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Forum: General Talk
04-16-2024, 10:39 AM
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In case you decide to try some deep macro, the Pentax 28mm f3.5 has a very good reputation for IQ when reverse mounted for macro work.
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Forum: General Talk
04-11-2024, 05:37 AM
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When I was awarded a Professor Emeritus at retirement in 2009 I was told that a perk was lifetime use of the college EMAIL system so I could continue to use my EMAIL address. Ten years later they terminated EMAIL access for all PE's. No official reason was given, nor was it possible to determine who made the decision. A good friend who was also a PE had a friend in the tech department, and was told that maintaining all PE's on the EMAIL system was an excessive burden. There were 50 of us, the system had several thousand users, but that extra 50 was just too much. After maybe 20 years of using that EMAIL address, it took me a long time to remember and change all the places that had that address, such as on-line merchants and financial institutions that required it as a personal identification for login, and required a change ASAP. College requests for financial support go directly to the recycling bin.
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Forum: General Talk
02-12-2024, 08:01 AM
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I had a Rikenon 55mm f1.4 for my pair of Rikoh XRM bodies. Beautifully made lens. Silky smooth focusing with just the right amount of resistance. But, I was disappointed with the IQ. Obviously not as good as the Takumar f1.4 I had on my original version of the Spotmatic.
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Forum: General Talk
02-03-2024, 12:31 PM
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I found a slip-on rubber lens cap of exactly the right diameter. Cut our almost all of the light blocking part and found a close-up filter whose thread bit just a little into the opening. Then I wrapped some good quality cloth tape around the outer edge of both filter & cap. It's held together for a long time now, and it does the job although IQ suffers some, especially if I use it at longer focal lengths (as expected).
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Forum: General Talk
02-03-2024, 08:39 AM
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I also use a Sony RX 100, but mVI. I bought it for carry-along during our morning walks with the dog. I did not want to bring along a DSLR, even my MFT models. I wanted better IQ than the tiny P&S with the same zoom range that I'd been using and also I wanted a tilting screen. I have been impressed by the IQ from the lens and one-inch sensor. One disappointment was the limited close-focus ability, but I partially solved that by Gerry-rigging a way to mount a close-up filter.
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Forum: General Talk
01-04-2024, 11:21 AM
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My best Pentax lens was a 200mm f4 Macro, but a Pentax 50mm f2.8A macro was mighty close.
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Forum: General Talk
12-29-2023, 08:24 AM
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It also appears to have really good (excellent?) IQ, something the ART series from Sigma is intended for and noted to have.
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Forum: General Talk
10-02-2023, 06:03 AM
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I gather that the problem with driving AF on a non MFT lens when mounted on an Oly or Pana body is the amount of current required. I have a couple of Metabones adapters for Canon EF lenses onto my MFT bodies. They will drive AF but only on certain Canon lenses, generally smaller ones such as SFL moderately wide, normal and portrait tele lenses. My EF mount Sigma 150mm macro will not autofocus with either of my Metabones adapters. The Metabones website lists all lenses that have been tested and definitely do, definitely do not or the AF is not reliable even though it responds.
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Forum: General Talk
10-01-2023, 06:20 AM
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Post an image of the device.
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Forum: General Talk
09-20-2023, 06:08 AM
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A little over a year back I purchased a new dishwasher from HD after ours stopped working completely and a repairman came and charged me $160 to say "I cannot fix this."
I pulled out the old one and had the HD people deliver the new and take away the old ($50 for removal as I recall) then I installed the new one. The primary problem was connecting the electricity. The contacts on the new machine were far at the front (on the old machine they were far at the rear), way at the bottom, invisible unless you lie down and press your face against the floor. The existing wires were just long enough to reach that front corner IF the machine were pushed fully into position, but how anyone could then work under the machine with about 1.5 inches of clearance to connect the wires was beyond my understanding and certainly my abilities being afflicted with osteoarthritis in both legs. I eventually put in a junction box, ran the existing wires into it, then spiced on a wire for the dishwasher long enough that the machine could be laid on its side, the wires attached, and then the machine could then be pushed into place. It was a chore and a half and I hope never to do it again (= with luck the machine will outlive me).
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Forum: General Talk
09-04-2023, 09:23 AM
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Multiple generations of the Contaflex were very popular cameras when I was first starting 35mm photography. The synchro-compur shutters were reliable and could synch with any flashbulb or strobe at any shutter speed (but you must THINK). The Tessar lens was excellent if not especially "fast." The primary drawback was an extremely limited number of interchangeable lenses, basically 35mm, 85mm and 115mm, plus a monocular (never saw a test or image taken with one) with a single aperture of f14, but it was 400mm focusing to one meter (!). There were also several "Proxar" close-up lenses one of which provided a 1:1 ratio. If you can get along without a backpack full of accessories, the Contaflex is very reliable, high quality compact camera.
 Quote: =Tim Murphy;5796349]Dear Board,
I knew nothing about the Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex IV except that I won the bid.
This is a really neat little old SLR. It's about the size of a Pentax ME but weighs about as much as brick. But everything seems to work properly except for the self-timer. The viewfinder is bright and clear, and the split image seems to focus perfectly. Even the light meter is close enough to my Gossen Luna-Lux SBC that I trust it enough to use it as is. Sto, it's loaded with film and hopefully, I get a test roll completed this weekend.
It really is a cute little fat turd, I just hope it works!
Regards,
Tim Murphy
Harrisburg PA :) Contaflex IV by Tim Murphy, on Flickr |
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Forum: General Talk
07-25-2023, 02:17 PM
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When in doubt, wait it out. Let the heirs do repairs when it's theirs. If you're not going to sell it, the ---- with it. If it's adequate, why improve it? ;)
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Forum: General Talk
07-24-2023, 11:17 AM
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I understand and sympathize. I did all the wallboard work in the addition to our house. Dust from sanding the seams got everywhere, including into my lungs despite a mask (N95 masks were not generally available back then SFAIK). Incredibly fine powdery dust that gets onto and into everything.
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Forum: General Talk
07-22-2023, 03:57 AM
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My son at present lives in and my daughter previously lived in older houses with plaster-on-lath walls. Only workers who specialize in restoring old buildings have the knowledge and skill to properly repair or install anew such wall finishing. plaster/wall board is much faster and 95% of house repair contractors can finish a wall with boards in a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost of the old system. BTW: Much of Matt's house also had tube-and-bridge wiring that had to be replaced at substantial cost. Old houses, like old cars, can have unexpected costs that make their bargain purchase price an illusion.
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Forum: General Talk
06-14-2023, 01:46 PM
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Cool new toy equipment :p
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Forum: General Talk
05-31-2023, 02:56 PM
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I was a street jogger for decades. then a running machine at the gym (following two incidents when street jogging in the winter), then I switched to a cross trainer while also doing a round of the resistance machines and some stretching exercises. Osteoarthritis and replacement hip surgery put a big dent in my condition, especially endurance. Then a second hip replacement did more damage. Then developing osteoarthritis in my knees started slowing me down. Then the pandemic hit and after months of not being able to get to the gym I purchased my own cross trainer and got on it after a nine month hiatus from doing such exercise. It was as if I had never been on such a machine before and I never got close to the condition I was in when the gym was forced to close. Recently I had a fall and several days in the ER with a severe UTI. Now on the cross trainer I cannot perform anywhere near what I was doing six weeks ago. As you get older, you never fully recover from each little notch down in your physical condition. Who said that growing old is not for sissies?
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Forum: General Talk
05-31-2023, 10:36 AM
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It's comforting to learn that some as young and athletic as you also notices how, as time goes by, gravity gets stronger:lol:
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Forum: General Talk
05-24-2023, 06:27 AM
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I remember when one of the photo mags (Popular or Modern Photography) did a side-by-side of available 50mm f1.4 lenses back in the Film Era - 1960's?) As I recall, Canon and Pentax came out as best, and the 1.4 for the original Zeiss Contarex was a dismal last. Nikon's high reputation f1.4 was "in the pack."
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Forum: General Talk
05-20-2023, 01:09 PM
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That is a good lens. I didn't use the one I had back in the Film Era very often, but the chromes were always 100% satisfactory. It's also beautifully made. See post #3995 on the "Fisheye Fever Club" thread.
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Forum: General Talk
05-17-2023, 05:21 AM
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I never cease to be amazed at the diversity of knowledge among Pentaxians, and also endlessly pleased that all of us are so willing and quick to share what we know.:p
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Forum: General Talk
04-04-2023, 03:42 AM
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Let me guess: shallow DOF + creamy bokeh? Hope the lens delivers both for you.
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Forum: General Talk
03-25-2023, 05:07 AM
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Do you know if they are all the same optical formula? If there is one that's different, I would immediately suspect the original tele-Takumar. Among those early lenses I think that the 200mm f5.6 is also regarded as a very good lens.
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Forum: General Talk
03-24-2023, 04:44 AM
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I had a two-tone 135mm f3.5 pre-set Takumar for my Asahi Pentax S. At the time I thought it had excellent IQ. If the "super" version is the same, it should provide fine images even by modern expectations.
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Forum: General Talk
03-17-2023, 05:13 PM
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You'll like that lens. I had one purchased new, sold it, missed it, so I bought another that I used for quite a while until I got a 16~85mm which put the second 70mm permanently out of work.
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Forum: General Talk
03-14-2023, 04:58 AM
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I agree about the watch collection rabbit hole. I never cease to be amazed and somewhat mesmerized by the endless diversity of designs for something as simple as an "analog" watch face. I have some animosity toward the term "analog watch." For about 800 years that design WAS "a clock" or "a watch" or the face of either. For a short time there were "clocks," "watches" and "digital clocks/watches" until inventors and aficionados of the latter decided they had to elevate themselves to equal status with the original design of a timepiece rather than being a specialized (upstart or divergent?) subset.
Pictured below are a TIMER and a DIGITAL TIMER. I know the Kodak unit is simply a "timer" and not an "analog timer" because it is clearly so labeled.
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