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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
03-25-2013, 11:12 PM
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I've had my 645D since they were first released Internationally and have barely picked up any other camera since taking my 645D out of the box when I first got it home.
I use my 645D for studio portrait work, I shoot a lot of portraits out on location, it gets used for family happy snaps, travel, I shoot portraits at events ..... this camera has taken everything I throw at it.
Once you work out what it's not so great at (like low light/High ISO), you'll find out ways around those limitations and adapt to it, then you use this for just about anything.
My camera has taken a beating at many all night alternative and fetish events, out in the desert, on the beach, in swamps, dropped by the kids ...... it still works perfectly and has never failed me.
The only other camera I now use is the one in my Galaxy Note II phone, I just can't bring myself to pick up the old DSLR, any of my film cameras, or use friends film/DSLR units ..... I go the 645D every time.
The new 2.8/55 is a beautiful lens and is on my camera 90% of the time. If I'm not using that lens. I've got a Zodiak 30mm rectangular Fisheye and a 4.0/120mm Macro.
Can't rave enough about the 645D, love it, 2 and half years of ownership and no desire or temptations to even look at anything else.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
08-26-2012, 10:53 PM
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Cactus V5s here, used them on my older DSLRs and they're still kicking and doing the job just fine on my 645D.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
06-13-2012, 04:46 PM
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Yep - it's a big old heavy fridge, a Kelvinator, looks great in bright Orange :)
Our old fridge at home was painted bright purple and looked good too, old fridges just seem to look good in bright colours.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
06-11-2012, 06:34 PM
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I hit the studio last night with a visiting Mistress/Domme from Canada for a snappy shoot.
Finished up around 8:30pm, home by 10pm, very quickly edited a few before retiring for the night and reasonably happy with how they came out and the minimal processing that'll be needed.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
05-24-2012, 08:54 PM
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Happy to be corrected here, but based on my experience, bracketing using aperture is the norm' and the usual way it is done.
If you ever see a conversation on bracketing or exposure compensation it's pretty much always about + or - stops, never about + or - fractions of a second.
Try changing shutter speeds in a studio setting where the burst of light from the strobes is much shorter than the shutter speed, changing from 1/60th, to 1/100th, to 1/125th will do nothing where as a change from F3.5 to 5 to 8 will make a huge difference. Not so critical for landscape and outdoors, but sticking to what works in varying the exposure in all situations will be the method of choice for most.
Bracketing using aperture will also capture different DoF, so when putting it all together you'll have more options in that regard too.
Bracketting using aperture is definitely the normal/usual way of doing it and every camera I've owned changes the aperture when it comes to bracketing and/or exposure compensation.
That's not to say you can't/shouldn't use shutter speeds, but I'll hazard a guess that is why the 645D will be the way it is and go straight to changing aperture.
As for making the 645D change shutter speeds .... I'm not so sure on this.
My gut-feeling is even in AV priority the camera will set shutter speed according to the settting you've selected, but then bracket using aperture changes, as I've yet to see where you can stipulate the bracketting in anything other than stops. All the controls for bracketiing are for how many shots either side or the original, and by +/- how much of a stop.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
05-24-2012, 08:36 PM
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I love my Arsat 30mm and use it a lot.
As for K mount lenses, even if you could make things work with flange distances and the like - you'd effectively be turning the 645D into a crop sensor camera. 35mm format lenses for SLR/DSLR cameras won't produce an image size to make use of that nice big medium format sensor.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
03-04-2012, 02:45 AM
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They're inflatable, like the tail and the headpiece.
This is the same model from a shoot a fair while back, and there's a few more of her on my site in the Fantasy/Fetish section as Miss S
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
03-04-2012, 01:51 AM
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Thanks for the comments folks.
The people/complany that made the outfit were called Pretty Pervy and based in the UK, they've since shut up shop and moved to Australia and I've got 5 of their outfits/creations and The Hatchling is one of them.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
03-01-2012, 11:07 PM
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The Hatchling prowling the Salt Flats.
A custom, one of a kind outfit from the now closed Pretty Pervy of London.
These images are from the first test shoot with this costume, watch out for more of the Hatchling coming soon
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-17-2012, 03:58 AM
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I saw someone else post that they got an error message about the date, my error message was purely about size/quota being exceeded and the shots were definitely taken on the 4th Feb.
But ...... it now works and I managed to upload the image :)
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Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
02-17-2012, 12:04 AM
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Tried to upload and keep getting the error message that either my files are too large or I've exceeded my quotas.
Tried <300kb versions and still got the same message, checked my quotas and look to easily have the room, even deleted some older stuff just to be sure ...... still no luck :(
For the record, I was out doing a test shoot of a custom made, one of a kind outfit made by Pretty Pervy in the UK (now closed) and seeing if I can add one of those shots to this thread to see if it is fact a quota/size thing .....
edit - seems I can post here, but can't add to the WPD thing.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
01-23-2012, 12:04 AM
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I thought my lenses, then the camera were on the way out, turns out it was my eye, my right eye.
I switched to using the left eye which is noticably sharper for me, but not enough so that I've gone and got glasses to correct for the slightly blurry right eye. I went and got my eyes tested and they came out with left eye spot-on, right eye was the weakest prescription they could give me and I"ve been putting off getting glasses.
So, I switched right to left through choice, as even though the autofocus was telling me where it was focused and I trusted the camera as the images looked sharp on my screen - it just didn't sit right pressing that shutter when looking at a slightly out of focus image.
It took me a while getting used to holding the camera up to my left, and I'm naturally a right handed, right foot kind of person, it now comes naturally and feels like it has always been that way.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-18-2012, 10:02 PM
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I've been helping out with some Beta testing and tkos is on it and making a lot of head-way into hainvg PK_Tether work well for the 645D ... looking good :)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-12-2012, 08:18 PM
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The bag/backpack I use has the camera at the top and a velco/elastic strap across the base of the lens, right over the top of the mirror lock up switch. It's so easy to get the strap caught and flick the switch when grabbing the camera out of the bag quickly.
Still catches me out on occasions, but only takes that first "shot" not working to go "D'oh!!" and realise what I've done now.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-10-2012, 05:14 PM
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Take a look and see if you've bumped the Mirror lock-up switch/dial, I'll bet that's it.
I've done ait a few times getting the camera out of the bag, with the shutter, click ...... nothing, what's it waiting for???? D'oh!!
Hope it's something simple like this.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
01-09-2012, 11:03 PM
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I've seen this going on for a long time in the less main-stream lines.
There are a few "big name" fetish and alternative labels, but the majority are small operations with little to no budget for a "proper" campaign, so many do their own shoots in-house.
I've seen some photographers closely work with an up and coming designer, become heavily involved with that company, then go on to be a distributor or become a full-time part of the company.
Same goes for a lot of the models and lots of mates-rates, bartering and friends being used rather than hiring pro models
With the smaller non main stream designers it's definitely a case of value for money and the lack of a budget to do a full-on campaign with pro models, a stylist, professional hair and make-up, artistic director, photograper and assisstants ......etc. Typicall it's a crew of 3 or 4 at the most and everyone knows everyone.
With the bigger companies I wouldn't be surprised if there's a push from share holders and the financial side of things. It would be getting harder and harder to justify that kind of money to a company board of directors when they can see the same thing (same thing in their eyes) being done by a team of 3 or 4 people on the cheap.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
01-05-2012, 06:04 PM
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Brilliant!!
Something to play with this weekend and test it out with the laptop hanging off the 645D.
Thanks for the info :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
01-04-2012, 06:43 PM
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There's this image and 2 more as teasers in my Flickr Stream - Flickr: Warped-Photography's Photostream - the full set will be up on my site when I'm done editing and uploading.
The Story:
Myself and my wife (Sarah) got away with friends and spent a few days up near The Pinnacles for a shoot. As it turns out, as usual it seems for me of late, nothing went quite to plan but it ended up being a lot of fun.
The Original plan - meet, scout location, drinks/nibbles at sunset, share a "cabin" at a close'ish location for the night, back at sunrise for the main shoot.
Wife and I get to the accommodation around 2pm and the cabin is a single room, barely big enough for the small double bed and the bunk beds, a sink and small fridge and that's it. Toilets/showers are across in the caravan park area along with the very old and weather beaten bbqs that we would have been cooking on.
We were told it's the only room/accom to sleep 4 so that's why we booked it and it looked like we'd all be getting to know each other a lot better than we expected.
As it turn out the rest of the place was pretty much empty and we took a look at the one bedroom chalets ..... that had a large couch/fold out double bed in the main living area.
Air con (38 degree C day the first day), 2 x double beds, shower and toilet, kitchen with stove top, fridge and bigger sink ...... a set of sheets/pillows/blankets liberated from the cabin for the fold out couch/bed and we took a chalet instead.
Back to The Pinnacles for a look around at 3pm, it was my first time there after living in WA since 1994, and it's a great location and well worth the look. We drove around, found a couple of good spots, shot some landscape/scenery pics, saw some emus wandering though the rocks .... all pretty cool and good fun.
Into Cervantes for a swim after that, water was perfect.
Back to The Pinnacles for sunset, picnic table set-up, champagne, cheese and bickies, all very civilised and a highly recommended way to spend an afternoon. This is when Sarah says "The outfit is in the car, want to shoot?".
A few minutes later Sarah is in the front of the car trying to strip and then get dressed into the outfit, while I'm in the back of the car rummaging around for the stuff I want as it's all packed in tightly and I wasn't expecting to need most of it until tomorrow morning.
As for the outfit .... it's called The Demonix and is a one-off piece made by a designer/company in the UK called Pretty Pervy. It consists on a bodysuit/leotard in scarlet and red latex with an inflatable devil's tail, the chest section has a cut-out and pasties are needed for modesty (hence just the one "edited" pic posted here). There's a matching hood with 3 long inflatable tentacles. That is teamed with black fishnets and boots and isn't something you see every day and is very striking!
Once the outfit was on and I was ready and we were set to go, the looks on some peoples faces was priceless. Cars driving along the track stopped, reversed, came back for another look - one person even stopped to find their camera and came over snapping their own pics.
The eye holes aren't the easiest to see out of, stiletto heels in sand aren't the easiest either, but my wife managed to make it look relatively easy and with the help I had help with the lighting we made an impromptu, unplanned shoot work relatively well.
Back to the accommodation after that and an excellent meal cooked for us and a few drinks.
4am start, left at 4:30am, planned on getting there just before sunrise at 5:15. Well we got there around 5:15 no worries, but it was 100% overcast with no colour in the sky what so ever, bugger!
The clouds were "lumpy" enough that it wasn't a totally flat grey sky though and looked reasonably dramatic and made for something different at The Pinnacles (rather than the typical clear blue sky you see in all the touristy photos), so we went with what we had.
My portable strobes failed, so the plan to use them and the beauty dish was ditched and I had to resort to the flash and Cactus V5s for off camera fill light. The Demb bounce card and diffuser did a surprisingly good job.
We shot some of the Demonix on a plateau with just the clouds as a back drop, changed her into some ballet heels and shot some of her on a bondage chair in a flatter clear area and using the pinnacles in the distance as the backdrop, then some in close amongst some larger pinnacles with the Demonix back in the original boots.
When I finished up my shots, my awesome assistants tried their own thing for a while, then after that we finished with bacon and egg wraps cooked for us with The Pinnacles all to ourselves and left there around 8am.
Great way to spend a couple of days with good friends, good food and a lot of fun :)
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
01-04-2012, 12:00 AM
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IIRC - The 'Blad H4D-31 is around the same, if not a tad cheaper depending on location and/or exchange rates.
I saw a big price drop on Phase One backs and the earlier 21 Mpixels units going quite cheaply not long after the 645D came out and wasn't a flop/dud as some were hoping - so Phase One had to do something at the time.
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-24-2011, 08:04 PM
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I went though keh.com in the USA for my 4/120mm Macro, was here in Aust' 3 days later.
If you've got internet access, a credit card or paypal then location really isn't an issue.
Aside from the resolution and sensor size, don't forget the other bits and pieces that you'd expect from a Pro camera, like the weather sealing. I've been out in heavy rain, copped a splash from a spa/hot tub and also got caught by a wave and the camera never missed a beat.
I've taken a tumble holding the camera and the body got the slightest of scuffs on it and kept on going.
Battery life kicks butt compared to the Phase 1 and H'blad products.
Just a few other things to think about :)
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Forum: Pentax Medium Format
11-23-2011, 11:47 PM
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I've had the 645D for a year now - LOVE IT!!
I've shot:
- Studio portraits
- On location portraits in full sun and at night in low light, outdoors and in clubs
- Landscape in all weather and lighting conditions
- Wildlife
- My kids' birthday parties
- Holiday snap shots
- Shows and events at clubs
- Macro
The 645D may be seen as, or promoted as, a specialist tool only for the serious landscape shooter or studio work - but it is NOT a one trick pony.
The lens thing has already been addressed - there are a lot of great lenses out there that will work with the 645D, no adapter needed. I'm shooting with the new 2.8 55mm prime, an older 645 4/120 Macro and an Arsat 30mm wide angle. The Arsat and Macro were second hand and combined cost me less than AUD$800.
I'm not a pro, no one pays or sponors me - I just REALLY like my photography and have always had a thing for larger formats. I'm married with kids, have a mortgage and am on a single income (mine).
I could easily have a mid-life crisis and blown ~$10K or more on a new jetski or motorbike, or an overseas holiday. Going from a APCS sensor pentax and wanting to go full-frame or bigger I wouldn't have got a lot of change, if any, from a new D3s and a lens or 3. If I'd done that, no one would have batted an eyelid ... but $10K on a single, non Canon/Nikon camera, HOLY CRAP!!
I've shot with a lot of film gear, I've used a lot of gear from Nikon and Canon, I had long term loans of Hasselblad and Phase One gear before settling on the 645D. Never had a single 2nd thought or regret since picking up my 645D.
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Forum: Weekly Photo Challenges
11-23-2011, 11:34 PM
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I went mermaid hunting again - found one in a spa :)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
11-20-2011, 06:43 PM
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I shot these a few weekends ago and I'm still working through all the images as we manged quite a few "keepers".
I had so most fun on this shoot, possibly the most fun I've had with a camera invloved - it was an awesome day and I had a blast - even after slipping on the rocks and falling flat on my back right at the start of the day.
The images are a mix of natural light, natural with some fill, and strobe as the main light balanced with natural.
Lenses - mostly the new 2.8/55 and some with the 4/120 Macro.
The tail is a creation from the folks at Pretty Pervy and it comes up to her waist, it's been combined with a latex bodysuit from my collection with the zipper and seams cloned out - other than that there's very little post production work.
The mermaid is a good friend of mine from work who I've talked into modelling for me.
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Forum: Monthly Photo Contests
11-08-2011, 10:14 PM
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Forum: Photographic Technique
10-26-2011, 11:47 PM
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I've got to give a big thumbs up to the Bowens Brand. My 500w units have copped an absolute flogging and never missed a beat. I know a few other Bowens users who have been using the same lights for years and years and years, dishing out abuse and knocking them about .... and they still keep on kicking.
Bowens gear in general does seem to be a bit bigger, heavier and more expensive than other brands, but the bulid quality and longevity is there and the units are worth the $$s in my opinion.
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