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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-14-2024, 01:26 AM
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Thanks Manuel. The Opteka does have a nice basic colour rendering, but you need to add a lot of contrast and saturation in post processing -- plus a ton of sharpening.
Thanks. The Opteka is a fun thing to play around with, and I'll enjoy it for the couple of times a year that I want a lens that long, but I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone to go out and buy one.
For the thread in general: One thing that has made the 500mm mirror lens easier to use is that I've permanently shorted the A pin on the mount of my K200D, which enables catch-in-focus and matrix metering with fully manual lenses like this one. So I can focus the 500mm by mashing the shutter button down with my finger, then turning the focus ring and waiting for the shutter to fire by itself when it hits focus. So it's sort of a semi-autofocus fully manual hybrid.:lol:
Permanently shorting the A pin has no negative impact on using newer fully auto lenses like the Sigma 10-20mm on the K200D, as the only thing those lenses do with that pin is short it anyway. And lately I'm feeling tempted to get back into M42 lenses, so enabling things like matrix metering and catch-in-focus with those old lenses seems worthwhile. It's just a shame that the K200D hasn't got TAV mode, as it's a huge amount of fun using M42 lenses that way when you're shooting in low light -- it's how I used to use my old K-S1 for family snaps with M42 lenses before I got rid of it.
(Yes, I know that the idea of TAV mode with M42 lenses sounds impossible, and it's complicated to explain how it actually works in practice, so everyone will have to just take my word for it that it is possible. It basically involves tricking the camera into thinking that it's got an A series f/1.2 lens mounted, so that when you turn the aperture ring on the M42 lens the camera sees that as a change in the light out there in the world and reacts accordingly.)
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
04-10-2024, 02:39 AM
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Forum: Pentax Full Frame
03-29-2024, 09:01 AM
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Forum: Maintenance and Repair Articles
03-15-2024, 06:23 PM
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My K-7's rubber door / flap cover to the USB/HDMI/DC port broke down into several parts. The hinge had been broken for a while, now the door itself had broken into parts. I see that this is common for the K-7 and K-5 series made by Hoya, especially in hotter climates.
I was organising my bike spare parts box when I came across some rubber strips that were supplied with handlebar lights and I realized that I could potentially use them to cover over the broken ports on my K-7.
For reference, the strip I used was exactly 15mm wide and 2mm deep. I cut it to length and then carefully trimmed off the corners so it would fit in the hole. Then I cut a couple of blocks using more of the 2mm thick rubber and I used a 1mm thick strip along one edge, see photos for arrangement. The rubber can be glued together using super glue (cyanoacrylate adhesive). I used 'Zap-A-Gap' glue. I was lucky to have this strip of rubber that had a nice texture and was exactly the right width. However, you should be able to find something at a hardware store or rubber products place, though you would likely have to buy at least a meter length...
The cover just pushes into place and holds well. You must be careful to make it an exact tight fit. I haven't bothered to make a hinge as that would involve gluing something to the camera and it stays in fine anyway.
You will notice in the photos that the microphone port is also missing it's cover. I have found "3.5mm headphone dust covers" are available for mobile phones and have ordered one from the large internet website that sells that sort of stuff. I'll see how that works out when it turns up next week.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-24-2024, 02:30 PM
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Pentax 645N + FA 200/4 (IF)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
02-28-2024, 12:02 AM
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Forum: Photographic Technique
02-13-2024, 06:18 PM
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The event turned out well. I'll just post the two of my goofball kid, but the photos of all 15 kids were similar, and I'm happy with the results. I took three of each kid without a ball for the project this was for, and another couple holding a ball, more for the parents. Out of all that we got a pretty good one of each type for each boy.
Although now looking closely I very slightly missed focus on the without ball shot of my own kid, but it's still useable. I think that's the only one like that, of course.
Thanks again for the pointers from everyone.
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
02-05-2024, 09:40 PM
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Forum: Digital Processing, Software, and Printing
12-20-2023, 02:59 PM
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I want to share my most basic starting point for editing in ART... The bare minimum I do to an image is in a little profile I called my "K-S2 Init" file - in this case for the K-S2 of course, but I could probably use this with other cameras, I just have profiles with a bit more things for the other cameras...
I basically start with just 3 things:
1. Change the Domosaicing algorithm to RCD+Bilinear
2. Change the Tone Curve to Film-like
3. Apply my standard Tone Equalizer curve, seen below:
Just applying these 3 changes, will change the file that loads up looking like this
to this
Then I might also apply a film emulation like Kodachrome 64 or Astia. This is the previous image with just Kodachrome 64 applied (from HaldClut):
From then on, I might dodge or burn some parts of the image, but in most cases... I'm done and my editing takes only a few seconds.
Not sure if that might help someone, I hope it does :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-26-2024, 05:24 AM
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I could do that. If it ever stops raining here. I could do a comparison of the K10D, K01, K3ii, K3 MKiii and the K-1. The K01 shared the same sensor as the K5. I really should get another battery for the K10D.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-24-2024, 04:35 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-1 & K-1 II
01-18-2024, 07:27 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
01-08-2024, 11:41 AM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
12-17-2023, 04:23 PM
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
11-21-2023, 07:25 PM
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A gull trying to break into a clam shell from altitude.
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Forum: Pentax K-3 III
01-12-2024, 03:45 AM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-06-2024, 10:23 AM
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Haha, yes: "kit lens on steroids" is a good description of the 18-135mm.:lol: I've noticed occasional vignetting with mine too, but as you say it's easily fixable. CA doesn't seem to be any issue so far, and my guess is that people who accuse it of being soft at 135mm just haven't bothered to calibrate their autofocus.
I finally got it out in some winter afternoon sunlight today on the K200D:
 Winter Afternoon Light by David Holland, on Flickr
It's still early days, but I think it's a lens I can live with.:)
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-02-2024, 12:40 AM
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I've been shooting a number of years now with first the K5 and then upgraded to the K1. I've come to a few conclusions. By tracking the stars, you will smear the static foreground landscape element, just as you have observed.
So, just through experimentation, I've found that...- If I shoot with astrotracing, but with a shutter speed of 30 to 40 seconds, the smearing is minimized to the extent that it appears to be nearly non-existent. Any time longer than 40 seconds, the smearing of the foreground progressively worsens.
- For the first few images, I now shoot with this abbreviated shutter speed, so that I have something in the bag that I can quickly use and enjoy. Then, I go for the longer shutter, out to about 70 to perhaps 80 seconds. My standard astrotracing settings are: ISO 800, Shutter 70 seconds, and Aperture stopped down a bit at f2 to f2.4 (using an f1.4 lens) or f2.8 (using an f2.8 lens). The lower the ISO value, the better the star colors are.
- I also shoot the foreground landscape using no astrotracing, LENR enabled, ISO 400, f4, and depending on the lighting situation start at 4 minutes and increase or decrease from there. If there is some ambient light coming from a light dome - 1 to 2 minutes is good. If it's a Bortle 2 location (dark dark), then it's 4 minutes (I call it the rule of 4's).
- My friend who I shoot with uses a K1mkII and he reduces the ISO to 640 (where the Acceleration Chip kicks in).
- I also try to ensure that I frame everything up with as few bushes that cross the horizon or things where the background sky shines through. This just makes post-processing, really difficult when you are blending the sky and landscape foreground together (compositing).
- I used the Zeiss 28mm/f2.8 Distagon pretty much exclusively (for years) as a good focal length to get good foreground detail, with a fairly large field of view. However, I still really need to stitch to get the expanse I really want. Most (really all) fast wide-angle lenses have both coma and vignetting to varying extents - so you really need to stop down (hence the f4 (to sharpen up the details) on the foreground frame), to decrease the vignetting (which really affects the stitching, with a windowing effect in the final pano). The Sigma 35/f1.4 Art lens is probably the best full-frame lens available for a Pentax body, but you still need to stop down for the vignetting. The Pentax DFA 15-30/f2.8 is really excellent - with little vignetting and coma, but I find it soft in comparison to both the 28mm and the 35mm. I've also used the DFA 31/f1.8 Ltd, but I find that it has coma up in the corners (or at least my copy), so I have not really used it a lot (but others have had shown good success with it). I really wanted the Pentax DFA 21/f2.4 Ltd to have a faster aperture. I've been torn in trying to decide if it would be sufficiently fast enough without any vignetting so that I could use it wide open all the time. I just finally broke down and decided to go longer with the Sigma 35.
I've tried inserting this image, but it's not taking - https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F3kuhwp458vy01.jpg
:cool:
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Forum: Photographic Technique
12-31-2023, 05:23 PM
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Says who? :p
Fireworks: Breaking the rules. - PentaxForums.com
But yes, a tripod if you want standard fair fireworks photos. If you want to get artsy, forget the tripod and use intentional camera movement.
When it comes to the finale, they often become too smoky to get a clear shot. Many times "finale photos" are actually a bunch of stand alone firework exposures combined in post to get that finale look without the excessive smoke.
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Forum: General Talk
12-25-2023, 01:37 PM
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Well then, it looks like this thread may become an annual tradition, seeing as it was resurrected from last year, which was the first.
So, without further delay, Happy Christmas to all my fellow Pentaxians. May the season find all of you healthy, happy and enjoying prosperity, and the coming year be all it can be for all of you.
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Forum: General Talk
12-25-2023, 01:30 AM
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Wishing everyone near and far a merry Christmas and a great new year .
Often the sentiment of peace and goodwill is exchanged at Christmas time ...imagine what a better world we could live in if we expressed those thoughts and feelings to our fellow inhabitants every day of the year and not just the end of December....
God bless ,
Paul .
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Forum: General Talk
12-24-2023, 07:37 PM
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Merry Christmas from Bandit and me.
One year ago on Christmas Day I checked into Nazareth House for care and rehab after having had my kneecap reconstructed after fracturing it a few days earlier. I did not get to take Bandits 2022 portrait and missed all the family gatherings.
Here is his 2023 Christmas portrait.
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Forum: General Talk
12-23-2022, 02:22 PM
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Merry Christmas to you and everyone!
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Forum: General Talk
12-23-2022, 12:30 PM
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Forum: General Talk
12-23-2022, 07:13 AM
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Wishing all here a peaceful Christmas and happy and healthy 2023.
Best Wishes
Tim
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