Hi John/ JFDavis,
I think this is a great post. I also like the one on DPr, where you play the violin for some user that seemed pretty out of line.
I also think scq/Stephen had some good input, as did *isteve.
To Jonas B. : I don’t see this post from John, as a response to you. So no need to worry.
When I first saw the picture in this thread, the portrait with something blue sticking out in front of it; at first glance it looked like the typical older problem of a thumb or finger in front of the lens.
When I gave it some more attention, I see that it is a baseball cap, getting in the way of the image. I sometimes frame my desired point of interest, with some point of attention close by. This does not seem to have been the point here. The cap or blue/white thing, whatever it is, seems to have been very close to the lens.
I’m fairly critical of my pictures, I would probably take a couple of shots of something I wanted, and see how they turned out. Some would be pleasing, others not. This one in particular, I would either clone out this hat that got in the way of the picture, see if I had other good images, or accept that I didn’t get what I wanted. This last option, I’m also accepting, since it will force me to increase my efforts and improve my skill.
In the film days, I would say that 5-10 % of the images taken, were the good ones. Some of the rest could tell a story, others would just be discarded.
Michael Reichmann on his recent Antarctic Photographic Expedition trip, took 7.024 frames. And ended up with 92 frames which he considered worth printing, and a dozen which were portfolio / exhibition grade. And three of these were among the best work he felt that he had ever done.
In regard to this VPN raving, I think that there are some that have a very valid point. And I hope that a solution presents itself for them.
What I also notice though, is that the amateur photographers that I most enjoy seeing photos from, do not seem to have any particular problem with VPN, or be limited in their photography by it.
In regard to the Pro’s, I guess that they have so much experience that they know what their camera can, and can’t do. If they encounter problems, they develop workarounds to get the shots they want.
I really had to take the boring turn (since other sides of photography interest me more), to read into it all, since I got worried about the same issues being discussed over and over.
However, I kind of stopped getting much involved or trying to sort things out, when I received what at first looked like a hate mail; demanding an official apology that I had dared to enter a thread and try to bring it back on track. I was surprised since prior, all that I had encountered from the forum was a very nice tone and feedback. So to begin with, I was almost happy that the person didn’t live in the same country as I. But we were able to discuss it through and put it to rest, so it turned out to be no big deal. But I still feel that the shouting and obsession by some, bringing forth the same over and over, is counterproductive to their case.
One of the newest fun examples are, how Roland has to learn not to take proper photos, but to tweak his camera, and everybody will make conclusions about his photography.
This technical weird science, really goes to show the way this and other issues have screwed up DPr. The fun of going there has been decreasing for some time now.
Had it not been for the Mo/Adam forum, then the joy of Pentax community would really be closer to lost.
It is said that one should simply avoid the VPN threads, especially since it is the same things brought up, and the same crowd trying to convince each other how poor the K10 is, and how it is never their fault.
But if people who enjoy their photography, and take excellent pictures with the K10, are not allowed in; then new potential buyers will not get a balanced and fair view, and see that it is only a minority complaining about VPN. I almost got spooked by it all, but having spend many hours and months following DPr, I could put things into perspective. And seeing that many of the greatest photographers from DPR does not understand how this issue has sprung up.
Sorry for the long rant, but these ideas about going through the same, again and again, can be fun from a technical point of view, but in regard to reading about photography on DPr it is getting very tiresome. And also how people have to learn to get VPN :
Go in a closet, for safety leave the cap on, now take a shot at 1/2000 sec. be fair and do it fully open, if your camera brings out a faulty image, then you have a VPN problem.
I know that I have put the issue on the edge, and that some might take offence, but I’m trying to illustrate the trend that has also been noticed. I’m sure that Ansel and other threw away hundred of images that didn’t have an exposure they could work with. I know that the issue is more complex, but it would be nice if it could be given a rest, in regard to what has already been discussed numerous times.
In the instances that user error has been spotted as the reason for the problem, I guess this is good. And the user will have more fun, knowing that it was just a mistake he made by himself. But many times, people jump the gun, and shout about, and in the end many experienced photographers don’t feel like jumping in for the rescue.
The community used to be very nice and pleasant. But for some of the new things seen, I understand why John/ JFDavis have gotten feed up with it all. Some of the people coming in, not knowing how things have been dealt with and discussed in the past, really need to have things explained in very straight ways, to get the picture.
Dag T. has been posting for years in a fine Norwegian forum, but never encountered anybody talk about VPN or Banding in his images. But the VPN flu has seriously hit DPr. If you haven’t got it, there most be something wrong with your photography.
But as one user wrote some time ago :
worse than pixalisation, VPN peeping.
Hope everybody had a fun Easter, luckily I was also outside, instead of trying to calibrate my screen to get it displaying patterns. It was possible in the end, and weird flashing, banding, moiré and what have you was all over, but then I couldn’t see the images or anything else.
To new and coming users : don’t worry be happy. Don’t let this intimidate you into avoid giving the wonderful world of Pentax a try. You’ll miss out.
