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Forum: General Photography
11-30-2023, 09:40 AM
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Joining a new social media platform. It was initially just for curiosity. A totally unintended consequence is that I found far more interest in and engagement with my photographic creations than I ever did before (including on Flickr, where I normally posted work and should have been a no-brainer, and here). Not just "likes", but conversations, about the art and the story telling, not about the gear. This motivated me to shoot more, to stretch myself out a bit in what I did. A side benefit is that I hardly ever think of new/different equipment any more, and my precious free time is put to better use shooting, editing, sharing, and enjoying. Long may it remain so.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
06-02-2023, 06:18 PM
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Pacific Parrotlet. These birds are normally a bright green, but ours is a rarer white with a bit of blue on her head.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
05-17-2023, 08:31 AM
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Many beautiful reflections here! Those mountains! But I feel like rewarding outside the box creativity today, so #9!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-11-2023, 06:47 AM
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You could check out the 200 MM thread if you haven't already seen it:
"The 200mm... the seemly unloved these days focal length club" - PentaxForums.com
I use it on a K-50 and K5-II, and it's not too difficult to use if you're mindful of your shutter speed (I find f/8 and 1/180 with SR on works fine). I have an album in my flickr account with the M-200/4. Only six shots but there's a bit of variety there. That particular lens likes to show green and purple fringe so it's not great for catching birds or squirrels against a bright sky, but I like it to isolate small details and I also like it for cloudscapes. If you like shooting buildings, it's pretty good for grabbing architectural detail. I've also used it on people sparingly, but the best one was of someone sitting on a hillside overlooking a lake - the perspective made it look like she was sitting right on the edge of a cliff. I also have an extension tube set which doesn't get it quite to macro range but nonetheless makes it more useful.
I got mine very cheap as an experiment and when I pull it out I enjoy using it. Thanks for the reminder to get it out again!
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Forum: Pentax Camera and Field Accessories
01-25-2023, 06:07 PM
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You could also look into a Microsoft Surface Go, which runs…Windows...so it should work like a regular laptop with no surprises. If there is a Microsoft store near you, maybe if you brought your camera and cables with you, they’d be willing to help you make sure it does what you need before you buy.
Good luck!
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Forum: General Photography
01-13-2023, 10:26 AM
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Especially considering the relative imprecision of DOF markings on lenses.
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Forum: General Photography
01-13-2023, 08:33 AM
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In my simple/simplistic mind, it shouldn't matter what format you are using. If you hold everything else constant, APS-C is just a crop of full frame and the DOF for a given aperture should be the same. I think?
These discussions get challenging, and regularly hurt my head. It gets confusing when someone assumes "same framing" without stating such because now the camera to subject distance has changed. Or maybe not if you change the focal length too. It gets confusing when someone assumes "same viewing size" without stating such because now one image (APS-C) has been enlarged while the other wasn't. Comparisons are worthwhile if one variable is changed at a time and the result of changing that one variable only are assessed. Trouble is knowing whether or not you're really holding the right things constant to make a valid assessment. One might think "same framing" is holding something constant, but it's really not.
If I understand rightly, many things affect DOF, but not the sensor size directly. Since I just shoot APS-C, I decided to just work with my gear until I understand it and not think too hard about equivalence.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-11-2023, 10:54 AM
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The third one is fantastic! Nice work.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
01-11-2023, 10:52 AM
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Great series, you and that lens do nice work together. I especially like "Waiting"
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Forum: General Talk
12-21-2022, 10:05 AM
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Well, it is fake, and I think our brains are remarkably good at picking up visual inconsistencies, even if we can't put our finger on specifically what's wrong. The models can be problematic too (I distinctly remember once seeing a string holding up the Enterprise :D) but a least they are real objects with real light falling on them.
I might get pilloried for saying this, but fake-looking CGI is the least of the problems of most of those films. While the visuals were impressive and probably state of the art for the time, I think they must have skimped on the budget lines for "plot" and "character development." For me (and I'd exclude the first two releases from this generalization) they were adrenaline pumps that were sometimes fun in the moment but were unsatisfying at the end.
Kind of like eating an entire pepperoni pizza in one sitting.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-19-2022, 08:56 AM
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For APS-C anyway, this is the conclusion I eventually arrived at just by shooting at various settings and observing the results. Using f8 is also convenient for me in some set-it-and-forget-it circumstances,
This topic used to break my head until I started to pay attention to what people like Adam said in post #2 of this thread. APS-C is just a cropped image, and anytime anyone says "same FOV" or "same framing" when comparing to another format is changing a(nother) variable (camera position). A whole lot of questions sorted themselves out after that.
Anyone with opinions to the contrary will be ignored (by me) so as to not upset the delicate balance of my universe. :D
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-14-2022, 08:04 AM
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Good word. I would add--before you do this, if you do post-processing, I'd suggest finding some sample raw images for the camera of interest and running them through your workflow. I personally stuck with 16 MP because it was good enough for me, and 24 MP (+50%) would have crossed the performance threshold of my computer from "tolerable" to "really annoying".
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-14-2022, 07:24 AM
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I'm not sure you could possibly get more minimal than that. Maybe a monochrome version?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-14-2022, 07:21 AM
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I own both a K-50 and K-5IIs. Here's my judgement of the major differences between them. For background, I've had the K-50 for 6 years give or take, and the K-5IIs for about 6 months. I acquired the latter after the K-50 exhibited signs of aperture block failure (a common problem, and much discussed on this site).
K-50 pros: a little smaller and lighter. Has a newer processor that creates its JPEGs a little more quickly, especially if you have all the lens correction goodies turned on. Has focus peaking in live view if you need that for precise manual focus. Known problems: the aforementioned aperture block failure issue.
K-5IIs pros: more direct controls (ie knobs and buttons) to control shooting functions without menu diving, helpful to take advantage of the benefits of modern lenses. In general, a little more functionality (e.g. 5-shot brackets instead of 3, numerous other little things I can't think of at the moment). No anti-aliasing (blurring) filter on the sensor, so a little sharper (but this is only for the "s" version, the K-5 and K-5II have the AA filter). Better dynamic range. More robust construction. Quieter shutter and dust removal (the K-50 dust removal knocking is pretty loud). Can take a battery grip. Known problems: TTL bounce flash is reported to be erratic, but I haven't tried it myself.
I am happy with the K-50 and still use it for manual lenses every now and then, though I'm of course disappointed that it broke. I'm also very happy with the K-5IIs. I recently did some high-ISO shooting with it and processed the DNGs with DXO Photolab's noise reduction, and the images are really good even at ISO 12,800. If I had to pick one now, I'd save up a bit and go with the K-5IIs.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-13-2022, 10:35 AM
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No prob! Hope you enjoy your new camera.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
12-13-2022, 09:43 AM
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I recently checked a book out of my local library called "Light, Science & Magic" by Fil Hunter. It's chock full of great info on lighting various subjects. So I tried out a technique for lighting glass objects. I had no intention of this being anything more than playing around, but I was happier with the result than I expected to be, so here it is.
Materials used (besides lens, camera, and tripod): One cheesy desk lamp, 1 white foam core reflector, a spare dark blue 3-ring binder (background), my laptop lid (stage).
The edges of the glass were lit as I hoped (mostly, there are a few dim spots), but the various reflections are a result of other objects in the room. The book goes into how to make nice reflections that show the shape and texture of the glass, but I didn't go that far (need more foam core for that). But this was just for learning. Also, thank goodness for good clone tools, there's dust everywhere no matter how much you try to clean first.
Next try (who knows when I'll next have a spare hour) will be high-key with black edges.
 Pitcher by Sir Nameless, on Flickr
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
12-13-2022, 09:13 AM
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Check your menu settings for AF.S. There are two options, one will prevent you from taking a photo if the camera doesn't lock focus.
Menu button -> scroll right to menu C2, then go down to #12, AF.S setting. If it is setting 1 (focus priority, the default), then it won't take a picture unless it has focus. You can check if it has focus if you see the green hexagon in the viewfinder. One thing that might prevent focus is if you are too close to your subject. You can try backing up and seeing if that helps.
Or, you can change this to setting 2 (release-priority), which will allow you to take a picture even if the camera does not have focus confirmation.
See page 102 in your manual.
There might be other causes but this is what I would check out first.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-23-2022, 06:24 PM
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Forum: Lens Clubs
11-11-2022, 02:31 PM
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Forum: General Photography
11-08-2022, 08:39 AM
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I'll second that. And I should have done so a long time ago.
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Forum: Lens Clubs
10-20-2022, 06:55 AM
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Forum: General Talk
09-20-2022, 08:45 AM
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
09-16-2022, 06:16 AM
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Great article, as always.
I don't know much about cars from that era (or, most eras for that matter) but I will say that semi-circular yellow dashboard looks really cool.
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Forum: General Talk
09-14-2022, 11:12 AM
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Windows : DA lens :: Linux : M lens
They both get you to the same place, it's just that one takes a little bit more know-how and button pushing to get there.
Just wait 'till you dig into that Darktable manual... :D
(your current editor) : DA :: Darktable : M |
