Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 
Log in or register to remove ads.

Showing results 1 to 25 of 300 Search:
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 3 Days Ago  
Light Meter apps
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 13
Views: 477
Suppose your camera did not have a light meter...
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 3 Days Ago  
I Need A New Printer
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 16
Views: 719
I'm surprised your Epson R2880 lasted so long. My Epson R2400 fell appart after about 8 months. Inks were expensive and the print-head kept getting clogged after it sat idle for no more than 2 weeks. The printer was virtually made out of plastic, except for some interior metal parts. The experience with the Epson was so frustrating for me, that I switched to a Dye-sub printer. Canon printers seem to be a little more sturdy. The Pixma Pro-200 and the ProGraf Pro 300 are about 32 pounds. The ProGraf Pro 1000 (17") is about 71 pounds, which practically makes it a permanent fixture in your home.
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 3 Days Ago  
New to Film Guy is Pumped
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 19
Views: 704
Is this the only shutter/aperture combination you used ?
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 3 Days Ago  
Light Meter apps
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 13
Views: 477
Good to know, thanks !
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 3 Days Ago  
Light Meter apps
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 13
Views: 477
Some people rave about these Light Meter apps. I'm guessing they know how to use them, or they downloaded one that works much better than mine. I thought it might be handy to have one since there is no way I'm going to forget my smart phone. What I really wanted was a spot meter for my B&W photography. The Sekonic has a 1 degree spot-meter attachment that is currently selling for about $350 brand new, thats more than the meter itself !

Tell you the truth I don't need one that bad... I did find a 5-degree spot-meter attachment for my Minolta Auto III light meter for less than $50 on ebay recently. Its in the mail as I write this. The Minolta Auto IIl light meter lets you save 3 different readings, then average them. The Sekonic can average 9 different readings, but I'm not willing to spend that much on a Sekonic spot meter, especially when the one inside my camera is pretty good.
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 4 Days Ago  
Light Meter apps
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 13
Views: 477
These days instead of using a Light Meter, you can download a Light Meter app to your smart-phone and use your phone as a light meter. There are a variety of them out there, so choosing the one that works for you is a matter of hit, or miss. You can also Google "Light Meter app reviews" to get an idea of what's out there. I first downloaded an app called Lux Meter, but it was so complicated, that I decided to skip it and get another one. The one I have currently is called "Light Meter by WBPhoto". Actually I wanted one of these so I could use it as a Spotmeter, but after I down loaded it, I don't see any instructions on how to use the Spotmeter function.

This Light Meter uses your camera do determine what to measure. That is you point your phone at your subject just as if you were taking a picture and depending on how you hold the phone it gives you a reading. For Reflective light measurements, the app let's you change the ISO and aperture value to get a reading. The app also has an Incident light Meter function, meaning that the app can take measurements of where the light falls on your phone, but i'm not sure if you have to tilt the phone up or down or what ? Since the app lets you zoom in on whatever you are viewing, I guess this is how you can use it as a Spot meter ? A crude Spot meter at that ! This app is loaded with other functions, such as DOF and White Balance measurements, which I have not tried yet except to glance at.

I compared this meter with my other 3 Light Meters: a Gossen Luna Pro F, a Sekonic L-358 and a Sekonic L-208. When pointing the 3 Meters at my living room window from about 15 feet away, I get a reading of about 1/60 @f2.8 ISO 200 on all 3 meters. However, on the phone app meter I get a reading of 1/4 @f2.8 ISO 200. But Wait ! If I sort off tilt the phone down slowly, I get closer and closer to the other readings until I finally tilt the phone enough to get a reading of 1/60 @f2.8 ISO 200 like the other 3 meters.

This to me is totally useless if i'm using this meter in the field. How am i suppose to know how far to tilt the phone to get the right angle and correct measurement ? The app meter doesn't give you an angle of view instead it gives you a measurement on what is on the LCD screen. It could be I'm doing something wrong though. Anybody has any ideas or has used such a meter before ?
Forum: General Photography 03-11-2024, 05:07 PM  
Flickr has gone crazy
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 21
Views: 983
You don't understand i'll explain to you. Sometimes I do a search because I'm inquiring about a certain problem I'm either having with photography, or my equipmment. After my search I click on a couple of post that came up. Some of these post say something like "I have the answer to your question just click here: " I click on the link and it's expired or no longer available. Same thing goes with pictures when let's say I'm reviewing a lens or other equipment. Sometimes the picture(s) is no longer available inside the post. its very frustrating. Why try to be so "avant-garde" and unique, the download procedure is very simple.
Forum: General Photography 03-11-2024, 02:35 PM  
Flickr has gone crazy
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 21
Views: 983
This is why people should download any pictures they want scrutinized instead of this tendency to post links to Flikr.
Forum: General Talk 03-10-2024, 02:35 PM  
Your vehicle: what do you have, why do you like it, and what do you not like?
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 2,951
Views: 202,968
I have a 2010 Toyota Camry, that I use for ride sharing(Uber) a couple of days a week. At first I wasn't very impressed with this car, after all it looks like your "Moms car", nothing fancy. When I began driving for Uber this is when this car began to shine. I have the 6 cylinder XLE version, so no matter how many passengers I have in the car, it can handle it. What I really like about the Camry is that they are RELIABLE. The car is very well enginneered, so I don't mind putting some extra mileage on it. I change the oil every 3 months and that's about it. The other day I got into a fender bender, OH NO ! I said. This might mean I would be off the road for several days, or worse....

Lucky for me the guy who hit me in the back was the owner of an Auto Body Shop. He begged me not to tell the insurance company and he would fix my car for free. He also offered a free Brake Job (4X) . This was an offer I could not refuse, so I agreed. The same day my car was fixed in about an hour. The next day I bought it in for the brake job which also took about an hour ! These guys deal with a lot of Hot-Rods so they can get you in an out without a bunch of wasted time.

I guessing that when my Camry finally conks out, I will probably get another one. The car is pretty much indestructible !
Forum: General Talk 03-09-2024, 03:04 PM  
Your latest acquisition
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 27,110
Views: 2,080,735
I needed a pair of closed-back headphones that i could take on long air-plane flights so I purchased these: Professional monitor headphones| ATH-M50x |Audio-Technica | Audio-Technica
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 03-09-2024, 07:08 AM  
I want to support Pentax, but…
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 174
Views: 5,729
I don't have that problem because I use three different systems (Pentax, Nikon, Canon), four if you include my Mamiya Medium Format camera. For personal enjoyment I prefer Pentax. For professional work I prefer Canon. Nikon sort of falls between the two. They all have their Pros and Cons. Most of my equipment I purchased used but not all. If you can get a good copy used you can save a lot of money, although you give up the privilege of a Warranty.

Buying used lenses is not as risky as buying used cameras and speed lights. There is so much that can go wrong with a lens and most of it is visual. With cameras and speed lights there can be small hidden issues that pop up long after you plunked down your hard earned dollars. If that's the case, you can either ignore the problem(s), or have the unit serviced.

Pentax is a much smaller company than Nikon, or Canon, at least they own a much smaller percentage of the market. This does not mean that they produce inferior products, it just means that they have more limitations than the bigger company's no matter how you slice it. If you can get by those limitations, or if they don't affect your style of shooting then go with what your heart desires. In 20 years your gear is probably going to be worth "peanuts" anyway with all the new advancements, so enjoy what you got while you can...
Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 02-20-2024, 06:00 PM  
Pentax K-3 MarkIII reveal - hacking
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 75
Views: 4,247
Couldn't you have just left well enough alone ?
Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio 02-14-2024, 07:46 PM  
Product photography lighting
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 28
Views: 1,291
This subject is a bit too wide and complicated to explain in a couple of post. If I were you, I would purchase a book on Product photography such as this one: Digital Still Life Photography: Art, Business Style by Sint, Steve: new Paperback (2013) | Byrd Books
Forum: Photographic Technique 02-11-2024, 07:41 PM  
Advice on headshots in mediocre lighting
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 41
Views: 1,391
Are you going to be shooting outside, or inside ?
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service 02-11-2024, 03:28 PM  
K3 iii water entry
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 72
Views: 2,596
Could you pleae tell us what type of lens you were using ? Sometimes the lens is the 'achiles heel' in that it is not weather sealed like the camera.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 02-11-2024, 03:11 PM  
Pentax DSLR green colour cast
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 22
Views: 1,102
It's not just Pentax cameras, but all cameras tend to display a greenish cast when there is a lot of green around like trees and grass. If you are sitting in the middle of a field of yellow tulips then the camera is going to display a yellow cast. The white balance in our eyes does a great job in neutralizing the cast, but cameras see things differently. One thing about the sensor in Pentax cameras is that they are very sensitive to color hues. You have to be very careful when you adjust the color hue in-camera. I once forgot to change the small adjustment I made from blueish cast to more yellow and all my pictures about 300 of them, came out too yellow the next time I used the camera.
Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service 02-04-2024, 05:54 AM  
K3 iii water entry
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 72
Views: 2,596
Thanks for posting this.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 08:46 PM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
Thanks for all the responses, I think I got it now...
Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 01-25-2024, 05:45 PM  
Photo Software recommended?
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 74
Views: 2,179
If you want a cheaper alternative to Photoshop, then Photoshop Elements (PSE) would probably be your best bet. It does about 80% (without the graphic tools) of what PS does at a 1/5th of the price. The good thing about PSE is that it trains you incase you might want to move to full blown Photoshot later on.

There are other much cheaper packages than PS such as ' Corel PaintShop Photo pro' that is often called the poor man version of Photoshop. I don't know about that, but it has excellent features for printing and some things even PS can't do. 'Picture Window Pro vs 8' is another excellent software eding package that does not hog up a lot of space on your computer. Topaz does a lot of things well, but to me it's more of a specialized software package. It is loaded with 'Presets' if you are into heavy manipulation of your images. ACDsee can be a little quirky, but it has become my default Photo editing package due to the ease of use. it doesn't have sophisticated Selection tools, or Layer like PS and PSE however.

I never tried RAW Therapee, but I do have it loaded on my computer. Affinity is another very good photo editing software package, but it take a long time to load, much longer than even Photoshop and the edits are more geared towards graphics IMHO.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 04:12 PM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
I'm 4/5 of the way there, except I read that after setting the stiff ring to a certain aperture lets say f8, you can vary the second smooth ring to say an aperture of f7.1 and the camera will shoot at the f7.1 aperture. This is where it got a little confusing. I also have the Takumar 200mm f3.5 preset with the same 2 aperture rings BTW.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 01:22 PM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
OK thanks !
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 12:57 PM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
OK so the aperture ring #2(the smooth one) has much more of an effect on the picture than I thought. I thought it was just there so that you could open up the aperture temporarily to focus.

---------- Post added 01-25-24 at 03:00 PM ----------


OK so if I'm in Manual mode and I have aperture ring #1 set to F8 when i hit the green button the camera will expose for f8 regardless of where aperture ring#2 is positioned ?
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 12:03 PM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
Yes but in M- mode don't I get to use the "green button" to determine exposure ? I'm using a k-5 IIs...
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-25-2024, 09:54 AM  
Explanation of preset lens
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 17
Views: 772
I purchased a Takumar 50mm f4 "preset" lens several years ago, which I'm finally going to use on a project. I have not touched this lens in years, so I kind of forgot how to use it. I tried to Google it, but the responses were so vague and varied(V V) that i decided to come here to hopefully get some instructions.

Now the Takumar 50mm f4 preset, has two aperture rings: 1) One ring has somewhat stiff detents while you turn it. It is used to set the maximum aperture 2) The other ring is used to open up the aperture so you can focus easier. This rings turns smoothly and does not have any detents.

a) Suppose I set the maximum aperture with both aperture-ring #1 and aperture-ring #2 to f8.
b) My viewfinder darkens due to the chosen aperture value and I can barely see my subject. So I open up aperture-ring #2 (the smooth one) to f4 which allows me to focus a lot better.
c) After I focus my subject, I move aperture-ring #2 back to f8 (the maximum aperture) then I take the picture.

* My question is, suppose I forget to move aperture-ring #2 back to f8 so it stays on f4, or suppose I move aperture-ring #2 back to around f5.6, what happens then ?
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-06-2024, 02:29 PM  
I am shocked K5 vs 6D
Posted By hjoseph7
Replies: 62
Views: 4,958
I have both cameras. Although the 6D is full frame, if you pair the K5 with Limited lenses there is no comparison. The k5 wins hands-down ! Not to say that the 6D does not produce great images...
Search took 0.02 seconds | Showing results 1 to 25 of 300

 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 08:42 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top