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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
12-31-2023, 12:40 PM
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All the best 👍
Happy New Year everyone.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-26-2023, 06:41 AM
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Spectacular shot!
---------- Post added 09-27-23 at 01:45 AM ----------
Couple of my recent shots
---------- Post added 09-27-23 at 01:52 AM ----------
Thoughts:
I think I want a K-3 iii but they are still really expensive and hard to get. NZ isn’t big enough for a second hand market of newer cameras. I might try for family in the UK to find one for me at a reasonable price.
Have you guys seen the new Lightroom AI denoiser? It’s awesome/insane - I really like it.
It’s got to the stage that I’m no longer worried about the raw image capture noise, so the one piece I’d want a new camera for is the AF improvements to lock onto eyes. (I do waste a lot of shots in portraits with a narrow depth of field having found them to be front or back focussed, despite undertaking lens calibrations).
Side note on video: I had to shoot a talking piece for work recently. I used AI to clean up the audio (to make it sound like it was in a studio), and AI to replace my eyes and make it look like I was looking at the camera even with reading the lines to say beneath it.
Takeaway is the new tools are becoming very useable now, across multiple fronts.
---------- Post added 09-27-23 at 01:52 AM ----------
Blog post about it here:
https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2023/04/18/denoise-demystified |
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-12-2022, 07:40 PM
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Damn would have liked the 40mm lens separately.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
04-09-2022, 01:09 AM
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Thank you for this. We have decided to go for it, and will be taking all of these points on board.
MUCH appreciated. Will take a photo with the Pentax when it's done.
In the process of sourcing the particular one we've gone with, selected to maximise the area in that part of the back yard, whilst keeping the required district plan distance from the neighbouring fence lines.
---------- Post added 04-09-22 at 08:14 PM ----------
Was thinking of building a ply platform for it all to sit on, piles and bearers then ply on top. Figure we could put some expol or half a pink batt in the floor cavity created between the ply base, in between the included floor joists, before putting the actual floor down.
Would be interested to see a photo of your chain idea, sounds pretty clever!
Appreciate all the ideas, and sorry to hijack the thread for a bit :D
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
02-14-2022, 03:34 PM
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Melbourne. Every time I get to go there I wonder why I don't live there. It's a very cool place, at least to visit.
---------- Post added 02-15-22 at 11:40 AM ----------
Sorry about that.
Here's an example from Rarotonga:
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
02-13-2022, 05:48 PM
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Lovely picture.
---------- Post added 02-14-22 at 01:55 PM ----------
I had a Xiaomi Drone a long time ago and loved it. Very solid, 3 axis gimbal with 4K video etc. Too big to travel easily with though!
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/52268c5bf2de76c76525c0a710f0addb.jpg
I sold it in the end though as I couldn't use it easily in NZ and it was a waste just sitting there really. Went to someone to use as a fishing drone to carry his lure off the beach out to sea.
All DOC land is off limits without a permit from them. That's not a contact the local airspace and book time, it's a proper you're not allowed to fly and need a formal permit.
A lot of airspace is controlled too, which is in itself not the end of the world, but does require you to complete a flight application and have this approved, and contact the tower before and after etc.
Bottom line was any place I actually wanted to fly it was banned. Beaches were ok though, but always have to check the no fly controlled air space restrictions that may be in place first.
I took it to Rarotonga as they were a lot more lenient at the time, but still kept away from airports and flightpaths, and below the standard ceiling limit.
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/72bb9ab33d39177977b85fcf50cbb5bf.jpg
https://cdn.geekzone.co.nz/imagessubs/8a9bb59c2cfbaf60c4a16c8eaff674fe.jpg |
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Forum: General Photography
02-09-2022, 02:24 PM
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I've used neoprene wrist straps from aliexpress for many years now and highly recommend this.
Depends on your use case though. For me travelling it gave security plus puts the camera in reach for quick use.
Having switched to this style of grip I'd never go back to a shoulder strap personally, and the neoprene was very comfortable too.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-09-2022, 02:23 PM
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There's that whole feature curve/plateau thing at play here, diminishing returns etc now that the technology has improved.
Back in the early days of digital cameras the improvements each cycle were massive, but the state of tech (well from about say 2015 onwards?) has been good enough for quite some time now.
Now it's a case of do you need the improvements to suit your own personal needs. In my case the ability to track moving subjects is of use to me, but a better lasting battery giving 100 shots more or another 20MP in sensor image size is not for example.
I think it's important to keep it real about what 'discontinued' means. Most significantly you just can't buy a new one anymore.
It doesn't mean it stops working suddenly or instantly doesn't fit your needs etc.
And just because it's a camera doesn't mean it's any different to other device purchases in your home.
By the time it fails you'll be in the market for a new one. All things fail eventually, when you're talking this level of electronics.
You'll just re evaluate the market offerings at that time and match those against your requirements.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-13-2022, 02:29 PM
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Love this. Any tips from anyone around when to visit, where to head and what to expect etc?
It's one place I haven't yet visited unfortunately.
Love the shot by the way too. Good luck with the file.
---------- Post added 01-14-22 at 10:32 AM ----------
A few recents:
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
01-10-2022, 01:08 PM
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Great works there, thanks for the link
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
11-09-2021, 08:22 PM
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I've been going back over earlier images recently too (getting some acrylic prints made) and it's interesting to revisit these with all the subsequent years of development in Lightroom in my case. I was getting quite angry with one of my images and when I checked the details it was with the Tamron zoom. I recall that being sharp (and solid, like you could play cricket with it) but the chromatic aberration was just chronic with wild green and purple blooming on every light to dark edge.
If I'm honest, that's one of the major benefits to the two newer Pentax lenses I now own. I think the image sensors have been good enough for quite some time, and it's now (as always) down to the quality of the physical optics feeding the sensor.
All good Gary, yeah small world.
With family in the UK I have purchased nearly all of my gear from there and have been a member of PentaxUser for longer than here.
My portfolio there |
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
10-10-2021, 07:38 PM
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The other half of richandfleur would say that wouldn't be a surprise :lol:
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-21-2021, 09:49 PM
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Final last one ��
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-20-2021, 08:28 PM
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Funny thing for me is Fleur and I have Pentax cameras only because we came here from the film world prior to digital.
From memory Fleur's dad had Pentax and my dad was Canon.
If I was starting now I could almost 100% guarantee I wouldn't have selected Pentax, mostly as I could not go somewhre and pick it up to try.
Once you've got a lens collection you're much more likely to stick to a brand, so they have me now mostly as I can't be stuffed changing, either in terms of spare money or having to relearn everything (Pentax zoom direction/muscle memory is opposite likes of Canon for example too).
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-20-2021, 01:07 AM
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Loving the vibe with these guys around more. We planted the yellow flowering kōwhai tree from a seedling, so great to see it as a larger tree now attracting the Tui to it's nectar outside our lounge. Great bird song and colours.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-16-2021, 03:50 PM
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Ha I too have a C brand Mirrorless, it's cheap and small but has an APS-C sized sensor and it focusses insanely well compared to everything I've ever had in Pentax land. Likes of real tracking AF and exceptional face identification etc. Has a rear flippy touchscreen also, with likes of pinch to zoom and swipe to move between photos and navigate menus etc.
Image quality isn't comparable to Pentax at all (think lower Dynamic Range/blown highlights, less recoverable detail in the shadows etc) but that's not why I got it and isn't important in most of the situations that little thing comes out in.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
08-29-2021, 02:29 PM
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
09-01-2021, 03:20 AM
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So good. Thanks for sharing.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
08-30-2021, 06:50 PM
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One more, snow capped, blue sky day.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
08-23-2021, 02:48 PM
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I guess that's the point really, this sort of tech doesn't have to be packaged in wild out there styling, it's just inside normal vehicles now.
---------- Post added 08-24-21 at 09:58 AM ----------
Very interesting to read how newer EVs have active cooling on the batteries, and are getting much longer lifespans than the early ones. This tech really is surging ahead in leaps and bounds.
Just need it to arrive at a point where the pricing is more in line with traditional vehicles, because right now it certainly isn't.
Only alignment is with 'self charge' hybrids, which will likely receive the subsidy in early 2022.
These have more efficient 'Atkinson cycle' petrol engines, which are pretty gutless off the mark, so use electric motors to assist with that part.
Random point of interest is car makers use vehicle size as the point of difference as you go up the product offering ladder.
It's very hard to find a small car that's fully spec'd with the likes of front and rear parking sensors and especially the 360deg camera birds eye view feature.
Was difficult shopping for my mother where we wanted all the safety features and assistance kit, just in a small vehicle suitable for around town mostly.
Toyota Yaris Cross ltd hybrid was the best we could find, but that was larger than we wanted.
Everyone's use case is different though (just like with cameras).
On the camera world side, have you guys seen the photoshop AI colourise tool for adding colour to older black and white photos, and the new feature of AI sky replacements.
Not sure how you feel about all this, but moving forward it's going to be a very strange media world in future.
Images will be able to be manipulated very easily and convincingly. That coupled with the ease of misinformation, echo chambers of web forums where everyone thinks the same way etc, and it's going to be very hard to know what's real.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
08-29-2021, 08:37 PM
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Had a lookout and didn't hang about. Prefocussed on manual, so just a short step into the middle, shoot and exit.
Do wish I had a flippy screen though for those down low shots. I'm not about to lie in the middle of the road to properly frame it up etc.
---------- Post added 08-30-21 at 03:39 PM ----------
Another from the walk. Found in a cold area that hadn't yet seen the days sunlight.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
07-26-2021, 12:41 PM
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As someone who lives in Palmerston North I’m offended. Not going to actually disagree with you, but feel obligated to at least register my objection 😂
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
05-20-2021, 02:24 AM
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SSD is a must have though, for program files and for disk cache/swap files etc.
They’re not that expensive for decent sizes now so all good. I still have old school mechanical for big data drives though.
Been interesting coming back to look at the scene now and finding AMD significantly ahead on intel cpus now. I stay with Nividia for gpu as they seem to align better with Adobe which I use.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
03-09-2021, 04:32 PM
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Bits of this last discussion got me thinking too:
Cost of Pentax
Big thing for me is the size of the second hand market. With Pentax having next to no coverage in NZ at all, outside a few specialty camera stores, there's very little in the way of a second hand market around modern lenses/ bodies etc.
New they may still be competitive, but a quick search for Canikony lenses in NZ will return lots of results on trademe/facebook marketplace etc, vs almost nothing for modern Pentax lenses.
The k100d was the last DSLR camera body or lens that I purchased new, and most of my current gear has come from UK via family there purchasing for me or Australia
I'm certain this would be different if Pentax was carried in the likes of Harvey Norman and Noel Leemings etc, like nearly every other brand.
AF
The concept of on sensor phase detection points appeals to me more than others. The K-70 has these and I'm yet to hear any complaining about image quality degradation from these, so I don't think it's a universal failure because a few do. Over processing of noise reduction killing stars sounds like a much larger problem than banding in some lighting scenarios. On sensor enables the ability to track objects in real time, right across the frame, and introduces all the analytical smarts of object detection (even down to nearest eye etc) and continuous focus tracking, that just would never get a look in with the current DSLR AF approach.
Depending on the style of shooting, AF may not matter at all. Anything tripod based at night or to capture water with a long exposure etc, and I'm instantly into live view and focus peaking in manual focus.
Currently I don't trust Pentax AF that much, so 9 times out of 10 I'm on centre focus point only. With the new PLM lens I may extend that to object tracking over the 9 or 25 wider points, which I've used a bit better in the past for kids sports events.
I'm still using an original K-3, which was released in late 2013, so AF may have improved a lot since then.
EVF/ Future Pentax
Comparing EVF experiences with 20 year old handi cam tech is really not being particularly fair.
Personally I prefer the optical viewfinder, but do appreciate the smarts a mirrorless approach brings.
Of more importance to me is what the sensor sees and final image than enjoying an optical viewfinder but find I didn't get the shot I thought i was getting.
For portraits I'd love to be able to hand hold with a solid stance up to my eye, but with the camera able to to do eye AF through the viewfinder, but that can't happen in optical mode.
Was waiting to see what the new K-3 iii would look like but see that's been delayed again indefinitely.
Realistically would have been outside my price range, especially for an APS-C camera, but wanted to see what they finally did in video terms.
Video spec Pentax really is still pushing the 2012 K-30 and K-01 capabilities still, which has come as a shock to some new K-1 owners.
Points of difference
What has annoyed me a bit though, is Pentax had a really solid link to release a retro camera, but both Olympus and Fuji have led the way on that.
This history was there to release something in metal again. The KP was the closest but see it's out of production now.
I too did the value assessment back when I got the K-30 and at the time Pentax still stacked up really well against the competition.
Not aiming to seem negative here, but looking back there were many points going for Pentax that today are common place across many manufacturers.
Examples were weather sealing, compatibility with lots of legacy lenses, in camera stabilisation etc.
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Forum: Travel, Events, and Groups
03-10-2021, 12:53 AM
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I’d love a Pentax version of those Fuji’s. With the shutter speed and exposure compensation/iso dials on top. They look awesome, and I like those new monochrome top displays also - that don’t look like ‘80s lcd calculators.
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