Search Results for: pentax
SLR
My first SLR. Manual everything – focus, shutter, aperture…. there’s not even an on/off switch. Most of the time it sits on a shelf with other remembrances, but occasionally, for fun, I load it and shoot a roll. When I pick it up, my hand still checks the wind lever for tension long before my brain engages and remembers where the controls are on top. Built like a tank, this camera should’ve quit working years ago. I fell out of a truck near Thies and this was among the gear in the bag I landed on; I hurt for a week, but the camera kept on shooting – didn’t even pop open and ruin the film. I shot Folly and surrounding areas with this camera for years – not a spec of rust on it. I would have stayed with Pentax… tried to stay with Pentax. They were just too slow bringing a decent DSLR to market. Thus, the caption below:
Canon 7D 50mm f/2.2
Trains
I took this with my old Pentax K-mount 50mm prime lens. As much of a technology geek as I am, there’s something joyous about going old school every now and then and shooting completely manually. I’m reminded how difficult shooting film really was – if you wanted to be good. And with the K-mount lens, I’ve no other choice than to go manual. This particular lens is a beautiful Pentax 50mm f/1.4, made sometime around the late ’70s. It’s sharpest around 1.7 or 2, and the clarity when shooting with this lens is hard to beat. The JPG compression did nothing here to show that off, but the RAW file looks gorgeous.
Shooting with this lens reminds me that I keep meaning to pick up a more modern Canon 50mm f/1.4 as it’ll fit my body natively, autofocuses, functions more like an 85mm on my APS-C body, etc. Still, there’s something magical about taking my time to get the manual settings just so….
50mm at 400ISO, f/1.7 @ 1/10
Nap time
Shhhhhhhhh… toys down, snacks eaten, and time for a nap.
Canon Rebel XTi ISO 800; Pentax 50mm f/1.7
A study in 50mm
The first shot is from a Canon EF 50mm macro lens, 1:2.5. The second is from an old Pentax-M 50mm prime, 1:1.4 (using an adaptor for my Canon body). Both are at maximum aperture, focused as tightly as possible, ISO 3200.
May have to get one of these macro lenses…. thanks for the loaner D!
What’s old is new again
Pentax K-1000; I may have mentioned it here once or twice before. This shot is not from that camera, but it is through one of my old Pentax K-mount lenses. The old PK 50mm 1.7 lens, soon to be replaced by the PK 50mm 1.4. And I couldn’t be happier to playing with bokeh again. How’s it done? PK-EOS adaptor for my Canon DSLR. happy.
HDR
I tried my hand at manual HDR photography tonight, and I have to laugh – I failed miserably. It’s the tonal imaging that’s tough. I’ll get it. And that’s how we learn – a few failures, a few “ah-ha!” moments, and we learn. Still, I am not going to post tonight’s work. Ugh.
Yes, there are multiple ways to use Photoshop to do this kind of work automagically, but I want to learn how to do it myself first, then have the skills to tweak auto-HDR. For the same reason I enjoyed learning photography from behind the lens of an all manual Pentax K-1000 camera, I’d like to learn how to make HDR myself. Then I know what’s going on; then I know how to tweak for better performance. And I blew it tonight. Tomorrow? I’ll make it work. Seriously.
So it’s one from the archives tonight. This shot comes from alongside the river in Kyoto. Sunset light is beautiful – the camera captures the sideways light, and photos look magic. Also, I like playing with depth of field in tight shots.
red
Volta
Taken a few years back on Lake Volta, near the Akosombo Dam. I remember it was nearly too dark for the speed film I was shooting, but I took a deep breath, nestled my elbows in close to steady my hands, and hoped. I’d been shooting in bright sun all day or else I would have just pushed it one stop.
Back in the day… no changing ISO as you went – had to go with what ISO film you’d loaded. I sometimes forget how much I take for granted with a DSLR camera in my hands: “Too dark? Speed up the ISO!”
I used Velvia 50 – as I often did for travel in this part of the world – because I love the high contrast in this film. The scan below doesn’t do that justice, but that’s my fault. I was still learning the scanning equipment.
Volta
Taken with my faithful, nearly indestructible Pentax K-1000, 50mm, Velvia-50
rare
Came across this old folding Kodak in a local antique shop. At only $40 I was tempted, but I know it’s nearly impossible to get the 16mm roll film anymore. I love the old manual cameras and still shoot with my Pentax K1000, but I also want to be able to actually use them. Still, it’s a beautiful old camera in fantastic shape.
Does the front end look like an old steam locomotive or is that just me?
click
ISO 800 at 60 f/5.6 90mm
manual
Am playing with manual settings on the DSLR… trying to pull off some of the shots I used to make with my faithful K1000 back in the day. The problem with back in the day (film, printing…) was that every time I didn’t get the shot, I still had to pay to expose the shot and learn where I hosed the settings. Now? Oh, man, how do I love shooting digital? Let me count the ways… 16 shots and only one to post, but not a dime spent to expose a frame. Diggin’ that.
night shot
30″ f/4.5 65mm
the line
I occasionally worked this “line” as a high school and college student down in my family’s seed processing shed. Growing up, we just called it the line – seed drops from above in 50lb increments. You bag it, sample, sew, and then stack the seed onto pallets for shipping.
stack
Pentax K-1000
Fujichrome Velvia ISO 50
50mm on a tripod
