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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2018, 04:09 PM
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It depends on what skill. There's no guarantee anyone learns any skill. There needs to be some basic ability there. If you never learn to use a 300mm lens, there's not much point in getting a 400. I you aren't getting good portraits with a 3.5 or ƒ4 lenses, going to 2.8 or sub 2 isn't going to help you with the most important part of the image. Not all of us are good at everything. Not all of us have an affinity for everything. Not a lot of us even have an interest in everything.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2018, 12:39 PM
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It's difficult to think it's relevant when you start talking about people using equipment designed for a different medium. Film lenses don't purple fringe on film, but many do on digital. So you need to level the playing field there. Your 18-135 was actually designed for the medium you use it for. Your example though is perfect for when better equipment is needed. You are getting good images, but in the area of your interest, they could be better.
If you do macro, and like doing little insect's eyes etc., you can be better with extension tubes. If you're like me and most of your macros are small flowers etc. then the extension tubes would be a waste. Owning better gear would make no difference because I wouldn't use it. But my point would be, it's your experience that tells you what high end equipment you need. God knows, you won't be able to afford all of it. High end equipment become necessary when you start to specialize. You can never say high end equipment is completely irrelevant, but it's only relevant for the experienced. Experience without high end can accomplish a lot. Inexperience can accomplish very little no matter how much high end stuff they own. A lot of experience, specialization and appropriate high end equipment is king.
Some may buy high end equipment and then try and gain experience. That's expensive and doesn't necessarily work. Especially if you're of the opinion that you can figure it all out on your own. I always advise against it.
My example would be buy the macro lens, explore it until you understand it's limits, then decide you need the extension tubes. You may be fine without the specialized gear. But either way, your decision to purchase or not purchase high end equipment is informed by your experience.
Personally it took me 5 years shooting with my Sigma 70-300 to decide I was taking a lot of images at 300mm and decided I'd do better with something longer and sharper. But there are still Sigma 70-300 images in my "best of" folder on flickr. The time shooting with lesser equipment isn't lost. Buying better lenses was an expression of my interest and willingness to use better gear, than a photographic necessity.
I've added the DA*200, bought as a back up for when my DA*60-24050 is out of commission and my Tamorn 300 2.8, both of which offer increased capability. Experience taught me that was something I was interested in doing. But bottom line, I ended up buying the DA 55-300 PLM to replace my Sigma 70-300, because of the capability the Sigma had the others don't. I wanted a $3000 lens, but I still wanted a 70-300 type $400 lens. Because they both have situations where they excel.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2018, 12:11 PM
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It's amazing what a skilled craftsman can do with piece of crap equipment.
And it's amazing how bad a guy with high end every thing can be.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2018, 10:14 AM
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I think Mr. FF is saying is, he has no experience so he's just going to rant on about what he suspects might be true.
Recently I've been really impressed with my K-3 and DA 55-300 PLM. Easy to carry and, best IQ for the type of lens it is, at times comparable to DA*s. (Strike one)
Anyone with a lick of experience in these kinds of things understands that. Plus the camera you have with you (because it's light and easy to carry) is always better than one you don't have with you. (Strike 2)
Lightning fast AF.s that gets you the same type shots equipment costing 5 times as much may miss, because of Pentax lighting fast AF.s matched only by Canon's 1Dx. You haven't experienced how good Pentax AF can be until you've tried the 55-300 PLM. (Strike 3)
Your out. :D
Experience teaches you these things, and keeps you from getting called "out" by the umpire.
Why do so many people with little to no practical experience think they are experts? Can you learn to operate a car reading internet opinions and looking pictures? Can you learn to operate cameras from internet posts and pictures?
The only reason we get insane posts like this is because you don't have to have a license to comment on photography. I get good pictures with my Tamron 300 and 1.7, when conditions are right, I get good pictures with my DA* 200 when conditions are appropriate, I get good images with my DA 55-300 when conditions are appropriate. There isn't a lens I own (which also includes the DA*60-250 and two TCs that meant I don't use the others. They have to be used when appropriate, and when a lens is appropriate, it gives you the best image. Bar none.
There's only one possible reason for thinking more expensive gear automatically improves your photos. You don't own any expensive gear, so you haven't leant how trying top end gear can be. It's more of a hope than a reality.
HIgh end gear lets you do some things ( a small subset of the whole of photography) better. And for other things it doesn't. Experience tells you how to make the best use of what you have.
I guess it's not unusual for the youngsters to think experience counts for nothing and they know more than all the old timers. But it's not the most intelligent opinion. But I've never been this old before. So I'm not used to it. :D
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-25-2018, 06:12 AM
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What are your qualifications to comment on this aspect of photography?
You read it on the internet somewhere?
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-24-2018, 06:50 PM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-24-2018, 07:45 AM
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One of my favourite experiences was at a small town craft show.
The next booth over was a guy shooting a Canon 5D mkII.
I was shooting a K-20D Tess has shooting our first K-5 but ,most of her images in the show ere taken with an Opito 80W waterproof shock proof point and shoot.
The guy next to us sold maybe a couple hundred dollars worth of prints. barely enough to cover his entry fee. The two other photographers in the show, sold maybe a couple hundred. We sold 3 canvases worth $700 and totaled over $1200. 1 of the canvases was taken with the Optio. Our favourite print of all time was taken with the Optio. We've tried to repeat it many times, it's a place we pass at least once month. Often 5 or 6 times a month. But that camera on that evening with it's 12 MP image was the right combination. We compared it to my K20D shots. The Optio image has something the K20D shots didn't. It's been on our wall for 7 years now. It's stood the test of time.
You guys can go on and on with your intellectual wandering in the woods.
But life experience tells me, you can be a professional with a point and shoot if you are doing the craft circuit.
We have some fine images taken with K-5s and K-1s, (and my K-3 though I can't think of one off the top of my head) but that Optio image is still top three.
We have sold 5 canvases and numerous smaller prints taken with the Optio. We paid $300 for it. We sold over $2000 of prints taken with it over the 3 or 4 shows we did.
The people who saw our images, most didn't care what it was taken with, well except for the ones who wanted to buy a camera and go where i went, because they were too cheap to just pay for an image they liked.
So, I have a choice. Am I going to go with the big spenders extolling the virtues of high end gear, or am I going to look at my balance sheet.
Nothing anyone says is going to change my real life experience. If you take good pictures, people will buy them, and you will like them yourself. (We have over 600 images in slide show we sit and have beer watching. What the value of good gear is, is yet to be determined. Maybe in a high end professional kind of way... but, I've never seen a good explanation of why we have the gear we do. For myself, I spend a lot of time with a camera, I want it to be something I feel good about.
But I don't deluded myself into thinking I wouldn't be taking the same pictures with less expensive gear. And printing at the largest 30"x 20" on canvas, 24" x 16" on paper my 12 MP cameras give me great images. And they also look great on my 3840x 2160 Wide screen.
I don't have the cameras I have out of photographic necessity. I have them because I like them. From the to time, I have some money, I buy what I like or what grabs my attention. The K-1 was almost a whim. It aroused my curiosity. But I din't and still don't have a lot of verifiable reasons for liking it. To me, it's a piece of art in it's own right. A beautiful combination of design, functionality and aesthetics. A piece of art that takes pictures. Aesthetically and with my big clumsy fingers, it brings me more joy than a smaller camera just carrying it around. I feel more secure, if i run into a bear I have something to clobber him with. :D The pictures are not what the K-1 is about for me.
Leave the photography out of it. It just makes me happy attempting to take pictures. I didn't realize how much so until Tess took it on a trip and I went back to the K-3 for 3 days. I love my K-3 but. no tilting screen, no pixel shift, etc. is really irritating once you're used to it for everyday shooting. But,I still take exactly the same images, it's just not as easy. And I'd be taking those same images with a point and shoot if that's all I had, and for the most part, I'd enjoy them just as much.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-23-2018, 03:13 PM
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Especially for those of us who understand what we need to do to be better, but just aren't willing to do it. I'm retired. I don't get up early to get take advantage of morning light. I don't do elaborate sets and lighting for portraits, I don't make sure I get every shot i see, in fact my method these days is take 4-6 shots and hoe one of them turns out. I'm not longer willing to suffer for my pictures very often. I'm just happy being happy with what I can do for the effort I'm willing to put in. I suspect that's most of us.
We have a few hot shots here, people willing to do whatever it takes to get the shot they want, but not a lot. Most of us are pretty casual. We just like hanging out with the crowd.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
08-23-2018, 01:49 PM
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I've been singing that song for 10 years. It's great to have a worthy successor. My favourite line, if you don't take compelling images with what you have, you won't take them with what you think you want.
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