|
Forum: Sold Items
09-21-2018, 02:54 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-28-2017, 09:07 PM
|
| |
Here's the situation:
I very much doubt there a large number of those phone shooters who want or need a DSLR. Compact cameras are dying. DSLR sales is, all things considered, pretty steady.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-27-2017, 02:44 PM
|
| |
Absolutely no one really wants to edit their images on a 3" washed-out screen.
If I take a RAW or a jpeg from my camera and run them through an app on my iPad, I will get a better result than anything the camera-maker can provide, either in-camera or in mobile software..
Why a better result? Because in-camera jpeg processing is crude by comparison and because the camera-maker offers no mobile OS editing software, just a squiffy Silkypix-type programme for PC. And jpeg as a format is nothing special either. Chances are Apple is about to leave it behind in favour of HEIF/HEVC. So they'll further close in on the quality gap to ILCs.
So basically, I get a file with better IQ from a pad (it could be a smartphone) than I do out of my thousand-buck camera. The next stage for thousands of people isn't spending $$$ on a proper PC editing suite, or dumping editing on the pad or the phone - it's dumping the expensive camera. See where this is going for the vast majority of those who might be interested in what a good camera can offer? The camera-makers have fallen behind and they need to catch up. A rather basic one-size-fits jpeg implementation and a proprietary RAW format predicated on owning a PC aren't enough anymore.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-27-2017, 03:33 PM
|
| |
While on assignment on the road I will take pictures with my cameras, transfer them via WFi or dongle to my phone, edit with Snapseed, and post to Instagram, Facebook, etc...The screen on my phone is 100 times better than any camera, I've gotten used to its color profile, and can generate files good enough for social media. Once home I will reprocess on a wide gamut monitor in Lightroom for publication.
There is an immediacy to social media that most traditional cameras are not built for.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-26-2017, 06:47 AM
|
| |
I know a couple of people who are in the "Fuji JPEGs are awesome" camp. They have their film presets and they shoot them for weddings and portraits. There are advantages to this if the JPEG quality is good enough. When you look at their portfolios one of the first things you notice is how uniform it is. Because they are using the same film simulation all the time their portfolio doesn't look like a bag a Skittles. A lot of times when I look at a portfolio it is pretty obvious that I'm looking at a random collection of the photographers best photographs taken over the years. You can see the style change, the processing change, and you know your not really looking at real portfolio. Sometimes you open one up and it become obvious that the photographer recently bought Topaz Adjust.
Its extremely rare for me to shoot JPEG, but I have setup presets in LR that basically keep my work uniform. I would love to be able to create a profile in LR (or any software) and be able to upload that to my camera. I would also like to be able to create a color profile for the camera like the X-rite Passport does and have that apply to the JPEGs. I would probably shoot JPEGs more if these features were available. It has become common for us to need to put images on social media during the event or even a shoot. I have done shoots for bands where their manager blasted 5-6 images out to social media while we were shooting and encouraged fans to come watch the shoot. There is a definite need for high quality JPEGs.
For people who's goal is fine art and each image is unique and stands on its own, post processing is a skill that must be mastered.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-21-2017, 02:35 PM
|
| |
Frankly, I have contemplated paying to have my RAWs developed and returned with proper printer profiles. Others might pay to have them printed as well.
Talk about full-circle . . .
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-15-2017, 06:09 AM
|
| |
It seems to be like a grand experiment. Aristophanes said something like it a few posts ago. The argument is that some of the old-established camera companies bet that FF was the natural terminus of the market with everything else a sideshow which would gradually fall away in most cases. Instead rapid technological progress and the arrival of video and mobile platforms has delivered a "good enough" bar far below FF. This may have left a smaller pool of high-end customers than anticipated. In addition, the decline of the camera market has shrunk the pool at the same time. So now we have a lot of camera outfits with their $$$ FF offerings all piling in, hoping that the pool is big enough to sustain the show. Every time this comes up, though, I recall that stat: compared to the same period in 2014, in 2017 the Jan-Jun cash value shipments in Asia of DSLRs are down about a fifth and of mirrorless cameras are up by more than double.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-14-2017, 05:52 AM
|
| |
I'm interrupting, I know. One of the best landscape photographers at work today (imho - you might like his work) tends to avoid any scene with more than five stops of DR (or so he said in 2013). He uses film and still does so far as I know. See his article. Obviously most of us don't use film, but I've not found a relatively smaller DR a hassle on smaller formats. In most cases, the camera's DR is enough anyway. In other cases, and there aren't many, I bracket exposures and combine in PP. Or I could use a grad filter. Of course FF will give a better shooting envelope but it's a numbers game here largely, I think. If a camera company can do well on the old 80/20 principle, they don't need to put themselves out with a super sensor of some kind to appeal to the high-end minority. They simply leave that to another outfit or model in the range. Presumably Canon must have thought alone these lines before issuing the 6D Mark II with an older sensor on board. And if the output all ends up on a monitor anyway, there might not really be as big a difference as some think. Welcome to the future, lol. I'm seriously thinking of trying film again.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-13-2017, 10:05 PM
|
| |
I dont have first hand experience with the kp, but as far as the m43 depending on the situation i would have no issue with the iq using it at 6400 iso and printing it on an 8x10 photo. Maybe even a little bit larger as well.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-13-2017, 10:02 PM
|
| |
I have the first generation of the 16mp Sony m43 sensor so it's a few steps behind. However the pixel pitch of a 16mp m43 sensor and a 24mp APS-C sensor is virtually identical with a very slight edge to the APS sensor (less than ~0.0002mm/pixel if I did my math right) so all things equal technology-wise they should perform almost identically.
Really though in the market it won't matter. The resolution, the ISO performance, what have you is enough for most people. Having a marginally better ISO 10,000 on a slightly bigger sensor isn't going to move the needle much for a company in Pentax's position. The slightly larger and technically better 1/1.7" and 1/2.3" sensors in compact cameras didn't save them from the inferior 1/2.6" and 1/3.0" sensors in the high-end and not-so-high-end smartphones.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
08-13-2017, 07:30 AM
|
| |
With 46mp crop mode will have 20mp, so almost at the apsc resolution and same pixel density. No reason not to get d850 and use crop mode for extra reach.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
08-08-2017, 12:10 AM
|
| |
Well, you can use a cropped whetstone if you want to but you have to undestand that your steaks won't taste as good. I mean, they'll be fine and ok to an unrefined palate but a pro chef would be able to tell the difference right away.
|
|
Forum: Pentax Q
08-01-2017, 03:37 AM
|
| |
This is pretty much the truth. 1 inch stacked sensors are the future of compact cameras. In many ways the newest 1 inch from sony actually outperforms M43 sensors, particularly in Dynamic Range.
I shot with an RX100 V extensively and very foolishly sold it (for a profit at least). In my search for a 2nd copy I stumbled across someone selling a Pentax Q7 Complete kit for just $500 and picked that up. While the Q7 is a great camera, the slower AF, lack of EVF, inferior IS, and generally worse performance make it a far cry from the mighty RX100 V. The Q is more versatile but for my type of shooting the 24-70 f1.8-2.8 lens of the RX100 was more than plenty. I love to shoot wide and in low light and it is nearly impossible to find something with a 24mm f1.8 in ANY system so they fact that I can get it on a body that fits in my pocket that pushes up on APSC quality is amazing.
I will try using the Q for a bit but I imagine a few paychecks from now I will likely cave, sell it and buy an RX100 V or VI.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
05-28-2017, 10:20 AM
|
| |
This is not competing at the same price point. The WG-5 is, but Olympus Tough is still a more developed product with RAW support and more photographic tools such as focus bracketing and stacking manual exposure and a better battery life.
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-01-2013, 05:35 PM
|
| |
That reminds me of a true story that happened to me.
Many years ago my first wife and I had a kitten who would run up your jeans, onto your jumper/sweater and then perch happily on your shoulder. I was in the living room one evening when I heard a blood-curdling scream come from the kitchen. I ran in there thinking my wife had cut herself or worse. Turns out the kitten had done the 'run up the leg' thing but unfortunately my wife was wearing nylons and a skirt! The kitten hit a stop when it met the waistband of her skirt. I had to lift the bottom of the skirt over my wife's back and then had to unhook the kitten who was dangling from the back of my wife's underwear!
Of course it took me three times longer to do that than it should have done partly due to the fact that I was admiring the view and partly because I was laughing so hard that I could barely stand up! :lol:
|
|
Forum: Ricoh GR
05-12-2013, 11:30 PM
|
| |
Hi All,
I got chance to play a GR for two days, well actually only one night plus one day only. This was the first time I really take photos w/ a GR series digital cameras, although I had a GR1 film camera about 14-15 years back.
The GR camera felt at home almost immediately even w/o much pre experiences w/ GRD cameras, all the buttons and settings are logically located at the right places. The operation is pretty fast and easy, it's really a joy to hold and shoot w/ this camera.
I'm not good at doing reviews, and it's pretty hard for me to put my feelings in words (thanks to my poor language skills :embrass:). For me the best way to review a camera or lens is to put it in actual use instead of shooting at meaningless charts or targets. So I'll just post some photos and let them talk for me :cool:
Is this a good camera? Well, I sold my Fujifilm X100 after I've looked through some photos I took w/ this little gem.
I didn't do much setting changes, used default settings for most photos I took except a few photos taken with manual white balance. The battery was rated for 300-330 shots per charge, but I managed to squeeze 768 shots in one day one charge! Yeah, the battery did die a couple of times, but I switched camera off then on, and kept shooting until it I couldn't turn it on anymore. Total 768 JPG photos taken, with quite some preview and showing the photos to the kids. Far better than I expected!
Enough words, let's show some pictures:
There is an adapter ring which can be easily taken off:
A wide angle converter (21mm equivalent on FF) can be adapted on easily:
It comes w/ a nice hood too:
This round Ricoh really put in effort to get all kinds of accessories ready for the little camera: leather pouch, half case, wide angle converter and etc:
It looks and feels really tiny when put together w/ an X100:
It's even more compact than a Panasonic LX7!
I bought a leather pouch for my Sony RX100 which fits the GR perfectly:
But I couldn't squeeze the LX7 in at all:
Okay, enough gear photos. Let's show some real photos.
The first pair is to show how wide the 21mm wide angle converter is:
w/o converter:
w/ converter:
Think about those X100 users by a $300 plus wide converter just to convert that 35mm lens to an 28mm one, ours can go as wide as 21mm! I think every one should get this adapter if you are buying this camera. Really worth it.
A couple of quick testing shots before we left home, my little model, not as professional yet, but he got the potential:
It's on May 1st, we head directly to Pizza Hut for a treat:
My daughter is a bit shy now, didn't want to post for me, so I just snap when she wasn't pay attention:
But the little brother didn't mind showing off his missing teeth:
Of course the best part is the treat:
Managed to ask my daughter helping me out a bit:
But it didn't last long before she gave up:
They sure had some fun there:
That's how it ended, as usual:
After lunch, we went to Istana, the President's house, or garden shall we say. Some quick snaps along the way, all taken like w/ an iPhone:
He really needs to learn how to post properly I think:
He can fly:
But his big sis can fly much higher:
The camera is so small and discrete, I probably wouldn't be able get permission from their parents if I used a bigger dSLR camera on these cute kids:
A lot time I just raised camera and shoot along with the others, and seems they didn't mind a strange w/ a tiny camera:
Pity the pretty guard-on-duty politely refused me taking her photo:
But the others didn't mind at all:
There was a fun party going on in front of the President's house:
And an Orchestra in the Garden too:
A bit close up:
Closer:
A lot audiences didn't mind sitting in the light rain to enjoy the show:
But it's a bit bored for the little ones I guess:
Finally we met the hosts (the President and his wife) of the house:
Wish I had a longer lens so I'd have some close-ups, but then the guards might not let me get as close if I had a bigger camera :D
At least my wife liked them this way. She was in the second photo above, but probably you can't find her if you don't know her well enough ;)
Last batch for today:
I'll post some more during the next a few days after I look through the rest.
|
|
Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-17-2012, 08:51 AM
|
| |
I'll post more after the break (the break is Leica's VIP event tonight).
From Pentax, there are the nice announcements we have heard about (K-5II, K-5IIs, Q10, 560/5.6 etc. They confined to me:
- no K-3 (at Photokina)
- no Full frame on the roadmap as far as Germany is aware of
- no 645D-II (at Photokina)
The K-5II will ship in time for the Xmas season.
|
|
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-08-2011, 05:56 PM
|
| |
Usually folks evaluate a lens on paper and then save for and acquire it, take it out and shoot with it. Along the way they debate the merits of X vs Y. I have been fortunate enough to acquire a FA 31 a couple of years ago. Wonderful lens, I like it very much - essentially what is there not to like. Late last year I had an opportunity to acquire a Contax Carl Zeiss 28mm f2.8 Distagon T* lens. I needed to change mounts in order to use it on my K20. After reading about Zeiss here, this was an affordable way to try one out, since the old Contax glass was about 1/3 less than a brand new shiny Zeiss. With it being 28mm it begs a natural comparison with the 31. They are both top of the line premium lenses from notable optical design houses.
Where I am going with this is that in comparing the two lenses (in the field [landscapes] - not a brick wall), I have seen that with the only difference being the lens - same ISO (100), same aperture (f4), nearly the same time (a minute difference between shot sequences) same landscape scene, I am finding that the Contax/Zeiss lens has shutter speeds about twice as fast as the Pentax FA Ltd.
I have taken all of the images on a tripod, 2 second mirror up, external shutter release, AP mode on each lens, multi-segment metering same K20 body, really no differences - other than swapping lenses. The other thing is that I have been shooting 5 image brackets at 0, -.5, +.5, -1, +1 ev, and the shutter times are really staggering between the two lenses, with about a minute between sets (just swapping the lens).
lens....0ev....-.5ev..+.5ev..-1ev..+1ev
CZ 28 1/15...1/20...1/10...1/30...1/8 sec
PK 31 1/8.....1/10...1/6.....1/15...1/4 sec
This observation is just not across one set of images, but many sets of images. Overall, there is a consistency in the numbers, however its not absolute, there are instances where the difference is both larger and smaller, and I have observed instances where the shutter times are essentially the same. On the average though, the difference is on the order of twice as fast.
My observation here is that it appears to me that the Contax/Zeiss glass in terms of the amount of glass used and the design applied, appears to have a built in efficiency to it, of about 1 f stop. That is, it is able to transmit more effective light to the sensor through the same aperture.
Now I know that most folks do not have access to similar lenses, but is there something that I am not taking in to account? My single optics class was over 40 years ago, and I didn't even keep the text book.
:cool:
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
05-19-2010, 07:17 PM
|
| |
My pellet gun and I have graduated to more dangerous game, water balloons. This series shows the progression of bursting in more or less chronological order. I appreciate your comments and which you like best.
.
.
.
|
