Sentosa - a short trip - Soul Searching after Photokina 2012 -Pentax, APS-C and me

[pchmj]

nowadays..i am quite ok to go out with just 2 lenses for travel..21 and 43...77 will be nice to have if i can afford the weight (not that it weight alot..just that i realise that i dun use 77 much during overseas travel)..or i can go with 15 and 31 altho this combo is bigger..the 31 is a nice lens but its just so much bigger than other limited primes...(you can see how 'spoilt' i am when i feel that 31 is big )

Same here, 21 and 43 are enough for me. Thought for quite some time about 2143 or 1531 combo. Good thing about 2143 is they are using same size filter. Will add 77 if have the extra $$.
Smallish 3 quality lens kit sharing smallish 49mm filter, no other system can provide.

 

[Baracus]

You guys are kind are always. :embrass:

From day 1 i knew you till now, you still loyal to your K10D.
Bro i salute you as you are a photographer working with your skill not chasing after new tools.

The body and lens has taken a beating since then. Don't think I can re-sell it. :bsmilie:
And I salute you for taking the trouble to provide us with the club polo-T.

Can we give Baracus some sweetheart award for loyalty to his camera? I hardly even see K10Ds on the buy n sell forum nowadays!

And you should do a photo book of your cosplay photos, man.

A K5IIs would be nicer, but big thanks for the Sigma 10-20.
I don't intend on printing my cosplay stuff, but I do enjoy seeing cosplayers using my photos for their own namecards and photobooks. Still, I really enjoyed seeing your canvas prints. Hope to see more of your works on display.

Farhan, you are certainly the most avant garde of the regular posters here.
Shooting and doing something new/fresh while we 'old guys' stick to the conventional stuff.
Really nice strobing and PP work.

Lets just say I'm easily bored... :bsmilie:
Though I would much prefer to be shooting/exploring than post-processing at times.
I'd like to try out your film scanning method sometime, but just can't find the mood. :sweat:

 

[ranchy]

hmm..never realise that 21 can render the oof area so nice even tho i have that lens

You can close up to about 10-15cm I think; its minimum focussing distance is quite good! At that range, background is easily blurred.

Yup as Le Petit Prince explains, with the range, DOF can be achieved.. hehe.......

 

[GSiGuy]

I think if you do portraits of local people during travel, the FA77 really shines. At least that's what I used the DA70 for. And eh, often also for landscapes.

Love the 77Ltd

 

[pinholecam]

Weather Seal


Weather seal is not a gimmick.
Its also not a once in X-years usage thing.
It 'Dares!' me to use it more, use it differently.
It does not just mean water resistance.
Dust resistance means shooting all terrain events like car/motorbike rallies knowing that the dirt/dust will not enter the camera.
PENTAX DUST AND WEATHER SEALING IN AFGHANISTAN - YouTube (Ok, this is an extreme example)

But the really fantastic thing with Pentax has been providing WR for expensive f2.8 zooms and cheap commercial zooms.

I had anticipated we'd do some water activity, so I brought along a really cheap $150 (2nd hand) 18-55WR in the event that I needed it.
I had started with the 77ltd for the shots, but once I changed to the 18-55WR, there was just no going back.
It was so darn fun!

Yes, this was aimed at me

 

[pinholecam]

Day 3 -End

I guess this rant comes to an end.
Day3, there was not much time left of the day.
I made a trip into the Maritime Museum with half a day left.
Perhaps half a day too to ponder over Pentax, APS-C, K5 and me....

Replica of ChengHo's Junk -Maritime museum

Exposing to keep as much as I could within the histogram, I took the shot, knowing that if I shot in RAW, the 14.1 stops of dynamic range would allow me to draw as much detail out of the scene as possible.
From the outside of the window to the left to the shaded areas of the large ship, the exposure can be pulled back.

I really had no time in the whole trip where I felt that my photos would benefit from any shallower DOF.
The times I shot at wide open, I can count on my hands.
Nothing wrong showing off just that bit of background to remind me of where the place is in years to come when I shift through this old hard disk again.
No lack of that nice subject and bkgnd separation through DOF either as the photo above shows.

Let sleeping Buddhas lie 



This last one, I did not have time to setup a tripod.
My wife and children had surged ahead in impatience, so better shoot what I want fast...
Did not know if a tripod was allowed too.

A small DA15 at f4, camera set to ISO200, easily hand hold-able.
Clean shot at ISO200 with proper recovery of the dark areas of the scene done in RAW.
This camera has served me well and continues to do so till today....
I think I've found my Zen.....



My mind wanders back to that school playground I mentioned at the start of the thread.
So indeed having the latest and greatest (Return of the Jedi - Luke Skywalker in black + a couple of scout troopers + AA-walker) is cool.
The bragging rights, the center of attention (while its the latest and greatest.... hmm....thats only 6mths in camera land)
But at the end of the day, its about having fun (ie. doing photography; making pictures)
And bottle caps do as well as any Return of the Jedi tm endorsed product.


Hope everyone finds their soul too....
Cheers.

 

[intrance]

Im not pentaxian but I really admire your close-knit community here..
Keep it up..