|
Forum: General Photography
11-30-2023, 08:04 PM
|
| |
I have ordered a few lenses from Japan on ebay. In particular I like Map Camera as they tend to conservatively rate the condition so when it arrives I am blown away by the like new condition. They always arrive astoundingly fast via Fedex. So I don't think there is any dilemma, that's just how it works.
|
|
Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
11-19-2023, 11:58 AM
|
| |
I loved my Pentax cameras and I learned everything I know about photography on them, but despite saying I never would, I moved on to Nikon, now shooting a Z8. The 2 reasons were access to 600mm lenses and the amazing precision of eye tracking AF for birds and people. For people shots I fell in love with the DFA*50 and shooting wide open. I got pretty good at focus recompose but nailing shots of moving people was never really possible, at least not consistently. Now I have a collection of fast primes from 28mm f1.4 to 135mm f1.8 and I can simply point the camera in the general direction of a person and AFC will lock on the the eyes and I effortlessly get in focus shots. It's not perfect, but it is very consistent. I am glad I shot Pentax for so long learning good technique and how to succeed despite the limitations of the camera, though image quality was never a concern. I loved my Pentax lenses, especially how good they were for the size, they were tiny.
Switching is expensive. I sold close to 10k in Pentax gear and put nearly that much more again into Nikon. I am mid 40's so I have decades of shooting ahead of me. It was a tough emotional decision to part with all the gear I loved for 15+ years. Cameras that photographed my growing children, and came along on trips and adventures. But looking ahead I want to do more photography and have more options and Pentax is so slow to bring anything out. I owned a K3III for a year and I loved it, until I bought the Z6II and shot them side by side. The Z6II is not renowned for it's auto focus, but it was so good I stopped ever picking up the K3III so I sold it (over a year ago) and bought a used Z7. I kept my beloved K1 until 2 months ago. Sold it and more lenses and the Z7 to buy a Z8. Wow what a camera.
Photography is just a hobby for me, mainly a mental health one. Get out in nature, shoot landscapes and wildlife, and then capture family moments along the way. Be the free family photographer for events and weddings etc... For landscapes, still life, and family fun I couldn't justify a switch. But for wildlife, sports, weddings, high end portraits, especially if you are being paid for it, I would consider. In the case presented here I think a lot of good advice has been offered. Technique with the camera and lenses can only get you so far if you want tack sharp images at wide open apertures of moving subjects (people wildlife). The AF system and lenses have to do some heavy lifting. I lamented switching for too long. Pentax is just too slow to bring out anything new. I loved the handling and feel of the cameras, and I do prefer the look and experience of OVF. But life is short. Too short to lament over brands. This is still the best photography forum I have experienced so I stick around, even though the only Pentax I still own are film bodies and an old K100D super that was dropped and damaged but still works!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
10-10-2023, 12:04 PM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
10-06-2023, 08:18 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-09-2023, 09:57 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-09-2023, 09:56 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-06-2023, 10:16 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-06-2023, 10:12 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2023, 12:48 PM
|
| |
PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing
Item for Sale
Pentax DFA* 50mm F1.4
Asking Price
750.00 CAD
Item Location
Okotoks Alberta (Canada)
Item Description
Pentax DFA* 50mm F1.4
Includes cap and hood.
Asking $750CAD (about $552USD) plus shipping ($35CAD)
 
Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
Yes
Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling
Item Condition (Key)
Used
Excellent
Shipping Destinations
North America
Shipping Charge
$35
Shipping Services
Canada Post
Accepted Payment Types
PayPal
Return Policy & Additional Details
No Returns
Please send me a private message if interested in the item!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2023, 12:45 PM
|
| |
PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing
Item for Sale
Pentax DA* 300mm F4
Asking Price
700.00 CAD
Item Location
Okotoks Alberta (Canada)
Item Description
Pentax DA* 300mm F4
Includes caps and hood.
About 2 years old and SDM is working great.
Asking $700CAD (about $512USD) plus shipping ($35CAD)
Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
Yes
Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling
Item Condition (Key)
Used
Excellent
Shipping Destinations
North America
Shipping Charge
$35
Shipping Services
Canada Post
Accepted Payment Types
PayPal
Return Policy & Additional Details
No Returns
Please send me a private message if interested in the item!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2023, 12:40 PM
|
| |
PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing
Item for Sale
Pentax HD DA 1.4x Rear Converter
Asking Price
250.00 CAD
Item Location
Okotoks Alberta (Canada)
Item Description
Pentax HD DA 1.4x Rear Converter
Includes caps and pouch.
Asking $250CAD (about $183USD) plus shipping ($35CAD)
Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
Yes
Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling
Item Condition (Key)
Used
Excellent
Shipping Destinations
North America
Shipping Charge
$35
Shipping Services
Canada Post
Accepted Payment Types
PayPal
Return Policy & Additional Details
No Returns
Please send me a private message if interested in the item!
|
|
Forum: Sold Items
09-02-2023, 12:37 PM
|
| |
PentaxForums.com Marketplace Listing
Item for Sale
Grip for Pentax K3 Mark III D-BG8
Asking Price
175.00 CAD
Item Location
Okotoks Alberta (Canada)
Item Description
The grip for the Pentax K3 Mark III. D-BG8
Asking $175CAD (about $128USD) plus shipping ($25CAD)
Are you the original owner of the item being sold?
Yes
Are you selling or trading this item?
Selling
Item Condition (Key)
Used
Excellent
Shipping Destinations
North America
Shipping Charge
$25
Shipping Services
Canada Post
Accepted Payment Types
PayPal
Return Policy & Additional Details
No Returns
Please send me a private message if interested in the item!
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-27-2023, 01:47 PM
|
| |
Thank! It's windy most of the time where I live so I love the rare evenings that it's still like this and I can make reflections work. That is just mud on the beak from digging around.
|
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-27-2023, 01:44 PM
|
| |
Wow, thank you. I consider that a big compliment. I've been working very hard on technique to raise the level of my images.
---------- Post added 08-27-23 at 02:45 PM ----------
Thank you. It's also just a lot of fun to do :)
|
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
08-27-2023, 09:04 AM
|
| |
Pectoral Sandpiper
Nikon Z7 with 400mm f4.5 + 1.4xTC
---------- Post added 08-27-23 at 10:05 AM ----------
Baird's Sandpiper
Nikon Z7 with 400mm f4.5 + 1.4xTC
 |
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-27-2023, 08:52 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Post Your Photos!
08-27-2023, 08:49 AM
|
| |
| |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-20-2023, 02:58 PM
|
| |
Marbled Godwit
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 200-500mm+1.4TC
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-17-2023, 10:28 AM
|
| |
White-faced Ibis
Nikon Z7 with Sigma 150-600mm
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-14-2023, 09:45 AM
|
| |
Willet having a little snack
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 200-500mm
---------- Post added 07-14-23 at 11:25 AM ----------
Baird's Sandpiper
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 200-500mm
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-13-2023, 11:06 PM
|
| |
Black-necked Stilt
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 200-500mm
 |
|
Forum: Lens Clubs
07-13-2023, 08:57 AM
|
| |
Forster's Tern
Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 200-500mm
 |
|
Forum: General Photography
06-12-2023, 03:32 PM
|
| |
My take having adopted Nikon Z as a second system a year ago is that the EVF isn’t in and of itself an advantage. The real difference came from putting the PDAF points onto the sensor and lots of them. Really this is it for me, No more lens fine tuning. Lots of points to assists with tracking is nice but the rest of it can be done on either platform including the eye and subject tracking AF. Nikon proved with Z6 and Z7 that just going mirrorless wasn’t enough they needed enough processing power to make use of all those points and they did eventually optimize enough to work well. Arguably the K3iii which I owned for about a year is in that same boat. Pentax added more points and updated the PDAF sensor and added ML algorithms but I feel like if they boosted the processing power in the next iteration they could get much closer. I am used to my Z cameras now but there is still lots to like about my K1.
|
|
Forum: Product Suggestions and Feedback
06-04-2023, 05:44 PM
|
| |
I switched to scanning with the Nikon ES-2 adapter that holds the 35mm negative in front of my FA50 macro lens. The level of detail surpasses what my Epson v550 could do and you get a raw file to work with. Converting white balance can be a challenge but the end results are far better. Otherwise I couldn’t tell the difference between scans with my Epson v350 vs v550 so I seriously doubt the v850 is capable of better. Those scanners just have limits on what they can deliver in quality film scanning. That’s not to say they are terrible, they do work and deliver nice results with minimal effort. Converting raw negative shots is time consuming and for some old negatives it is worth it for me.
|
|
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
06-02-2023, 01:51 PM
|
| |
Here are 3 different 50mm lenses. One is the FA 50 F1.4 wide open, one is the DFA*50 wide open and one is the Nikon Z 50 at F4. At normal viewing no one cares which is which nor can tell that the DFA* is notably sharper than the FA50 wide open when pixel peeping. The image composition and colours matter more.
The super tele I am shooting with most is the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary which by all tests is the bottom of the sharpness list for current production super tele lenses. I think it does a fine job but compared to my K3MarkIII with the DfA*300+TC that I was shooting before, the change in photos is a slightly shallower depth of field (FF vs APSC) and higher resolution (26 vs 45mpix). It's really not a lot. Sharpness is not factoring in. The benefits outside of image quality are that stabilized tele lenses are nice to use and the AF is more consistent which I attribute heavily to the stabilized lens helping to hold the AF point on the bird.
And for good measure here is the K3III with 300+TC
 |
