Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 to be Offered with in-Lens Stabilisation in Pentax Mount

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by Miserere

Sigma will release its new 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens on March 10, 2009. After the success of the Tamron and Pentax 18-250mm lenses, Sigma will have a tough time catching up. Or maybe not. It seems Sigma have an ace up their sleeve, as according to PopPhoto the Pentax and Sony mounts of the lens will offer the same in-lens optical stabilisation that up until now they only offered on the Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts. It will also feature HSM focusing.

With all these goodies it looks like it will be a serious contender in the super-zoom market, especially for Pentax users.

As it's not currently possible for both stabilisation systems to work in synchronicity (that would require extra communication between the lens and body, and new firmware for the camera), I assume it will be up to the user to decide when they want to use Pentax's in-body SR (e.g., focal lengths below 100mm) and when Sigma's in-lens OS (e.g., focal lengths above 100mm). I hope this becomes a trend for Sigma, as it gives us Pentaxians further advantage over brands with non-stabilised camera bodies.

New Site for the K2000/K-m

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by Miserere


Pentax has launched a site exclusively for its new K2000/K-m:


The site showcases the K2000/K-m's capabilities, and a whole lot more.


News

This section is self-explanatory I think :-)


Features

This section highlights the strengths (small size and weight, easy to use controls and menus, great picture quality, etc.) of the camera. I couldn't get over how sexy this camera looks with a DA 40mm f/2.8 Ltd mounted on it:


Together with a DA 21mm f/3.2 they would make a great street photography team.


Designer's story

You should read the stories of how the camera came to be, as told by 5 of the engineers that worked on it. Interesting stuff!


Sample photos

There are 80 sample photos (so far) organized into pages. On the last page (which are the oldest photos) the thumbnails show the photos as they would look straight out of the camera; if you click on a thumbnail you get a larger version of the photo with a digital filter from the K2000/K-m applied to it. Unfortunately, they don't tell you which particular filter was used in each case. Here are some examples I liked:

On the other pages there are sample images taken with a variety of Pentax lenses, each of which is noted under the thumbnail. Some also have on-camera filters applied to them, which this time are indicated. This seems like a growing site so maybe they'll get around to tagging all the photos with the appropriate information.


To begin with

This section is a step-by-step tutorial on how to get started with the camera. If you've just bought a K2000/K-m and it's your first DSLR, this is the place for you! There is a video of each step to help you along (you can find all these videos on YouTube here).




♥ Report

It seems like they gave the camera to 3 female Pentax employees to use and then asked for their views. In this sections you can read the opinions of Hal Coco and Sora, and see pictures they took.

Now you know what's there, why don't you check it out for yourself!

Focusing Speed: K200D vs K20D

by Miserere


Ever wondered which camera focused faster? Josh Emmons did. But instead of pondering the deep philosophical implications that different autofocus speeds would have on the evolution of one's inner self, he simply took his K200D and K20D and did some testing. Props to Josh! He even tested whether battery charge affects AF speed on the K20D. Want to know the results? Then check out Josh's blog.

You might be thinking that Josh is just a couch photographer who has nothing better to do than measure AF speeds, but he has been known to go out and take some pictures from time to time.

©2008 Josh Emmons

©2008 Josh Emmons

Thank you to Josh for taking the time to carry out these tests. And thank you for reading.

Miserere

Fun in the Snowstorm

by Miserere


I was very envious of Yvon the other day, driving around the snow taking pictures, so I decided I wouldn't be left behind in the snow picture-taking department. Of course, I was missing a few a things. There are no deserts around Boston, I don't have a fancy red jeep, and my wife just laughed at me when I asked her to come take photos with me in the cold. Oh, and there was no snow. That last one really foiled my plans.

As luck would have it, the same storm that dumped a few inches of snow in the Mojave Desert kept working its way across the United States and eventually made it to Boston last Friday, December 19. It started snowing around 13:00 and by the time I left work to head home a little before 18:00 we had several inches of snow. The worst part was that it was still snowing and the wind was blowing quite fiercely, making me wish I had snow goggles.

I'm not one to turn down a photo opportunity, so I bundled up, put my K10D inside my jacket, and went outside. Taking pictures was tricky because I had to keep snow from blowing onto the front of the lens...and my fingers from freezing. I was using an old manual-focus Kiron 24mm f/2, so focusing was also challenging. Most of the time I just kept the lens at the hyperfocal setting or guessed the focusing distance. Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy using old lenses?

Here are a few photos taken during my trek home. You'll be happy to know that I didn't lose any fingers in the process and the K10D performed admirably. Note the snow flying sideways!

Thanks for reading.

Miserere

Miserere's Musings on the White K2000

by Miserere


On the tail-end of Yvon's survey, I'd like to say a few words about what I think about the white edition K2000; not because my opinion is better than anyone else's, but because Yvon has let me use his soap box :-)

Before I begin, I would like to point out the results of another poll conducted independently on PentaxForums.com; these were the results as of today at 21:30 ET, with 312 votes:

Great idea, I have to get one!	13	4.17%
Nice idea, I might add such a design to my collection one day.	70	22.44%
I won't buy it, but I embrace that it will attract new customers.	180	57.69%
It might sell out to trendy girls, but as a photo enthusiast and Pentaxian I feel embarrassed.	38	12.18%
Pentax is digging it's own grave! Nobody will buy such a DSLR.	11	3.53%

The bottom line from this poll is similar to Yvon's: less than 16% of the respondents think it's a bad idea; everyone else agrees with it to some extent. More importantly, I think, is that almost 58% think it's a good idea even though they won't buy one themselves. Why do I think this is important? Because the people who hang out in camera forums are very enthusiastic about their hobby, and are generally advanced amateurs, or aspiring to be through their learning and interactions in the fora. These are not the people Pentax are targeting.

This camera, which I will call the K2000W from now on, is clearly designed to appeal to those who value cool looks and trendiness. I suspect the average technology user thinks along these lines when they enter an electronics store: I want to buy a piece of techware (mp3 player, laptop, phone, camera, etc.), and I have a certain amount of money to spend; I'm sure just about all brands make similar products, so I'm simply going to choose the item that looks the best that's within my budget.

There's nothing wrong with this approach, and it is true that most major brands offer items of similar quality at the same price range, so why not choose based on appearance only?

By now you can imagine what my opinion is: I think the K2000W is a good idea. (If you want to read my full opinion of the K2000/K-m model, you can find it here.) The only problem I see is that the camera won't be sitting on shelves at major stores, and it's there where it would really attract buyers, sitting amongst a sea of dull, black cameras. But hey, if Pentax can somehow bring it to the attention of potential buyers through internet advertising, then their plan can still pay off. Of course, the other way it can pay off is if Pentax users buying an entry-level camera for a loved one (especially if it's a teenager or a woman) buy a K2000W. After all, the best exposure is seeing people with this camera out on the streets and at gatherings. You can be sure that if you're at a party and someone has a white DSLR, people are going to be asking the owner about it.

Oh, and it's a well-known fact that Pentax were thinking about women when they designed this camera. And there is nothing the matter with that. It's not that women are less intelligent or less capable than men, it's mostly about women having smaller hands and, generally, being a lot less crazy about gadgets (toys?) than men are. Women are also more practical in general (that's just my opinion), and are more likely to want a camera that just takes pictures and needs little messing about with, and is also easy to handle. You'll notice that the K2000/K-m has all controls on the right hand side; that was a very deliberate decision. Having all buttons and wheels on the right makes it a lot easier to use the camera with just one hand, which is something P&S shooters are used to. Another thing they're used to is being able to choose different colours for their cameras. Are you starting to see a trend? The K2000/K-m is a bridge camera between two worlds, and if it manages to attract people who are currently using a P&S and thinking of upgrading, then Pentax has succeeded in it's goal. If offering a white version attracts even more buyers, then even better. After all, if Pentax makes a few extra bucks in these tough economic times, it's a good thing for all of us.

My Picture of the day - Dec 13, 2008

"The Long Walk Home" ©2007 Miserere

Photo taken one year ago on December 13, 2007, a few hours after the first big Winter snowstorm hit Boston.

Equipment used: K10D + FA 50mm f/1.4.

LensAlign: A New Tool to Adjust Your Camera Focus

by Miserere


From RAWWorkflow.com (the guys who brought us the Instant JPEG from RAW utility), comes LensAlign™, a new tool to help you check the focus calibration of your camera/lens combo:



LensAlign is our new and exciting focus calibration system that allows you to determine if any of your body/lens combinations suffer from back or front focus. LensAlign is the only solution that allows fast, accurate, and repeatable results that confirm and/or calibrate the auto-focus of all of your lens/body combinations.

Note: LensAlign can test and displayback/front focus on almost all cameras. However,auto-focus calibration requires that the camera body has an AF micro-adjustment feature.

Released today, December 12, it's now available for preorder to the tune of $139.95. There is also a slightly simpler LensAlign Lite available for $79.95.

Or you could simply download Yvon's focus adjustment chart for free :-) It also comes in three different flavours, optimised for wide, normal and long lenses.

On Printing Large from Small Files

by Miserere


Yesterday's post by Yvon about printing photos from K20D files reminded me of the day I found out I had been lied to by the camera business. It was about 1 year ago.

I had been thinking about what present to get my parents for Christmas, and being that they were in Spain and I was in the US, it couldn't be anything big. It took me a while to realise that a photograph would make a great gift, especially if it were one I had taken. What would make it even better is if it were a photograph that was meaningful to them. I immediately knew which photographs they would like (I have a good memory for images and the majority of my "good" photographs are stored in my head...finding them on my hard drive is another story).

After a while of cursing under my breath at my appalling photo cataloguing system I found what I was looking for in the depths of my laptop disk. I thought about it for a while and decided that a photograph wouldn't do; I wanted to print a poster for each of them. These are the images I chose:

© 2007 Miserere

The tiny village where my mother was born.

© 2007 Miserere

Canes and farming utensils my grandfather left unfinished after his passing away.

I hadn't planned on visiting my parents for Christmas last year, but my lovely wife miraculously found us some cheap tickets and insisted that we go. I carried the poster tube with me across the Atlantic and over the Alps (we flew via Zurich) and was able to see my parents' faces when I gave them their gifts. They were very touched and it meant a lot to them emotionally.

What does all this have to do with printing sizes and being lied to? My mother's poster was printed approximately 20x26 inches (51x66 cm), while my father's was 15x26 inches (30.5x66 cm). Oh, and the photos were taken with a 6MP Pentax Optio S60 point-&-shoot. This computes to around 130ppi (pixels per inch). Of course, you cannot see the prints for yourselves, but I can assure you they look great from a normal viewing distance, and even close up they hardly appear pixelated. When I first saw those posters I knew for certain that you must print at least at 300ppi was an old photographer's wives' tale perpetuated by camera sellers wanting you to upgrade to the newest camera with higher megapixel count. I believe it to be (maybe) applicable to ink-jet printing, but not for prints we order online which are done on laser printers.

Those posters are now hanging in my parents' living room. And I'm glad I could make them so happy with so few ppi.

Merry Christmas, Mum & Dad!

Careful What You Wish For

by Miserere


Reading Yvon's preceding post on Bruce's purchase of a Nikon D700 got me thinking, so I decided to quickly write down what was racing from my brain down through my fingers.

I can certainly see the allure of the D700. I spent Thanksgiving in a dark house trying to photograph children at ISO3200 on a K100D Super. Even with the f/1.8 afforded by the fabulous Pentax 31 Ltd, shutter speeds were not fast enough, and the IQ of the pics is far from great. I may print a few on 8x10 and see what they look like, but details on screen look poor. I'd love to have usable ISO 64000 in these situations! But I cannot afford a D700. I, like countless photographers before me (and scores after me, no doubt) will have to work around the limitations of my equipment, and my equipment is determined by my budget.

Yvon is quite right: If Pentax were to introduce a full-frame camera it would not be priced below $2,500 (and even that price would be great for a FF). Would Pentaxians complain? I wouldn't be surprised if the forums melted down with cries of anger.

If Pentax finally roll out the mythical 645D I doubt it's going to cost less than $6,000, on top of which you will have to buy a whole host of new lenses for it. Will the standard, regular Pentaxian buy it? Not a chance! I don't think people realise just how NOT portable the 645D will be. You won't be hanging it from your shoulder and going out for a stroll with it; you won't just throw it in your bag on your way out of the door. This will be a camera for the semi-professional landscape or studio photographer who produces serious work, but cannot justify the expense of a Hassie, Leica or other medium format camera. Will Pentaxians complain? You bet!

I am actually worried that Pentax have announced that they'll probably pursue the 645D. For the reasons mentioned above, I doubt they'll sell many of them and cannot imagine they will make a significant profit. As Pentax only have limited resources, any manpower channelled into the 645D project is going to be at the expense of the APS-C camera and lens line. Imagine they invest a large amount of money in this new project and never make it back; what would happen to Pentax? Could it bankrupt the Imaging division? Is Hoya willing to take such a gamble?

I believe Pentax will introduce a FF camera when/if it becomes clear that it's going to become the standard for amateur cameras. At this point they will discontinue their APS-C camera line (or maybe keep one as an entry-level model) and start producing FF lenses. I think this is the only way it makes sense for Pentax given their limited budget and production capabilities. Any other approach might ruin them, and none of us wishes the demise of Pentax, right?

So be careful what you wish for, my friend.

Don't Get Hung Up on the Pixels, Look at the Big Picture!

by Miserere

En Castellano más abajo.

I love having pork sausages for breakfast, fried with some eggs and toast, maybe some bacon on the side. While I'm eating, I make a point of not reading the ingredients or imagining what went into the sausages. I also don't inspect every piece of sausage on my fork trying to figure out what each little pink bit is before putting it in my mouth. I just eat them and enjoy my breakfast. Mmmmm...sausage...

Digital photography is much like sausages: If you look too closely you'll find they're both pretty gross.

All over the internet you see photos at 100% resolution brandished by photographers claiming they've used the best lens and/or camera because the images are really sharp when viewed at full resolution on the computer screen.

So what?

This 100% crop is pretty sharp:

But the whole picture sucks!

This 100% crop is not sharp at all:

But I find the whole picture worth looking at:

When you buy a new lens, sure, go ahead and check out it's performance in the sharpness department by looking at some 100% crops. Once you're satisfied that it's up to your standards, let it go, forget about the 100% crops and move on to making actual photographs.

A sharp photo contains information that can be measured in lp/mm (line pairs per mm). A good photo contains information that cannot be measured, because you cannot weigh emotion.

Unless you're printing murals, forget about the pixels and worry about the big picture. And if you ever catch yourself zooming in to 100%, just remember: oink oink!


Thanks for reading.

Miserere

___________________________________________________

No Te Quedes Colgado en los Píxeles, ¡Busca la Gran Foto!

Me encanta comer salchichas de cerdo para desayunar, fritas con huevos y tostadas, quizá un poco de beicon al lado. Mientras estoy comiendo, me aseguro de no leer los ingredientes ni intento imaginar qué hay dentro de las salchichas. Tampoco examino cada cacho de salchicha en mi tenedor intentando averiguar que es cada pedacito rosa antes de metérmelo en la boca. Simplemente las como y disfruto de mi desayuno. Mmmmm…salchichas...

La fotografía digital es muy parecida a las salchichas: Si miras con demasiado detenimiento verás que ambas son bastante asquerosas.

Por todo internet se ven fotos a 100% de resolución mostradas por fotógrafos que aseguran haber utilizado el mejor objetivo y/o cámara porque las imágenes que muestran son nítidas y definidas cuando son vistas a resolución completa en la pantalla del ordenador.

¿Y qué?

Este recorte al 100% es bastante nítido:

¡Pero la foto es un asco!

Este recorte al 100% no muestra gran definición:

Pero me parece que la foto en su totalidad merece la pena:

Cuando te compras un objetivo nuevo, adelante, comprueba su nitidez y definición en imágenes al 100%. Una vez que estés satisfecho que cumple tus requisitos mínimos, ya está, olvídate de imágenes al 100% y ponte a tomar fotografías de verdad.

Una foto nítida contiene información que se puede medir en pl/mm (pares de líneas por mm). Una foto buena contiene información que no puede ser medida, porque no puedes pesar la emoción.

A menos que imprimas murales, olvídate de los píxeles y preocúpate de la totalidad de la foto. Y si alguna vez te descuidas y te das cuenta que le estás dando al zoom para ver la foto al 100%, simplemente recuerda esto: ¡oink oink!

Gracias por leerme.

Miserere

Daniel Gutierrez, 9 Years Old and Already an Enthusiast Pentax Shooter

by Miserere

Who said big lenses were only for big guys?
Daniel shoots steady on a 400mm lens.
©2008 Javier Gutierrez

Daniel will be 9 in a couple of weeks. He's just like any other 9-year old: curious, energetic, sporty, an accomplished photographer—wait, what!? Maybe Daniel isn't quite like every other 9-year old after all. His father, Javier, is an avid Pentaxian who has passed on his love of photography to his son. Javier tells us I must admit I am a proud Papa and also a bit envious...He has such good eyes and great reflexes that he catches things I miss. The virtues of youth, my friend!

Javier started shooting with a Pentax K100D, then moved on to a K10D and K20D. In between he accumulated a fair bit of lenses and film cameras, so when Daniel expressed an interest in photography a couple of years ago Javier was able to quickly put together a kit for him chosen from the items he didn't frequently use. Of course, some fatherly LBA (Lens Buying Addiction) helped the kit grow to its present size.

Currently, this is what's in Daniel's bag:

1. Pentax K100D super DSLR
2. Pentax MG SLR
3. Pentax K1000 SLR
4. Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3
   
5. Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6
6. Pentax-K 50mm f/1.4
7. Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8
8. Pentax-M 135mm f/3.5
9. Pentax-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
10. Sigma 400mm f/5.6
11. Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-5.6
12. Vivitar 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6
13. Vivitar external flash
14. Pentax 2x TC
15. Tamron 1.4x TC MC-4
16. Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure.
17. 3 bird books.

Not bad for such a young guy, huh? Now you might understand why I keep asking Javier to adopt me!

I thought it would be nice to hear what Daniel had to say about all this, so I asked him to tell us about himself and photography.

Sometimes one camera just isn't enough.
©2008 Javier Gutierrez

My name is Daniel Gutierrrez. I am almost nine years old. I like photography and my favorite thing to shoot is birds. I think it is interesting to see the birds and discover new birds every time.

I go with my dad to different parks that have ponds and lakes. The ones I like most are Belvedere, Hollenbeck and Legg Lake. We go to the San Gabriel River at a nature preserve because there are so many birds there. I like to go there after it rains 'cause there's so much water. We see lots of bushes where they can hide. I take lots of pictures. We've seen Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, lots of different kinds of ducks, sometimes even cranes, and lots and lots of mourning doves. I know what they are 'cause I have three bird books. My favorite is the Smithsonian Birds. My favorite bird is an Appleyard duck. I used to like the Cinnamon Teal.

I used to take my pictures with a Fuji digital camera with zoom. Then my dad let me use a real camera so he gave me one of his Pentax cameras. Then he bought me a Pentax film camera on E-Bay. It is a Pentax MG. It's an old camera. I like shooting with color film. I learned about aperture, shutter speed and ISO from my dad. I learned that most film cameras don't have zoom lenses and if they do it's really little. I think it is very cool to have my own camera. Using a TC adapter makes the camera lens go farther but it might not work on some lenses that well. Once I learned the basics, my dad gave me his K100D Super and we started to collect lenses for me, most from e-bay.

If you think that all this equipment is just for show, you're very wrong. Following is a sequence of photographs Daniel took last weekend while out with his dad on one of their regular photo walks. He used his trusty Pentax K100D Super with a Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6.

All photos ©2008 Daniel Gutierrez

It was this impressive series of photos that prompted me to write about Daniel so all our readers could meet him and enjoy his photos. I asked Daniel about these particular photos and he said:

I like to shoot birds—not with a gun though! With a camera. It is so cool zooming in and controlling it. I like to shoot birds with the K100D super because the pictures come out crystal clear.

When I shot the egret it was flying to this island at Hollenbeck Park. I thought it was cool and I didn't want to miss it. So I had to run down the hill and focus the camera real fast when I saw it and I held down the button and it (the camera) took more than four pictures.

I was amazed! The egret looked like it was gonna pick up a mallard and fly away. When I got home, I saw it on the computer and it came out great. Usually I check them on the little camera screen.

Anyone who has tried taking photographs of birds in flight (and I've spent hours doing it) knows how difficult it is. Yet here is Daniel, with a camera that is allegedly not meant for this type of photography, capturing a beautiful series of an egret in flight. I hope you will join me in congratulating him! I think we need Javier to open up a Flickr account for Daniel to show off his photography. He certainly deserves it.

I asked Daniel if there was anything else he'd like to share with us:

From taking pictures and learning about photography I've learned that it holds a challenge because you might miss the picture. Some times you have to try again the next day. Some times you have to wait for the birds and sometimes you have to hide from them if they're really shy like the female scrub jay. I sometimes lie down on the ground or crouch because the smaller you are the more stuff you'll notice.

Thank you for featuring me on the PentaxDSLRs blog.

It was our pleasure having you here!

I think many of us have a lot to learn from Daniel, wouldn't you agree? I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this talented young man.

Please leave your words of encouragement for Daniel in the comments section. He will be delighted to know what you all think, and his proud dad will make sure he reads them.


Thank you.

Miserere

Does the Pentax K20D Perform Better with non-DA Lenses?

by Miserere


When the K20D was first announced, a collective groan went up when Pentax unveiled the pixel count of its sensor. 14.6MP sounded like too many to provide low-noise images with a wide dynamic range. Pentax were quick to calm us down by pointing out that the individual pixels in the new CMOS sensor were actually of a similar size to those of the K10D; what they had done was shrink the inter-pixel space where all the circuitry is located so they could now fit more pixels onto the chip without making them significantly smaller.

Smart...

They also improved the micro lenses that sit on top of each pixel. By bringing them closer to the surface of the pixel they improved the light-gathering capacity of each pixel because light reaching the micro lenses from different angles will now be better directed towards the pixels instead of being lost in the spaces between them.


While DA lenses have been designed so the light leaving the lens from the rear-most element is as perpendicular to the sensor plane as possible, older lenses were not designed with this requirement because film is sensitive to light coming in from almost any direction. This is one of the reasons why some older lenses don't perform as well on digital SLRS as they did on film SLRs.


All these improvements should help the K20D provide better IQ with non-DA lenses than previous DSLRs from Pentax. If this is true, it would be a very important reason to upgrade for those of us who own a lot of old lenses.

As you might imagine, I don't have a K20D, so I cannot test this myself. It would be interesting if blog readers owning a K20D and one of the other Pentax DSLRs could perform some experiments to show whether Pentax's claims are true or not. Yvon, I know you have both a K10D and a K20D; this sounds like a nice weekend project for you :-) Of course, you'd post the results here for all to see.

I wouldn't be surprised if this were true, and it's another big plus for the K20D that Pentax isn't advertising emphatically enough.

Run some tests, and post your results in the comments section.


Thanks!

Miserere

Do You Know What You're Doing?

by Miserere


I'm referring to what you're doing with your camera, of course. Over the last few months of wandering around internet forums looking for inspiration (much like an insomniac roams the streets at night waiting for sleep to come) I occasionally run across very nice photographs that make me stop and pay closer attention. Often they are taken by skilled photographers who have honed their art through years of study and practice. But sometimes, they are taken by people who have a camera and no idea what they are doing with it. I'm going to be elitist here and dub them people-with-cameras.

If you don't know buy yourself a piano but have no idea how to play it, would you call yourself a pianist? Why then when somebody buys a camera do they automatically consider themselves a photographer?

Maybe I'm more obsessed with my hobbies and interests than the average person, which leads me to read as much as possible about a subject when I become interested in it, simply because I want to learn all about it. I understand not everyone is like this, and modern digital cameras are so automated that you don't need to understand any of the most basic principles of photography in order to take pictures. But if you don't know what you're doing, how can you become better at it?

These are some true stories I have read on the internet that span across countries and camera brands:

• A person who takes pretty pictures of sunsets and flowers is hired by their friends to photograph their wedding after they see these great pictures. After the wedding the person-with-camera asks why all her pictures inside the church are so noisy and blurry and if maybe the kit lens she used is broken.
• A person who photographs models and is looking to make a living from photography who asks exactly what those numbers (500, 250, 125...) in the viewfinder actually mean.
• A person who is charging people to take their portraits and asks what camera or software program can be used to make the eyes be in focus but blur out the rest of the face.
• A person who posts a high-key photograph taken by somebody else and asks what lens to buy in order to take pictures like that.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. It's not that these aren't legitimate questions, it's that they're being asked at the wrong time in these people's photographic "career". It's like a pilot who calls the control tower while in mid-air and asks what those long things sticking out on either side of the plane are for. Would you want to be in that plane?

Taking pictures is easy. Taking good pictures isn't. Taking pictures that people will be happy to pay money for is even more difficult. If you've taken up photography as a hobby, please do a reality check before charging people for your work. You may take great photos of flowers or landscapes, but if somebody wants you to take a portrait of them or photograph their wedding, do you know how to light them correctly? Do you even have lighting equipment? Do you know how to best use your camera and lens(es) to achieve the result your client wants? Will your current gear even be able to produce the results your client wants?

So how can we remedy a lack of preparation? Easy! If you are reading this blog, then you have access to the internet and the World is at your fingertips. On this blog's sidebar you'll find links under "Links to: Digital Photography tutorials" that take you to a number of sites that offer instruction in all things photographic. I particularly recommend Cambridge in Colour and Ron Bigelow's tutorials. Another great resource are the tutorials on The Luminous Landscape website. To learn how to use flash to your advantage, nothing better than The Strobist.

For those that like reading books, there are many out there, but few I would actually recommend. My #1 choice by far for the beginning photographer is Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure. It was written in the days of film SLRs and has been slightly updated to the digital age. The fact that so little was actually changed stresses the point that the principles of good photography have not changed with the advent of CCD cameras. Everything you ever wanted to know about how to use aperture, shutter speeds and ISO to obtain the picture you want is explained clearly, and with a wealth of photographic examples, by Mr Peterson.

Lastly, I'll point out that even if you know everything there is to know about proper lighting and exposure, you will not be able to get the photos you want unless you know how to operate your camera correctly! Again, help is in front of your eyes, as Yvon Bourque has dedicated a lot of time to writing manuals for the major Pentax DSLRs. These are much more than instruction manuals, they are working manuals, how-to books. They don't just say "this button engages auto-focus", they actually explain what auto-focus does, how it affects your camera usage, and why you would want to use it, or not. Given that Yvon has decided to make them available for $5 if you download them, there really is no excuse for you to look at your new fancy Pentax DSLR and wonder "how the hell do I take a picture with this thing...?"

Learn. Practice. Then learn some more. Taking a good picture should not be a lucky occurrence. Don't just own a camera, be a photographer!

Thank you for reading.

Miserere

An Open Love Letter to Pentax

by Miserere

Dear Pentax,

I love you. No, wait, that's not a very good start, it's too forward and direct. Oh dammit, it's too late, it's out now; I might as well leave it there. It's not like I'm ashamed of it; when I cross paths with other photographers I proudly display my red-branded camera strap and flash my Ltd lens in their general direction.

I suppose I'm attracted to your quirkiness and unpredictability; your unique way of doing things. Like that one time, in the early 2000's, when you said you would stick to film cameras and then a few months later you released the *istD. Or when you created a line of high-quality Limited silver lenses but no camera body to match them. Or maybe I like your humility; while other brands are blowing their own horn and starting ad campaigns because their cameras can shoot 0.2 more fps than the competition, you sit quietly in a corner and don't tell anyone that the algorithm you use to deal with noise retains the most detail of all brands, or that when you created the K20D you improved the autofocus, even though you said you didn't.

I know that some people get impatient with your slow pace when it comes to releasing new lenses, but at least you have a public lens roadmap so we all know where you're headed and what we can expect. Of course, you've never had a camera roadmap... This is the reason why I decided to write you this letter. Because nobody knows what you're up to in your basement laboratory, I thought I could make a few requests for the upcoming cameras. I know I'm nobody important, and I know you've never noticed me and wouldn't recognise me if we crossed in the hallway on the way to the cafeteria, but as your secret admirer I dream that you might one day read this letter and nod your head in agreement. These are my suggestions for upcoming cameras:

• Please give up the pixel race. You went from 10 to 14 MP by making the space between pixels smaller, thus not losing photons in the transition, but unless you can make the spaces even smaller, please don't come out with a 20MP APS-C camera. It's not that we don't want 20MP, it's that I'm happy with 14, or even 10. I would much rather you spend your valuable time on other things, for example...


• Expand the ISO range. Everybody want ISO 6400, and I'm sure you can deliver that if you put your heart into it. But I also want ISO 50, and even 25. Could you do that? I can only imagine the depth of colours at sunset I could capture at ISO25... And what about those waterfalls? Or shooting at f/1.4 in broad daylight? I'd no longer need to carry a 0.6 ND filter with me all the time!


• You know how your DSLRs with SR ask me what focal length I'm using every time I use a lens that doesn't communicate focal length? How about every time I connect a non-A series lens they ask me what the minimum and maximum apertures are? That way I would be able to use all my K and M lenses in all shooting modes, including my beloved TAv. And I would also have aperture values recorded in the EXIF. You could even create a little menu where I could input the details of all my manual lenses so every time I mount one the menu pops up and I can quickly scroll to the appropriate one and choose it. You could even allow AF adjustments for these lenses too; wouldn't that be great! As a side effect, there would be no further need for the green button, and you could make it a soft button the user can assign to whatever function he/she wants (like white balance!).


• I'd like an AF assist lamp, like the guys from the other brands have. This is the only time I catch myself looking at other cameras. I love you, I've told you, but when I see those other cameras with their little lamps autofocusing away in the dark, I feel a little bit jealous. I know I can pop up the on-board flash and use it for this purpose, but after the camera has focused I have to push it back down or otherwise it will fire. Maybe a compromise would be to add a flash mode that uses it only as an AF assist lamp, what do you think? Relationships are all about compromises; that's what my dad has always told me.


• For those times I'm shooting landscapes, I could really use a hyperfocal focus mode. I know this would only work with F, FA or DA lenses, but it's still worth including, and it would be so easy to implement for you. I can already imagine it...I have a DA 18-55mm attached to the camera and I set the hyperfocus mode on. I zoom out to 18mm and turn the aperture to f/8...then I hear the faint whir of the autofocus engine for a split second, and then the back LCD briefly lights up stating: "Hyperfocal distance: 2.04m. In-focus range: 1.02m - infinity".


• I've told you how much I like TAv, but I still think it could be improved. I would like to see an option to set a threshold shutter speed or aperture. For example, I would set TAv to 1/50s and f/4; if light were low, then ISO would adjust automatically, but what happens if the light levels go up? Currently both shutter and aperture start blinking when ISO hits 100 and I need to change shooting mode if I don't want my shots to be overexposed. Ideally, I would set a preference for either shutter speed or aperture, such that in the above situation, when the ISO hit 100, the shutter speed or the aperture would change to achieve the correct exposure.


• Make me a small camera! How I would love to have a compact DSLR to which I could attach a DA 40 pancake to roam the streets, taking photographs unnoticed... Do you remember the MX? Even the ME was quite small. Is there no chance you can produce a simple DSLR to satisfy my tiny desires? You could call it the MXD; isn't that a cool name? You could take out everything that was superfluous inside the body. I would even give up SR and screw-type auto-focus if you would build me this little gem (but you would have to release some SDM pancake lenses too).


• My last request is easy: Could you use 5, or even 6 digits to name files? With the current 4 digits I can only shoot up to IMGP9999.PEF before going back to IMGP0000.PEF. After building these great cameras, do you expect me to resist taking more than 10,000 photos?

Oh I could sit here all day making requests, but I fear I would drive you away even further. There is a fine line between "secret admirer" and "stalker"; I do not wish to cross it.

I hope you understand that the above suggestions and requests come from a place of love. I want you to be the best you can be, to fulfill your great potential, to make the best cameras anyone has ever used! And I would like to feel I have helped you in some small way.

Then maybe one day, when we cross in the hallway, you'll smile at me...

A boy can only dream.

Yours forever,


--Miserere

Setting Up a Prime Lens Kit with Pentax

by Miserere


Ever noticed how many things in life come in threes? The 3 Stooges, the 3 Musketeers, the 3 Tenors, the 3 Wise Men...and your friends will always give you 3 cheers. So too do primes come in threes.

Last week I wrote about my love of primes, and hopefully I got some of you to put away your zoom lens for an afternoon and go shooting with a prime instead. Did you have fun? Did you enjoy shooting at lower ISOs? Did you show off to your friends because their primes weren't image-stabilised while yours were thanks to Pentax's in-body IS? I hope you replied "yes" to all of the above.

Let's make it clear that I am not advocating that you throw away your zooms, only that you broaden your horizons...and your tools. There is a time for zooms, and a time for primes. When you've spent enough hours shooting both you will know exactly when you need, or want, either of them.

But how do you go about setting up a 3 prime lens kit? With zooms, you just choose a wide angle zoom (18-55mm, 16-45mm, 16-50mm...) and a telephoto zoom (50-200mm, 55-300mm, 50-135mm...), with the depth of your pocket being the determining factor as to which ones you pick. How could that be easier!? Primes are another story, because there are many focal lengths and apertures to choose from.

Superman says 28mm is normal.

Back in the day it wasn't so difficult. Most photographers had a wide, a normal and a telephoto lens. Wides were usually 24mm or 28mm; normals were somewhere between 35mm and 55mm (depending on what "normal" meant to each photographer) and telephotos were between 100mm and 135mm. The rule of thumb was to pick focal lengths that were about 1 stop apart in length, such that each lens had half the field of view of the preceding one (which is double the focal length). Possible combinations following this rule could be 28mm, 55mm and 105mm; or 24mm, 50mm and 100mm. Then, as now, which particular flavour you chose of each lens depended on your pocket. If you could afford it, you would have picked a 28mm f/2 and a 50mm f/1.4. More thrifty photographers would have gone for the more affordable 24/28mm f/2.8 and a 50mm f/2.

In 2001 Pentax made the choice of a prime trio easy for those who could afford it by issuing the 31mm f/1.8 Ltd., last of the three FA series Limited primes. Those who wanted the very best in construction and image quality could buy a 31mm f/1.8, a 43mm f/1.9 and a 77mm f/1.8. While these numbers might seem like they were pulled out of a bingo ball after too much sake was drunk at a Pentax New Year's party, they actually do make sense. 43mm is the length of the diagonal of 35mm film, which makes this limited the epitome of "normal" lenses. 31mm offers a FoV that is about 1-1/3 times wider than 43mm, while 77mm is a little over 1-2/3 narrower than 43mm.

50mm is the king of primes.

The problem is that all these focal lengths I'm quoting are for 35mm film. What about those shooting digital Pentax? Fret not, there is still hope. Pentax thought of us APS-C guys and introduced a line of DA Limiteds: 15mm, 21mm, 40mm and 70mm; and all but the 15mm are pancake lenses! While the 40mm and 70mm lenses are longer than their FA Ltd brothers (61mm and 107mm 35mm equivalents), the 21mm is a 32mm-equiv. However, the DA Ltds. are actually closer to the classic 28/55/105mm trio (in FoV, when mounted on APS-C) than their FA counterparts and are more versatile for it. The upcoming 15mm f/4 Ltd will provide a 23mm-equiv. FoV in a small package, for those that want something wider than the 21mm f/3.2 Ltd.

OK, but how about those who are on a budget? Again, Pentax is here to help you, because you can use Pentax's backwards compatibility to your advantage. There are literally tens of thousands of K, M, and A prime lenses out there in the used market looking for a new home, and unlike with other brands, they will work on your Pentax DSLR (although some functionality might be lost, you will never lose the ability to meter, even if it means pressing an extra button). Claim a 28mm f/2.8 for well under $100 and use it as your normal lens. Get a 50mm or 55mm as your short tele lens, ideal for portraits on APS-C. If you don't want to jump for a new FA 50mm f/1.4, get an M series version. If you want the versatility of being able to use Av or Tv, why not try the crowd favourite SMC-A 50mm f/1.7? (Just be sure to enquire as to the health of the aperture ring, because they tend to break easily for this particular lens.) If you want wider angles than 28mm or 24mm, Pentax can offer you the K or M series 20mm f/4. And don't be shy, there are also plenty of 3rd party options available. And remember, while these older Pentax primes might be old, they are made of metal and glass, have long focus throws, and are a joy to use. Once you get one, you might find yourself sitting in front of the television turning the focus ring this way and that, just because it feels good.

135 is not just an abstract number.

And what's my prime trio of choice? 24/28mm, 50mm, 135mm. Yup, I might be shooting APS-C, but I still like the old classics. I guess I'm not really a wide guy when it comes to photography. I can't sing much either.

To finish off, I want to remind you all that Pentax has always been known for its marvellous primes. You will find many photographers who will tell you the only reason they chose the Pentax system was because of their prime line-up. Even today, Pentax are continuing to release primes while other brands are busy churning out only zooms.

So be true to tradition and start doing your math: figure out which is your normal focal length, then divide and multiply by 2. Now get on the internet or visit your local pawn shop and get yourself a nice trio. They may not sing like The 3 Tenors, but they might make you sing when you see what you can do with them.

When you're done with your photography session, don't forget to give yourself 3 cheers.


Thanks for reading.

Miserere

Prime Love

by Miserere

Back in the old days all lenses were primes; zooms weren’t introduced to 35mm photography until Kilfitt released the 36-82mm f/2.8 Zoomar in 1959, although zoom lenses had been used in movie cameras since the 1930s.

Just about every point-and-shoot camera on the market today uses a zoom lens, and every brand of DSLRs boasts a wide selection of them. Prime lenses seem to have gone the way of the tie-dye T-shirt, and many amateur photographers still wonder what they’re for.

Low-light candid portraits.

Despite the clear advantages of a lens offering multiple focal lengths, it can also create a clear disadvantage in the long run, and it’s that it makes us lazy and comfortable. When you can just plonk yourself in one spot and zoom in or out to compose a shot, your creativity suffers (a special case is wildlife photography, but that’s not what I’m talking about here). Creativity comes from challenge, instability, ignorance, dissatisfaction…not from remaining immovable in one spot with one eye closed watching Life pass you by.

Live music concerts with bad light.

I’ve had photographers give me puzzled looks when I show them one of my prime lenses; they’ll often ask what it does, as if taking photos might not be its purpose. After I’ve explained the advantages of the prime in question they’ll usually want to confirm what I said with “so it really doesn’t zoom?” It’s a shame the concept of a fixed focal length has become so alien to photography newcomers.

Night photography without a tripod.

For those that just joined us, a prime lens is one that has single focal length. Instead of the lens going from 18 to 55mm, it will be only 50mm, or 35mm, or 24mm. So, you might ask, if you want to replace your 18-55mm zoom with primes, you have to use 4 lenses? (18mm, 24mm, 35mm and 55mm.) “I’d rather just carry one lens, thank-you-very-much. And it will be cheaper, too.” And this is the strong point of zooms, their selling point: They are convenient on many levels. Just to show some practical examples I've peppered the article with photos taken using primes, so you can see the range of subjects they're useful for.

Cute animals.

I am not against zooms; my most used lens is a 28-75mm f/2.8. It’s versatile, relatively fast and with good IQ. It does a lot of what I need. But when it can’t, I know a prime will. I like taking candid portraits, and my opportunities for doing so are when I’m out with friends and family. Funnily enough, they don’t walk around with bright lights to one side and gold reflectors to the other. In fact, they tend to stay in dark pubs or indoors, away from windows. I also like shooting live music, which again, usually takes place in pubs under bad lighting. An f/2.8 lens just won’t cut it, and I’d rather not use ISO102400.

Walk-around.

Primes are easier to design and build than zooms are, so it’s easier to make them fast. For a zoom, f/2.8 is fast, but that’s just normal for a prime. There are primes going all the way down to f/0.7, like the Zeiss which Stanley Kubrick famously used to film candle-lit scenes in Barry Lyndon, but most are somewhere between f/1.4 and f/2. Best of all, they don’t need to be large; the Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 fits easily in a coat pocket, and at $200 will not break the bank. This is the first fast prime recommend to beginners because, despite its low price, it is a stunning performer. On a digital APS-C camera it is not as versatile as on full-frame, but I use it often at family gatherings as a short tele.

Not only are primes are fast and compact, but because they are simpler to build and incorporate less lens elements, they also offer better image quality. Many photographers who are obsessed with obtaining the sharpest, cleanest, most contrasty pictures will shoot only primes. I can’t blame them! Faster apertures also mean shallower depth of field, which is an effect you might want to exploit when isolating a subject from their surroundings.

Safari.

OK, so apart from making coffee, primes have many advantages that are tangible and measurable, but let me go back to the beginning of this article and address the creativity issue. I talked about it in my article last week, where I exhorted you to take a prime and go walk around looking for opportunities. When you think you might be lost, off balance and slightly uncomfortable with your camera, when you’re not quite sure what you’re doing…chances are you are going to be more creative. That’s how a prime makes me feel. I know what it looks like through the viewfinder, but it doesn’t always reflect what I want, so I’ll move forward, or backward, or sideways, and often I end up in a completely different place to where I had imagined I’d bee. My photography benefits from this, because although I take many photos that exist in my head, often it is the unplanned shots that are the best, and you have to be slightly unstable and moving to find the magic angles.

But if you’re standing in one spot with one eye closed watching Life pass you by…

Thank you for reading.

Miserere

PS: If you're wondering what different primes I used for all these photos, I'll tell you: They were all taken with the Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 mounted on a K10D. :-)

Got the Photo Blues? Bust-a-Prime!

by Miserere

It happens to every photographer: One day you find yourself just going through the motions, pointing the camera in random directions, clicking, and not knowing what it was you were really taking a picture of. Then you pick up the prints from the store or look at your digital files on your computer and wonder why it is that your pictures are so uninspiring. In many case you don’t even care that they’re bad.

If this is an accurate description of how you’re feeling right now, let me diagnose your ailment: you have the Photo Blues.

Anyone can be affected, and it can happen anytime, too. Sometimes the stress of work and life get to us and start to encroach on our favourite hobby. Where we once found peace, calm and inner tranquillity, we now face boredom and lack of motivation. Other times, our life is going so well and is full of so many other pleasurable activities that we forget or neglect our photography. Whatever the reasons, the outcome is the same: you’re stuck in a photographic rut and you don’t know how to get out of it.

If stress is your main problem, then my recommendation is going to be to stop working 80-hour weeks, or studying for three degrees at the same time, or maybe send your four kids to a private school in Switzerland. Find out what’s stressing you and cut it out from your life! OK, maybe you can keep your kids at home, but let them know that it’s important for mummy/daddy to have some time to indulge in their favourite hobby once or twice a week.

Once you’ve established that your apathy is merely the manifestation of photographic boredom, it’s time for you to do as the title suggests and Bust-a-Prime.

For those of you not familiar with the term, “prime” refers to a lens that has a fixed focal length, and therefore doesn’t “zoom”. Back in the old days all lenses were primes, and zooms didn’t become popular until the 80s or so. I will reserve my opinions on primes for a future article; for now I will simply explain how a prime can be used to reinvigorate your photography.

First, let me state the obvious: A prime lens offers a single field of view. This has many implications, the most important being that the magnification will always be the same, as too the possible distortions (if it’s a very wide angle lens or a fisheye). But it’s precisely these limitations that are going to help your creative juices start flowing again. You see, when you lift your camera to your eye and your FoV is not what you would like it to be, you will have to move. Yes, you will actually have to walk, or run, from A to B in order to frame the shot the way you want it. In some cases you’ll want to move closer, in others further away, but move you will. And it’s this process of moving around that will get you thinking, even without realising, about other possible points of view for your subject. After all, you’re already moving back and forth, you might as well try going from side to side, no?

After a while of using a given prime you also start to learn what subjects work best for that particular focal length, and you’ll find yourself looking for them while walking about. This is another important benefit and side effect: looking. Like Yogi Berra said “you can observe a lot just by watching”, and when I’m in a slump it’s usually because I’m not looking out for scenes to photograph.

Sometimes we’re just like a car that’s been left in the cold too long: we try to start it up, it chugs a few times, and then stalls. But if you get somebody to push you and get it rolling fast enough, you can get it started and driving like nothing was ever wrong with it. A prime lens can be that friend that pushes us when we’re stalling.

You can choose any focal length for this exercise, but I have some recommendations. If you’re new to shooting with primes, then a normal length lens is probably the best option; something around 50mm on film (or around 35mm on DSLR) would be best. If you’re used to shooting with primes, then I would choose an extreme focal length, either wide or long. The objective here is to make yourself feel slightly uncomfortable and disorientated.

Once the lens is on the camera, sling it over your shoulder and head out for a walk. If at all possible, don’t set yourself a time to be home, and try to go somewhere you know well and have photographed often. Going somewhere familiar will force you to look at old subjects with new eyes. Furthermore, having only one lens on your camera will make you think harder, try harder, and in the end, make you be more creative. If you feel like you’re not quite sure what you’re doing, good! That means my plan is working.

Chances are that by the end of your walk you’ll be shooting that prime like you had been born with it. I would also be willing to bet that when you look at the pictures you took, you’ll find quite a few winners.

Some weeks ago I was feeling very uninspired and down about my photography. My mood in general wasn’t good either. When Friday came around I realised I had not shot a single photo that week, which hadn’t happened since I bought my DSLR. Resolved to get myself out of the funk, I decided to Bust-a-Prime and mounted my Sigma CAT 400mm f/5.6 on the camera at the end of my work day and headed off for a long walk home to make the most of the Sun’s last rays.

400mm is not exactly an urban walk around lens, but using an unfamiliar focal length was exactly what I needed. And thanks to Pentax's sensor-based image stabilisation I was able to easily take hand-held shots at 1/100s. Given the fading light, I would not have been able to use this lens without a tripod or monopod had it not been for Pentax's IS.

Here are some of the pictures that came out of my Bust-a-Prime therapy session. They may not be worthy of hanging in the MFA, but I had much fun taking them; the first fun I’d had with photography in quite a while. Let’s remember that that’s what this hobby is all about: fun.

Some withered flowers, abandoned on a window sill.

Pipes chatting about the state of tubes.

An old car in its retirement home.

Pale Life.

Barbed wire gleaming in the Sun can be beautiful.

A baby mocking bird impatiently calls for its mum to bring dinner.

Thank you for reading.

Miserere