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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-14-2018, 01:25 PM
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K20D, DA* 50-135mm, and lego: recipe for an afternoon
It wasn't intentional, but I like that the lego person in the foreground (who is holding a lego camera) is the one who's slightly out of focus :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
07-14-2018, 10:40 AM
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K20D, A 70-210mm, handheld
Unsure what kind of flower this is other than pretty.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
07-14-2018, 10:36 AM
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I'm no botanist obviously, but this caught my eye. Anybody know what it is? :)
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
07-05-2018, 07:39 PM
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Somebody gave me a DA* 50-135mm, and somebody else moved in nextdoor with pretty flowers. Obviously we all know what had to happen next. :)
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Forum: Lens Clubs
07-05-2018, 07:31 PM
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I have a new nextdoor neighbor, and they replaced the bush out front with a new one. I have no clue what sort of flower this is, but it needed to be captured. This is my first try to do anything low-light (nevermind short DoF) with the 50-135, and I'm sold.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
06-29-2018, 02:58 PM
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My first road pic, taken with a new (to me) DA* 16-50mm F2.8 outside Billings, MT.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-29-2016, 06:32 AM
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Thanks! While I'll take credit for the framing, the background was all the lens' doing; I was too busy making sure I had the flower in focus (and waiting for the !@#$ wind to calm down)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-28-2016, 03:41 PM
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I bought a cheap tripod because I needed one, wanted it right now, and didn't have much to burn on it. Something tells me a more expensive (and less flimsy) tripod is in my future...
I hope my neighbor never trims whatever these are growing over the fence :lol:
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-26-2016, 05:45 PM
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nevermind, replied when that wasn't to me ;)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-22-2016, 01:31 AM
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Thanks!
I'm gonna be annoyed if my neighbor trims whatever plant that is, because it keeps getting prettier. The rose out front (which I posted in another thread) is nice and all, but purple is my favorite color ;)
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-22-2016, 01:27 AM
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What problems does the focus ring present?
I was looking specifically at that one for two reasons:
1) f/1.4 vs f/1.8 on many of the other K-mount 50s i've looked at
2) intended for 35mm, so no cropping if I decide someday to get a K-1*
*: I am far from being skilled enough for my gear to be a limitation, but my evil father in law who got me into this habit (thanks steve!) didn't sufficiently warn me about how addictive it is. :P
Maybe I should quit drooling over lenses and get the damn tripod first. I can say this, though: duplo bricks make a perfectly adequate poor man's semi-adjustable camera mount.
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-22-2016, 01:12 AM
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Then I'm reaaaaly leaning towards that FA 50mm f/1.4. time to read reviews and decide whether or not I want beer money for the next month ;)
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-22-2016, 12:37 AM
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0) I was already planning to avoid the carbon fiber ones, as while I imagine a really spendy one would be just fine, they probably aren't as good on the low-end
1) good, i thought so; the extent to which I use AF when shooting with the 70-210 is just to get the red indicator as an extra confirmation that the target is in focus.
2) glad to know that the 70-210 isn't a bad choice for macro. I love that lens, and given the macro shots I've taken so far, it's done quite well by me. This is the first case where I've wanted something magnified beyond what it does.
One thing that still confuses me is crop factor/35mm equiv... the math is straightforward, but if I were to buy smc FA 50mm f/1.4 | Ricoh Imaging, would it still be a 50mm on an APS-C DSLR, or would it be a 75mm?
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-22-2016, 12:09 AM
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I saw the converters, and wasn't sure if I should trust 'em -- looked a little too easy. I wouldn't mind getting a dedicated macro lens, I just don't know how much I'll use it so I don't want to go crazy buying it :)
I do want a 50mm though...
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Forum: Photographic Technique
04-21-2016, 08:55 PM
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(categorizing as machinery as it seems closest)
Backstory: ever since I started being bothered by RSI in my wrists a decade ago, I've been more and more fond of trackballs over mice. Having used many, the only one I can really tolerate (and have come to love) is the poorly-named Kensington Expert Mouse.
Despite retailing for about $100, they don't seem to be QA'd very well before they ship. First, and this isn't necessarily bad design if done properly: the ball itself rolls on three plastic spheres which stay in place, rather than on ball bearings or something else that could roll with it; that's fine, I've had four of these and they've been smooth as butter. This one is different.
When I got it, it had a plastic ridge on one of the spheres, which caused friction when rolling, which led to inaccuracy with the trackball and general frustration.
So, being a camera, computer, AND knife nerd, I... used a sharpening rod to file down a tiny bit of the sphere. It was far from a perfect job but worked quite well. Tonight I found it starting to resist again, and it occurred to me that maybe I could get a macro shot that'd help me figure out which part I needed to make smoother.
These are the last three of 7 attempts at pictures of those spheres; using the A 70-210mm in macro and holding a mini maglite with the same hand that was steadying the lens so I could get a decent exposure...
ANYWAY - I thought I'd post these here since I found them interesting, and I'd like some hints on how to take macro shots that come out clearer than this. So I have some questions:
0) I know I need a tripod. Is there a good one that doesn't cost as much as a good lens? (seeing as tripods are far simpler machines than lenses, I find them overpriced. my opinion, of course)
1) How much does autofocus help, when you're aiming for something about 3mm in diameter?
2) I've found plenty of macro lenses that I want, but... I don't know what I need. I want something "better at macro" but I don't have a clue what I mean by that other than wanting it to be slightly easier to get an image of something like this.
3) Is there a lens that's made just for macro, that would be good for this sort of thing, and won't cost more than about $500? Macro on the A 70-210 has always pleased me, but as a zoom lens with a small macro slot in its rotation, I don't expect it to achieve whatever quality a dedicated macro lens could -- but again since I'm new to this I'm not sure what a dedicated macro lens can do, and whether it's better at all. For all I know the A 70-210's little macro mode could be the best macro lens out there ;)
Please school me! :)
[edited to add: the scratches around the "bracket" holding the strange plastic sphere were caused by me missing the tiny thing with the sharpening rod. They don't contact the trackball itself, so they're cosmetic only]
---------- Post added 04-21-16 at 09:04 PM ----------
commenting on my own thread: from what I see looking at macro lenses, 1:1 magnification seems to be a selling point; if 1:1 is the best way to make a macro lens, then the only answer to getting a sharper image of something small would be a higher-resolution sensor, wouldn't it? Aren't there lenses which magnify at a short focal length? My uninformed thought is that optical magnification, provided sufficient light and an unmoving lens, would be better quality than simply adding megapixels. Have I missed something obvious? :-)
---------- Post added 04-21-16 at 09:10 PM ----------
Fixed, by a piece of a 12000 grit belt wrapped around a fingertip ;)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-19-2016, 01:18 PM
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Not sure what kind of flower this is, but it's growing up my neighbor's side of the fence in my back yard and I love the color.
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-19-2016, 01:01 PM
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Thanks! That shot is another reason I love the A 70-210mm; until I took that I wouldn't have believed a near total newbie could take a macro photo of a flower that came out that well on the first try (the only post processing it got was being scaled down to 25% and exported as jpeg)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-15-2016, 10:45 PM
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Thanks! I was almost certain it was a cardinal, but it's been a while since I moved out of virginia so I was pretty surprised to see it (I know nothing at all about what birds are and aren't common :P)
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Forum: Photo Critique
04-15-2016, 01:34 PM
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That looks great, maybe some would consider it overprocessed but I like it. It's probably somewhat accurate too if I'd taken the photo in the winter!
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Forum: Photo Critique
04-15-2016, 12:13 PM
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Agreed on the bottom right corner -- I edited it while still on the plane and hadn't gotten any further than what you already saw before we were told to put away large electronics.
I think I may just cut off the bottom at the top of the engine mount, as I'm not sure gimp is up to the task of cloning it out with any subtlety (I'm a linux guy, so a little bit hamstrung on postprocessing that's more involved than red eye removal and minor touch up)
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-15-2016, 12:07 PM
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I don't remember to water them or take care of them at all, so it might as well be!
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Forum: Post Your Photos!
04-14-2016, 07:06 AM
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Just took these this morning, first attempt to get birds or flowers. I am very much in love with the A 70-210mm.
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Forum: Photo Critique
04-14-2016, 07:02 AM
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I think the only reason I was able to pull it off was that it was a very non-scratched airplane window as airplane windows go; In this case, I actually dropped the exposure quite a bit and then boosted contrast to get it to look how it does -- here's what it looked like before i messed with it. I'd love hints on how to better tweak this sort of photo.
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