> Been a bit quiet lately, despite Norm's usual baiting. he's a master at baiting...
> On holiday an hour inland from La Rochelle in the I like La Rochelle. I have happy memories of time spent around there in the 1980s. -- Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Cotty > Sent: 23 August 2007 23:50 > To: pentax list > Subject: Pentax or Bust > > Howdy listers, > > Been a bit quiet lately, despite Norm's usual baiting. > > On holiday an hour inland from La Rochelle in the > Poitou-Cherente (about > half way down France on the left hand side). The blasted weather has > been abysmal, with only three decent days this week - and one of those > is supposed to be tomorrow, so that's a bloody gamble! As a penitence > for bringing the rain with us, all the mosquitos in Cherbionneres have > been exacting their revenge on me. I look like a prop from CSI. > > Been shouldering my Domke canvas satchel with only 2 lenses > aboard: the > K15mm 3.5 and the A*85mm 1.4 to accompany my Darkside 1D mark II and > 580EX flash. It felt completely wrong not to bring the > EF24-70mm 2.8 as > a walkabout lens. It turned out to be the right decision though. > > What a lovely revelation it has been to wander ancient > streets with one > body and just 2 lenses to choose from. And both good old manual focus > lenses to boot. I've had a ball with them. > > The 15mm is a superb piece of optical engineering as many of you will > know. On a 1.3 crop camera it still gives a very usable wide > image, and > with no vingetting due to said crop. I don't even focus it - set it to > f8, set the focus accordingly and just get lost in the > framing with the > camera set on aperture priority. It's not the brightest view at f8 on > stop-down metering but entirely do-able. > > With the A*85mm I take a slightly different approach. I frame > and focus > at f1.4, and then depending on the nature of the shot, I usually stop > down to about 5.6 or 8 and shoot, popping open the iris again > immediately after, ready for the next setup. Or, as when > shooting my son > playing table tennis with his friend, shooting wide open at 1.4 to get > that lovely minimal depth of field and creamy bokeh. Hand held, I tend > to shoot either wide open or about f8. Really needs a tripod for > anything past f8 depending on ISO. Usually I'm at ISO400 for wandering > about picking off quaint window-boxes full of colour. No IS here! > > I brought a 750Z but haven't pulled it out of the pouch once. > > The nice thing is, I have done some really fulfilling photography - > something I haven't done in some time, and that's what it's all about. > We get home on Sunday, so hopefully I can do a bit of sorting and post > some PESOs - something else I haven't done in a long while. > > I'll then be taking some pics of some Canon lenses before > they go up on > eekbay. I guess I'm just not suited to the auto-focus, image > stabilising, auto-everything, wipe yer bum type of photography. It was > fun, but I just didn't enjoy it like I used to years ago. > Know what I mean? > > (written midnight Thursday, no doubt sent from the car park > of a LeClerc > hypermarche somewhere on the way to the beach on Friday via > 3G Broadband > card in the side of the PowerBook, dialling up on F SFR. French wifi > does a 2.5 hour lunch, just like the rest of the blessed country!) > > B good, > > > > -- > > > Cheers, > Cotty > > > ___/\__ > || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche > ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com > _____________________________ > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
