Technology is great but is it necessarily a good thing?

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Hi Pentaxian friends.

Technology is great but is it necessarily a good thing?

During the past two to three years, I have acquired quite a collection of new Pentax lenses. From the DA 10-17mm to the DA* 300mm and almost every lenses in between. I also started collecting the Limited lenses. I have enough lenses for just about all possible situations . Yet, I found that my photography enthusiasm has fallen several notches. Could it be because I have too many choices? Honestly...I believe so.

Every time I go on a shooting trek, I take all the lenses I can humanly carry and still complain to myself about which lenses I should have brought instead. I believe that having so many lenses and choices does not help my photography...instead it complicates it.

So, for a while anyway, I decided to put all of my zoom and telephoto lenses away. I will limit myself to carry a maximum of three lenses with me. I will carry a wide angle, a normal lens and a small telephoto. Instead of taking a powerful telephoto for photographing distant subjects, I will walk or drive closer. Who knows what I might see while physically getting closer. I know, you can't do that for sport photography without being trampled by players, but I personally don't do sport photography.

Will I use Pentax best DA* prime lenses or the Pentax DA limiteds? Not necessarily. I own dozens of older Pentax "A" manual focus lenses that are still superb in quality. Since I'm sort of going back to the basics, I won't be using the autofocus. The "A" lenses are manual focus, but the K-7 and other Pentax DSLRs will acknowledge when AF is achieved with a beep and the green hexagon illuminated in the viewfinder. A small red square will also briefly appear to show where the AF point is located, on most Pentax DSLRs. My eyes also play an important role. What I see is what I want to get. Using AF is sometime misleading the DSLR into focusing on another spot in your scene. Manually focusing gives you a better chance to focus exactly on the desired part of the scene. I like to use the focus point in the center, and recompose if necessary. It's going to be a slower operation, but maybe that's what we all need to do...slow down and compose. Will IQ suffer? I don't think so.

Pro lenses do last longer, can take more of a beating and usually are f/2.8 and faster. However, low cost or older lenses take good pictures as well. They may not endure the handling demanded by Professional Photographers, but they render great images quality as well. The usable ISO of today's DSLRs is so much better than what was available with film cameras. The fast lenses are not as crucial as they were once.

All Pentax DSLRs use APS-C sized sensors. When Full Frame lenses are used, the image circle is much bigger than what's needed for the smaller APS-C sensor. Since glass effectiveness or accuracy tends to be less on the outer edges of any given lens, only the middle portion of Full Frame lenses hits the sensor, making every shots within the sweet spot of the lens used. Therefore, better IQ is achieved when using a Full Frame format lens on an APS-C sensor, although it is cropped. Who cares about the cropping, what you see in the viewfinder is what you get afterall. When post processed with Photoshop, 90% of image quality can be fixed, if needed. This is today's "darkroom" and I see nothing wrong in fixing image quality with Photoshop or other software.

Today's DSLRs are great technical achievements, but too much automation can hinder one's creativity. I you use a fully "Auto-Everything " DSLR, where does the hobby and craft of photography goes? What happens to the careful analysis of a scene and the meticulous composition?

I think this approach will get me back to the groove and my pictures will improve. It's easy to take the path of least resistance, but the outcome is usually proportional.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

Clarifications on this Pre-production Pentax K-7, with Firmware V 1.0, tested at ISO 100 to 3200.

Click the above picture to enlarge.

Clarifications: For those that have commented on this blogsite and other blogsites, that the high ISO shots were too noisy, consider this: The whole picture above was taken at ISO 1600 and the cropped image fits 36 times in the original picture. On my screen, the cropped image represents 7" on the horizontal screen and as you can see, the cropped image fits 4 1/2 times in the horizontal side of the full image. Therefore, if this example was printed instead of on your monitor screen, it would measure approximately 31" on the horizontal and 20" on the vertical. Would you look at a print that size six inches away? I don't think so. You would look at it hanging on a wall, at a distance of three feet away or more. Now back away from your screen about 3 to 4 feet and the noise becomes irrelevant. Of course, as always, this is my opinion. Also remember that the image has been resized to 600 pixel wide because the camera is still a pre-production model and we are asked not to publish any photos higher than 640x480 until the production K-7 is out.

Above @ ISO 100. Click for larger size.

Above @ ISO 200 . Click for larger size.

Above @ ISO 400. Click for larger size.

Above @ ISO 800. Click for larger size.

Above @ ISO 1600. Click for larger size.

Above @ ISO 3200. Click for larger size.

Above images @ ISO 100

Above images @ ISO 200

Above images @ ISO 400

Above images @ ISO 800

Above images @ ISO 1600

Above images @ ISO 3200

Visitors to this page also liked: See "Recommended Reading" on the right column. We honor reciprocal links. Email: brqyvn@aol.com

Hi Pentaxian friends.

I had some time on my hand today, and since I still have the Pentax pre-production K-7 updated with Firmware V1.0, I tried to test the image quality at ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200. I placed the camera on a tripod and switched the Shake Reduction to off. I turned the mode dial to (P) and set the aperture to f/8.0. I used the CS-205 remote control. All other adjustments were at factory settings.

Of course the images were taken during the day but I will do a test at night as well this coming week. Because the camera is still a pre-production, I couldn't post the images full size. However, I reduced the image sizes and did nothing in Post Processing to enhance the images. The partial images are at 100% crop. What does 100% crop mean?

I am satisfied with these results, and I can tell you that the IQ is indeed better than the K20D images. Add to that the possibility to be even better when the production K-7 hits the market.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

The PMA 2008 show for Pentaxians

Hi everyone,

Revision - 2/5/2008 @ 2:45 PM US Pacific Time: The images of the blue man eye below can now be seen full size by double clicking on the images.

Eye photos are © 2008 - Julie Quarry

I will be posting all this week about my favorable impression of the Pentax presence at the PMA 2008. My posts will include articles about the new Pentax DSLR cameras and lenses I had the privilege to handle, the two great and friendly Pentaxians photographers I met, (Kerrick James and Julie Quarry), the Pentax USA and Pentax CANADA employees that were very helpful, friendly and knowledgeable and finally about the Pentax presentation in general during the PMA 2008 tradeshow.

During the two days I spent at the show, I visited most of the major manufacturers of DSLR cameras and lenses. Companies represented, were doing their best to get the visitor’s attention to visit their booth. Some had beautiful models posing for the general public, some had bands playing music, some had dancers, and some even had acrobats doing their tricks. Everyone was trying to get your attention. Some were giving free drinks, free candy, free samples, but in the end…it’s all about the product they sell that counts and it has to stand on its own.

The two biggest names in the DSLR camera world, and we all know who they are, had the biggest spaces and it was almost impossible to talk to them and even harder to hold or ask questions about their products. People were crammed in their booths to where it became uncomfortable. It seemed like the consumers were all trying to impress each other with which DSLR model or lenses they owned. I stood out like a soar thumb with my Pentax K10D around my neck and frankly, I loved it. Entry-level and amateur photographers and the public in general tend to gravitate around the big names as this is what they hear about mostly through the Media.

It's strange how my K10D wouldn't focus on some part of the writing in this image!

Pentax is not a new company nor is it a small company, but when compared to the two giants of the industry, yes they are smaller. Is that to say their products are inferior? Well of course the answer to that is NO. They may have to work harder to earn our business. That’s exactly what Pentax has done and indeed is still doing. The K10D was a big success because it was chuck full with innovations and priced hundreds and even thousands below any camera with similar attributes. It was introduced with features found in DSLR cameras targeted to advanced amateurs and even professional photographers, at the price of entry level DSLR cameras. Reviewers all over the world were confused as to what the K10D should be reviewed against. The truth is that there wasn’t any other DSLR like it. It had professional features, like weather seals, in-camera shake reduction, dedicated RAW button, glass pentaprism, a new sensitivity priority mode, and an array of other features, some not found anywhere at any price.

Pentax just introduced the K20D and the K200D , along with an array of new lenses. All were displayed at the show and the public was able to touch, feel and try the new goodies. There was nothing under locked cabinets. Internet forums and blog sites all over the world, including this blog site, all have been speculating about what the K20D would bring to justify its purchase. Of course, purchasing a new DSLR camera has a lot to do with one’s particular needs and budget. As far as value for the money, the K20D will still be in a class by itself. It is the only camera in its price range (around $1,200 to $1300 U.S. when available around March and likely discounted even more by the B & H photo and the Cameta Camera of the world) that will boast a 14.6 effective megapixels CMOS sensor with an IQ (Image Quality) unparalleled in the price range, both on a pixel count point of view and on a noise level, or rather lack of noise at high ISO.

The Blue Man Group are featured at the Venetian Hotel and Casino

We have seen many pictures of the K20D on the internet lately, but none were that convincing as far as image quality versus the K10D. Pentaxian super photographer Julie Quarry went on the Vegas Strip one night during the PMA show, and took several pictures, simultaneously with a K10D and a K20D set side by side and at ISO 1600. She then cropped the images of the Blue Man upper body, as shown in the photos below, so that only the close up of one eye could be compared. The pictures are from the “Blue Man Group” show at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. I was impressed. I personally will get a K20D and keep my K10D as backup.

© 2008 - Julie Quarry ***Pentax K10D, 50mm - 1/15 sec - f/6.7 @ ISO 1600. Taken in RAW format, cropped from 10.2MP down to 2.31MP and saved as JPEG file. (Click for full size picture)

© 2008 - Julie Quarry ***Pentax K20D, 50mm - 1/30 sec - f/4 @ ISO 1600. Taken in RAW format, cropped from 14.6MP down to 2.46MP and saved as JPEG file. (Click for full size picture)

This post is already longer than I anticipated. I love to write about Pentax equipment, and once I start, I can’t stop. Return to this blog every day this week and you will get some good information about Pentax and the equipment I tried and handled at the PMA show. It’s all great and exciting news.

Thank you for reading.

Yvon Bourque