Re: PUG Submissions for 2004
At 12:27 PM 1/5/2004, Bob wrote: Hi, Also, noticed that August is for BW submissions. Is that for real BW, or does C-41 BW get included as well as desaturated color? it's for pictures of zebras, nuns, penguins, waiters and skunks. Too bad I didn't get a photo of the skunk that skunked my car on Xmas eve. Pat in SF
Re: My first *ist D gallery
Very nice photos! Neutral colour, very good exposure. Ah, and you are lucky - you have summer in Oz now, we have -10 degrees here in Poland :-) What I like about *istD pictures, that they are slightly film like with natural colours and tones. -- Best Regards Sylwek
Re: PUG Submissions for 2004
Hi, was the car a Fiat Panda, or perhaps an old police black white? -- Cheers, Bob it's for pictures of zebras, nuns, penguins, waiters and skunks. Too bad I didn't get a photo of the skunk that skunked my car on Xmas eve.
Re: Flash photography and *istD
Hi Bruce, on 05 Jan 04 you wrote in pentax.list: Certainly an area that I am most interested in. I am not shooting with the AF500FTZ. I have the AF360FGZ and 2 AF400T's and 1 AF280T. Could you be a bit more specific about what your results are like? There's a German thread on incorrect flash exposures at http://www.digitalfotonetz.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4997highlight= A source at Pentax Germany has explained that there exists a problem with the TTL-metering (I only repeat some statements of the mentioned link): The TTL-sensor measures the light that is reflected from the CCD's surface. But it seemes, that the reflection of the CCD differs depending on the chosen ISO setting. The exposure will be correct only at ISO400 as the development and testing of the TTL-measurement was apparently made at ISO400, only. At ISO settings below 400 the camera will under-expose, at setting above 400 it will over-expose. This problem can probably not be solved by a firmware update as there is no upgradeble TTL-software but some kind of hardware solution. The problem does not exist if you use P-TTL. I didn't try that myself (although I have an AF500FTZ I'm not a great flash user), but maybe this informations brings some light into the flash behaviour of the *istD. Cheers, Heiko
Sydney Mardi Gras (was Re: PUG January is open)
Ryan wrote: Any of the Aus GFM crew going to be at Sydney Mardi Gras? Some photo opps there, wouldn't there be.. Second last Mardi Gras I went to was the night the present Government was elected. Last one was last year. Sadly, the march is a shadow of it's what it once was. Make of that what you will :( Terribly OTin Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald was a liftout of the pics of the year. Man, there are some beautiful shots in there, comparable to anything in this years World Press Photo awards. My faves are the Tamara Dean shots from Bali in that golden light. Sigh. D -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~derbyc
Re: The Toughest Pentax
Hi, So, which Pentax body do you feel is the toughest ... the one you'd take through the rain and the mud and the Atacama desert, and toss into the back of your rattling old pickup and not worry about it getting the crap knocked out of it? I bought my first LX after my first trip to Ethiopia. I had taken a couple of MXs, including my original which I had bought from new nearly 20 years before. The 2nd MX kept jamming* so I decided I needed something more reliable, and replaced it with an LX. So when I went on a trip from Ethiopia to South Africa I took the original MX, the LX and a Super A (Super Program?) I'd acquired somewhere along the way. This taught me not to mix bodies, and that I didn't like the Super A. However, the Super A was very reliable except for the motor drive, which ate batteries at such a phenomonal rate that I stopped using it. The LX developed sticky mirror. The MX went right on working all the time. The only problem I've ever had with that particular MX was the well-known one of the shutter release switching on the meter and draining the battery. Despite the sticky mirror problem I decided I liked the LX, so I sold the Super A and bought 2 more LXs. Although I never got to take them all to Africa I did take them to places like Russia in winter, and used them in all sort of other conditions. I developed a lot of confidence in them and their toughness. I covered some very violent events where the cameras took some major abuse, and they were fine. One of them was kicked along a gutter by a crowd on a cold, wet winter's day, but kept on working fine. The other way in which the LX scores over the others is its amazing versatility. On my 2nd trip to Africa I was shooting things which ranged from a wedding in Cape Town, to wildlife in Ethiopia, and seaweed farming in Zanzibar. For the wildlife it was essential to have long lenses. The interchangeable heads and screens of the LX were a huge advantage here - they made the photography so much easier and more comfortable. *perhaps it was a rasta camera and was just happy to be in Ethiopia g -- Cheers, Bob
RE: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
Another question is, were the batteries in the camera installed correctly? It's possible to put them in wrong, so that the camera suffers from low voltage. Len * There's no place like 127.0.0.1 -Original Message- From: mrkane [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 10:35 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: *ist D lens problem -Healed! Interesting reading below. Let's see if we can get this solved. Perhaps the problem had to do with the camera needing more current/less current than the batteries were giving it? What kind of batteries were in the camera? What kind did you put in the grip? IL Bill
Re: cable release
only the *istD and ZX-L/MZ-6 use the same release. Herb... - Original Message - From: Tanya Mayer Photography [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 12:42 AM Subject: Re: cable release Isn't it the same one that you use for the Mz-S and the Mz-6 etc?
Re: My first *ist D gallery
Rob, I remember when you did the same with your newly acquired Olympus. By then I disliked the huge dof / nasty boke of the macro shots and in general the video look. Now it definitely looks better. More natural, more film like. Good luck with your *istd. Servus, Alin Rob wrote: RS Comments and unbridled criticism welcome. RS http://www.home.aone.net.au/audiobias/wildflowers/
RE: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
Peter Jordan wrote: One thing never to do when talking with your customers is to relating what you charge with what it costs you. They won't recognise your cost structure and vastly underestimate your costs.Say you go into a restaurant and query the £5 that they are charging for French Onion Soup. If the restraunteur says that he needs to charge that to cover his costs, you start thinking about onions at 30p per pound and scream rip-off. If he says that this is one of the better restaurants in town and people come here for the ambience, food quality and service that can make a meal out special and memorable, customers may react differently. (although there will always be the cheapskates that you never will convince). Reading this thread, I'm amazed that anyone becomes a professional photographer, so the public at large should be damn grateful some do! Taking it as read that going 'pro' means you are capable of consistent, excellent photographs, you have to then translate what people ask for into what they *actually* want. They don't want to spend much money when any other professional working at weekends or public holidays, would charge the pants off them. Then there are the cost sides, before you start taking photos. In today's friendly society, you need insurance to cover theft and accidents (caused by outside elements or your own assistants!), insurance to cover your own clients and others for tripping over your tripod and suing you for their own misadventure, overheads on keeping stock of film etc, your time for creating records for the tax authorities, invoicing, advertising (whether in print or web based), meetings with the bank or potential clients. All of this (sure I've missed much too) must be put into your charges, because the bottom line is the fact it is now a business, and there are many hours of work which aren't chargeable hours behind the camera. Anyone who makes a good living from this, deserves too. Darn hard work. Malcolm
Re: PUG thanks
bob i think if we here were concerened about bandwidth... arnie - Original Message - From: Bob W [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 3:48 PM Subject: PUG thanks Hi, Thanks to the people who have commented on my PUG entry - I'm flattered by your remarks. I have submitted one for next month and intend to submit some more this year. I hope nobody will mind, or think I'm rude, if I don't make a habit of thanking everybody for comments. I think it takes up too much bandwidth. However, I am always grateful for constructive feedback. I will try occasionally to offer the same - without expectation of thanks! -- Cheers, Bob
RE: Loving an image you really hate
Hmmm... Reminds me of a pro-whaling T-shirt: Intelligent food for intelligent people :-) Jostein Quoting Doug Franklin [EMAIL PROTECTED]: An oldie but a goodie ... PETA: People for the Eating of Tasty Animals TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
On a hot summers night...
8:30pm and the temp is still over 35C. So to cool off I took a drive into town for some atmosphere. In town there is a small carnival and a ship has anchored in the river. I thought I would try my hand with the Bulb setting on the *istD and rather than let the camera do the exposure work, I thought I would do it myself, without the camera meter, or ambient light meter. Basically what I have done here is alter the aperature and guestimate the correct exposure, counting the seconds in my brain cell. Here are some of the results. http://www.wildcherry.com.au/showthumbs.php?p=night Kind regards Kevin -- __ (_ \ _) ) | / / _ ) / _ | / ___) / _ ) | | ( (/ / ( ( | |( (___ ( (/ / |_| \) \_||_| \) \) Kevin Waterson Port Macquarie, Australia
Re: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
graywolf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tanya Mayer Photography wrote: I am GETTING to a reply to all of these wonderful responses to this thread, please don't think that I am being rude to you all, it is just that there are SO MANY! lol. And they are all very detailed, so it is taking me some time to really process it all, iykwim? Hey, you don't need to reply. Just kind of think about what was said. One of the things to think about is that most of the people who responded to your post have been there themselves. ...and I'll bet a lot of people besides yourself are learning from what's been discussed in this thread. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: Cropping Heads
graywolf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Shel Belinkoff wrote: The first rule is: never break these rules ACCIDENTALLY. Well, yes, and no. Right. If you break a rule accidentally and the resulting photo *works*... TELL everyone you broke the rule deliberately! -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: JanEweAviary Pug Comments (all photos, long post)
I notice that Frank has decided to comment on all PUG entries for January, so I'm gonna do it, too. Not critique, but comment. Me and the Wind by David J Brooks Interesting. I keep flipping back and forth between liking it and finding it lacking. Definately not a composition I personally would have deliberately made, but something about the open gate seems to make the shot. David mentioned this won an award, and I'm not surprised. Thanks for taking the time to do this Lon. It actually was not my first choice for submission,one of my cats was,but i thought the lone horse in a vast empty paddock was the better of the two. It actually won for shadows,probably for the angles in the picture,but i thought having Paddington in the shot added. BTW this was one of the first darkroom attempts that went well for me last year.Cropped properly,square,no dust.vbg :-) Dave
Re: cable release
mapson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone know if the current cable release for *istD [CS-205] is different from the old cables for the 35mm cameras. Apart from the jack connection and the looks, is the rest the same or different? IMHO cable switch is just that. Why change then? I do not think there is an awful amount of electronics in the new one. I think it wasn't a smart move for a company that has a reasonably record of being backward-compatible with their equipment. Plus for me the old one seems to be handier to use ;-D Since getting an infrared remote for my MZ-S I've never had the slightest desire for a cable release. I hear it works with the *ist-D, too. How's that for backwards compatibility? ;-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
RE: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
The CR-V3's are hard to put in Wong. since they have a little groove on one side. Even if they were, the camera was absolutely fine except for a problem with a few lenses. When I looked through the manual again, all I could figure was that the backup battery would hold the date and time settings. Does it say anything else I've missed? Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/06/04 06:06AM Another question is, were the batteries in the camera installed correctly? It's possible to put them in wrong, so that the camera suffers from low voltage. Len * There's no place like 127.0.0.1 -Original Message- From: mrkane [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 10:35 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: *ist D lens problem -Healed! Interesting reading below. Let's see if we can get this solved. Perhaps the problem had to do with the camera needing more current/less current than the batteries were giving it? What kind of batteries were in the camera? What kind did you put in the grip? IL Bill
Re: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
You could always drop it (CRASH!) ;-)Besides, that's what back up bodies are for. . . Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/05/04 06:04PM I want never ever EVER to have a camera that can crash. God bless the KX. -Lon, who looks at DSLRs like he looks at 14 year old girls, to wit: It's new, but BRRRr.
Re: The Toughest Pentax
Charles Braswell Jr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't know if it would qualify as the toughest but I had a PZ-1 that really took a lot of abuse and never let me down. The only Pentaxes that I've owned that are more recent than the MX are the PZ-1p, MZ-S and 645. All three appear to shrug off abuse without missing a beat. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Fw: First *istD pictures
- Original Message - From: Chris [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 11:58 PM Subject: First *istD pictures Hi Rob, Could you please tell me why you converted to sRGB in Photoshop when the *istD has the option of sRGB or Adobe RGB built in.Loved your 'photo's.I must come over from Rose Bay and have a chat sometime. Regards Chris Kennedy
Re: cable release
AFAIK, there are currently different cable releases for Pentax cameras. The latest only fits the *ist, *ist D, and ZX-L Bill - Original Message - From: Mark Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 7:56 AM Subject: Re: cable release mapson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone know if the current cable release for *istD [CS-205] is different from the old cables for the 35mm cameras. Apart from the jack connection and the looks, is the rest the same or different? IMHO cable switch is just that. Why change then? I do not think there is an awful amount of electronics in the new one. I think it wasn't a smart move for a company that has a reasonably record of being backward-compatible with their equipment. Plus for me the old one seems to be handier to use ;-D Since getting an infrared remote for my MZ-S I've never had the slightest desire for a cable release. I hear it works with the *ist-D, too. How's that for backwards compatibility? ;-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: Flash photography and *istD
* what are the best modes to use flash in? I use usualy both - P or Av modes on *istD and the same with MZ-S. -- Best Regards Sylwek Well to the wonderfull world of digital flash photography.vbg I have recently bought the newest recommended flash for my D1 and its seems to be going in the right direction.I'm getting more consistant results now. Prior to the sb80dx it was a hit a miss venue. I find with the nikon in P mode,flash on AA and the diffuser at 60 degrees in a regular room is the best,about 9 out of 10 look correct. Its taken Nikon 3 models and several flashes/firmware upgrades to accomplish this.Hopefully Pentax is seeing there may be cause for concern and work on this. Sorry for all the Nikon digital references lately.Just trying to be helpfull and its what i have at the moment.g Dave
Re: On a hot summers night...
Cool shots Kevin, I love those ship ones... How cool is that effect of the moon behind those clouds. Funny actually, cause I was outside with my boys at around 8.30 and Jaimyn (my 5yo) observed that tonight the moon is round, so we call it full, and tommorrow it will be a half-moon, you just wait and see. Of course it is not actually a full moon tonight, but it does look like it to him. Anyways, sorry to digress, they are lovely shots and you did a really good job with the guestimations. BTW, it is bloody hot up here tonight too - and so humid, you could just about stick your tongue out and have a drink! Wish it would just rain, cause it generally cools off for a couple of hours after it... It is 11.10pm here now, and still well over 30°c, and that is WITH the air con on! (Thanks Butch, I used the degrees symbol!) 'night all, tan. - Original Message - From: Kevin Waterson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 10:27 PM Subject: On a hot summers night... 8:30pm and the temp is still over 35C. So to cool off I took a drive into town for some atmosphere. In town there is a small carnival and a ship has anchored in the river. I thought I would try my hand with the Bulb setting on the *istD and rather than let the camera do the exposure work, I thought I would do it myself, without the camera meter, or ambient light meter. Basically what I have done here is alter the aperature and guestimate the correct exposure, counting the seconds in my brain cell. Here are some of the results. http://www.wildcherry.com.au/showthumbs.php?p=night Kind regards Kevin -- __ (_ \ _) ) | / / _ ) / _ | / ___) / _ ) | | ( (/ / ( ( | |( (___ ( (/ / |_| \) \_||_| \) \) Kevin Waterson Port Macquarie, Australia
Re: My first *ist D gallery
I did some nature shooting recently with the *ist D and I find that I agree with most of Robb's assessment of how this camera handles. Some points to note: 1. I'm not as bother by the lack of aperture ring and have actually adjusted quite well to this. OTOH, I'm right-handed. 2. The idea about replacing the rocker switch with distinct buttons (5?) is a good one. It's way too easy to rock it the wrong way. 3. I never select AF points. To me, it is always quicker to use the central sensor and recompose. Picking a different sensor just takes too long. When I have to shoot very quickly, i.e., when AF is necessary for me, I go to the auto mode and let the camera choose. It generally does a good job, and the hit rate is probably faster than my MF attempts would be. Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
Correction: The CR-V3's are hard to put in Wong. I meant to say wrong, and I know of no one named Wong that requires batteries ;-) Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
Chris Brogden said: . The best way to handle these situations, IMO, is to let your potential clients know that no date is booked until you have received the first deposit, usually 25-50% of the total amount. No money, no booking. Period. No exceptions. If they can't pay you now, what makes you think their promises to have the money later will hold water? chris Can't agree more with this statment,Chris.When i first started my horsey digital work,people would email me wanting a picture or two.I would tell them the charges and they would agree,the cheque will be mailed today type of thing.I would then print the picture and wait and wait etc.They never sent any money. Now im out X number of $ for ink paper time etc. Now its like Ebay.Pay me and i'll do you pictures. I still get people ordering and not sending,but now i'm not out any money either.g Good luck Tanya with this.I'm sure the people who appreciate your work will eventually find you. Dave
Re: Epson 1640 SUP scanner prob ?
Annsan, Then I wish you a rapid recovery, I had had better times myself as well, so I understand. Regards, Frits On Tue, 2004-01-06 at 01:23, Ann Sanfedele wrote: Frits Wüthrich wrote: I don't own stock of Hamrick, but I really think you make a mistake here. Vuescan often works a lot better then the original software. I was amazed when I used it for the first time. The nice thing is, Vuescan doesn't mess up with anything on your system, it doesn't remove your original software nor does it interfere with it. You can try it, as long as you don't register it you can use it with a watermark. It doesn't work as a twain driver, so you don't call the Vuescan software from Photoshop or, but you use Vuescan independantly. It can save a file directly on your drive after scanning, you can edit it later in whatever program you want to use. Your scanner might be a lot better then what you think it is, only producing less good results because of the mediocre original software. TRy it, small download, easy install, easy uninstall, no mess on your system, no changes to the registry, etc. Fritz, at this point I just can't deal with _anything_ new -- it could be the most wonderful thing in the world by I'm not up to it - however, Juey might be interested in it. I can barely function with things I know at the moment. It has nothing to do with how good something is, just the state of my brain. annsan -- Frits Wüthrich [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: The Toughest Pentax
Mine has to be my SP500. I think i mentioned a while back it took some awfull treatment in the early 70's in the Queen Charlottes in British Columbia Canada.Dumped it in the Pacific,dropped it from the helicopter,plus numerous falls from my bumper etc. Still works but the meter is dead now. DAVE Charles Braswell Jr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't know if it would qualify as the toughest but I had a PZ-1 that really took a lot of abuse and never let me down. The only Pentaxes that I've owned that are more recent than the MX are the PZ-1p, MZ-S and 645. All three appear to shrug off abuse without missing a beat. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: Panatomic X is still available ...
Hi, Shel wrote: ... according to a message I received earlier today. Polaroid makes a Type 55 4x5 and Type 665 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 positive/negative instant film. These films produce both a print and a negative for later enlarging, contact printing, or scanning. The film is Kodak's Panatomix-X very fine grain, extra sharp, film. I sometimes shoot Type 55 in my 4x5 just for the film since you cannot get Panatomic-X film any other way. Polaroid 665 is an ASA 80 film. I thought KP-X was much slower than that? mike
Ergonomics of *istD
Steven Desjardins wrote 2. The idea about replacing the rocker switch with distinct buttons (5?) is a good one. It's way too easy to rock it the wrong way. Let's talk about points to improve for *istD MkII the buttons is one, then we have: * the card door/flap catches on strap * the green button too far from trigger, actually to be used by wrong finger! * ISO/WB program settings on the same wheel * camera too small - with grip is OK - my wife says the same thing * central hotshoe - unables use of rtf and external flash anything else? (*)o(*) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
ROFLMAO - I have this dreadful mental image of Steve trying to insert his batteries into Mr Wong... Ok, change of subject, I don't think I *like* said mental image so much... vbg tan. Steve noted: Correction: The CR-V3's are hard to put in Wong. I meant to say wrong, and I know of no one named Wong that requires batteries ;-) Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Recent trip to the zoo
On Sun, 28 Dec 2003, Christian Skofteland wrote: I think the flamingos http://home.mindspring.com/~c_skofteland/id4.html are awesome. I could have watched and photographed them all day long. I can't believe the colour is real. My favourite is http://home.mindspring.com/~c_skofteland/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wood_duck_imgp0927.jpg perhaps cropped at the top so that the duck is the top third. Great reflections. The sleeping lioness (minus dark shade at the top) is my second favourite. Kostas
Re: Fw: First *istD pictures
On 6 Jan 2004 at 23:59, Chris wrote: Hi Rob, Could you please tell me why you converted to sRGB in Photoshop when the *istD has the option of sRGB or Adobe RGB built in.Loved your 'photo's.I must come over from Rose Bay and have a chat sometime. Regards Chris Kennedy Hi Chris, I shot in Adobe RGB since I had insufficient portable storage media to allow me to store RAW image files and as such I prefer to save in profile with the widest colour gamut. This then allows me to optimise my prints or provide a sRGB images for the web. Hey you're closer than the GFM crowd, I'm sure we could meet at some stage :-) BTW The images were shot in the Royal National Park on a short walk from Bundeena. http://www.ausemade.com.au/nsw/destination/b/bundeena.htm Cheers, Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
- Original Message - From: mapson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:32 AM Subject: Ergonomics of *istD * central hotshoe - unables use of rtf and external flash This is not a problem using the AF360 in wireless mode anything else? Return to the strap with the pockets for the flash shoe cover, eyepiece cover and IR remote. Bill
Re: Flash photography and *istD
BINGO! You got to love this list! Based on your remarks Heiko I tested with my Metz 40MZ-2 and SCA3701 adapter, which I used in TTL mode successfully on my PZ_1, but found severe underexposure on my *ist D. All at 200ISO. (On automatic, the flash uses it's own cell, it worked very fine, and the flash gets the focal length of the lens, aperture and ISO setting, so it is still very much automated.) I redid the test at ISO400 and ISO 800 using TTL, and sure enough, they seem very nice exposed at ISO 400 and perhaps a bit overexposed at ISO800. I was wondering if I needed to upgrade to the SCA3702 adapter, but based on your email that wont be needed nor would it solve it. I wish the manual would have mentioned this. I still can't imagine the reflectivity is a function of the sensitivity of the sensor. If that is indeed not the case, then a firmware update might be possible, well see. So flash at ISO400 when using TTL. Frits On Tue, 2004-01-06 at 11:32, Heiko Hamann wrote: Hi Bruce, on 05 Jan 04 you wrote in pentax.list: Certainly an area that I am most interested in. I am not shooting with the AF500FTZ. I have the AF360FGZ and 2 AF400T's and 1 AF280T. Could you be a bit more specific about what your results are like? There's a German thread on incorrect flash exposures at http://www.digitalfotonetz.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4997highlight= A source at Pentax Germany has explained that there exists a problem with the TTL-metering (I only repeat some statements of the mentioned link): The TTL-sensor measures the light that is reflected from the CCD's surface. But it seemes, that the reflection of the CCD differs depending on the chosen ISO setting. The exposure will be correct only at ISO400 as the development and testing of the TTL-measurement was apparently made at ISO400, only. At ISO settings below 400 the camera will under-expose, at setting above 400 it will over-expose. This problem can probably not be solved by a firmware update as there is no upgradeble TTL-software but some kind of hardware solution. The problem does not exist if you use P-TTL. I didn't try that myself (although I have an AF500FTZ I'm not a great flash user), but maybe this informations brings some light into the flash behaviour of the *istD. Cheers, Heiko -- Frits Wüthrich [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: cable release
I'd better start proof reading closer. That should state there are currently 3 different Bill - Original Message - From: Bill Owens [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:01 AM Subject: Re: cable release AFAIK, there are currently different cable releases for Pentax cameras. The latest only fits the *ist, *ist D, and ZX-L Bill - Original Message - From: Mark Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 7:56 AM Subject: Re: cable release mapson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone know if the current cable release for *istD [CS-205] is different from the old cables for the 35mm cameras. Apart from the jack connection and the looks, is the rest the same or different? IMHO cable switch is just that. Why change then? I do not think there is an awful amount of electronics in the new one. I think it wasn't a smart move for a company that has a reasonably record of being backward-compatible with their equipment. Plus for me the old one seems to be handier to use ;-D Since getting an infrared remote for my MZ-S I've never had the slightest desire for a cable release. I hear it works with the *ist-D, too. How's that for backwards compatibility? ;-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: Cropping Heads
On 5/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: My Mac has been sabotaged Argh. Just when you think you've got an idiot-proof computer, the world comes up with a better idiot. Thanks John, I'll take that as a compliment. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Cropping Heads
On 5/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: On a slightly different note, I showed the following pic to a colleague: http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/portraits/images/pic3.html And he said, yeah, that's a really nice shot, lovely. It's a great shame that his eye is in such deep shadow, but never mind... This guy is a cameraman as well. ... (me literally speechless) genuine question Why? Is it impossible to brighten the other side with a slave flash? /genuine question Kostas I think the point is, if Cotty had wanted to do that he would have. annsan Sorry Kostas, I didn't see your post for some reason. Ann is correct. I was moving the (tungsten light around) and immediately liked the hard shadow it created, and when one if his eyes disappeared, I knew it was right. I moved it a little more to get it just where I wanted it. The I made sure that the contrast was increased slightly so there was no way it peep through the gloom ;-) If I show a pic on the web or in print, you can be sure that it is exactly as I want it to be seen. I get ti see all the dross, so no point in subjecting anyone else to it! Best, Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
Hi guys - I meant to comment on this when graywolf and frank raised it. Where I am, it is standard practice to ask for money up front, and I have no problem with that. If they balk at it, I usually just tell them that due to me being such a small business, I don't have enough through-put with the labs meaning that I have to pay for the order *when* I send it off, and don't get the luxury of having accounts with them etc. I actually like this though, as it means that I never get this huge surprise bill from my lab at the end of the month. Instead, I pay as I order, and we are always square... Oh, anyways, back to the topic. My wedding contract clearly stipulates that all monies must be paid 2 weeks prior to the wedding. I require a non-refundable $350 deposit within 7 days of them booking me to reserve their day, or it will remain open to other couples. (Like mapson, I generally remind them that I am really happy for you to keep looking around at other photographers and what they can offer you, but please be aware that I already fully booked that month except for your chosen weekend, and it is highly likely that another booking could come in before you get your deposit to me, and if this is the case, and if they wish to pay their deposit immediately, then the day will become theirs. And I never do any work, book any flights or accomodation etc, until their package is completely paid for, that just goes without saying for me. Eg, the Arab guy? Well, he payed me today via Paymate, so I then went ahead and booked my plane tickets, hire car, accomodation etc, but there is no way I would've done that until I saw the $! Commercial work is different though, as most businesses in this locale work on an account basis, so they get invoiced for their job and my payment terms are listed at the bottom of the page as strictly a 7 day account, remittance can be made by... etc.. The kids clothing lady? I emailed her an invoice yesterday, the money was already in my account when I woke this morning! One thing to be said about Country people, they might be tight-wads but they are usually people of their word! tan. Chris Brogden said: . The best way to handle these situations, IMO, is to let your potential clients know that no date is booked until you have received the first deposit, usually 25-50% of the total amount. No money, no booking. Period. No exceptions. If they can't pay you now, what makes you think their promises to have the money later will hold water? chris Dave said: Can't agree more with this statment,Chris.When i first started my horsey digital work,people would email me wanting a picture or two.I would tell them the charges and they would agree,the cheque will be mailed today type of thing.I would then print the picture and wait and wait etc.They never sent any money. Now im out X number of $ for ink paper time etc. Now its like Ebay.Pay me and i'll do you pictures. I still get people ordering and not sending,but now i'm not out any money either.g Good luck Tanya with this.I'm sure the people who appreciate your work will eventually find you. Dave
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
On 5/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Hmm a press of photographers.. My own mental links associate 'press' with reporters (non-photographically inclined) as well. I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Interesting experiment with *ist-D
Hi, Rob S. wrote: On 6 Jan 2004 at 8:24, mike.wilson wrote: http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/channel/1/extra/new/display/985378 Oh my, someone's found a use for the multi-expo, isn't that a pretty pic :-) What a coincidence that I should trip over that image within minutes of your query, which I had not seen. Windmill shots and multiple shots of people moving are all I've ever seen this function being used for. I find it odd that the perpetrator of the linked shot decided to use such a cluttered foreground for what could have turned out to be such a striking er, image 8-) Leading to the next question - if there was enough wind to turn the blades, why is the vegetation unblurred? I see the very tops are moving but I would expect more. Maybe that is another exposure He lists nine exposures but I can only count 15 blades which, divided by the normal three, gives a five exposure shot. The conifers and birches/aspens could be separate exposures. mike
Re: PUG January is open
Pizza could have fixed this problem too. I had Pop-up blocking set too high. Dropped it a notch and all is well. Great PUG this month! Len --- * There's no place like 127.0.0.1 From: Ann Sanfedele [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: PUG January is open Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:48:18 -0500 Bill Owens wrote: Are you running Zone Alarm Pro? I had the same problem and the fix was somewhere in the ZA settings. Bill Pizza is the solution for many things :) annsan _ Tired of slow downloads? Compare online deals from your local high-speed providers now. https://broadband.msn.com
ist-D multi-exposure (was:Re: My first *ist D gallery)
- Original Message - From: Rob Studdert [EMAIL PROTECTED] BTW who has actually seriously used the multi-exposure function beyond tests? My sister gave me the National Geographic Digital Photography Field Guide. In it the author, Rob Sheppard, describes how to use two exposures of the same scene to expose for the highlights and shadows more effectively. Obviously, a tripod and static subject are necessary. I have not tried it, but intend to at some point. Christian
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
mapson wrote: * camera too small - with grip is OK - my wife says the same thing This was one of the concerns I have wondered about, I do love my camera to be big and chunky and to look like a professional camera rather than a toy version. tan.
Re: January PUG Comments Part IV
On Tue, 2004-01-06 at 04:37, Paul Stenquist wrote: On Jan 4, 2004, at 5:21 PM, Bill Sawyer wrote: From Paul Stenquist, the other Michigan PDMLer, I'm learning to shoot dilapidated trailer parks.VBG!! I prefer the trailer parks to the deer because they don't run away g. I do some nature photography as well but it's of a nature that's not allowed on the PUG vbg. Are there restrictions for the PUG? -- Frits Wüthrich [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: My first photo-wedding
Boris wrote: So when he recovered, he turned to me and said something like Bro, we have a dangerous job. I was very pleased, one may say g. Cool, a feather to put in your hat! Congratulations... It would take too much of mental power out of me. It is plain difficult. Since I came to have fun, I did have fun. But I wasn't paid for that. Glad that you had fun Boris! What you say is so true. It is truly draining, and Bill's sentiments about the whole whoring thing couldn't ring truer. For every wedding that I do, I hand over the proofs feeling that a little piece of me is going with them. I now give the negs with my packages (they get them after their family have ordered prints/enlargements), cause I just keep the scans, and I am generally petrified of being responsible for storing them for goodness knows how many years to come. The first wedding that I did this for, it just about tore my soul out. I was literally shaking as I passed the negs to the couple, as I felt that I was also giving them a very personal part of myself. Of course, I am learning to deal with this now, and all is getting better in that respect, and like I said, I have since discovered the joys of roll scanning with processing, so I at least get to keep copies of everything that I shoot. But anyways, the point was, that yes, it is emotionally, mentally, intellectually draining. And the best cure for this is to eat a huge block of chocolate, and listen to loud, boppy music in the car on the way home, whilst singing very loud and hoping to God that no-one hears you! lol. (yes, I admit to having done this MANY times, but I probably drive many more km's than most of you too. The wedding I have this Friday, I will be doing a 750km round trip for, and all in the one day. So, singing and chocolate helps...! By the way, Tanya, do you do weddings with MZ-6 you have? If so, I must really ask, how on earth you manage to time your shots w.r.t. very slow and unreliable AF of this camera, even with such a lens as FA 50/1.7. I missed several shots just because the darn thing wouldn't focus, even with its middle sensor... Hmmm, now let me think. At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I generally keep the MZ-6 as a second camera, loaded with bw and with said FA 50mm f1.7 lens attached, and use my much older, less featured cameras as my main ones. I only shoot an average of 2-3 rolls of bw per wedding, so it doesn't really get much of a workout. (The main cameras that I use are the Z-20, which I love! Don't ask me why, I think it is just the feel of the thing in my hand, but I also know the controls so well now that it is very intuitive to me to use this camera). Anyways, back to the question... When I do use the MZ-6 with that lens, I almost always use it for shots that I have already taken in colour and have then thought to myself oooh, that would be a good one in BW, so I'll generally set it up to look as similar as possible, and then reshoot it. Also, I shoot in Manual focus alot, so in light of these two things, I'd have to say that I have never even noticed the AF problems. I am assuming that you were shooting with the camera in a Portrait hold when this happened? The only time with any of my cameras that I have had problems with the AF is when I am holding the camera this way. I always get around it by turning it around to hold it in the Landscape position, AF on my object, and half press the shutter to lock the focus (or quickly switch it to manual focus) and then turn camera back to the Portrait hold to shoot the image. Sounds like a long-winded process, but really, it is second nature to me now, and takes probably less than 2 or 3 seconds to do it. I almost never change the AF switch thingy to the wide option, always keeping it on the little middle point option thingy so that I always know what point in the pic will be most in focus. (I know that said thingies have proper names, but I never remember these things. I know what the buttons do and that's all that matters to me, who cares about their names?) Well, I'd appreciate any responses, including some advise. Well, I probably shouldn't really be giving advice cause I am such a newbie at it myself, however, I hope my comments have helped, and I can't wait to see the pics! Tan.
Re: Another Beee-uteeful site....
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Hi, and after all that I missed out a 'be'. Well, I'll just say it's 'understood', otherwise everybody'll think I'm like Cotty. -- Cheers, Bob Sin of a batch! You flapping bustard - jist you wait, I'l sort you out filla! Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Recent trip to the zoo
- Original Message - From: Kostas Kavoussanakis [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Sun, 28 Dec 2003, Christian Skofteland wrote: I think the flamingos http://home.mindspring.com/~c_skofteland/id4.html are awesome. I could have watched and photographed them all day long. I can't believe the colour is real. Afternoon sun really saturated the colors. Some may think it's garish, but I really like the effect. My favourite is http://home.mindspring.com/~c_skofteland/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wood_duck_imgp0927.jpg perhaps cropped at the top so that the duck is the top third. Great reflections. thanks. I tried many ways to crop it and in the end, wasn't really happy with it because, except for the colors and maybe the reflections, it's really just a boring picture of a duck. More like a shot for a species identification book rather than the artistic shots i was going for. The sleeping lioness (minus dark shade at the top) is my second favourite. Thanks again. I could have cropped out the shadow, but then I would have cut her tail off and I didn't think it would look good that way. She seemed very serene. Christian
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
Heh while we're there we could also get 'a bracket of photographers', out of which we can tell at least one of them will get a good shot ;-) Cheers, Ryan - Original Message - From: Cotty [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: pentax list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 11:51 PM Subject: Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya.. On 5/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Hmm a press of photographers.. My own mental links associate 'press' with reporters (non-photographically inclined) as well. I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Interesting experiment with *ist-D
On 6 Jan 2004 at 13:54, mike.wilson wrote: if there was enough wind to turn the blades, why is the vegetation unblurred? I see the very tops are moving but I would expect more. Maybe that is another exposure He lists nine exposures but I can only count 15 blades which, divided by the normal three, gives a five exposure shot. The conifers and birches/aspens could be separate exposures. I make it five shots too, since the multi-exposure function is additive the post of the turbine would make overwrite the foreground bushes so I guess it's all the one scene. Maybe the perspective makes the height deceptive and often standing below there is little breeze even though the turbine is spinning at quite a rate. From recollection wind speed at 35 metres will generally be at least twice that at ground level, most turbines are at least 25m above ground. Cheers, Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
First*istD Pictures
Thanks Rob, I know Bundeena.When I was a cabbie it was a b to get to. I agree ,we must meet.More for my benefit than yours I think. Regards Chris Kennedy
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
mapson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Steven Desjardins wrote 2. The idea about replacing the rocker switch with distinct buttons (5?) is a good one. It's way too easy to rock it the wrong way. Let's talk about points to improve for *istD MkII the buttons is one, then we have: * the card door/flap catches on strap * the green button too far from trigger, actually to be used by wrong finger! * ISO/WB program settings on the same wheel * camera too small - with grip is OK - my wife says the same thing * central hotshoe - unables use of rtf and external flash anything else? * Causes severe damage to credit card upon purchase. ;-) -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Tanya. Hi Tan, Seeing as everyone has put in there piece about your woes, I thought I would just add a few words of cheap comfort, in the length that seems appropriate for the thread: Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. And also why not have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. And then when all said and done have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. And when your mum comes to call have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Have a drink, everything will be fine. Finally, have a drink, everything will be fine. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: My first *ist D gallery
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: What is a full res jpeg? Better described as a jpeg with the least amount of compression available by the camera. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: ist-D multi-exposure (was:Re: My first *ist D gallery)
On 6 Jan 2004 at 8:52, Christian wrote: My sister gave me the National Geographic Digital Photography Field Guide. In it the author, Rob Sheppard, describes how to use two exposures of the same scene to expose for the highlights and shadows more effectively. Obviously, a tripod and static subject are necessary. I have not tried it, but intend to at some point. Hi Christian, Making multiple exposures to capture a wider dynamic range is a good idea but the integrated function multiple exposure function won't do you any good in that case. Just set the camera to auto-bracket a couple of stops and record the discrete frames and meld them in Photoshop later. I will dig up a link to a great web site about the subject that I found some time back, I just can't find it now. Cheers, Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
Re: Panatomic X is still available ...
- Original Message - From: Shel Belinkoff Subject: Panatomic X is still available ... ... according to a message I received earlier today. Polaroid makes a Type 55 4x5 and Type 665 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 positive/negative instant film. These films produce both a print and a negative for later enlarging, contact printing, or scanning. The film is Kodak's Panatomix-X very fine grain, extra sharp, film. I sometimes shoot Type 55 in my 4x5 just for the film since you cannot get Panatomic-X film any other way. Comments? Interesting, since Polaroid is a dye migration process. One thing I found using type 55 is that it is possible to get a good negative, or a good print, but not both. William Robb
Re: Flash photography and *istD
- Original Message - From: mapson Subject: Flash photography and *istD Can anyone offer any help? I use an old Metz 60 CT-2 with the analogue SCA module. Works fine on the LX, works fine on the ist D, though I have never found Pentax TTL to be overly accurate. Consider going to an auto flash instead of a TTL flash. My Metz will expose to within 1/10 of a stop in most situations. William Robb
Re: The Toughest Pentax
- Original Message - From: Shel Belinkoff Subject: The Toughest Pentax So, which Pentax body do you feel is the toughest ... Old style Made in Japan K 1000. William Robb
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
- Original Message - From: mapson Subject: Ergonomics of *istD Let's talk about points to improve for *istD MkII the buttons is one, then we have: * the card door/flap catches on strap * the green button too far from trigger, actually to be used by wrong finger! * ISO/WB program settings on the same wheel * camera too small - with grip is OK - my wife says the same thing * central hotshoe - unables use of rtf and external flash The rocker switch is awful. The card door and card removal is less than desirable. I don't mind the control wheel and all it's functions. It keeps the number of buttons and what not down to a managable level. I hate excessive buttons. If I want to use a big camera, I have a 6x7. Digital emulates 35mm, and should be sized accordingly. I wouldn't want the ist D to be any bigger. The central hot shoe serves a purpose. You can, with it, take a flash picture with the shadow falling behind the subject rather than beside. Move the hot shoe off the lens axis and you can no longer do that. William Robb
Re: ist-D multi-exposure (was:Re: My first *ist D gallery)
Although not necessarily related to increasing dynamic range, here are a couple of links to an interesting program. I've not tried this particular one, but their PT Assembler is good. http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/cgi-bin/image.pl?gallery=8 http://www.tawbaware.com/imgstack.htm Bill - Original Message - From: Rob Studdert [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 10:19 AM Subject: Re: ist-D multi-exposure (was:Re: My first *ist D gallery) On 6 Jan 2004 at 8:52, Christian wrote: My sister gave me the National Geographic Digital Photography Field Guide. In it the author, Rob Sheppard, describes how to use two exposures of the same scene to expose for the highlights and shadows more effectively. Obviously, a tripod and static subject are necessary. I have not tried it, but intend to at some point.
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Let's talk about points to improve for *istD MkII the buttons is one, then we have: * the card door/flap catches on strap * the green button too far from trigger, actually to be used by wrong finger! * ISO/WB program settings on the same wheel * camera too small - with grip is OK - my wife says the same thing * central hotshoe - unables use of rtf and external flash anything else? In the limited time that I handled the camera, the thing most noticeable for me was the ultra-light touch of the shutter needed to activate the meter. I didn't like that at all, so I would say: * firmer shutter button with definite 2-stage actions: meter, and fire. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: ist-D multi-exposure (was:Re: My first *ist D gallery)
Rob Studdert [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 6 Jan 2004 at 8:52, Christian wrote: My sister gave me the National Geographic Digital Photography Field Guide. In it the author, Rob Sheppard, describes how to use two exposures of the same scene to expose for the highlights and shadows more effectively. Obviously, a tripod and static subject are necessary. I have not tried it, but intend to at some point. Hi Christian, Making multiple exposures to capture a wider dynamic range is a good idea but the integrated function multiple exposure function won't do you any good in that case. Just set the camera to auto-bracket a couple of stops and record the discrete frames and meld them in Photoshop later. I will dig up a link to a great web site about the subject that I found some time back, I just can't find it now. here's one: http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: cable release
Bill Owens a écrit: AFAIK, there are currently different cable releases for Pentax cameras. The latest only fits the *ist, *ist D, and ZX-L All cable for Pentax from Z serie to *istD use the same electrical shema; there is tree jack: - flat 3 pin for Z and MZ serie - special round connector for MZ-S - 2.5mm standard jeck for MZ-6/ZX-L, *ist, *ist D (and future) I have home made cable for Z1 and just changed the jack for *ist D ... 8=)) And for advanced users: (translation form japanese Pentax-Fan) http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=ja_enurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pentax-fan.jp%2FBODY%2FistDrelease.asp Michel
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
Cotty wrote: I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. that's good but a lot of people wouldn't know the pronunciation. How does a lens of photographers sound? Tom Reese
Marginally OT: Re: The Toughest Pentax
I noticed something recently as I perused a local camera place over the holidays - their used AF body section is entirely dominated by Pentax MZ series bodies (what the Yanks call ZX bodies - probably 20 or so of them), especially the MZ-M and MZ-10 models. It made me wonder why. I had an MZ-5n for a while, and I liked it well enough. Certainly it had more toys than most people would ever use, and with the battery grip it was nice to handle and cheal on batteries too. I wonder what people are trading to - there never seems to be a corresponding number of AF normal lenses or those cheap consumer zooms that tend to be sold with these bodies, so I presume that people are just moving to different Pentax bodies, but I can't prove that. Quoting [EMAIL PROTECTED]: What does NOT inspire me as a robust camera is my ZX-5n. Ergonomically, it's my favourite camera, but I've had troubles major and minor with it. - This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
Re: The Toughest Pentax
Steve Jolly posted: Seriously though, in this entire thread, nobody's yet mentioned a Pentax camera that *didn't* stand up to abuse. Is there a body that anyone *wouldn't* be prepared to take somewhere unfriendly? Funny, I just posted another reply to this thread, in which I mentioned in passing that I find my ZX-5n a bit of a wuss. If I'm going on a trip or an assignment, no way I'm taking that camera as the only one. Thirteen months after I bought it, it started overlapping frames (OK, this reliability issue isn't abuse-related). Had it repaired and it's never done that again. Fine. Couple years after that, I was shooting a wedding rehearsal dinner. Partway through, the pop-up flash stopped popping up. Also, I think, not abuse related, but again not inspiring trust. Finished shooting the rehearsal dinner with the WR-90 I happened to have in the car, and kept the ZX-5n in the bag during the wedding as worst-case backup for the PZ-1 and the LX. After which, sent it off for repairs (yea, extended warranty!) and it hasn't done THAT again. Couple years ago, so I guess that was a few months after the wedding incident, I foolishly abused the camera by using my shirt-tail to flick some dust off the viewfinder window. The resulting scratch in the viewfinder introduced so much flare that I couldn't use the camera. So, off to the repair shop. Last summer I took it and the LX on a trip. During the trip, first the viewfinder eyecup disappeared for a while; eventually I found it in my camera bag and secured it with a small black rubber band (sorry, don't recall which PDMLer had recently posted that hint, but thanks!) That's hardly major, but annoying, especially in light of the next item. A day or so later, the lens release button also disappeared, causing me great concern for a few hours until I found it in the van. I still am not sure what casual abuse caused the lens release button to detach from the camera, but that really strikes me as something that should be more secure! Well, if all these little things can go wrong when the camera is actually being treated nicely, I can't imagine expecting it to behave in an unfriendly environment. I had an ME Super which accidentally fell from an open backpack and BOUNCED on a limestone boulder; when I picked it up, it had a dent on the prism and refused to go into Auto, but it worked fine in manual the rest of the day (then off to the repair shop). Just after that, believing that having a second camera is a good idea, bought a P30t. Didn't like that camera much, but will have to give it credit for continuing to work in, and after, a severe downpour in which I was shooting a soccer match. The rain was coming down really hard -- only the officials, the players and I were still out in the open. The PZ-1, which I've had for 8 years now, has been exposed to fog, mist, cold, heat, two delivery rooms and a couple of weddings; it's still working like a pro.
RE: The Toughest Pentax
-Original Message- From: alex wetmore [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Or even the *ist D. My *ist D fell a few weeks ago and the CF door cracked. Someone else on dpreview dropped one in November with a flash attached and the flash ripped off of the hotshoe. The shoe on the camera ripped out? The flashes are designed so that the foot on the flash will break before the shoe on the camera. At least that's what I was told by Pentax after having broke about 9 of them. tv
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Steve Desjardins wrote: I'm not sure I agree with the too small part. I probably wouldn't have bought the *ist D if it was larger. The major reason that I have stuck with Pentax cameras is their small size, excellent ergonomics, and the number of affordable high quality primes on the used market. The *ist D mostly negated the last point by not supporting M and K lenses. I love the *ist D because it is so small. I have large hands and still find the ergonomics to be wonderful. alex
RE: The Toughest Pentax
On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, tom wrote: -Original Message- From: alex wetmore [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Or even the *ist D. My *ist D fell a few weeks ago and the CF door cracked. Someone else on dpreview dropped one in November with a flash attached and the flash ripped off of the hotshoe. The shoe on the camera ripped out? Apparently. Here is a report: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1028message=6520808 alex
Re: Panatomic X is still available ...
I do not think it is actually Panatomic X, but does have similar grain. Interestingly the film and the paper are slighly different speeds. But if you expose for the film, you will get a print that is ok for checking composition, etc. After awhile you will even be able to tell whether the film is properly exposed from the print as you get so you know what a print looks like from a properly exposed negative. Consider the print as a rough proof. -- Shel Belinkoff wrote: ... according to a message I received earlier today. Polaroid makes a Type 55 4x5 and Type 665 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 positive/negative instant film. These films produce both a print and a negative for later enlarging, contact printing, or scanning. The film is Kodak's Panatomix-X very fine grain, extra sharp, film. I sometimes shoot Type 55 in my 4x5 just for the film since you cannot get Panatomic-X film any other way. Comments? -- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway.
Re: The Toughest Pentax
I have an SF1n. Don't think I would take it someplace rugged. Jim A. From: Steve Jolly [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2004 15:40:31 + To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: The Toughest Pentax Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Resent-Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 10:41:54 -0500 Shel Belinkoff wrote: Still, like the Timex watches of old, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking, although I don't know why anyone would want to lick an ME S. They're raspberry flavour - that's the difference between them and the vanilla ME, which tastes like vanilla. So, which Pentax body do you feel is the toughest ... the one you'd take through the rain and the mud and the Atacama desert, and toss into the back of your rattling old pickup and not worry about it getting the crap knocked out of it? Seriously though, in this entire thread, nobody's yet mentioned a Pentax camera that *didn't* stand up to abuse. Is there a body that anyone *wouldn't* be prepared to take somewhere unfriendly? S
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. that's good but a lot of people wouldn't know the pronunciation. How does a lens of photographers sound? Tom Reese True. A stop? A sync? An aperture? I like focus. Or a meter? :-) Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: The Toughest Pentax
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Seriously though, in this entire thread, nobody's yet mentioned a Pentax camera that *didn't* stand up to abuse. Is there a body that anyone *wouldn't* be prepared to take somewhere unfriendly? The *ist D ! Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: Flash photography and *istD
Heiko Hamann wrote: That makes me wonder, too. Any physicists here to explain? I simply can't imagine, why the CCD's reflectivity should change with the ISO value. I'm a physicist and the suggestion makes no sense to me :-) S
Re: Flash photography and *istD
On Tue, 2004-01-06 at 17:04, Heiko Hamann wrote: OTOH - you now can predict the TTL-behaviour of the *istD and use the ISO setting for flash exposure compensation ;-) Yes, I thought about this as well, flash compensation is something I badly miss on my PZ-1, so now I have it on the *ist D. That would mostly be used for fill-in flash I guess. -- Frits Wüthrich [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Flash photography and *istD
I've had alot of trouble with the AF360FGZ. It underexposes. I have to compensate *ALOT*. As much as +2 sometimes. Its really bad when I use it to do bounce flash, which I prefer. I took some family portraits recently and I had to play with it for a long time before I got the pics with a decent exposure. I don't know why this would be the case except for maybe there is some bug in the firmware. rg mapson wrote: With a recent purchase of *istD and an arsenal of other Pentax gear I thought I could conquer the world. HOWEVER I found it quite disappointing that the *istD produces far from acceptable results when combined with AF-500FTZ ( I won't even mention that Sigma EF-430ST) goes totally belly-up). Even when the flash gets switched to MANUAL, it still behaves somewhat like auto. I found it almost impossible to get a good fill-in compensation. The built in flash produces better results, however it is not very impressive either. Especially in fill-in where background is quite bright. Here are my questions for the Pentax Brotherhood: * is it the nature of digital cameras that they do not work well with flashes (probably not) * does anyone have any experience using *ist and 500FTZ? * is the 'new kid on the block' AF-360FGZ producing acceptable results combined with *istD * what are the best modes to use flash in? Just to let you know I have used Z-1, Z-1p, and MZ, ZX camers for a number of years, consuming tens of rolls of film a month. Apart from the 1/100s flash synch limitations the results were quite satisfactory. Z-1, Z-1p - no problems. With *istD I am not trying to be pedantic to get it within 0.001EV of a perfect value. I am trying to get it 'somewhere'. Being able to shoot consistently and reliably. At present I cannot achieve it! Can anyone offer any help? (*)o(*) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Flash photography and *istD
Heiko Hamann wrote: Hi Frits, That makes me wonder, too. Any physicists here to explain? I simply can't imagine, why the CCD's reflectivity should change with the ISO value. I'm not a physicist, but I am an electrical engineer by training, and the CCD's sensistivity/ISO setting does not alter any physical properties of the CCD. This happens in the hardware A/D convertor stage, where the gain of the sensor amp is adjusted to get higher/lower ISO values. So this theory about the reflection being different based on the ISO values is bunk. I have a feeling that the firmware routine that is computing the exposure value has a bug whereby the ISO setting is not being looked up, but instead some constant value has been put in, probably as a result of prototype code making its way into the final product. rg
Re: Ergonomics of *istD
- Original Message - This was one of the concerns I have wondered about, I do love my camera to be big and chunky and to look like a professional camera rather than a toy version. tan. Is it time to start THAT thread again? So small is definately non-proffessional regardless of feature set, right? ;-) I guess my LX and MX were toys VBG Of course there are some on this list that would call all 35mm SLRs toys... Christian
Re: Flash photography and *istD
Hi Steve, on 06 Jan 04 you wrote in pentax.list: I simply can't imagine, why the CCD's reflectivity should change with the ISO value. I'm a physicist and the suggestion makes no sense to me :-) That calms me down, really. Whatever the cause is, it shouldn't be the reflectiveness of the CCDs surface. Doesn't a higher ISO mean higher power consumption of the CCD? So maybe there is not enough power left for the TTL-sensor :-)) Cheers, Heiko
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
Hi, I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. I'm sure the correct expression is a sweat of photographers. Or perhaps a whiff. -- Cheers, Bob
RE: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
Or even a battery. Ziggy -Original Message- From: Bob W [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 06 January 2004 17:13 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya.. Hi, I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. I'm sure the correct expression is a sweat of photographers. Or perhaps a whiff. -- Cheers, Bob
Re: Flash photography and *istD
I've never experienced problems with the AF360FGZ on my ist-D in P-TTL mode. I use bounce flash a ton and I get very good exposures. I use it on a macro bracket just inches from a small subject and get great results. I use it straight on without problems. Fill flash works too. Geez, even the red-eye-reduction function on the body works! I even borrowed one of tv's 500s and it worked really well bounced (I didn't use it straight on) in TTL mode. I'm thinking there may be some manufacturing issues and that all Ds are not alike. Christian - Original Message - From: Robert Gonzalez [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 11:58 AM Subject: Re: Flash photography and *istD I've had alot of trouble with the AF360FGZ. It underexposes. I have to compensate *ALOT*. As much as +2 sometimes. Its really bad when I use it to do bounce flash, which I prefer. I took some family portraits recently and I had to play with it for a long time before I got the pics with a decent exposure. I don't know why this would be the case except for maybe there is some bug in the firmware. rg
Re: The Toughest Pentax
I don't know. Actually the only Pentaxes I have had extensive experience with are the H3, the MX, and the ME Super. Never had a problem with the H3 but it was my first SLR and I really babied it. Have had 3 MX's, one dropped on concrete with the 85/2 had the mirror knocked out of alignment and a dent in the prism housing. Having the mirror realigned was not expensive. The other one I had back then never had any problems. The one I currently have looks to have been knocked around quite a lot, but works fine. The wind mechanism seems to wear out faster on MX's than it should, going by how many I have handled that were obviously sloppy there. The metal (top and bottom plates) is pretty thin, I wish they had used a gauge heavier metal and let the camera weight an ounce or two more. The current ME Super toppled off the desk onto the cushioned chair and then onto the floor. Cracked the plastic top plate, but otherwise works fine. The one I had to sell awhile back never had a problem. However most of the ME, ME Supers I have seen have never had the heavy use most MX's have had. Of the three models, the H3 felt the most solid, but I do not think it would have stood up to the use and abuse I gave the 2 MX's I had when when I was a working photographer, I would guess the same would apply to the K series cameras as they are basically the same under the skin. I never trust electonics for long term durability, I have had too many electronic gadgets go out for no apparent reason over the years, so no camera that is dependent on the electronics would fit toughest in my mind. So, I guess I would have to go with the MX (if you could get a new one). -- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway.
RE: The Toughest Pentax
I've had my K1000 for 2 1/2 years and it seems plenty tough. It's been out in rain, snow and cold and has never failed. I have a bad habit of letting it bang against boulders and that doesn't seem to bother it. I had it out shooing meteors from 4am-7:30 on a beach and a marsh in the freezing cold, and it was fine.
wedding photography...ugh!
The wedding photography thread got me thinking about my experiences... I wanted to shoot some portraits of a bride and groom and couldn't find the groom. He was outside behind the building smoking dope with the best man. By the end of the reception he was stoned out of his mind and trying to give me a handful of cash from the wedding gifts that the BG received (of course I turned him down...several times). Another time, I showed up at the brides house at 12:00 noon per my appointment for the pre-wedding portraits of bride with mom, dad, etc. The bride answered the door in jeans and a t-shirt and asked me to wait while they all ate lunch. She was finally ready at 12:50 with a 1:00 wedding. She actually bitched later on because I couldn'tt deliver the full 100 pictures that were specified in the contract. The most personally embarassing incident was when I knelt down to take a group picture in the church after the wedding and my pants split wide open down the back. I had to finish the shoot like that. I did change my pants before I went to the reception. I quit doing them eventually. I couldn't take wearing the jacket in the hot weather (summer weddings suck IMO), the neckties, the drunks and all the other aggravation. I wish I could just shoot the B G portraits and forget about all the other stuff... Tom Reese
Re: The Toughest Pentax
I'll recount my ZX-M story, as it's been a while. I bought a ZX-M in 1999 and almost immediately relegated it to hazard duty. Two of my daughters are fairly interested in cameras and at the time were less than delicate around them. By myself, I subjected the camera to rain, snow, ice, I fell on it twice (it's not soft) pop spills and a dunking at an amusement park. However, my daughter's provided the real tests. Drug across boulders in our west desert, kicked along a gravel road (accidently), swung into a wall by the strap (like a cheerleading baton), splashed in the bathtub, dropped on the driveway and subsequently kicked down to the road (I live on a hill, and my daughter was hurriedly trying to pick it up so I wouldn't notice she dropped it *again*, kind of humourous really) and then the real icing on the cake, dropped one story from the roof to the concrete patio below (I guess light weight has an advantage). End result? No cracks or dents, and works fine, but of course, lots of scrapes, nicks, and gouges.(*) Would I want to take it as my only body on a once in a lifetime trip? No. Does it feel cheap? Yes. Does it inspire confidence? Not really. But a tough camera? Yeah, it's a tough camera. William in Utah (*) Not recounted but implied is the overall rough normal handling (changing lenses, setting, etc.) by overeager prepubecsent offspring. - Original Message - From: Mark Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:55 AM Subject: Re: The Toughest Pentax Steve Jolly [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Seriously though, in this entire thread, nobody's yet mentioned a Pentax camera that *didn't* stand up to abuse. Is there a body that anyone *wouldn't* be prepared to take somewhere unfriendly? I believe the LX has a reputation for being less hardy than most metal-bodied Pentaxes. I don't think any of the MZ series (other than the MZ-S) is likely to garner any acclaim for ruggedness. -- Mark Roberts Photography and writing www.robertstech.com
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
For those who can't afford the istD a cache of photographers For those who can afford the istD a cash of photographers For those who work with tv a crash of photographers
Re: The Toughest Pentax
Charles Braswell Jr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I don't know if it would qualify as the toughest but I had a PZ-1 that really took a lot of abuse and never let me down. The only Pentaxes that I've owned that are more recent than the MX are the PZ-1p, MZ-S and 645. All three appear to shrug off abuse without missing a beat. I've had my PZ-1p fail when shooting in the rain; first the auto-focus started hunting like crazy, and then it decided to rewind at half roll. I just put it in the back of the car to dry out, and used the MX instead. After an hour or so the PZ-1p was back to normal.
OT - Digital B/W or Colour ?
Bearing in mind the prevalence of the *ist D and others in the kit bags of folk on this list, I thought it would be worth mentioning this article I found while going through the back issues of The Digital Journalist (www.digitaljournalist.org). On the subject of monochrome versus colour, with film you load it and get that mindset on. With digital http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0311/howe.html Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
RE: The Toughest Pentax
So, which Pentax body do you feel is the toughest ... the one you'd take through the rain and the mud and the Atacama desert, and toss into the back of your rattling old pickup and not worry about it getting the crap knocked out of it? 1. 6x7 - pickup truck will expire first. 2. K1000 3. MX No placing for my favourite, the LX, it's too delicate. Malcolm
Re: My first photo-wedding
Hello Boris, As a rule of thumb, I don't autofocus unless I am unable to make the shot with manual focus. In a wedding, that is rare. I also find that using AF for everything, tends to influence my composition. The reason is that the sensor needs to be pointing at the point of focus (which most of the time, is not where the sensor is pointing). This means you have to focus lock, and then re-compose. It ends up being just as fast to compose/manually focus as to focus lock and recompose. AF is best suited to situations where the subjects are moving and you can't keep up. The only one that comes to mind for weddings, is that trip up the aisle. Even there, getting a snap at the beginning, middle and end are possible with manual focus. I suspect you'll get a few piping in that this is one of the weak areas for Pentax. So my big tip is practice manually focusing and stay in control of that camera. -- Best regards, Bruce Tuesday, January 6, 2004, 1:02:34 AM, you wrote: BL Hi! snip BL By the way, Tanya, do you do weddings with MZ-6 you have? If so, I BL must really ask, how on earth you manage to time your shots w.r.t. BL very slow and unreliable AF of this camera, even with such a lens as BL FA 50/1.7. I missed several shots just because the darn thing wouldn't BL focus, even with its middle sensor... BL 3. At least in my case 3200 film was all right. It was enough to shoot BL mostly at f/4, about 1/30-1/60 sec and sometimes with my F 85 soft BL lens at f/5.6 or even f/8 with help of RTF flash... BL Well, I'd appreciate any responses, including some advise. BL Thanks for listening. BL Boris
Re: The Toughest Pentax
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: it's been to Newborough Warren On Anglesey?? Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: My first *ist D gallery
- Original Message - From: Rob Studdert [EMAIL PROTECTED] Most of the EXIF info remains in the files but Pshop seems to strip the Pentax specific info. So in camera Saturation, Sharpness and Contrast were set at 0, - 2, 0 is that -2 for sharpness? Christian
Re: For Sale - Pentax ring light/flash barely used
Ann Sanfedele wrote about an 080C she wants to sell. Ann I don't have your e-mail address. I'm interested if you're in the US. I don't want to have to deal with overseas shipping. Tom Reese
Re: Down off my high-horse... with a thump.
On 6/1/04, [EMAIL PROTECTED] disgorged: Cotty, I honestly think that if one was given enough supply of drinks they would be very dead by now. You know, having *that* many drinks in sequence is a bad idea. I know, I know, some bodies are better suited for drinks than some other bodies... But still, I wonder if you could just tell us what the integral value of these drinks would be. Then we can substitute different beverages and get the netto value of the spirit intake... That wasn't a coercion to have lots of drinks, it was lots of coercion to have just one drink! Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _ Free UK Mac Ads www.macads.co.uk
Re: My first *ist D gallery
I did some nature shooting recently with the *ist D and I find that I agree with most of Robb's assessment of how this camera handles. Some points to note: 1. I'm not as bother by the lack of aperture ring and have actually adjusted quite well to this. OTOH, I'm right-handed. I'm left-handed (and left-eyed), but have no problems operating the thumbwheel with the camera in shooting position. 2. The idea about replacing the rocker switch with distinct buttons (5?) is a good one. It's way too easy to rock it the wrong way. Or, at least, make it larger. That, plus having to take the camera out of shooting mode to adjust the ISO, are my biggest annoyances. 3. I never select AF points. To me, it is always quicker to use the central sensor and recompose. Picking a different sensor just takes too long. When I have to shoot very quickly, i.e., when AF is necessary for me, I go to the auto mode and let the camera choose. It generally does a good job, and the hit rate is probably faster than my MF attempts would be. One of the reasons I wanted the *ist-D was for the ability to select an auto-focus point below the midline of the frame - just what you need for motorsports shots with the car approaching you. I don't know if the multi-point AF will track a car heading in your direction at 200mph or more, but if it doesn't then I want to be able to pick the right point. I've got a couple of shots (taken with the PZ-1p) wher the driver's head is in focus, but the nose of the car could be a little sharper.
Re: *ist D lens problem -Healed!
ROFLMAO - I have this dreadful mental image of Steve trying to insert his batteries into Mr Wong... Now you know why it's called assault and battery ...
RE: wedding photography...ugh!
-Original Message- From: Tom Reese [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] I quit doing them eventually. I couldn't take wearing the jacket in the hot weather (summer weddings suck IMO), the neckties, the drunks and all the other aggravation. I wish I could just shoot the B G portraits and forget about all the other stuff... That's funny. I don't wear a tie or jacket, and I wish I could forget the portraits! tv
Re: OT: While we're on language, have a collective noun won't ya..
Cotty wrote: I quite like: a bokeh of photographers. that's good but a lot of people wouldn't know the pronunciation. How does a lens of photographers sound? Well, it *sounds* OK, but somebody will want to spell it lense.
