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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
01-02-2017, 01:02 AM
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Enjoying the calm before the busy day on the crowded beach starts...
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-08-2016, 02:34 AM
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Forum: Pentax Forums Giveaways
09-08-2016, 02:06 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-25-2015, 11:44 PM
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Ok, I previously mentioned that my lens had been repaired, or the electronics replaced. Here are a few sample shots I took over the weekend in Zürich Zoo's Masoala Rainforest. They show objects at 300mm/1:5, 220mm/1:4, 125mm/1:4.5. Due to the dim light in there I had to shoot at rather high ISO values. I particularly like the third shot, which really shows great performance of the lens, as well as the K3 at higher ISO (2500).
I'm happy again with my Sigma EX 100-300!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-01-2015, 06:52 AM
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Now here's an interesting turn in this story. I thought I'd give the local service center a try anyway (Ott+Wyss, owy.ch, Switzerland). I sent them a description of the problem together with some information I've found here and in linked sources. They told me that they couldn't do anything about it, but would send it to Japan for a revision. I thought oh well, why not give it a try? Sent it to the distributor, not expecting it back for another 10+ weeks (that's what I've been waiting for the 2.8/50-150mm to return so far...).
But then, two days ago, it was back at my door. It only took about three weeks for the return trip - much too fast for a journey to Japan and back imho. The document said something along the lines "replaced electronics", no invoice added!
I only had some quick testing (we're currently having really poor weather over here - poor pre-conditions to test focussing to the far distance). But early results are _very_ promising. Keep in mind this is a v1 version which is known to be problematic. But I reset the out-of-focus correction in my k3 and shot along. Biggest problem was blurred pictures due to the wind. But the autofocus seems to be spot on!
So... kudos to Sigma & Ott+Wyss and their SSC service (allows for one free maintenance service per year). I had almost given up on that lens, but now can't wait to take it back outdoors for some serious shooting again! If you are in the same situation as I was, it might be worth pestering your local dealer or distributor.
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Forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive
04-01-2015, 06:38 AM
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Forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive
03-03-2015, 08:14 AM
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
03-03-2015, 08:07 AM
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Wow... exact description of what I'm experiencing. Exact hit with the rubber ring pictures. I hoped that there would be a solution for this in a service center, but I guess I'm out of luck :-(
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Forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive
03-03-2015, 08:00 AM
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I'm reading all raving reviews about the Sigma f4/100-300 here, but am a bit disappointed myself. I'm wondering whether I've got something to repair to take full advantage of its potential.
Today I've had the opportunity to test run the Sigma 100-300, its 150-500 big brother, and the Pentax DA 55-300 on my K3.
While the 100-300 is doing a great job in near distance (<10-15m), it just doesn't focus correctly in longer distances. Focusing manually does prove me it's not the optics, but the AF. I can use it at f4 with excellent results. But AF is rather unusable. Did anyone have similar experience? Would it be worth sending it for a service? A few weeks back I sent in my 2.8/50-150. They sent it over to Japan without any notice. It's said to take at least 12 weeks to return...
The 150-500 is a big, heavy beast. As somebody else mentioned its HSM focussing is silent, but rather slow (compared to both other lenses!). When it was hunting from minimum to max I sometimes wondered whether it was even working at all. It was so slow I was lacking any instant visual or audible feedback.
The 55-300 might be what I'll be keeping for a forthcoming trip, when size/weight matters.
As for the FA 80-320 mentioned in the previous posting: I did have it from the analog days. Back then I liked it for the same reason as I'll most likely keep the 55-300: rather light, compact and ok IQ. But I didn't like it on my digital camera (K10). AF was slow, and results never really crisp.
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Forum: Welcomes and Introductions
02-02-2015, 07:00 AM
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Hi,
I've been browsing these forums for a while now. Never felt the need to subscribe though, until I run into some issues with my Flu card. And the most resourceful people seemed to be around here. So thanks for all the help and inspiration I got over the past years.
I've been a "pentaxian" ever since I started photography back in the mid 80s. My first camera was a second-hand Pentax MX. Small, light, 100% mechanical (with a little electronics for the spot meter) and robust. That's what I thought I'd need when climbing the alps and traveling. It proved to be a trustworthy and loyal choice and followed me from Iceland to the "farthest point on the Earth's surface" (Chimborazo, Ecuador). The MX was followed by an LX, MZ-5, K10, K7, now K3. I still own the MX and the LX (never use them any more, though :)).
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-02-2015, 05:12 AM
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Thanks K-3-lover! I re-flashed the latest firmware, and this indeed brought the card back to life. I should have tried this earlier...
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-31-2015, 01:12 PM
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Hi,
I've been a long time lurker in these forums, having found a lot of information about my cameras of choice. But today I'm stumped.
I own a Pentax K3 with a Flu Card. Starting a few days ago it now only serves a blank, black page in the browser. No controls, no preview, nothing. After first attempts with my phone's browser I decided to give a desktop browser a chance to see whether there were any issues with the page, or whether some recent OS update on the phone had broken it. But no, same problem in Safari. And indeed I'd get an error message in it's dev console:
Code:
SyntaxError: Invalid character '\u65533'
(anonyme Funktion)192.168.1.1:1 Or in Firefox (which I know not to be supported, but features some better debugging tools):
Code:
SyntaxError: illegal character
...s = 21; pagePlayb������������ Ok, there definitely is an issue with the code. I then saved the downloaded html file and opened it up in a text editor. And searching for above "pagePlayb" does indeed bring up some odd looking code:
Code:
pageStatus = 21; pagePlayb������������������������������������������������������������������������... (followed by many more of these � characters, #65533)
It seems as if somehow my Flu card has got corrupted and is serving broken code. Has anybody seen this before?
I tried to fix the filesystem (which did indeed report issues), but would assume the code was stored in some read-only place, protected from being overridden. I did reset the communication settings, too. To no avail.
The card's firmware version is 00.01.00.01, Content Version 00.01.00.02.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Regards,
Michael
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