going with the easy answer

A good kit doesn't come much more simple than this: three talented zooms covering 10-300mm.

For ultimate image quality the kit should have more primes, faster glass - and 24Mpix or greater camera to make best use of them.  For the amount of shooting that I do right now and in the near future, such investments make no sense - and today's Pentax primes are not weather resistant.  The 10-17 can focus to point-blank range, capture anything I want to shoot and its fishiness is great fun; sadly it's not foul-weather friendly like the other two lenses.  The venerable 18-55 DAL WR has really never let me down; its markdown features like distortion at 18mm certainly are irrelevant compared to the fisheye at 17mm, and the red kit lens also gives me 1/3 lifesize images.  These two lightweights will keep the rather bulky 16-85mm zoom out of my bag.. for a while, at least! Hmmm, I'd save 50 grams in the bag, lose $250 in the wallet and 10-16mm coverage, and an occasional lens change.  Nope, not for a while.  If anything would prove more convenient it might be the new 18-50RE, with its silent focus and 58mm filters that match the HD55-300.  The new red-ring HD is the newest version of the best Pentax-fit telezoom in its price range, and none speak ill of it other than its leisurely speed to focus.

These are not my only lenses; the 50mm f/1.7 A can be useful when light fails, the 300mm mirror lens is small and creates unique images and the manual zooms are fun at times.  In general though, for what I shoot (and how seldom I print big) the three AF zooms can handle anything that I need a camera to manage.  The K50's higher ISO abilities make faster glass less crucial (and only the 150-450mm beast is WR) so the balance of bulk and image quality is just right for me.

The 100-300 Sigma DL now can keep the NX adapter mounted and become the unstabilized NX300 telezoom for a while, where its old-school aperture ring will be useful. I've never tried keeping both the 100-300 and 55-300 before; it's nice to have them both yet not crowding each other!

Double dealing (plus 1)

*1*

The best surprise is one that you give up on (some times).
My list of micro4:3 items includes the Tokina 300mm f/6.3 mirror lens. I've wanted a lens like this for a long time in Pentax mount but they are very rare and bids were too high. This Tokina is tiny and cheap ($90ish refurbished) so even if I don't like mirror lenses in the end it's not a big investment.

 Today I was buzzing through eBay to check on the status of a refund. My mind and mouse wandered a bit.. and here's a Spiratone 300mm f/5.6 in K mount for a very similar price. It's a T-mount lens so K and m4:3 can each adapt to work with it. The Tokina is an all-manual lens anyway so why not get the K/T/m43 all at once? This will be 450 mmme on the K-50 (and stabilized!), 600 mme on the G7: watch out birds here I come! The speed difference is small but many focus sensors begin to fail above f/5.6 so that's another point in the old lens' favor.

In fact all 300mm mirror lenses  are small for the amount of telephoto they offer, so this will be full-frame-film compatible with a bit of a bulk penalty.  I was happy to seek it a few months ago without success, so forsaking the smaller Tokina won't be a major bummer.  Now to learn if I can tolerate 'donut bokeh' in my images!

*2*

The SD/Flucard sold this afternoon, and now interest in the 55-300 is growing. The general idea is to get a WR replacement for it at some point. What to do in the meantime though? Prices are decent on both the 50-200 & 55-300wr but the budget is.. about what I got for the Flucard. Anything else?

 Yep. 
Shopgoodwill was dumping a Sigma 100-300 with no bids and 4 minutes left. PK mount yes, so Sold!

Yes, it's that lens again.  It always battles the 55-300 for a spot in my bag since it focuses far faster.  The range of the Pentax and brighter telephoto keep the seesaw in motion.  This has always been my favorite $35 telephoto option, but this time it's my $10 option! OK add $22 shipping and handling.. Still a silly/good deal that is sufficient for filling in the tele space right now.

 So along with the 300mm Spiratone that's two fine deals today on 36×24 telephotos!

*3*

Make it three deals: I just won a dirt-cheap bid on a DAL 50-200wr.  
I'd prefer the 55-300 but again, the budget cannot do that just now.
Now the rain can return.. and of course it will do so, in about 10 hours...

the Home Team

Here is the shooting team as it stand today.. at 4:30PM.. Pacific Time!*

The starting five: DA 15/4 Limited, SMC 24/2.8, DFA 50/2.8 macro, M100/2.8 and DAL 55-300

Support crew: Vivitar 35-105, DAL18-55, Hanimar 400/6.3, JCPenney 80-200/3.5 (and 2x TC)

Not shown here: the K-r and SMC-A 50/2 that took the photo!

* Still valid as of early August - that might be a record :·p 
One more may be coming though -- stay tuned?

Power Team

My LLfaW arrived today¹ - the DA10-17 Fish-Eye.  First tests look nice, and this will get some wide use as a nearly-normal lens.  Really though it's a specialty item for creative imaging.  I was seeking a nice 14-16mm prime to round things out, but the price on this was quite nice.

The zoom combo of 10-17fe, 17-70, 50-135 and 55-300 make a fine collection, and one that I cannot afford to improve even if I wanted to.  And if I wanted to.. what would change?  The 17-70 is the weak spot only for complaints about its AF (SDM motor issues and some complaints on accuracy above 50mm) and lack of full weather seals, and so far my copy is doing fine.  Although filter size is not a strong reason to keep a lens, it's nice that the 17-70 and 50-135 take the same filters for simplicity's sake.  While I'd like more range than the 55-300 offers, I will manage by cropping.

I've tried many lenses in all these ranges: xx-300, fisheye primes, nearly every wide-normal not sized 17-50 and the Sigma 50-150.  Given what I've learned from all my dealing I am very satisfied with these!  When WR below 50mm is vital I still have my 18-55wr, so I'm set with 18-135mm in the rain (though on a K-r) and 10-300mm for fair-weather zooming.  The 17-70 has a single seal-like ring on the mount, so it may die in wet weather but the body might be safe -- I hope never to test that!!

As for primes - I have 24 50 and 135mm, similar to the classic film trio -  plus a 400mm f/6.3 preset.  One more below 24mm would be ideal, but only a few Samyang models and the DA14/15 are enough different from the 24.  Something in the 200-250mm range would be cool, and some day I'll find a bargain 300-400mm f/5.6 catadioptric mirror lens for compact entertainment.  I admit that I'd prefer 40+70 to replace the humble 50/2.  However: none of this dreaming will result in new lenses in the immediate future - hence the LLfaW tag on the DA10-17!



¹ Last Lens for a While

shooting star

DA* 50-135mm f/2.8

DA-star, that is.  My first star has arrived - likely my only one for some time, though times change.

The * lenses are Pentax' headline, pro-caliber lenses; DA* for aps-c sensors while FA* is for 36×24 types.  The 50-135mm f/2.8 arrived yesterday, but it came to the house while were were away - so I've just picked it up today.  I parked across the street from the Post Office at the central Longview city park for a few tests against the 55-300mm set at 55 and 100mm and f/4.  I have not compared the images yet, but images from the DA* have an oh-my factor that cannot be ignored.  Images do indeed look 'primal' even if just on the K-r rear screen at moderate zoom.  The DAL 55-300 is no slouch optically so side-by-side checks will be fun.

As to mass, the 50-135 is a fairly bulky lens, similar in length to the 55-300 but considerably thicker and more dense.  Larger and more pieces of glass will do that.  It's not so bad that it will stay behind on hikes, but it does have that 55-300 to compete with!  The lack of WR on my copy of the latter does suggest that the DA* is a fine choice for outdoor travels despite the extra 350 grams.

The real DA* benefit comes from this lens taking over the duties of all primes in the 50-135mm range, which is why the M85/2, M100/2.8, A100/4 macro and M150/3.5 have left the building (or will soon).  The A50/2 and M135/3.5 have no resale value (they go for $20-30 on most sites) so they will keep the K24/2.8 company in the classic-prime box.  One from each generation, how nice!

I'm contemplating a future where a 1.5x teleconverter makes this a longer f/4 lens; probably not the worst idea I've had.  Not yet though!!

the voice said"simplify."

And so I shall try.

A nice copy of the 18-200 Sigma caught my attention, a PGE lens I have known since 2009 in Quantaray disguise and Alpha mount.  It was essentially my only lens on the Sierra hike and allowed me to zoom in on coyotes across the valley.  At $120 it can replace every prime, though with far slower light collection; is that a really big deal right now though?  Later, yes - but not now.  For longer shots and to replace the outbound 100-300mm, I won a bid for yet another famous  PGE lens, the Pentax DA-L 55-300.  I also picked up  an old Sigma 50/2.8, a true 1:1 macro, with 'A' contacts; I bid lower than the asking price and despite crossing my fingers.. the seller said OK.  However this clinches it: no more bids or offers!  I lost two other bids over the past week - and I feel just fine about that!

*as noted before PGE = Plenty Good Enough*

The next step was contacting Adorama to offer a blockbuster trade of fairly fast primes and a few seldom-used zooms in K and NX mounts and my lone MD/NX hybrid, the Rexatar 200/3.3.  I shall miss several of these, but not enough to rend my garments.

So the Lucky 7 are

• 24, 50, 100 macro, and 135mm primes plus Hanimar 400mm for rare use
• 18-200 + 55-300 zooms 

Which 50mm lens is TBD, either the A50 f/2 or Sig50/2.8 macro.  That decision could also determine the fate of the 100mm 1:2 macro!  Two 18-55wr lenses are in storage with a second K-r body, for when my wife is ready to team up with a matched camera/lens pair.  The NX300 now has 16 and 30mm native primes - and an adapter for the K lenses.

In my dreams the simple kit would become 20-40Ltd, DA* 50-135 and that 55-300, with a 14-15mm prime for when 20mm won't do.  These would mount to a K-3 or perhaps a K-s2.  The alternate dream is a Samsung NX1, the 16+30mm tiny primes and their 50-150/2.8 S. If either dream comes true it must wait 6-9 months, perhaps even a year..we'll see.

happy ending for 55-300

though a bit sad for the white 18-55mm lens.

The DAL 55-300 arrived, and sure enough only the mount itself was broken in a couple of places - no contact-pin or aperture-lever issues at all.  I compared screw-points to other spare lenses, but Sigmas use fewer screws so the spacing was off - so that left the DAL 18-55 mount.  That's too bad as the white DAL was a fine match to the upcoming K-s1, but I have a WR version on my K-5 that makes it expendable.  I suppose it would be practical to swap my DA WR for a white DAL WR, if any K50 users are up for it; that would be pretty on the K-s1 yet functional on my K-5.  Takers, anyone?

After about a half hour of slow-motion detail work, I now have a fine copy (again) of the DAL 55-300 lens!  How nice.

p.s. I modified my K-s1 preorder to be a black body - far less effort than working in a white lens!

take a chance..

The one shaky area in my kit is/was the telezoom end.  I really like two lenses, the Quantaray 100-300 and the Pentax DA±L 55-300 - and I've owned each several times.  Why?  Well the Pentax lens has more range, faster aperture at tele (f/5.8 vs 6.7) and in some cases includes quick shift; the Q-ray is decently sharp, faster to focus, and both smaller and lighter.  Each has its merits, so I keep alternating.

I just found a mount-damaged DAL for $67.  We'll take the chance that it may be irreparably damaged but hopefully I can rip parts out of another lens for it.  At that price, and the approximately $30 net that I paid for the quantaray: why not own both? :^)

the gear list, part XVII, give or take X

As 2013 approaches (and the Mayan calendar panic recedes!) the gear list has earned another entry in the 'blog.  Much gear has been sacrificed for Limited primes and the K-01 bargain, but what remains is truly good stuff.  I can look back and miss a few items that have left the list, but overall regrets are few. For example, the K-01 and its focus peaking would have rendered the 50mm f/1.4 Sears lens much more usable - but the DA40 Limited that has taken its range is far too good for any regrets!

Bodies:

• K-5, still amazing after a year in my bag.  No real complaints, especially now that I have the next item with its focus peaking ability (yes more versatile video too, and some day I'll learn how to use it!).
• K-01 (white), great fun since early November.  It's definitely a different way to achieve similar goals, some better and some worse.  I find I can manage a few things I didn't think I'd ever be willing to try, which is seldom a bad thing.

Lenses, in approximate FL order:

• Sigma 15/2.8 fisheye: yes the DA15 would be smaller, but this has so many good things going for it that I have no complaints.  It's not all that large in any case, and it's faster, focuses closer and works with full-frame (film) cameras. Oh yes, often a bit cheaper too on the used market!  Great fun and very talented, and really not all that fishy for landscapes on an 16×24mm sensor.
• Pentax 18-55WR: when the weather outside is frightful, this will do nicely.  Yes the 18-135 has its place and I enjoyed some time with a good copy - but the price difference was enough for this lens and a DA40 Limited (oops, that came up out of order).
• SMC-A 24/2.8: I had once owned a Vivitar 24/2.0 but it was larger heavier and for some reason didn't resonate with me.  This one does just great, and colors are more correct than the Rikenon 28mm that I've enjoyed so much.  The 24mm also focuses closer and images are equally sharp by my my casual inspection.
• Pentax DA40/2.8 Limited - yes it's true what others say: absurdly small, absurdly talented and worth owning.  For many it's the first Limited because of its price; I got such a good deal that I cannot repeat it, and it's a real keeper even had I paid $100 more like most other owners.  Sharp in focus and smooth elsewhere, thanks to great optics and nine-blade aperture, and too small to justify leaving behind.
• Pentax DA 55-300: the perennial favorite telephoto lens for Pentaxians on a budget, whether financially or by weight.  Most owners and testers say it outperforms the many 70-300 zooms on the market, and other than some vignetting and not being f/2.8 it's hard to find much fault.  For 420 grams I'll take the speed penalty, especially with the sweet-16Mpxl sensors that I have in the K-5 and K-01.  When I need telephoto it's hard to need more than this.
• Pentax DA70/2.4 Limited - ditto at least, except that this one was not to be found cheaply.  It's still worth the price.  Something about this feels illegal, to be a bit telephoto yet tiny and fast - and let's not forget the nine aperture blades to make the images really snap.  Live and learn: Limiteds are worth having.
• Rikenon XR 70-150/4: when I put down my bid at auction I barely knew this lens existed.  It's been with me quite a while, relatively speaking, and other than its old-school lens coating it's a real marvel.  I don't recall seeing many 2-ring internal-zoom lenses in my 1980s film days but clearly a few were out there, and this one is smooth and sharp.  It's a bit dense and at 440 grams it's heavier than all but the 400mm - but fixed f/4 through the range, 52mm filter threads and a built-in shade are nice to have.  Optically it's of prime caliber and can sorta do close focusing in its 'macro' mode.  O What Fun!
• Promaster 100mm f/3.5 macro (AF): I had tried two other macros, and felt like Goldilocks.  The Tamron 90 was excellent but too bulky, the Sigma 50 excellent but I had to get sooo close for real macro images.  The Promaster only goes 1:2 on its own - but I have the original 'matched' multiplier to achieve 1:1 shots (which works fine with the Limiteds by the way), and it's well under half the size and weight of the Tamron.  This does very well for my mid-tele and macro work, and is another small wonder.  I've made it pretty clear that I like that in lenses!
• Hanimar 400/6.3: and then there's this thing.  A preset T-mount lens (with 16 aperture blades!) it's a curiosity that was handed to me by my father-in-law; for the price of a K-mount adapter any 400mm lens is hard to beat.  I need to use it more but it's done quite well on my few test outings.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

A few additional items have not yet left the building.
The Rikenon-P 28/2.8 has been a real gem, and I've enjoyed its time on the camera.  While the 24mm has crowded it a bit I still find occasional use for it; perhaps one day it will leave me, which I did not think I'd ever say aloud.  That's saying something about the SMC-A 24!  The SMC-M 50mm f/2 is very good but the DA40 takes its spot for nearly everything, and the Vivitar (Kobori) 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 is a fun one-touch zoom that the 24-40-70-100 primes have supplanted.

Compared to earlier times, that's not many lenses - but it's more than I can use at any one event that's certain.  Most events can go with perhaps two primes and a zoom, and seldom would more than four go anywhere with me.  A very comfortable kit.

Micro four-thirds:
On the non-Pentax side, we own two Lumix G1 cameras, two 14-42 OIS kit lenses and a 45-200 OIS zoom to share.  My wife really wants to learn about imaging, and having identically-spec'd cameras was how she wanted to learn.  These are decently talented micro/43 cameras with electronic viewfinders and flip screens, so very versatile.  I also have a basic adapter to allow the K-mount lenses with aperture rings to work as well, though no stabilization in that case.  I must try the 400mm Hanimar on the G1 soon!!

Software:
 I now own Elements 10 and Premiere 10, having upgraded from 9.  Not usually worth taking a single step up, but I didn't have Premiere before this, and the package price was very good - and since I now have the K-01 I might do some video work.  Some day.
Plugins for the above include NeatImage for noise reduction, SmartCurve for lighting adjustments and ReDynamix for gentle redistribution of dynamic lighting without all the HDR effort. I also use Picasa software for the easy changes and quick text additions.  That'll do for now.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Update March '13

Add a Pentax Q to the list with its standard 02 zoom, and yet another SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 - I had one just a few months ago, but that was before the K-01 made faster lenses practical thanks to focus peaking.  This one cost about half the other's price too - bargains get to me like that!  It will get used when light is really scarce, otherwise the DA40/70 team will crowd it.  
The Q does not have a PK adapter... yet... so expect another update when I break down at last.

April update - subtract a G-1, add a DA 50-200WR to the mix.

that was fun!

All that driving for a dumb picture?

Well not exactly.

---

The weekend of May 20th had several things going for it.  On a personal level it was the seventh anniversary of my first date with my future wife.  Yes the Republic fell and the Empire was established, and Darth Vader was encased in black plastic.. pretty sad overall, but we consider it a nice evening anyway.  We chose to travel on the 20th to commemorate that date and our 5th wedding anniversary; that happened in January but we were forced to delay our party.  To make it worth heading south there was the annular solar eclipse cruising past Oregon on its way to Texas.  These are not the stunners that total eclipses are, with the prominences and huge corona blazing in a starry sky, but they are worth seeing anyway (if you have filters to protect your vision!).

So off we went.  This event also came close to cancellation, as we intended to go Saturday for a far more leisurely ramble toward totality - but instead we dashed down Sunday, arriving at a suitable site with about 10 minutes to spare.  I brought three cameras - the Lumix G1 and 45-200mm lens got the tripod, the K-5 and various lenses was in hand for versatility, and a film camera was used for the occasional shot, the first film I've exposed in about a decade.  Overkill most likely, but if you own them why not use them?

We made a cheap pinhole camera to use when cameras had the filters attached, then popped the filters on the binocs for the big views - or just held the filters to our eyes and saw the action unfold in natural scale. Several groups of clouds threatened to intervene but they passed above the sun instead, so we had very little atmospheric interference with the show. The sky faded toward twilight yet visibility remained great; impressive how less than 10 percent of the sun can still provide that much light! The wind faded to nothing during the eclipse, where it had been brisk and gusty in the afternoon heat. Shadows looked decidedly weird, a feature I remember from 1979's total eclipse that a few of us viewed from near Mt. Hood. And then the moon caught the far edge of the sun, and the event was essentially over. We packed up slowly and drove back into thick mid-level clouds, which brought the solar show to an ignominious end.

It should be noted that my film experience was not great, and makes digital imaging feel so much more 'right' now.  I bought batteries for three film bodies, only to find that the 'best' of them (Pentax ME 'SE') had drained them overnight; apparently it was not set to Lock and that's bad.  The second ME body was not closing convincingly, so the film could fog at a very bad time - so I stole its batteries and put them in the SE body.  Since that had drained the other batteries I wasn't sure of that - so this left the Ricoh XR-10 as my safest bet.  That camera came through but it was an awkward fit since I did not get to read any instructions first!  The film took almost $10 to process and the drug store failed to print most of the eclipse shots.. guess the computer figured they were blank and decided not to print!  I will try that SE in the near future.. maybe it can catch the Venus transit?  p.s. it sure is weird not seeing the captured image on the back of old film cameras.. :^)

the updated kit - today's version :^)

A week after speculating on missing gear I have a 15mm. A month after seeking and finding a 35-70 lens for my manual-focus kit I have my favorite 28-105 again. When does it end? Obviously about two weeks after I'm dead, since I could go suddenly after placing a bid.

 So am I happy? Well, I'm a naturally happy guy so that doesn't quite fit - but I am satisfied, which is the equivalent in gear-lust terms.  The lenses in my possession only lacks a super-zoom and for now that's OK; the K-5 is a camera that still leaves too little missing to cause me any concern.

•  Today's AF kit: Sigma EX15, Pentax DA18-55, EX/DG50 macro, DA55-300. 
• The MF lightweight kit: Rikenon 28P, 35-70P, 70-150XR. 
• The MF 2-lens (or video) kit: Vivitar(Kobori) 28-105 and 70-150XR. 
• The alternate kit: Lumix G1, 14-42 and 45-200 OIS zooms.
• The full-frame-sensor kit? 15, 28, 50 primes, 28-105 and 70-150 zooms!

Good stuff all, and plenty of time to learn it all (assuming  I do not go suddenly!).  And now the film bodies, which now consists of two Pentax MEs and two Ricohs (XR-10 and KR5 super).  The Vivitar 28-105 came with a leather-wrapped ME 'SE', a special edition with diagonal split-image focusing screen.  Pretty cool, and now my lead body for the rare use of film.  I really want to learn more about the XR-10 that came with the 35-70 Rikenon though, it shows some interesting features from the early days of electronic cameras.  I need to download a manual so I can brush up, and to figure out what the button near the lens-mount does!

more coming soon ..

Why I like the DA 55300.. and the Rikenon 70-150

This image was taken with the DA 55-300mm lens (150mm f/5 -1/250s, iso3200). It was also shot with the Rikenon-XR 70-150 (150mm, f/4 -1/125s, iso1600). They are shown below - though not necessarily in that order.

•  The Rikenon was focused through the VF, so no precise live-view focusing aid. It was also taken in Av mode so exposure was set with the wide-open lens. SR was set at 150mm. 
•  The DA lens focused itself and found f/5 to be its wide-open choice. It also was in Av mode.  

These were not shot as controlled images and I could have done much better for making them both sharper and closer to identical (e.g. fixed ISO and a tripod). They are also substantially cropped to show the area of most-critical detail; crops were in the same portion of the image field, I didn't cheat and put one on the frame's edge!  So they are not intended to be rigorous, simply what-if one-off hand-held shots to see how they compared. Aren't hyphens fun?  Let's face it: I do not spend my life going around taking test shots; I will grab the camera and get the shot on the fly, and that's what I want to test.  Both used center-weight metering so that matched well - though at f/5 vs f/4 I expected the DA image to be a bit darker.

Given all that, I can only say they compare quite well. In both cases, great isolation on the lonely seed-case, nice background blur, and decent branch detail. A slight color shift, no surprise even with flat grey lighting, as 20 years has seen great changes in lens coatings. Hard to pretend you cannot see which image is which; ISO3200 is great with the K-5 but it isn't an invisible process.

my new lucky number? Fives are everywhere!

This month I will turn 55, and I plan to celebrate appropriately by picking up a Pentax K-5.  It will make use of both DA 18-55wr and 55-300 lenses, and I will keep the Fuji F550 as my pocket shooter.  And anniversary #5 is also this month!  Almost like a trend or something..

welcome back my friends..

I admit it - despite two failed attempts to really like the Pentax 55-300 zoom, I was hunting again. I owned both DA and DAL versions at one point with my K-7. The DAL went a-swapping for a weather-sealed 50-200, and the DA left during the budget crisis that ultimately cost me the K-7 as well. Now I've retrenched with the k-x and find that the better high-ISO performance allows this long zoom to have a better chance to yield blur-free images.
I didn't need this lens badly, so I let a few deals slip away, primarily on the DAL (optically identical but with a few less bonus features). But at last I stumbled into an offer I dared not refuse - so a 'like new' DAL is on its way, and the Sigma 100-300 will move on to cheer up someone else. The 100-300 is a better lens than I had expected, but pulling back to 55mm is a great feature - and f/5.8 beats 6.7 for those hi-zoom lo-light images I persistently try to capture. At least I now have iso5000 available in a pinch!

I find it ironic that my two original favorite lenses are back in the stable. The DA16-45 really caught my eye when I migrated from Alpha gear, and teaming it with the 55-300 and a 50 prime seemed perfect. The K-7 led me in other directions (mostly weather-sealed ones) but the k-x has turned me around. Thankfully the wheeling and dealing was a draw financially, so I'm happy to be back with this pair.