going Kobori

Since my Rikenon 35-135 push-pull zoom cannot shoot video unless wide open (a bit limiting, I'd say!) WRONG again - works fine but not in P mode!, I went browsing for another similar option. I found a one-day-only discount on a Vivitar 28-105, also f/3.5-4.5 with a 'true' Pentax A setting, for a similar price to what I paid for the Ricoh. Its serial number begins with 77, a sign that this was manufactured by Kobori. I had known of Vivitar from my past SLR film days, and knew that Series-1 was highly regarded for a time - but Kobori was not a familiar name. The web has a few notes about them but not many. What I read was quite encouraging for other Vivitar 77xxxx lenses, whether Series-1 or not - so the 28-105 is on its way to me. Hopefully soon I'll get to a point where some lenses are leaving the building, but for now it's net-import time.

In other news, it's getting autumnal again in the northern hemi; here's a fine golden backlit shot.

 

retraction & forehead slap

I've been misunderstanding Ricoh auto-aperture lenses for a while, it seems.

 

I've been cheerfully snapping up Rikenon lenses with the auto-aperture "P" setting, blissfully unaware that their P mode only works on Ricoh SLR cameras. Oopz. So much for bliss! I stumbled into this a time or two before I recognized that I was the confused one and not those who wrote about using Rikenons in stop-down mode.

But they look nearly identical on the lens! How could it not be working? Well, turn them over and count the contacts - that one pin that I felt certain was providing info to my Pentax was indeed not telling the camera anything of value. Well it must be saying something - but certainly not the calculated f/number. How sad, and how silly I feel - now I must go back and edit several posts here, wiping out the evidence of my error. But no, I am not wiping this away, it's a story that needs to be told one more time. After all, one less time and I was ensnared.

Despite this these Rikenon lenses are excellent, even more so now that I know every shot I took with them was wide open. I'm less certain that the 35-105 push-pull zoom will be great for video (it does fine, use anything but P mode!) but I still plan on trying to find out! I am glad I learned this before disposing of my Promaster 28-70, which is my only non-Pentax manfocus lens and therefore the proof I needed. Yup, in P mode the aperture lights up and tells me where I stand. Much better.

More New Stuff

I received a gift certificate with limited trade-in selection online; after browsing a bit I chose overstock as my recipient. For a while I considered another Rokinon 2AA bounce flash, which I believe I bought for my Sony via gift certificate.. but I knew how little use it got so I reconsidered & looked around a bit more.
I finally settled on a tripod that can spread itself wide enough for macro imagery and low-to-ground perspective shots, something I'll get more use from. I could not find anything online about Bell/Howell Xplor tripods, other than shopping sites.. so we shall see just what it can do. I also grabbed the $8 charger for the LI-90 battery, which includes a car-charger cord; that could prove vital on a long trip!

SLR video and 'one-touch' zooms

I'm thinking that the rather primitive nature of current dSLR video will be best served with an old-fashioned push-pull zoom lens. When shooting in real time the left hand is required to zoom and focus during hand-held clips, and shifting from zoom ring to focus ring will more likely wiggle the camera. With a bit of practice, the 35-135 Rikenon could serve well as the 'video lens' when wide-angle shooting isn't vital. Since I've only taken one short clip since late June, and video wasn't my reason for picking up a K-7, this isn't a huge concern.. but it's an interesting and valid reason to keep one of these old designs in the bag!

Rikenon contest: game over (almost)

After assembling a decent group of Ricoh lenses I gave them a semi-rigorous testing at 35, 50 and 70ish mm. I am incapable of being truly rigorous, as some variable will always creep in - but I am satisfied that they all had an equal chance to show off. I used Live View with 6x to get focus as good as possible. Both in ease of use and image quality, the winner was the 35-135 f/3.5-4.5 P one-touch, with 28-100 a short step behind and the 28-80 f/3.5-5.6 further back. The 35-135 is 500g so heavier than I'd like in my man-focus walkabout, so I may try a few more before it's over.. but for now it's the best of my bunch, and still 100g lighter than the 28-100! All lenses were sharp enough, but contrast was stronger on the 35-135 so less processing would be needed. All are prone to contrast loss with bright light on the front element.

I did not throw the Promaster 28-80 into the mix for these tests, but if I do acquire a few more lenses I'll try it with the 35-135 and future set; in some ways IQ looks similar to the 35-135, and size and weight are nice. However, it's showing its age with some play in the focus/zoom rings; the 35-135 is very smooth and a pleasure to use. I'd forgotten the fun of a 1-touch since they were outlawed in the late '80s (kidding here, I think).

going, going..

In Alpha-mount news, my last two optics are now spoken for. Amazing what can happen when you post for-sale notices for a few months, take a month off & repost. I guess this means I won't be grabbing an A33/55 model now -- not that I really could. What it really means is that the Rikenon lenses I bought last week are already paid for! Other than a Compact Flash or two, the Sony and Minolta gear is outta here. It was a great ride, and I wish the new owners well.

toying with Rikenons

My Pentax AF lineup is pretty much set, with 16-45, 55-300 and 1.5x teleconverter covering many bases. An AF 50mm would be handy, but that will come later. In the meantime I've sought out a manual-focus answer for those times when I want to play with exposure like the old days. Price and availability have steered me toward Rikenon lenses, with a 50 f/2P and 135 f/2.8XR primes already in hand. Both do very well for sharpness, and the 135 has excellent bokeh. The 'P' lenses are the Ricoh equivalent of Pentax 'A', so can adjust aperture and use most all of the K-7 exposure modes (NOT TRUE as I learned later - just like XR models, Rikenon P lenses must be used off the P setting in stop-down manual mode with Pentax cameras!)The XR and other non-P models can only do manual aperture and need to be in manual mode to work.

silk tree w/50mm

For zooms, I found a 28-100 f/4P early on, but it had some issues that super-glue resolved. It also seems to have optical issues, its contrast is mighty poor - plus at 600g it's just not going to get out much. In seeking a replacement I've won bids on two other Rikonon-P zooms, the 35-135 and 28-80 f/3.5-5.6. When they arrive I'll update this page, pick out a winner and let the others go, and maybe seek another Rikonon to dethrone it.

In my searching for lens information, I found a great site for Rikenon data - check it out here. I wish I had found this page earlier, as it shows the 35-135 weighs 500g, still a lot but perhaps it will do. Both the lenses I ordered have 58mm filter threads, so my current polarizer will work with them, saving both expense and hassle. I knew the 35-200 and 60-300 weighed a lot, so I've resisted those two.

Ricoh has been in the camera business for a long time, and they used both M42 and PK mounts in parallel with Pentax. In several cases I've heard claims that early Pentax and Ricoh lenses are identical other than the SMC optical coating; I cannot verify that and feel no need to research it.

One item that's noteworthy is that some Ricoh lenses have a strongly-projecting pin on the mount that needs to be removed, otherwise it pops into Pentax' AF screw-drive slot and the lens gets stuck! Some lenses have just a gentle, rounded button that slides past the drive slot, but others will be nearly impossible to get off the camera if the pin stays on the mount - so be careful! Also note that Ricoh seems to have been a source for Sears, Montgomery Ward and other 3rd-party vendors, so look carefully. A contact pin/button on the auto-aperture lenses is expected, but a separate pin should be matched up to the mount to see where it will fall, and removed if it's not intended to touch the Pentax body's contacts. Just remove the bolts on the PK mount and invert; it seems a couple of tiny screws hold the pin down, so unscrew one, twist the retaining bracket aside and push the pin out through the back - or just remove both bracket and pin. This is what I've encountered on a single lens, so I cannot claim they all look like this..

I'm looking forward to trying out these lenses against the 28-100. I also have a Promaster 28-70 that is functional and lightweight (and is a true A-type mount!), but has a lot of play in zoom and focus. I'll see how they fare soon, and I'll let you know! As with all tests, these are single copies from which I shall make wild claims; your copies will not likely do what mine do, nor is what I shoot a match for your interests - so let's not get carried away on this. My tests will be casual in any case, seeking sharpness bokeh flare and ease of use - and little else.

my time with the A200

In April 2008, the Sony Alpha A200 had some incredible and unique features. My research found it to be unique among many similar cameras for in-camera stabilization (SSS), dynamic-range boost (DRO), a screen whose info rotated when held vertically.. all sorts of things that were swiftly implemented in one form or another elsewhere. My A200 years were quite happy ones, but one small problem haunted me: Best Buy's decision to clear out the A700 occurred about two months later. This was a superior camera in every way, and for only slightly more money - but my return period had passed so I pretended to get over it.

The A200 was indeed the camera I had sought. Images in low light were now stabilized and shadow-boosted as needed, depth of field was a factor again, and I was having fun with photography. I played in RAW mode and bought some Elements software to tweak images more to my tastes. It came with me camping, backpacking, stargazing and nearly everywhere. On very few occasions did I look at the shots and feel that the camera had let me down (I cannot think of any times, but I suspect it must have so 'very few' will cover that :^). I especially liked shooting in RAW+jpg mode with the Monochrome 'style' - I had fine mono jpgs and a RAW file to adjust later.



My lens collection grew, mainly with Minolta lenses from the '80s. I really liked each one for its special reasons, but none of them could do it all. My main 1-lens solution was first a Tamron 18-250, then later a Sigma 18-200; I preferred its small size & lack of 'creep', and it came along on the Sierra hike. Other favorites were Sigma's 17-70 and Minoltas 100-200, 50 f/1.7 and 35-105 Macro, all 1st-generation AF classics.

Some of the most special Alpha images can be found at these links: beach - Sierra & Crater Lake - San Juan islands

Well, that completes the historic cycle - now for my Pentax transition go back to my June 2010 post.