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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-10-2023, 12:12 AM
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So it looks like I might be embarking on this journey alone ;)
My plan currently is to create a new library to add to libgphoto2 that supports very basic functionality to allow for indilib to use it . My long term target is to support all the cameras that ImageTransmitter2 can support, but right now, shutter release on K3iii is my first target and liveview support on K3iii my second.
If anyone has any desire to be involved or supportive , or has a really good justification for why I should give up and go home now, please get in touch ;)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-03-2023, 06:30 PM
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It doesn’t seem to use the same approach , at all, as far as I can tell. I’ve been using Wireshark USBCPAP to look at the difference in the packets transmitted when I connect to the K3iii using Image Transmitter 2 as compared to PKTriggerTools and the sample app that came with the C## SDK. (Alas I have no debugging tools to do it any other way currently).
It seems to be able to ‘detect’ but isn’t getting close to ‘connect’ing.
I understand why most will probably have zero interest in attempting this journey, but I have a huge investment in kit that won’t quite talk to each other , and not enough skill to embark on this journey alone ;)
Any guidance on this perilous journey would be very welcome .
To declare the full intent : My goal is to find a way to get a driver into the glibphoto2 package that supports the K3iii and K1ii so I can use my Benro Polaris device and Astroberry controller.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-03-2023, 01:18 PM
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Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I’m digging in 100 directions at the moment and not yet making any progress, in my quest for how to improve support for Pentax in various third party products .
Since the SDK isn’t available now , it seems that external developers no like Benro can’t use it, however it seems they can use projects made by others that already have it it, if compiled in an application (If I understand the license correctly). For that reason they are using other people’s projects. However , I think they are using forks of ones that don’t support the K1ii and K3iii.
Lots of existing software projects seem to be taking that approach. However , I’m yet to find one that works with the K3iii. I haven’t yet been able to test PentaxWifi. Wificommander is good, but I need USB connectivity and an open source project . I’ll attempt to test PentaxWifi later.
Further to your recommendation above , could you possibly give your best guess as to whether you think the official SDK would theoretically have worked on the K3iii had it still been available , whether you think it might just have needed some minor tweaks, or whether you think it’s so different that the SDK would be useless ?
(I’m trying to work out where to invest my time as I explore the various options)
---------- Post added 10-03-23 at 09:21 PM ----------
FYI - From my exploration , you could Try using the ‘gphoto ccd’ setting in Ekos/Indi. I was able to make a connection to a K1ii that way . Not sure whether support might stretch to the Bulb setting .
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Forum: General Photography
07-22-2022, 10:30 PM
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Hiya.
Yes, I backed it and got mine around December if I remember right. I ordered the one without cellular capability, and they shipped much earlier than the ones with cellular. Which one did you go for? Some cellular purchasers are still waiting, but most have now received. There's a Facebook group where people have complained a lot over the last year about delivery, but most now have them.
As far as I understand, most have now shipped, and they have even started to ship some of the initial IndieGoGo orders for the non-cellular, but if you mail the special campaign email address, I think you can ask for a shipping update. Even the 'speedy' delivery was not that speedy, if I'm honest. The software was quite buggy in the early days, but is getting much better now, so if you receive yours soon, you should avoid the worst of the teething troubles.
The biggest problem from a Pentax point of view, is that they still haven't enabled any Pentax capability. HDMI support and remote shutter release is likely to be the first way to use it in a meaningful way. HDMI was promised before the end of July, but I'm not convinced that will be on time. It can recognise some Pentax camera's now, but is not yet able to do anything with them.
I'm hoping to persuade the Benro developers to adopt one of the GitHub projects that has Pentax support, like PKTriggerCord, and uses that code in the Benro project, but no luck as yet. PKTriggerCode have just added support for the K3iii and there is some limited support already for the K1ii in that, so if the Benro developers picked up that code to use in the device, it would be fantastic. Any help from fellow Pentaxians to push that agenda would be gratefully appreciated !
For myself, I bought a second hand Sony A7ii to use with the Benro Polaris for now, which I'll probably sell on, if they ever manage to complete the inclusion of Pentax support. Support for that is much better. Most things 'just work' with that.
Ian.
In terms of performance, when it performs, it actually tracks very well, but since it relies on a phone for the GPS readings, it is susceptible to interference.
I'm hoping they'll find a way to implement platesolving still. It's been talked about, but not yet implemented.
The majority of the developers work is now on the UI for the app, which gets updated about every 2 weeks.
The device is now taking orders on AliExpress, at a significant uplift, so if you managed to get one at the original price, and you don't like it, you'll easily be able to make your money back :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-06-2022, 03:58 PM
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Hello.
I hope it’s ok to post this on this thread .
I recently bought a Benro Polaris remotely controlled tripod head .
Currently , it does not support Pentax connectivity (via USB cable from its Processor , which I assume is Linux). The developers originally said that Pentax would be supported , but it hasn’t hit the top of their priority list yet ….
When it does hit the top of the list , I’d like to point them to the best resources to secure the best compatibility with the most Pentax cameras as possible.
Selfishly, I want the best compatibility with the K3iii and K1ii since I own them.
What resources would you recommend to point their developers to ?
Should I refer them to this project , or the PKTriggerCord one, or the pentaxAscom driver project , or something else , or all three ?
Many thanks in advance ,
Ian.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-10-2022, 09:16 AM
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Hi Adam .
I’ve just discovered you excellent work .
I want to work with you and others to nag Pentax to add K3iii support . Who do we need to nag ? Do you have contact details please ?
Thanks,
Ian
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Forum: General Talk
06-19-2021, 02:37 PM
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It has been some time since my last confession.....
This week though :
Got :
The Samsung branded version of the Pentax 12-24mm.
A Pentax 35mm f2 prime lens.
A Pentax k20D
The 18-55mm kit lens.
Plus various chargers , 77mm filters and a rucksack , for £220 delivered .
I feel that was an absolute steal !!
Got an o-gps1 for £87 ready for a K3iii!
Last month :
Scored a K5 and Sigma 10-20 and Sigma 150-500 for £475 , but sold that lot on after a bit of a play for a total of £890 to go into my K3iii savings pot !
I really do need to sell a few more :)
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Forum: General Photography
05-16-2021, 09:17 AM
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I would put it on marketplace, say it will ship from the US on date... X, when you know you'll be there and line up patient buyers :)
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Forum: General Photography
02-20-2021, 02:38 PM
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I’m really looking for the live view on the K1ii, as I don’t think some of the best features will work without it .
Also worth noting that they are taking account of feedback . Impressed to see them announce this today regarding Astro use :
Hi everyone!
A few confirmed updates of Polaris:
1. Capture Panoramas While Tracking Stars.
We decided to add a star tracking function to Polaris's panoramic shooting mode after hearing your suggestions. We think it’s a great idea!
Please note that while our algorithm will try - you may need to manually stitch photos later in the post. Due to the similarity of stars our algorithm may not be able to complete stitching when shooting a dark starry sky.
2. We will allow Polaris to Connect to Existing Network.
3. We’re super excited about this one. Here’s the good news: We got in touch with Panasonic staff and got strong support from them. Polaris will add support for the Panasonic GH5, GH5S, G9, BGH1, S1, S1H, S1R, and S5 camera models to the compatibility list.
If you aren’t a Panasonic user and your camera model is not on our camera list, we are also working hard to make Polaris compatible with more cameras in the future.
4. After additional prototype testing and verification - that we have decided to increase the tracking accuracy of Polaris by four. This increases the initial design accuracy of 0.01 ° (36 arcsec) to 0.0025 ° (9 arcsec). This is achieved by increasing the deceleration ratio of the transmission structure. Thank you very much to everyone who gave us practical suggestions to help make Polaris more perfect.
In addition, Polaris has added a new shooting mode. Now that the accuracy of Polaris has been improved, we hope to also make Polaris more powerful.
5. To do this - we have added a visual correction function to Polaris. When you use Polaris for long exposure deep-sky shooting, Polaris will take a set of photos, each of which is a long exposure. After each photo is taken, Polaris will recognize the precise position of each star in the frame and correct for the movement/direction of the camera. This helps to avoid shooting for tens of minutes or having to continually reset positioning and restarting shots for hours. After the shooting is complete - Polaris will align and stack the photos captured to create an ultra-long exposure photo.
Hope you enjoyed today’s update. Have a great weekend!
- Benro Polaris Team
---------- Post added 02-20-21 at 03:41 PM ----------
---------- Post added 02-20-21 at 03:49 PM ----------
This is why I think it’s worth pushing them and requesting Pentax liveview compatibility :) If the market is there and it’s technically possible , why wouldn’t they ?
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Forum: General Photography
02-18-2021, 06:30 PM
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Hey Folks,
Just wondering if there are any backers of the Benro Polaris Kickstarter project on here?
I'm a bit excited about it, but not sure how well it will work out. If any of you are interested, it would be great if you could post a comment on their Kickstarter page to request Pentax support for the camera control part.
There are a handful of us on there already, but the more the merrier :)
Link Here
Full disclosure: I'm a backer of the Kickstarter project, and hoping they'll get the mount to work as a GoTo mount, using platesolving over Wifi, for medium length, medium field astro shooting, from the warmth of my living room .
I don't think they'll manage long exposure, deep sky objects, but who knows....
I love a gadget anyway, so let's see what happens !
Ian.
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Forum: General Talk
11-03-2020, 01:00 AM
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I have a strict policy of only relaxing my sales pricing to people who are polite and respectful, and only paying my maximum purchase price to sellers who are the same.
By doing so, I ensure courtesy has value. If more people valued courtesy, the world would be a better place :)
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Forum: General Talk
10-06-2020, 06:00 AM
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And herein lies the reason I don't do that :
How your post appears in my browser : |
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Forum: Sold Items
07-29-2020, 01:43 PM
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Great lens . I had one for ages and used it with the AF x 1.7 adapter , until I got my 150-450mm. Great fun , and you get lots of admiring looks with that ‘dinner plate’ front element :)
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Forum: General Talk
01-10-2020, 04:55 PM
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I bought one on the marketplace here for $230 and thought I'd got a great deal last week ! Good bargain spotting !
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Forum: General Talk
12-31-2019, 09:59 AM
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Loving the way I've been away from this thread for a year, but cookies still featuring in the pictures :)
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Forum: General Talk
03-06-2019, 05:10 PM
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The irony is that we buy Pentax so we can ‘keep using our old lenses’... ha ha ha.
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Forum: General Talk
03-06-2019, 05:00 PM
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Think I just picked up a brand new Manfrotto geared head for £65 including postage . (RRP £150). Should make star shots a lot easier !
Haven’t posted for a while, so probably ought to confess to a few more purchase sins over the last year ;)
Pentax k1-ii (£1400)
Pentax 150-450 ($1000)
Pentax 24-70 (£500)
Pentax mz-7 and 28-70 lens with Lowepro small bag (£10)
Careell backpack (£75)
Pentax k-01 and 40mm Xs pancake lens (£150)
Sigma 70-300mm OS for video
Astrotrac
Pentax SMC 2x-S Teleconverter (£30)
Andoer 3 way tripod head (£20)
And sold a few :
Ioptron skytracker pro
Tamron 300mm f2.8 and adapters
As my GAS is getting out of control, I am intending to convert the K-01 to IR, sell my K-30 (aperture block fail) and sell the K3ii , plus any lenses that don’t fit in the new bag !
(My DA* 300 and 16-50 are feeling neglected since the 150-450 arrived)
Seeing it written down is horrifying ...
Need to sell some stuff !!!
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Forum: Sold Items
12-06-2018, 01:15 AM
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Great price. Shame I just bought one elsewhere as I might be in CR in January. :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
10-27-2018, 11:44 AM
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I checked my sub's and I shot f5.6 at 1600 for 20s , at 450mm on a crop sensor so not that different. I guess the K3ii might be noisier than your K1, and I shot 1600 and 12800, rather than f5.6 and f8.0, but the difference is night and day. Perhaps light pollution is causing my biggest problems. Everything comes out noisy and colourless. Will try your settings next time it's clear and see if I get any improvements :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
10-27-2018, 10:33 AM
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That's one reason I went for the 150-450. A little easier to frame :) My results are shoddy compared to these though. More practice needed !
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
10-27-2018, 09:59 AM
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Thanks. I'll try that program as I feel sure something is going wrong in deepskystacker.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
10-27-2018, 09:18 AM
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Great shots. What lens were you using for that, and what were the sub exposures ? I get nowhere near that good.
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Forum: General Talk
10-27-2018, 07:11 AM
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Forum: General Talk
10-27-2018, 06:47 AM
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Picked up an Astrotrac tt320x for a smidgeon over £200 including the polar scope and power lead. Now I just need clear skies to start pixelshifting Andromeda.
Also picked up a 150-450 and UV filter for $1100 dollars delivered to UK.
Sold a 60-250 and about to sell a Tamron 300mm f2.8 and maybe an Ioptron skytracker , and 2*Sigma 70-300's before the Mrs adds the numbers up....
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
06-10-2018, 02:13 AM
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I'm interested too. Does it do the same on a K3ii or us that a new feature ?
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