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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
03-26-2015, 01:36 PM
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I checked the reflector data:
Illumination onwards ... mm (35mm format)35
https://www.metz.de/en/flash-units/product-ranges/system-flash-units/mecabli...al-pentax.html
When you zoom out between 18 mm and 24 mm the flash does not cover the entire field of view. But you write 'when I zoom', so you probably mean you zoom in beyond 24 mm. This is probably not your problem.
Can you post a picture with intact exif?
Did you try the same picture with the pop up flash?
Regards,
Karet
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-25-2015, 03:52 PM
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It depends on the type of chemical reaction taking place but based on my knowledge of chemical stability in pharmaceutical product I use this rule of thumb:
The rate of reaction doubles for every increase of 10 degrees C, the reaction rate halves for every 10 degrees drop in temperature.
So: going from 25 C to 15 C the aging slows by a factor of 2.
Going from 25 C to 5 C the aging slows by a factor of 4.
Going from 25 C to -5 C the aging slows by a factor of 8.
Going from 25 C to -15 C the aging slows by a factor of 16.
This means that the deterioration occuring during 1 month in the closet equals the deterioration occuring during 16 months in the freezer.
Ignore this bit intended for geeks: Assuming zero order reaction kinetics.
A bit of background for the really interested:
Arrhenius equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Regards,
Karet
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
03-22-2015, 11:47 AM
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Makes perfect sense. Guys spend fortunes on classic sports cars they couldn't afford when they were young. You satisfy your teenage curiosity by buying two lenses at around USD 25 each. Way to go!
Karet
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-21-2015, 04:13 AM
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Nice, number two made me laugh.
Can you post the link to where the others are?
Karet
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-18-2015, 03:00 PM
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-18-2015, 02:08 PM
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I have not and the prices you show are attractive. And you are right, I do get blur in the background that would be reduced if I held the camera with two hands. On the other hand, I do like the shadows I get by holding the flash at arm's length. At these prices a bracket could be worth a try.
Karet
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-17-2015, 11:44 AM
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You mention blurred lights. With good handholding and breathing technique you might solve this, depends on your shutter speed. Or you set ISO higher to get a faster shutter. Here's a good article Heie / Alex Jansen wrote on holding the camera. It's about grip, breathing and squeezing the shutter, not pushing it.
Shooting Long Exposures Hand-Held - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com
I had big trouble focussing in a dark club with my K20D and DA 16-45 f/4. Any Canon 550D blows it out of the water. Autofocus in dark circumstances has been much improved from K-5II on, it's now as good as Canikon or better. I don't know Kr well but if it has the same safox version as K20D it might indeed be poor at autofocus when it's dark. And you have the kit lens which is not bright at f/5.6 . An upgrade that does not break the bank is the DA 16-45 F/4. You should be able to find a used one at around GBP 125. Check ebay.co.uk , advanced search, sold listings. Pentax A-28 f/2.8 is a cheaper option at GBP 45 , it will be a lot brighter than what you have now. I bit the bullet and bought K3. P-TTL works like it should and autofocus is good.
Hmm, handholding the flash and manual focus, very tough indeed. I already struggle zooming in and out. I hold the flash in my hand in a way that leaves two fingers for the zooming, it's clumsy but it works.
If you buy a flash, get one that tilts AND SWIVELS. I'll let Jerry Ghionis explain how to get great portraits bouncing it off the wall:
https://youtu.be/H2nNxaBA6ss?t=1h18m30s
If you really enjoy what you are doing now your upgrade path would be in order of priority (used, eBay): Metz 58 AF-1 at GBP 100, DA16-45 at GBP 125, K5-II (great AF, poor TTL) at GBP 350 (or K3 (great AF, good TTL) at GBP 500). Or jump ship and choose Nikon which is supposed to have the most accurate flash metering.
Yep, lots to work on, it took me 20 sets to get where I am. And I learned a lot from wedding photographers on the web. Go watch everything by Jerry Ghionis and Joe Buissink on the B&H youtube channel and read what Neil van Niekerk writes about bouncing the flash.
Keep the questions coming and post some pics.
Enjoy,
Karet
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-15-2015, 09:33 AM
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Hi, I practice photography at salsa parties at Rico Latino in Enschede, Netherlands. Have a look at my work here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.716273665115006.1073741873.128212733921105&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.755404467868592.1073741875.128212733921105&type=3
Really, get the flash off camera, start with a spiral flash cord, you can upgrade to radio triggers later. Flash straight on gives this awful flat "deer in the headlight" look. Take the flash in your left hand, stretch your arm left and up and aim at your subject. You will get a lot more depth in the faces.
Flash has no impact on shutter speed. This is what you do:
Use the exposure triangle "aperture-shutter speed-iso" to let enough ambient light in. This will show the bar and the party lights. Get in early, take some shots with flash turned off to find settings suitable for the lighting. Black is bad, a bit underexposed is no problem, you pull up the shadows in lightroom afterwards. Noise will increase in the backgrounds but only a trained eye will see it.
Next, use the exposure triangle "aperture-flash power-iso" to light your subject. You will avoid motion blur because the flash duration is faster than 1/1000 of a second. When a light illuminates your subject you will see coloured light bleeding on the edges.
Flash power either means all manual like in the video or you use P-TTL and set flash exposure compensation if the faces are too bright.
I use ISO 1600 with K5II and K3. Nobody will notice noise when you publish on the web. High ISO is good for dance demos because flash output will be lower so the flash will recharge faster than when the flash gives full power at lower ISO.
My gear and settings:
K3, ISO1600, DA 16-45 f4 at f4 to f8, shutter between 1/3 and 1/60. I shoot RAW(dng)+jpeg. I use manual for portraits, aperture priority for the dance demonstrations, the shows are over in 3 minutes so there's no time to adjust settings. AV, iso1600, PTTL, RAW-DNG, develop in Lightroom, this will give me enough room to correct errors to get usable results.
Flash: Metz 58 AF-1 with Stofen omnibounce and spiral flash cord. Flash on extended left arm for portraits, flash in the hotshoe during dance demos. Also, I noticed some ladies have really fast eyes that close halfway from the P-TTL preflash. If this happens I set the flash to A mode where the flash uses the sensor on the flash body (on more expensive flashes). If you don't have A mode try manual mode.
No camera strap, it just gets in the way. I want to put my camera on a table or behind the bar to have a little dance and the strap gets tangled and increases the risk of dropping the camera.
The guy in the video talks about wide angle. I understand the need when the club is crowded but faces get big noses and chins when you are close up with wide angle. If I get the chance I move back at least 1 meter and use 30 mm or more to make faces look more natural. The ladies will love you for that.
Focussing: I use auto focus AF-S for portraits, focus, recompose. Center point is fastest. I use AF-C and move the focus point around for dance demos and dancers.
I hope this gets you further.
Karet
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-24-2015, 03:58 PM
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There's a lot of inspiration and technical advice in the workshops on the B and H youtube channel.
I like the presentations by Joe Buissink and Jerry Ghionis but they have plenty more that are informative.
Here are some links to get you started, some 8 hours in total but worth it.
Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w9zVml5ItgM?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9QYnbR-Ct-s?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/00K7pBWOInk?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kmi9TPQ57Mo?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H2nNxaBA6ss?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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I hope these will inspire you, enjoy the preparation.
Karet
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
02-22-2015, 10:50 AM
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No, 50 AF-1 does not have A mode. I agree the K5 series works better with a flash that has A mode. (Which means the flash body has a light sensor that measures during exposure and cuts flash when it decides it is enough. Kinda sad that this older technology works better than P-TTL.)
When there's no budget to upgrade to K3 consider buying a used 58 AF-1. I did and I'm happy with it. I find the user interface a lot easier to work with than the 50 AF-1, owning both.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-17-2015, 01:21 PM
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A few things come to mind from my experience photographing salsa parties.
Try mixing ambient light with flash to dampen light fall off in the distance. This means going manual and using the triangle ISO-Aperture-Shutter speed to get enough ambient light in to capture the atmosphere. Next you use the triangle ISO-Aperture-Flash exposure compensation to light (and freeze) your subject. (Flash duration is faster than 1/1000 sec.) ISO 1600 is a good starting point and you might go higher. My pictures are used on facebook and noise is no problem at screen resolution at ISO1600.
Consider putting gel foil on the flash head to change the light temperature of the flash to the ambient light (possibly fluorescent). I don't do this because the party lights are coloured anyway and I like it as it is.
Experiment with bounced flash, preferably during a training. Flash exposure can get unpredictable on K5II when you bounce the flash. Flash exposure is ok using the flash straight on. Try Auto mode if your flash has it.
When I shoot portraits of people I use a coiled flash cord and hold the flash in my left hand with my arm extended. This creates natural shadows in the faces which looks so much better then wham, straight on, deer in the headlight. Using the on board flash to trigger the handheld as a slave should work too. Set the on board to wireless control, not wireless master.
I shoot RAW+jpeg. I find I often have to push exposure 0,5 to 1,5 stop in lightroom and pull up the background in Lightroom, RAW gives me room to do so.
examples here; https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.755404467868592.1073741875.128212733921105&type=3
Enjoy, Karet
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-12-2015, 10:24 AM
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Hi,
In a situation like this I go to ebay.de or ebay.com.
Do an advanced search for the items you are selling.
Check the box 'sold items'.
This wil give you the going prices.
Karet
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-06-2015, 01:15 PM
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To get rid of the "bang, straight in your face" look you'll want a flash that not only tilts but also swivels.
I'll let Jerry Ghionis explain how to use it:
http://youtu.be/H2nNxaBA6ss?t=1h18m28s
Good luck on your choice,
Karet
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-18-2014, 01:24 PM
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Hi, install a piece of software for viewing your pictures that can also display the exif data that is embedded in every image. The exif tells you the shutter speed, aperture and ISO and lots of other details that were used when you took the image. Knowing the three most important variables will help you understand what is going wrong when the image is not sharp.
The software that came with the camera does it. Irfanview with the plugins installed does it. Windows image viewer does not.
And post a picture that you're not happy with in this forum or in the pentax forum at dpreview.com. Folks wil check the data in the exif and will tell you what you should change to improve.
Enjoy the ride! It will be interesting.
Karet
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
05-10-2014, 03:15 AM
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Hi, I had a look at the party pictures. Here are some things I learned while taking photographs at salsa parties:
The flash is harsh in your portraits. Using an Stofen omnibounce makes it a bit softer and I just loaned an imitation Lightsphere from a friend and start experimenting with that. The point is creating a larger surface as the source of light. When I stand close to a white wall I turn my back to the wall, point the flashhead back to the wall and up at 45 degrees, this creates a large source of light. Have a look here for a lot of ideas:
http://neilvn.com/tangents/wedding-photography-adapting-photographic-light-lighting/ and google flash modifiers to get some ideas.
You have portraits with the dance floor as background and others with brick walls. The first type look much better. Even when the subjects are standing with their back against the wall I always ask them to turn around and position myself between them and the wall.
I think you balanced flash and ambient light well.
I avoid turning the camera vertical because I don't like the shadows the flash throws to the side of the subjects. Some photogs use brackets to bring the flash above the camera but I just shoot landscape and crop. 18 MP is more than enough to crop and still have plenty resolution for publishing on the web.
I liked your series, it gave a good impression of the party.
Karet
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