05 AM
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The firmware updates are cumulative, which means the last update also contains all the other updates from the previous versions. So you can update with the last version, which is V 1.31.
You can download it here:
Software Downloads : Support & Service | RICOH IMAGING
p.s. Ricoh doesn't make older versions available, so if you want to install an older one you can only obtain it from other users who backed it up.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-21-2022, 02:12 PM
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I would hope they skipped the compact's and head straight for a high-end SLR without detours. I actually don't understand the need to inventory all the intricacies of film camera's from past days (unless that is the main purpose of this project). The problem with that is that's very easy to get bogged down in endless details sucking up resources without a concrete result.
The difficult parts of a film camera are the mirror box, shutter, and viewfinder, which all of their current DSLR camera's already have. So why not modify a K3 or K1 with a film back and strip out the redundant electronics. I think borrowing the current design of the K3-III would give an excellent film-camera (indeed in the style of the Nikon F6). You don't need to imitate the old bodies from the past.
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
12-12-2022, 01:04 PM
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When you shoot a scene with an overcast sky on Fomapan 400 exposed as 200 you still have no contrast because the scene has no contrast. The only thing that has changed by shooting at EI 200 is an increased density of the film. You get exactly the same result with HP5+ at EI 200.
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
12-12-2022, 10:06 AM
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Grainy and contrasty is sort of a contradiction (see HP5+) unless you have plenty of contrast in your subject as a result of the light. I shoot FP4+ at box speed and develop in ID-11 with the standard recipe from Ilford, and it's OK. The HP5+ though is with Ilfords advise too thin and I always shoot it at EI 250 with the advised developing times in ID-11 or Perceptol (the latter to reduce the grain a bit).
Generally B&W needs more contrast compared to color to look attractive. Ways to increase contrast are extending the developing time, which also enhances the grain, to mount a mild yellow filter (with factor 1x), and/or enhance contrast in post when you scan, but the latter tends to degrade tonality.
Over the years that I'm shooting B&W I have come to the conclusion that the best way to get contrast is to wait for sunny weather! Or in other words, it's not the film or the developer or how you process it, it's mainly the light. So, once I discovered that, it has reduced my output considerably, but the results are 100% better.
BTW in these times of the year, with a low standing sun, it's an extra argument to shoot with sunny weather to get pictures with atmosphere:
Camera: Nikon F-801, Nikkor 35mm f/2.8 AI
Film: HP5+, Ilford ID-11, 1+1.5
Post process: DSLR scan, Neat Image (to reduce the grain), PSP.
X-posted
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
12-09-2022, 10:54 AM
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The kits for one roll are relatively pricy, so I think they are not sold well. Tetenal went through a failed restructuring in 2019 but were saved by a management buyout from Tetenal employees. Curiously the first new products they introduced after that were the MagicBox for C-41 & E-6 film kits (and RA-4 colour paper). I think they are keen to concentrate on popular products.
The Parvovin and Superfix tabs for B&W are a much better product, they can be stored almost indefenetively and are for the same category of low volume users. But I don't know if that is technically possible for color.
Ilford has something similar (also B&W), the Simplicity Starter Pack. All of that to lure beginners into home developing. I would be surprised though if Simplicity is running well, if you compare that to the Tetenal tabs.
I read an article lately [1] where shops are saying they have enormous backlogs in selling rolls, notably to younger users who are accustomed to smartphone photography, and darkrooms are re-erected on schools. So film photography is going well.
[1] Lege schappen en hoge prijzen: het fotorolletje is niet aan te slepen
Please translate from Dutch if you want to read it.
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
07-30-2022, 03:10 PM
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Opening a shop in Moscow these days as an international business, and proudly making it public. Good for your brand image :-(
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Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
05-08-2022, 11:58 AM
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This is perhaps slightly off-topic, but I think the camera's user manual is closely related to its features, so may I add some thoughts about that.
Specifically for Pentax, one recurrent point of annoyance are the PDF user manuals supplied with each camera. They lack detail necessary to understand the features, or features are not covered at all.
This is a very strange phenomenon and one might wonder why this is done, because when you spend energy, time and money on research to develop and implement these features, but when you don't advertise them, they virtually don't exist for the user, or users get irritated because they don't want to spend lots of time figuring out their camera. It is a terrible waste of resources. Actually the opposite should be done - max out every opportunity to advertise all the beautiful features to make the camera look attractive.
One reason this could happen is that cameras have become so complicated that a user manual is needed with triple the size we have now to explain every bit and piece. Also, Pentax still supplies the camera with a paper version of the manual, which is where the cost is when it is big and heavy (printing, transport).
What we see today from the likes of Microsoft, Apple and others is that they rigorously ditched the PDF and replaced it by an online version, consisting of a full index with a bunch of webpages linked from it. For example the iPhone 13 manual has an index of more than 800 lines alone, that would be a 800 page PDF at least 1]. Apple is doing this for all their gear, all the info is compact but sufficiently detailed, supplementary links are added to each page for related info, and even users can give feedback to improve the contents. To be fair, a local search option is missing.
Pentax should stop making a PDF and a paper version of the user manual and create an online version only. In the box a leaflet with a Quick Start and a reference to the full manual online. The manual can be accessed by phone or tablet from every location you want. This is not only a solution to the problems we have now, it is a big improvement in general, and I guess at the same time with a reduction of the cost.
1] Example of an online user manual.
iPhone User Guide | Use link: Table of contents
iPhone User Guide ? Apple Support (UK) |
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Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
05-07-2022, 01:27 PM
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We actually need cameras with an optimized set of functions, and most of the time more is not better.
In software development there is a phenomenon known as 'feature creep' which basically describes the process of continuously extending a good working program with features until it is dismissed by customers because it has become too complicated.
The K1-II and K3-III are good examples of camera's that already suffer from feature creep, and they urgently need some pruning.
There is a very insightful article about this in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_creep |
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Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
05-09-2022, 09:12 AM
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That reminds me of a story happening to me in the 1980's when my PC was an Olivetti M24 and the e-mail emerged. I sent a document to a person as attach, and the next day I got a thank you, and the question "can I keep this document or do you want it back?" :)
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Forum: General Photography
05-04-2022, 08:49 AM
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I can't find much about imgBB apart from their login page, and they don't tell who they are. The Wikipedia webpage 'Image sharing' also doesn't list it 1]. It does look quite obscure to me actually.
However, it does have a few nice options for direct linking and embedding, and the code is very compact. So this could be a disposable service for uncritical applications, if you don't care to give away your e-mail address for an account.
Recently I looked for ways to share files between my PC and iPhone/iPad and besides Apple iCloud I opted for
Microsoft OneDrive (5GB free). It is one of the most professional and reliable services out there, with a decent privacy policy, and unlikely to discontinue on an unexpected moment.
As for direct linking from shared photos in OneDrive, click right on an image | Embed | Copy the generated URL.
Compared to imgBB the code is quite massive though.
1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_image-sharing_websites |
