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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
04-16-2024, 07:25 PM
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Forum: Photographic Technique
03-20-2024, 10:07 AM
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Having some time to spend, and seeing birds going from a tree branch to land at a finding station in the garden, I decided to try catching these landings.
I needed to be close enough to the bird, but the field of view has to be wide enough to catch the entire bird evolution to be sure it will be in th frame. (Bird trajectory is difficult to predict)
Some view tests told me that my K200 f2,5 (300mm on APS-C) would be ok for the shooting distance (10 feets).
The 2,5 aperture permits to shoot with minimal exposure time / not so high ISO. The manual focusing is perfect to pre-focus the target area.
The equipment: K30 + K200 f2,5 mounted on tripod with wired remote trigger. Pictures are taken through a double bend house window.
The way of doing:
K30 in AV mode, so the pictures are taken wide open with tis K lens (f2,5) - ISO 1600 -> exposure times were all between 1/5000 and 1/6000.
Focusing by advance on the feeding station area....waiting while watching directly the scene (not in the viewfinder)....depress remote control at the moment the bird leaves the branch to land at the station. (little birds are very fast and spend few tenths of second to go from the branch to the station).
I didn't use the continus shooting of the K30 thinking it would waste dozens of pictures and make less fun to do.:):)
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Forum: Pentax Compact Cameras
03-03-2024, 10:53 AM
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Welcome to contest #192. There are a lot of good things to say about simplicity and a clean form, but that's not the world most of us live in. Let's go the other way and see some unorganized clutter!
Rules:
1. Always have fun!
2. Cameras:
No cameras with sensors larger than 1" (some exceptions below).
No large format or camera typically requiring a tripod to use.
No interchangeable lens cameras (some exceptions below).
No (D)SLRs or any camera weighing over 1kg.
Cameras permitted:
Mobile phones, tablets, small sensor toy cameras.
Pentax Q, Nikon 1, Ricoh GR, any 110 film, 35mm point and shoots from the 1980s/90s (e.g. Pentax PC35AF etc.)
Cameras you can take with you in a coat pocket.
ANY CAMERA BRAND ALLOWED.
3. Entries will close March 31, 2024 midnight CST.
4. Maximum image dimensions are 1024x768 (ish) pixels.
5. List camera brand and model with entry for all to see, and exposure data would be nice.
6. No restrictions on when the entries were taken.
7. Contest winner determines the rules, selects theme, sets closing date and judges the next competition.
8. Enter up to three images, however you may change your entries as many times as you like up to the contest ending.
Thanks for participating,
bogwalker
Here's an example:
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Forum: General Photography
02-27-2024, 09:47 AM
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One of many wooden boats on the beach at Deal in Kent. A few minutes walk from my house. K100D and Super Multi Coated 28mm Takuma f3.5.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-12-2024, 01:09 PM
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Thank you Bob and Mlag. At these prices I'll wait for a donor body. Here's the damage: I'm not a happy bunny!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
02-08-2024, 09:36 PM
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Good morning all. It's been eventful, I ate a kids meal at McDonalds today.
His mum got really angry.
In other news, they're building a mirror factory in my town.
I could see myself working there.
This week I want to talk about the different kinds of lens coatings. They are thin layers of material that are applied to the surface of the lens elements to reduce unwanted reflections, flare, ghosting, and chromatic aberrations. They also improve contrast, color rendition, and light transmission. They're some of those letters you see on the name of a lens, and you do pay for them.
Pentax has long been known for high quality lenses with advanced coating technology. In 1971 they launched the SMC (Super Multi Coating) range, that had seven layers of chemical coating vapours deposited in a vacuum chamber to reduce reflections from 4% to 0.2% per surface at a time when competitors were mostly using two or three. IIRC, Zeiss licensed the patents to make its own T range of lens coatings. Zeiss and Pentax were buddies back then. Zeiss helped devise the K mount, and pretty much gave Pentax its own 28mm Distagon as the legendary K28 f2.0 'Hollywood'.
Ghostless Coating (GC) was introduced in 1997 with the FA*43 Limited and is another special coating that is applied to only one or two lens elements in some premium lenses. It was rumoured that the Japanese police wanted automated cameras able to identify car license plates at night that could cope with headlight glare.
Another type of Pentax lens coating was introduced in 2010 with the DA*55, called Aero Bright Coating (ABC). ABC uses nano-particles to create a honeycomb structure that reduces reflections to 0.05% per surface and is found on Star lenses like the DFA*70-200 f2.8.
High Definition Coating (HD) was introduced in 2013 and is an improved version of the original SMC. HD consists of eight layers of material that reduce reflections to 0.1% per surface. It is tougher than Aero Bright Coating, so is good for the exposed front element of a lens like the reissued HD FA35 f2.
SP coating is physical protection, resisting water, grease and abrasion, obviously applied only to the front element.
To finish with, there's the story of Barry, who had been drinking at a pub all night.
The barman finally announced it was closing time. So Barry stood up to leave and fell flat on his face. He tried to stand again ... same result, so he figured he'd crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that would sober him up.
Once outside, he stood up and fell over again, so he decided to crawl the four blocks home.
When he arrived at the door he stood up and fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached the bed he tried one more time to stand up. He quickly fell onto the mattress and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
His wife standing over him shouting woke him the next morning. "You've been drinking!"
Putting on an innocent look, he said: "What makes you say that?"
"The pub just called - you left your wheelchair there again."
Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com
(Image from ??? | RICOH IMAGING)
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Forum: General Photography
01-26-2024, 02:35 AM
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Which concert was that?
Chuck Berry - The Pop Proms, Royal Albert Hall, 5th July 1969.
The evening after the Stones free concert in Hyde Park ... those were the days ;)
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Forum: General Photography
01-26-2024, 01:16 AM
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My ex said that flash cubes were useless - she used one in the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, and it didn't illuminate the stage at all.
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Forum: Pentax KP
01-11-2024, 04:47 AM
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At last - a break in the ever continual blasting rain and wind from storms Gerrit then immediately followed by Henk.
Unlike many, I am so not that intrepid one happy to brave all weather conditions and get blasted off the face of the Earth to be last seen air-lifted off to Timbuktu.
I also don't do mud - keeping vertical is challenge enough for me, thank you very much.
But something happened to my resolves when it started to snow here in West Sussex - a snow that flittered between a light dusting and a full fall.
I grabbed my KP, fled down the stairs, quickly threw a jacket on, walked out into the snow and started snapping away like in a slightly demented happy loony, oblivious that I still had my slippers on, jacket unzipped and gloveless.
The camera and I became covered with snow when one very concerned passer by pointed out I'd ruin me camera getting it wet like this from the snow.
I smiled and reassured him with - "It's okay, it's a Pentax."
So here they are - snow spots and all. Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy.
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 12:49 PM
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I think something I need to get out of my head is the idea that I need to go somewhere to take photos.
I like going on hikes to remote locations to photograph landscapes and natural history, but there's a lot of subject matter without walking out the gate.
Apart from photography, gardening is one of my other interests, and I live on a quarter acre(1100m square) property where the house doesn't take up much of it.
I'm bit of a greenie I guess, so not much in the way of pesticides get used, so there's plenty of biodiversity in my back yard.
I actually got out with my D-FA 100/2.8 macro recently, and made a very pleasing image of a bean flower, and it left me thinking why had I never noticed how attractive vegetables can be before.
Apart from photographing stuff in situ, I could also try a bit of still life. I know shadowy painterly looking fruit bowls are a bit cliched, but I have the fruit, yet I don't think I've ever made an arty fruit bowl image.
The other thing I think I need to do more of is portraits. I have all the gear I need to make good portraits, but I tend to do more landscapes, because I don't have to ask them to cooperate, whereas I always feel a bit nervous about interacting with people, although I can actually do it quite well if I get over my anxiety.
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 09:27 AM
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Hi,
There is just one habit for me as a hiking photographer when I take shots to document my long hikes through taking pictures of landscapes, other hikers on the trail and hiking activities, wildlife, wildflowers, insects, trees, etc.
I need to remember to change settings between those required for wildlife and landscapes, i.e., shutter speed and aperture.
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 06:54 AM
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Haha!
I made that mistake!
I've since reverted to relying on the green hexagon Focus Confirmation Indicator in the viewfinder ... in conjunction with Catch-in-Focus (when available) it's reasonably fool-proof :)
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 05:42 AM
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Digital photo library management - or lack thereof - is my worst habit, and one I've been keen to change for a few years now. After importing and reviewing, I'm simply not ruthless enough with culling, and I don't consistently tag and rate my photos. As a result, there are a lot of "very nearly" and "meh" images taking up drive space, and I have to search for images based on my vague recollection of approximate date along with camera and lens. When I can't remember those, I end up scrolling through reams of photos to find what I'm looking for.
I'm similarly inconsistent with my records for film negatives, though perhaps just a tad more disciplined. For those, I at least record a location or brief description of the shoot, and the camera / lens / film stock used...
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Forum: General Photography
12-28-2023, 09:30 AM
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If your camera supports the feature, this can be a classic circumstance for User Modes.
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Forum: General Photography
12-27-2023, 08:50 PM
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Photography is a hobby for me, and in some years a very infrequent one. So I sometimes have to relearn things after blowing a bunch of shots, or I revert back to habits from my film days. There's two habits I still think I need to break, or perhaps just update in my brain for those moments when I get to take the camera out so I don't need to rethink what I'm doing every time I get a few moments to shoot.
The first is to become more comfortable letting the ISO creep up. As a film shooter I'd normally have stuck to 100 or 200, and only used 400 or 1000 when I knew the situation called for it. And I still have a reluctance to go too high on my K5, because noise can become an issue. But with each iteration of post processing software getting better at removing noise, there's really no reason not to let it creep up, and I know I'll get fewer blurry shots by allowing the shutter speed to get faster. So I'm partway towards breaking this one.
The other is that often I'm out shooting on a walk with other people. That may mean being able to stop for a few moments to capture one or two shots at any one location. But even when I'm not as pressed for time, I still get into the mindset of taking a few photos and then moving on to the next location only to find when I get to see the pictures on a big screen that a few steps to the left or right, or a slight change in height might have made for a much better shot. It isn't that I'm opposed to shooting lots of pictures. I'll often turn on exposure bracketing so that I can let the histogram move around a bit and not worry about it for each individual shot and one of the few feature I miss on the K5 is DOF bracketing. But I really need to sometimes stop myself from trying to chase down the next great location only to take a bunch of mediocre shots at each one, instead of trying to get one winner out of a single venue.
Anyone else have habits they in their shooting (or image archiving or post-processing) they are trying to change?
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-14-2023, 07:43 PM
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Good morning all, yes, we're back with the new monthly format, and it's been a big week. I seem to always get the same eccentric Uber driver in my area, he has all these schemes he dreams up.
He told me, "I wanna start a flight company exclusively for bald people. I'm calling it "Receding Airlines!"
But it wasn't all bad. I was delighted when the kind people at Inland Revenue wrote to me recently, telling me that my tax return was 'outstanding'.
Particularly since I can't even remember sending it in.
This week I want to talk about the challenge of shooting through glass at say a museum exhibit or a wild animal in a zoo, which generate reflections.
For the pic below with my K-1 and Tamron 28-75mm f2.8, I wanted the scene of the Melbourne CBD as evening set in without glare from the well lit bar area behind me. The windows were naturally full of people's reflections.
The idea was to get as close as possible, with the lens hood against the glass, perpendicular, not angled, and a tea towel I had packed draped around it to further seal the light from behind. There is also a polarizing filter on the Tamron, that was rotated until the contrast and colours were at their maximum. The tea towel (you can use a spare T shirt on holiday) can be used to wipe the window in front of the lens first.
The picture is an HDR from three bracketed exposures. You can see there is still, for example, an orange vertical band in the upper right, and a glare area in the upper left corner, so to get more serious in the future I have since bought a 'Lenskirt' flexible hood that will fit most of my lenses, and let me back off, because the hood spreads out and attaches to the glass itself.
To finish with, there's the story of the man seeing his regular medical practitioner.
Guy : Doctor, my girlfriend is pregnant but we always use protection and the rubber never broke. How is it possible?
Doctor : Let me tell you a story: "There was once a hunter who always carried a gun wherever he went. One day he took his umbrella instead of his gun and went out. A lion suddenly jumped in front of him. In order to scare the lion, the hunter used the umbrella like a gun, and shot the lion, then it died!"
Guy : That's crap! Someone else must've shot the lion.
Doctor : Good! You understood the story. Next patient please.
Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
11-20-2023, 01:41 PM
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I recently decided to do a test. I bought two rolls of Kodak Gold 200 in 120, and put one in the fridge and one in my car for a month. I then loaded both into Hasselblad backs and went for a walk. I put the Hasselblad 500 C/M on a tripod and swapped backs for a shot with each roll of film. Both backs are in good working order with no light leaks.
Here's a video I put together of the experiment:
Youtu.be
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src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FciQSDe2jj0?controls=1" allowfullscreen>
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Hassy 500 C/M, Planar 80 2.8, Kodak Gold 200
Refrigerated:
Cooked:
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
11-16-2023, 04:38 PM
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We've reached 100 of these now, I did think about ending them here, it's a nice number. But instead, I'll move to a new tip every fourth week now, that seems more ... sustainable. :)
Thanks to Sandy and Peter amongst moderators who've updated that complete list of tips each week, too ... unsung heroes, all that!
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
11-16-2023, 04:34 PM
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Good morning, all. My sister works in the obstetrics unit of a hospital. I do think midwives deserve a lot of respect.
They really help people out.
My brother is with the city transport department, and has had a bad run. His boss said to him, "You're the worst train driver ever. How many have you derailed this year?"
He said, "I'm not sure; it's hard to keep track."
This week I want to talk about a second way to deal with lighting from directly overhead.
The sun at noon or flash above or lightbulb on the ceiling are often thought as enemies of portraiture, because the eye sockets and forehead can cause shadows that put what should be a highlight or our picture into darkness - it gives our subject unflattering panda eyes - when everything else is exposed properly. See Tip 95 for embracing that consequence.
But a way to cope without fill flash is with posing. Ask the subject to turn their nose more towards the light. You can place them exactly - and yourself with your camera - so that the shadows fall where you want and you can still get catchlights in the eyes. It can be better to model the pose yourself or illustrate with your hands rather than rely on just words.
The picture below is with a single Godox strobe in a large octabox, and the K-1 with the DA28-105 'kit lens'.
To finish with, there's the story of the wife very excited about hosting a dinner party for local bigwigs.
She wanted everything to be perfect, but at the last minute, realized she didn't have any snails, so asks her husband to run down to the beach with a bucket to gather some.
Grudgingly he agreed.
He took the bucket, walked out the door, down the steps, and out to the beach. As he was collecting the snails, three of his poker friends passed by and invited him for a party.
At seven o'clock the next morning, remorse and panic sets in and he exclaims: "Oh no ... I've got to get home and face the music!"
As he bolts up the stairs, he drops the bucket. The door opens to reveal a very angry wife wondering where he's been all this time.
He looks at the snails all down the steps, then looks at her, then back at the snails and says: "Come on guys, we're almost there!"
Find the rest of the series here: Clackers' Beginners Tips (Collected) - PentaxForums.com
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Forum: Pentax KP
11-02-2023, 10:34 PM
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I just spent 6 weeks traveling through Europe and am full of praise for my KP. I have a K1 system but elected to take my KP due to its lighter weight and compactness. I took 3 lenses as well, my 18-135, a 12-24 and a 55-300 PLM. On review after processing approximately 3500 raw images I see that over 95% of the images were taken on the 18-135 lens. The KP with this lens proved to be perfect travel setup for me. Being 24mp I have the option of cropping down and still having an image that reproduces well, actually I can't believe how good the images are. Always in focus with great dynamic range. I mostly shoot in TAv mode, but at times when in a hurry I used full auto with excellent results. Being so well sealed I never had to worry about getting it wet. It's an awesome camera though it seems to be forgotten with the introduction of the new K3 III. I seem to gravitate to it rather than my K1 quite often as it is so much fun to use. Even for wildlife with the 55-300 PLM I get some great birds in flight shots and the 7 FPS speed is more than enough for what I do. The KP is just a great all-rounder in my opinion. A couple of images follow.
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Forum: General Photography
11-01-2023, 01:58 PM
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SOMETIMES THINGS DON’T WORK OUT AS PLANNED
I spent the whole summer planning and testing cameras and lenses, for my trip to the Mediterranean. We were to fly to Italy and tour Rome, then get on a Cruise Ship and tourer Pompey, Ephesus, Athens, Bonus Turkey, Rhodes Greece, Crete and Cypress then back to Rome. The actual miles we waked for twelve days on the tourers added up to 75 miles of actual walking. Needless to say I was exhausted at the end of this trip.
Now I planned on using my K1-MarkII and the 21mm f/2.4 and 31mm f/1.4 lenses. A friend of mine who was going on this tour, told me you will not have time on this tour to change lenses, nor to take the time you would like shooting your photos. You need one lens. Well, I took him at his word and boy was he ever right. I took my 24-70mm and so glad I did. I was not into my first few photos and it was clear I would have had to change lenses and also clear that I needed more telephoto reach at times than the 31mm could give me. I took 2,107 photos in those twelve days.
Here are some from the beginning of my trip which started in Rome and the Vatican.
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Forum: Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom
10-14-2023, 10:21 PM
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Yyeah the urinal idea is nice, until you learn the dirty truth that by boiling it down and concentrating it, you have begun the process of what most governemtns call "the unlawful manufacturing and possession of explosive materials".
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Forum: General Photography
10-07-2023, 02:24 PM
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I do exactly the kind of photography you're describing. I bought an Olympus TG-6 (Now superseded by OM Systems TG-7 which is mostly the same camera) as it shoots raw, which is essential due to the noise with a small sensor. Unfortunately Ricoh's offering the WG-6 doesn't shoot raw, and it has higher pixel density, so noise is likely to be even worse.
I process the raw files in DxO PhotoLab which has excellent noise reduction, and means I can get acceptable results even from the small sensor. A bonus is the TG-6 has GPS tracking, and it fits in my pocket and has fairly decent macro capabilities including focus stacking (although requires a tripod), so my natural history solution tends to be my K-70 with DA 55-300 + TG-6 in my pocket. That way I can switch between birds and bugs in a moment with no need to change lenses, and I can record location.
TG-6 is definitely not a perfect camera by any means, and it took me a bit of time to figure out how to get the best out of it. It's unique in its capabilities though. Just as if you want an optical viewfinder DSLR, Pentax is now basically your only option, if you want a compact waterproof camera that shoots raw, TG series is only option.
Edit:
Just noticed you said you want to stay dry. That isn't entirely possible with TG-6/7, but you don't necessarily need to get very wet. In ponds and shallow streams, and possibly rock pools, you may only need to get your hands wet. That's been my experience much of the time.
I bought a cheap wetsuit though so if necessary I can sit in a larger rock pool for a while without getting cold, and that's opened up more possibilities. Also, I'm happy to do a bit of snorkelling on the surface. I'm not a diver though, and everything I do is likely to be within a metre of the surface.
Here are a few examples:
Works ok out of the water too:
Optical zoom is enough sometimes even for wildlife if it's not in a hurry to move
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