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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-18-2016, 03:16 PM
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for sure - i can imagine that! i should have mentioned, i study economics, so 'irrational' things, like owning something for the pure fun of owning it, don't immediately fathom :lol:
i've seen similar things with my father and bicycles, and no doubt as i grow older, i'll understand more the mentality behind it.
more than anything, there's probably something in my kit selection that lends itself to the young, east london-resident pretentious millennial personality i seem to have adopted...
maybe it's just jealousy. maybe, when i graduate and *hopefully* find a job, i'll blow that first paycheck on a 70-200 2.8... :D:D
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-18-2016, 02:50 PM
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as previously mentioned - what i'm used to.
i mean, (rant time) i know there's loads of threads with people discussing tens of thousands worth of kit here, and sure, good for them for having pro-grade glass, but idk - for me it seems like a worthless pursuit - you're never going to get that value for money (in my opinion) as long as you're not shooting for a living.
i mean, my current kit - spotmatic plus Japanese 55/1.7 copy - £60. K10 plus 3rd party grip, 18-55, 55/2 and 50/1.8 - £180? K10 is ludicrously cheap for the quality if you can actually fit it in your hands and don't mind 8MP and no more than 800 ISO (my only gripe). the 18-55 is pants, but does the job wide and is acceptable at 35mm.
i only shoot recreationally but i do a half decent job of it, at literally 1/50th the expense than so many people here. i mean, no telephotos for me atm, but it's not hard to pick up a cheap 200. i guess the one thing about pentax (k-1 a case in point) is that they keep things seriously cheap for the (build) quality - i've always appreciated that.
i shouldn't moralise though - for a student i'm not as thrifty as i should be :confused:, but yeah. rant for this evening lol.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-18-2016, 02:23 PM
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... what ... is that ... thing ... made of ... ?
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-18-2016, 02:19 PM
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quick update - damn! this thing is sharp!
ended up with a mint M 50/1.7, costing just under £30. hitting the green button hard but slowly getting used to eyeballing it...
love the small size of it, K10 plus grip is pretty hefty so a smaller and lighter lens is helpful. cheers everyone
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-12-2016, 05:04 PM
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cheers for the advice!
yeah, but... M for the win. i hold a serious distrust for my K10 to get the contrast and exposure i want on anything other than M. I've tried, i spent a whole day in P, but it just annoyed me. after a while, minor adjustments become second nature, and it means you often can pause to compose a shot. ironically enough, the only A lens i own (apart from the kit 18-55) is an M42 on my spotmatic. only then is A sensible.
umm, thought this went without saying...? you've gotta shoot them like it's 1979...
i'll have a think about the lens hoods, never really bothered before, thought they looked a bit too try-hard but if there's contrast to be gained then definitely. looks like the 1.7 is the way to go, once again cheers. back to studying for exams for now!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-12-2016, 04:31 PM
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thing is; i won't be getting rid of the 55mm, and there's some fantastic soft, dreamy photos that can come out of it. it's got a really nicely controlled flare, and i'll be keeping it for when i need something like that. but for me the sharpness, and the colour just isn't quite there.
£30! prefer manual focus to auto tbh - learnt on film cameras and auto is just loud, unless you spend a lot of cash. seems like it's coming down to the smc 1.4 or the A50 1.7 so:
why this over the A 50/1.7?
cheers for your help, everyone
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
05-12-2016, 12:47 PM
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i've had a 55mm f2 (from the K1000) for quite some time now, and it's been my total go-to for portraits. it's a little bit knackered, and a little bit bashed up, and to be honest, not nearly sharp or nice enough to use, and i'd like something a little better.
my budget is £100, tops. i'm a student, shooting on a second-hand k10.
obviously this limits me to the various iterations of the 1.7, or the DA 1.8, within that range of focal length. no doubt there are tons of copies from other brands, but unless one is consistently seen as decent, they're almost always a gamble.
so if anyone's got any recommendations, owning or having owned these lenses, i want to hear them. cheaper the better.
no, the 77mm limited is not an option, nor is the 43.
cheers
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-06-2016, 08:54 AM
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just had to burn through the roll to see how the spotmatic fared at night
had quite a lot of fun tho
Spotmatic - SMC Tak 55mm 1.8 - T-Max 400
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-06-2016, 08:49 AM
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spotmatic plus a mint tak 55/1.8
this was from my first roll in about 6 years
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-22-2016, 07:35 PM
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ah i'm super glad someone posted this; I burned through my first 36 in 6 years today. i learnt on film, before progressing onto a k-r (because dev costs were too high and I couldn't dev my own). since then, broke both the k-r and the original k1000, bought a k10d (downgrade) and a spotmatic recently.
the spotmatic plus 55mm tak is everything i ever needed, and apart from the need to overexpose slightly (london winters) everything works as well as a 40 year old camera could.
i'll post some pics tomorrow once I get a cd drive.
btw - film/dev costs in london - found a super cool film shop on tottenham court road that sold me a roll of t-max 400 for a fiver so 7 dollars. dev costs came to 9 quid, so about 13 dollars. 56 cents per shot, or 39 pence. not great, tbh
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-21-2016, 09:44 AM
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had a quick check and all seems to be okay; at least, I think so.
I think I was just anticipating much lower shutter speeds and wider apertures than actually would have given me the correct exposure in the situation I was in; pointing the camera at a lamp, at ASA 400, is always going to be too bright for the film.
I've since had a go with it today, and my guesses of the correct shutter and aperture have largely matched what is indicated on the meter.
the only problem now is that the needle is reversed, but I'm sure that's just the battery.
---------- Post added 01-21-16 at 09:45 AM ----------
Obviously, I'll be able to fully tell once I burn through this 36.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
01-21-2016, 09:39 AM
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I should have mentioned this, but owning a camera which couldn't even dream of CIF means I forgot. Besides, MF is still more fun :D
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Forum: Photographic Technique
01-20-2016, 08:05 PM
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re this: you were the one who posted saying, should I front focus in order to get this last 20% of shots useable?
and we were like, no. that's just weird, and it would be much easier if you're after a particular shot (as you said you were, them running towards one end), then go MF.
in the end we can't make any camera get 100% every shot spot on. You just deal with it. I shoot with a second/third hand K10d, K mount lens, manual shutter/aperture/iso, nothing in the way of exposure compensation, next to no noise reduction (nothing above 400 is okay, 800 sometimes), dodgy white balance and autofocus stuck on centre spot only, since it's an old lens.
so I'm shooting as close to full manual as it gets on a digital camera, and it keeps me on my toes. I'll get 30 images in a half an hour debate, 4 will be really good. I get total control over how the images are produced.
In short, you choose. But don't be so scared about MF; I personally have a deep mistrust of any AF anyway.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
01-20-2016, 07:58 PM
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ah mate, this motion blur is nothing compared to the benefits you'd reap by widening that DoF. These are good pics but a) if you're getting some proportion out of focus, or soft, and want them sharper and b) you're not printing onto billboards, that's a sacrifice you can make.
besides, motion blur of hands, or the ball, is nothing. happens all the time in sports photography. the face of the subject (or whatever relevant defining features) is what matters. Their faces aren't doing 60.
no need for the snarky comment, I know how fast her hands need to travel.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
01-20-2016, 06:21 PM
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you could always try the DIY method; hit the switch for MF, set the focus distance, and time it right; fire the shutter at just the right time. With a bit of practice it can be done.
failing that, narrow your aperture and lose the depth of field, but at least it's in focus.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-20-2016, 06:16 PM
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thing is, the person I bought it off claimed it was in total working order, so I probably could send it back again.
I'll bring it into good shop I know in London, and see if they've got any advice or spare batteries.
shame though :/
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-20-2016, 05:38 PM
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just taken it out and flipped it twice to make sure, same problem persists.
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Forum: Troubleshooting and Beginner Help
01-20-2016, 05:05 PM
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hey, long time since I was last here, under a different account, mumbling about various intricate details of the k-r and K1000. Both of those have since been rendered unusable, so I decided to reinvent my pentax career with at first, a k10d (which is wonderful, if a little clumsy) and now a spotmatic.
I learnt at the age of twelve how to handle a camera on the K1000, so in theory I've got some knowledge of film SLRs. The spotmatic's a little different, however, and I'm struggling with the light meter.
Basically, at the moment, I've got the ASA set to 400, but no film in it. when the shutter speed's at 1/4, and I hit the metering switch, it tells me that when I point the thing into a lamp, I am grossly underexposing the potential image. Push the shutter speed down to half a second and it's a gross overexposure, whether it's at f/1.8 or f/16.
I literally just read on the battery check that you can do at ASA 100 and a full second, and it did all of that fine.
Please help. If it means anything, it's an Asahi SPII version.
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