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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-01-2023, 04:58 AM
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FYI, your lens is not a fault. What you are seeing is an atmospheric effect caused by solar heating of the ground and surfaces that creates convection of the atmosphere. The resulting ripples of hot air refract light in a semi-random pattern, creating tiny patchy distortions in the image that look noisy or pointillist.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-16-2022, 08:50 AM
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One sad cause of this is that manufacturers are forced to deal with ignorance and insecurity.
For most non-photographers and many camera buyers, the first impressions are that "pros" use big cameras and "amateurs" use small cameras. The bigger the camera, the pro'er the photographer, right?
Peer pressure and insecurity make too many camera buyers opt for a larger camera just to keep up appearances. It's only the iconoclasts that thumb their noses at this rule and know that they can get great pictures out of a small camera.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-05-2022, 02:15 PM
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Indeed! A pentagram of Pentaxians with their pentaprisms would surely summon Maxwell's Demon to magically separate all hot pixels and banish all photographic noise to make ISO ∞ a reality.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-01-2022, 03:13 PM
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They sound like eminently intelligent folk!
A quick Google informs me that "Lancaster was named one of the happiest places to live and work in the UK" which must be because of the prevalence of Pentax users! :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
12-15-2020, 12:37 PM
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Pentax is out there!
I just saw a segment about Kirsten Becken (homepage info) on Deutsche Welle TV. Prominently displayed in the clips of her photoshoots and on her table was a very nice Pentax 645D or Z.
And I recently twice saw a street shooter on our pedestrian mall using a Pentax 67 film camera with the iconic wooden grip and a modest "normal" lens.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-22-2020, 06:18 PM
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Or....
Pentax isn't "rare"... Pentax is "well done!" ;)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-01-2019, 02:16 PM
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LOL!
And that was the first mono-pole-y in the history of humanity! ;)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-01-2019, 07:06 AM
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Brand snobbishness is much older the capitalism.
I'm sure it dates back to when Bob and Joe made sharp sticks for the tribe. Some thought Bob made the best sharp sticks and would make snarky "get a real sharp stick" remarks to users of Joe's sticks.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-28-2019, 01:06 PM
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If your goal is to get as many pictures as possible and as quickly as possible, then digital is probably the better way to go.
If your goal is to master something challenging where a single minor mistake and ruin the result, then film is probably the better way to go. Some people simply prefer hobbies that are hard and time consuming (film photography, fly fishing, mountain climbing).
Another way to think about it is that It all depends on whether you want the outcome (the photograph) or want the process (photography).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-24-2019, 08:16 AM
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Indeed!
Canikon surely expected a flood of sales when they gave their faithful fans a mirrorless option and gave Sony some competition. But Instead of a burst of Canikonites switching to mirrorless and a burst of mirrorless lovers switching to Canikon, they saw their marketshare plummet. For these DSLR makers, adding a mirrorless option has meant selling FEWER total cameras. It really is the worst possible outcome.
The deeper lesson is that MILC is not a market trend, it's a market segment -- some people want them, some people don't. Saying MILC will kill DSLRs is like saying wide angle lenses will kill telephoto lenses. Sure, wide angle lenses and telephoto lenses both compete for photographer's limited lens-buying budgets. And maybe one focal length range or another is changing in popularity. But the one cannot kill the other because no matter how popular wide angle lens become, some people still want telephoto lenses.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
10-03-2019, 05:46 AM
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Indeed!
It's nice when the forecast says rain with a 80% chance of Pentax. ;)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-28-2019, 06:52 AM
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The tulips in the local downtown pedestrian mall are in full bloom and that's brought out the photographers. Needless to say, smartphone shooters dominate. But among the "real camera" users, it's mostly been Nikons, a few Canons, an occasional MILC, and one Graflex!
Then, yesterday, I saw my first K-1 in the wild (besides mine). He was shooting street scenes with what seemed to be a medium telephoto. I did not have time to stop so I only had a chance to say "nice camera" as I passed him.
Pentax users are out there!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-11-2019, 01:27 PM
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Speaking of rare cameras -- I saw my first Fuji Instax in use in the wild. A bored young hipster with manbun was waiting in the lobby of ye olde famous local hotel. He pulled out an Instax and snapped a shot of the stained glass atrium.
For all the supposed milions of these things Fuji has sold, I'd never seen one actually being used before.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-01-2018, 04:06 PM
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Yes, but to get the benefits of the reversed hood, the camera needs to be set to Professional-mode (P-mode). ;)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-24-2018, 11:57 AM
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LOL! Yes, it was a heavy beast with an interesting trapezoidal reflex mirror (APS-CCCP format???? ;) ).
He only asked 50 shekels ($15) for it and I'm sure there was room to haggle. But my luggage was already at capacity so buying an ancient Soviet boat anchor was not an option.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-24-2018, 09:38 AM
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I just returned from a trip to tourist meccas of Jerusalem and Petra (in Jordan). Almost all of the non-phone cameras were Canons & Nikons. I saw only a couple of Sonys and no Fujis but I could not ID every camera in the scrum of tourists in the warren of Jerusalem's alleys so who knows what else was there.
I did see one other Pentax! Yay! It was a black body APS-C model, with a longish zoom, and a neck strap with "Pentax" in red letters. And if we think we are rare, I have to wonder what the fellow with the Vivitar film camera thinks of his brand's marketshare.
BigMackCam will appreciate that the highlight of my camera-spotting was that I saw my first Zenit ever. It was for sale in the flea market in Jaffa (Tel Aviv). As a red-blooded American living in a country that fears red-menace Rooskie cameras, I'd never seen one of these Commie-cams in the flesh.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-09-2018, 01:59 PM
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I'd think that outdoor photographers would be more likely to gravitate the Pentax cameras for their ruggedness and weather resistance.
Folks with other brands would go inside earlier and at the first sign of inclement weather and lose all the "keepers" that the Pentax crowd gets.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-03-2018, 10:22 AM
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I see Pentax cameras (besides my own and those of a hiking-buddy) maybe one or two times a year. In fact, I saw a Pentax ME just a couple of days ago carried by a college-age woman who was with two friends.
Pentaxians are out there!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
09-26-2017, 10:08 AM
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LOL! And so true!
This is one of the big issues that the "mirrorless revolution" promotors miss. One of the reasons people buy (and will continue to buy) DSLRs is that they look like real serious cameras.
When a budding enthusiast goes into a camera shop, they are as likely to buy the Canon because it is huge as they are to buy the Sony because it is small.
And then there's the Pentax buyer that doesn't given a flying-eff what others think -- they just want a great camera that takes great pictures at a decent price.
After all, it's how the pictures look, not how the camera looks, that matters (unless one needs a big camera to boost a fragile ego).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-30-2017, 12:23 PM
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Condolences! (I would suggest giving glutten-free beer a try to see if that's the issue but it's not that good.)
You might also look for craft distilleries which are also on the rise in America.
Have a great trip!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-30-2017, 08:35 AM
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Please don't give up on America beer!
Yes, the mainstream brands are horrible but there's a thriving craft beer community with 5,000 small breweries making a wide range of very interesting and tasty beers. California, in particular, has a lot of these breweries and many are brewing interesting variants of lagers, ales, IPAs, stouts, etc. using traditional yeasts, Belgian/Brettanomyces cultures, various strains of hops as well as creating new variants of less common styles (gose, sours, wittebeirs, etc.) or adding other flavors such Mammoth's Brewing's awesome IPA 395 (an imperial IPA with juniper berries and sage).
A good American brewpub will have dozens of taps with local beer and sell "beer flights" which consist of 4 to 6 small glasses (usually about 4 oz or 12 cl each) of whatever you choose. It's a great way to sample these beers.
Enjoy your trip!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-08-2017, 11:08 AM
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Indeed!
And Fuji's numbers are even worse (13.5 million) and Olympus is rarest of all (2.9 million).
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