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Lots of work to do my end on the curation side. Given it's not going to get sorted any time soon thought I'd grab an old series of shots to say Hi (could benefit from some modern PP methinks and they are tighter shots than I tend to shoot these days).

Forum: Welcomes and Introductions 12-09-2013, 04:52 PM

This is London Calling
Posted By dude

Replies: 10
Views: 825

ME Super-londres says Hi. I have noticed that back in the early 80's folks tended to leave the stickers on - kinda like it myself :)

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 12-09-2013, 04:11 PM

The DA limited is 20-40? and WR?!
Posted By dude

Replies: 1,331
Views: 195,023

Mostly one handed (was carrying some takeaway food home) but I don't think I added too much blur. No tripod I'm afraid.

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 12-09-2013, 04:03 PM

The DA limited is 20-40? and WR?!
Posted By dude

Replies: 1,331
Views: 195,023

A few more samples. I intended to post the DNGs up as well but there may be some technical difficultly with this - stay tuned.

Forum: Welcomes and Introductions 12-09-2013, 03:58 PM

This is London Calling
Posted By dude

Replies: 10
Views: 825

Bonjour Jean Poitiers and many thanks for the welcome. The ME Super is indeed a fine camera. Stick it in AUTO and you've got aperture priority. The viewfinder has a great size to brightness trade off and the body has good, solid, and simple ergonomics. What's not to like :) .

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 12-09-2013, 03:30 PM

The DA limited is 20-40? and WR?!
Posted By dude

Replies: 1,331
Views: 195,023

Hopefully the shots give some idea as to the flat field performance and the in-out of focus rendering (though with the variable focal lengths and apertures it's tricky but interested parties can extrapolate :)).

Someone shout if I'm doing attachments wrong.

DNGs up at: https://skydrive.live.com/?mkt=en-GB#cid=517F1AEA602F4466&id=517F1AEA602F4466%21391

Forum: Welcomes and Introductions 12-09-2013, 02:51 PM

This is London Calling
Posted By dude

Replies: 10
Views: 825

Hi kerrowdown and RobA_Oz and many thanks for the warm welcome. There is some great quality shooting here that's for sure. Hopefully I can contribute a little from my end once I get up and running.

Dude:

1. Informal An Easterner or city person who vacations on a ranch in the West.
2. Informal A man who is very fancy or sharp in dress and demeanor.
3. Slang
a. A man; a fellow.
b. dudes Persons of either sex.

So I guess I fall in to 3.a here (need to buy some new threads). I used to live in west London but not on a ranch. On the flipside I did spend a little of my (mis)spent youth backpacking way back in the day and The Big Lebowski is a damn fine film :)

Forum: Pentax News and Rumors 12-09-2013, 02:30 PM

The DA limited is 20-40? and WR?!
Posted By dude

Replies: 1,331
Views: 195,023

Hi all; new poster - old school lurker. I think SRS in the UK got some early stock as I got my (black) copy last Friday.

First up I'm happy with this lens. For comparison I also currently own the following in the same or close focal ranges:
- 16-50mm SDM
- 20mm Voigtlander (a favourite for the silky smooth focus and easy zone focusing)
- 31mm Limited
- 35mm 2.8 M
- 40mm DA Limited
- 43mm FA Limited
- Kit lens (from K200 days - don't use this much, but may dust it off for a comparison)

I'm currently shooting with a K5 (original) so please keep this in mind re autofocus.

Initial impressions:

I think this is a lens you need to get to know a little. Once you do, for particular shooting styles, I rate it pretty highly.

Ergonomics: I'm going to score it high here. It balances well. As has been noted before, similar size to the 31mm but a lot lighter. This is good if you need to shoot one handed. The cap is easy to remove (not a fan of the 40mm screw design but the Ltd caps beat even the clip style for my money). On the negative side, why such a short focus throw for what could be a great street photog lens. Zone focusing is harder and so far as I can tell this leads to less accuracy on the autofocus. Does anyone really care whether the lens takes 0.7 or 0.9 seconds to focus? Maybe there is more to it.

Focus accuracy: I struggled with this to start with - it seemed to have a fair bit of back focus at some focal lengths. Many test chart shots later. I'm at +1 to fix a mild back focus problem but have found that if I focus from 0m I get better accuracy apart from at 40mm where focusing from infinity yields better results. The problem focal lengths appear to be around the 30mm mark. From infinity the focus is audibly in steps, from 0 it appears to go straight to focus and stops (on K5).

Sharpness: First surprise - I think that the max resolving power of this lens may sit in the f9-f10 range rather than around f7. I see an observable drop off or sharpness at f13 but up to there we are pretty good. Other observations. The edges drop off a little but nothing I'd consider bad. The lens benefits from stopping down (especially at the 20mm end) - not a surprise. At 40mm it is pretty good wide open.

Sharpness - Lens comparisons:
v 31mm Ltd - Goes toe to toe in the centre but the 31mm is sharper across the whole frame
v 16-50mm @ 40mm f4 - the 16-50mm may be slightly sharper in the centre of the frame
v 16-50mm @ 30mm f3.5 - the 16-50mm may be more consistent across the frame but overall the 20-40mm wins
v 16-50mm @ 20mm f2.8 - the 20-40mm wins all round

Sharpness - @ different focal distances
The 20-40mm seems to perform well here. Both close focus and far distance are handled well so the lens dose not appear to have been geared to either end.

Sharpness - focal plane
I haven't yet worked out this lenses field curvature yet. It is certainly less pronounced than the 43mm Ltd. I think it may be complex and vary at different focal lengths - hard to pin down.

Fringing: This lens beats the hell out of the 31mm Ltd in terms of purple fringing, Although the problem is not completely eliminated it is very well controlled,

Vignetting: Haven't spotted any obvious problems yet.

+ I like the rendering and out of focus transitioning.

I've attached a comparison with the f31mm at f10. There is still some variation in focus points. Focus should be on the bottle neck mid frame. I think the 31mm is back focusing slightly here.

Random point to note: 31mm on the 31mm Ltd at close focus is a lot tighter than 31mm at the same distance to subject on the 20-40mm.

I'll post some more samples.

Forum: Welcomes and Introductions 12-09-2013, 01:42 PM

This is London Calling
Posted By dude

Replies: 10
Views: 825

Cor blimely guv. I've been lurking for a while but have just signed up. Initially to post a little feedback on the new 20-40mm but who knows in the future. Mainly a street shooter I've also done some wildlife, a wedding, some portrait work and commercial promotional materials in the past. Favorite photog : colour me Alex Webb with a side order of William Eggleston. Have been shooting Pentax through the K200 through, K7 to K5. I've also played around with an ME Super and have an ongoing project to fix up an MX.

Hi everyone, hope your all having a good evening, morning, afternoon (dependent on time-zone). Thanks to all those active posters who have unknowingly given me such great information and insight in the past - high fives.

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