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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
2 Days Ago
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@pepperberry farm Indeed a very well focused shot. That Tomioka might sound exotic but it's a highly rated lens.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
2 Days Ago
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Ragwort by Jason Doss
Pentax K-1 mII Limited Silver and Pentax-K 18mm f3.5 at f5.6, 1/500s, and ISO 280
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
4 Days Ago
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Red Daisy by Jason Doss
Pentax K-1 mII and Pentax-A 100mm f2.8 Macro at f4.8, 1/125s, and ISO 1100
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
4 Days Ago
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I really like this kind of very back background blurry bokeh: no bubbles, no eye cats, no shadows stuff, just a fading degrading colors.
Mitakon Speedmaster 85mm f1.2 @ f1.2
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
4 Days Ago
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The fact that things change is the only thing that stays the same.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-16-2024, 09:47 AM
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HD DA 20-40 continues to be a fine lens; versatile and the zoom range is usually enough for my daily applications. Sometimes I miss the portrait range but nothing dramatic. My performance has been so-so, mostly due to limited time, but I hope to do better from now on :)
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-16-2024, 12:07 AM
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Compared to @Riggomatic I'm using a short lens, but it does feel very long to me, especially on the KP -- my K-1 has been welded to the stacking rail for most of the month. I haven't used AF a lot, but the lens simply feels like a regular screwdriver lens instead of going through the long macro focus throw. The HD version improves the already very good smc handling of stray and contra lights, well ahead of any other macro lens that I'm aware of. Together with the same excellent hood and very compact build, it is the most flexible macro lens when it comes to lighting. Bokeh has (unfortunately) not changed much, a but busy and the foreground blur at 1:1 is still not pleasant. For the 2nd half of the month, I'll try to capture more street scenes or other "large" stuff. I've been in and around the house too much, grabbing the camera for a half hour outing is always a welcome change.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-12-2024, 01:55 PM
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Thanks everyone. I'm back home and hopefully it is all sorted.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-11-2024, 07:06 AM
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somebody explain this to me....
on Monday morning, I paid for a SMC A 645 45mm f2.8 (probably next month's lens choice) and it was shipped from Tokyo....
it arrived yesterday afternoon, here in SW Missouri (USA)....
just amazing...
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-06-2024, 05:56 AM
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I had mentioned last month about the Fish-Eye-Takumar 17/4 needing a FF camera to really show off its distortions....
I even put it up for sale, thinking that it would possibly be never truly used to its potential here....
well, with the GFX behind it:
 morning light by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
 sunrise by Pepperberry Farm, on Flickr
yeah... so I withdrew the ad in the Marketplace....
(:
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-06-2024, 07:53 PM
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Utterly dismal participation from me (again...) but I kept up with taking photos - and have just this morning uploaded the rest of the month (9th onwards, believe it or don't).
Fave is probably this:
Eternity by Occasionally Focused, on Flickr
Though I'm also a fan of a rainbow and the light here on That Tree:
Rainbow by Occasionally Focused, on Flickr
Still absolutely loving the lens. Don't know if I have anything more or different to say about it though. As with any lens I've ever put on a camera I'd like closer focus xP ... but realistically there's only so much you can have all at once.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-02-2024, 02:52 PM
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Unfortunately March pretty much fell apart. Just too much going on and not enough time. I did try my best to get photos in but when you goto into work at 7:00am and do not get home until 8-9pm it makes it really hard.I have decided to take April off. I have already missed two days. Now about that FA 20 2.8. Once again I had a lens that caught me off guard. For the size and weight of the FA 20 2.8 you really cannot fault it. It is sharp in the center at F2.8, no problem. From F6.3 on it is just sharp everywhere. The sweet spot seems to be F6.3-F8. I do not regret buying this lens and I definitely can see if getting more use. I will say that 20mm on FF is a bit interesting. At times it seems to wide and other times not wide enough. I found myself taking a lot more steps forward and backwards with this lens. That may be the reason I enjoyed the Tamron 17-35 so much back in February. I will add that I never tired of shooting with the FA 20. On the K-1 it was just nothing but a joy to use. I never tried it on the K-3 simply because I have a DA 21 Limited.
A few from my short month.
 
 
 
 
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-31-2024, 12:51 PM
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I'm done. I believe I shot everyday and got everything posted. It was fun to have a new lens to play with and test out. With travel and computer problems I wasn't actively commenting this month, but I tried to look all the shots thru. I got new harddrive on my laptop, so it's running well again, so that shouldn't be an issue for awhile. This computer seems to burn thru SSD drives pretty fast. Currently on third one. So hopefully 2-3 good years before I need to replace it again.
Onto the lens itself. Is there a nickname for this superfastfifty? It feels like a true bokeh machine. The quality of bokeh is pretty much as good as it gets. I find it quite similar with DFA*85 which is obviously a very good thing. I think the lens is at its best when not focused at infinity. So for portrait type of shooting this is exellent lens no matter if target is human, animal or some thing. Yes it can also take landscapes, but they are not as magnificent as portrait kind of work. I think I need to do some landscape comparison between this and f1.7 as I feel like the latter is still better in that department. Maybe next time I shoot f1.2 at SIC.
Wide open lens is bit soft as can be expected. Especially at MFD the focus plane seems to disappear. This gives different kind of rendering compared to modern fast primes which have very clear and sharp focus plane. In a way this gives smoother transition as focus plane is not so highlighted, so not necessary a bad thing. I also noticed that wide open rendering has similar glow to what can be found on soft lenses at some apertures. Not so strong as in soft lenses, but a little to give special rendering or some character to the lens. Wide open rendering seems to work very well in instagram where shots are typically watched on mobile phones.
Stopping down give sharped focus plane. Bokeh quality seems to stay very good stopped down too. I didn't get to test this very much this month as I was so keen to test wide open performance.
This was clearly the most expensive fifty back in the days. Almost double to M50/1.4 and close to M85/2 in price. I'd say it was worth it, as f1.2 feels a lot better lens than f1.4. I think it wins in everything you can put those two lenses in comparison. After one month I'm very impressed. This is a keeper. I'd say that even when I get DFA*50/1.4 this will be worth to keep in collection for its rendering.
Full SIC album: Pentax K50/1.2 | Flickr
And some of my favorites from the shots that didn't make it to the SIC album:
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-01-2024, 04:30 AM
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Happy April 1st, everyone - it's soooo good to be back...
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-01-2024, 07:36 AM
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Hoping to do a bit better this month - I only managed 3 pictures last month. I'll be using the Cyclop 85mm night vision lens. It has a fixed f1.5 aperture.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-31-2024, 10:43 AM
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I had a great month with the HD DFA 100/2.8 macro. The focal length suits me well and the lens performance is great. I like the wide-open sharpnes - not 'clinical' but enough to feel comfortable with it. The only downside would be focus hunting - at times the lens can go along its whole range in search for focus. Otherwise - a very pleasant to use. Some of my faves are below. Thank you all for your kind company this month.
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