moving up and settling down

I owned a K-50 last year, but only briefly.  I was shifting from the K-5 setup to a newer but less complex body style, and I missed the K-5 features that I could control on the body (e.g. metering mode).  While the Info screen makes it a pretty easy change I couldn't get comfortable.. and soon I moved on.


This time around I'm coming off a few months of K-r and K-s1 experience before picking up a red-hot K-50.  The K-s1 is definitely a step ahead for many features, but the ergonomics are no improvement.  Its selling point is compactness - and less buttons is generally good when you have fewer places to put them!

The K-r was a classic K-5 feature set in a body with fewer external controls - and really so is the K-50.  So this time I'm moving forward in the same 'enthusiast' category instead of down from a higher grade of body.  Therefore it's no surprise it feels like I'm taking a step forward in pretty much every way.  I have my weather seals back, and an AFs / AFc setting on the body - a feature I really liked even though the latest Pentax bodies have removed it!

It's funny how the same camera can feel so very different depending on where you've been in the recent past! And oh my is it red.  Curiously that depends very much on the image one sees, and the settings used on the camera that shot it.  White balance, exposure, Custom Image setting all do their part, so online images show everything from an orange-red to a deep crimson.  If it looks like the image above, I'll be quite pleased.. but please don't be orange-red!

out with the black, in with the red

The latest postal estimates say the red K-50 should arrive this weekend, along with batteries and charger (in this case, sold separately).  I bumped into a Wanted post online for a K-r or newer camera - hmmm just what was I going to do with that black K-r body once the K-50 arrives?  After a few quick messages the K-r is off to Canada!  It was an amazing deal when I bought it, so the savings went along as well.  Everybody wins!

The healthy DAL 18-55 will travel with the camera, and the white one with broken mount should probably be disposed of.  Just maybe though.. some parts might be worth keeping in case of trouble.

Other sales (of things that I was actually trying to sell!) have been slow.  The K24 has departed but the M100/2.8 remains.*  I won a bid I don't remember placing on an smc.A50/1.7 with 2x teleconverter for about $16, and the lens is in great shape.  Some day I'll get around to trying the TC as well..

* no sooner said then gone: the M100 sale is imminent SOLD!
Today's gear = Q, A50, DAL55-300 and a few manual-focus zooms.
Coming soon = K50, 18-55wr
Coming later = G7, 14-42 then Sam7.5, Tok300 and a Lumix telezoom.

seeking a missing mind (+ tech rants)

As I began to pack up the now-sold K-s1 camera this weekend, I felt it was going to be an easy process.  When the camera arrived I deliberately removed the camera and battery, and nothing else.  I had a charger and a spare battery from the K-r already available, and I hadn't read a Pentax manual in years.  How convenient to keep everything in its place where it would be easy to find, or re-pack!

.. and then, apparently, I blacked out.

So I pulled down the as-new K-S1 box, opened it and - it's pretty much empty.  No charger, no manual, not even the strap.  Why would this be?!?  Looking back on it I strongly suspect that the manual was packed with other tech gear for the Oregon Star Party.  So I toured the big garage, the travel trailer, and every known box with astronomy or photo gear I could find.  I even went to the other garage to look in the computer section, just in case.  Nothing, neither clue nor trail.  Inside the house I opened every camera bag, every sports bag, every suitcase - again, no sign at all.  The fact that we didn't make the star-party trip (for the sixth straight year) did not help, as everything sat in boxes for a while before being emptied; I don't even recall what I had packed my camera gear into (box, bag or camera pack) so the trail was old, and cold.  Even if the original Pentax charger was packed to come along (unlikely) and the manual added for light daytime reading: why is the strap missing?  Also curious is the missing Pentax original battery; all I have now is two generic ones.  I'm frustrated beyond words, and even gestures aren't helping.

And I shall barely mention the Android tablet, now missing for two weeks (cheap replacement coming), the 3-month-old Windows tabputer that suddenly cannot do WiFi, or the fact that Android phones that had such strong signals in the house now cannot reliably make a call from anywhere on our property!
Tech sucks.

So out the door goes my spare batteries, my best charger - and out the window go a few more brain cells which I won't even miss.  The K-s2 just got a bit more expensive since much of that will need replacing at some point.  Drat.

mind flash!  I suspect the K-s1 charger went out with the K-r that I sold last month!
this would not explain the strap or owners guide though..


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10/12 update
While my mind went blank on camera gear, other tech items have also been quite decisively frustrating in the recent two weeks.

Tablet #1: I've been using an ASUS 7HD for a year or two with fine success.  Until recently of course, when it began to reboot or lock up quite frequently.  That's too bad as for the most part I really like the little thing for the basics: web, e-reading, quick updates to small spreadsheets and e-mail.  Given all its hiccups I wiped and restored it, then set about re-adding most of the apps.  For a week or two it was happy, then for two weeks or so it was rebooting again.  And now, for the past 10 days it is AWOL.  I know it was going out to the car to provide data for something, but it's not in the car, or the house, or anywhere I can think of.  Sure it's vanished for a day or two before but this is frustrating..

Tablet #2: While the 7" screen of tablet #1 has been nice, there were times it wasn't quite nice enough.  I bought an early model ASUS TransformerBook on clearance in town and I wanted to see how it would do as replacement for both tablet and laptop .  It came with Windows 8.1 which I bumped up to Win 10, and added Office 2010 to it - and the thing performs just fine. 
Well, it did for a while.
First off it's too big as a tablet.  The back is too smooth to hold easily, and covers for the T100 model are almost impossible to find.  Once snapped on to its keyboard it's a viable option, but definitely not a clean exchange for the 7HD.
And now it's dead too.  Not literally, just the WiFi part - so indeed pretty much literally.  It wavered a time or two but rebooting would bring the connection back up.. but those days passed about the same time the 7HD disappeared.  
Clearly a tech dark cloud has descended on our household (more on that later).

Cell phones #1-4: We are now both running iPhone 4s bodies.  My wife really likes the concept but has not done much executing, so that's a clear victory.  For myself though I prefer the Android ways of doing things.  Yes I'm up to iOS 9.0.x on my copy and it does fine, but some features just bug me since I know how easy they are on the 'droids.  So over the past two weeks I've been popping between my 4s, the 4.5" Android I had bought (and liked) for myself, and even the 5" galaxy-clone that I'd picked up for my wife before we had the iTalk.
That should have resulted in two happy people, not in lock-step with our phones but each doing what they like a phone to do best.  Only mine doesn't actually make calls any more.  That's odd since our Androids had a very good signal a year ago when we moved here, and before the iInvasion I could make a call from any room but one or two.  Now they are all flaky, even the porch outside gives me no clear signal.  Yes, that tech cloud again - somehow wreaking havoc with cell signals and WiFi tablet signals.  Bizarre.

And so here's our status:

• Two iPhone 4s are in action: for now I surrender on this front!

• I'll be calling ASUS about the Transformer soon, to see what can be done there.  In the end though,

  

  from tabletmonkeys site - cool name!

  neither is quite the answer I had quite hoped for.  Like Goldilocks I have ordered the 'just right' middle option: a new/other Lenovo 8" Android tablet.  My mind apparently is more compatible with Android than Win 10 or iOS 9, and the extra bit of real estate will help with reading, the size of my virtual keyboard and general visiblilty - while still keeping battery life pretty high.  I still like ASUS products but one reboots and one broke down, so trying another company isn't a bad idea.  Furthermore ASUS now has their ZEN UI that is obviously amazing - another layer of stuff atop Android may not be me-compatible though so I shall just say no.  I had considered (even ordered) a lower-spec bargain but these are old enough to be a low price with decent screen and chipset, so it will arrive in a few days to try out.

As always, WSS about how this turns out.  Hopefully I'll like my porridge, bed and 8-inch tablet!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10/14 update

Yet another bizarre turn or two in my tech world! 

• On Tuesday while dropping by my mailbox I encountered no mail - but my 7" tablet was resting atop the box in a large ziploc bag.  I know of no one in my neighborhood that knew this to be mine - but somehow it has returned.  However, it refuses to power up and removing the gel cover revealed plenty of water.  Something tells me it sat outside during our recent ¼-inch rainstorm.  It's been missing for over a week, so a heavy dew-fall or two would have done similar damage.  So the tablet is visible, but dead: long live the next tablet!  

•  Closely related topic: USPS site says the 8" tablet arrives Thursday, but eBay says Monday - so I expect it will arrive neither day, and probably Saturday.*  Why have online ship estimates been getting worse recently?  It's been a while since a package reached me 'on time', but the disagreement is four USPS work days!  Yet another reason to wonder why I spend so much time at the computer pretending that I will learn something useful.

• And now the iPhone is being stubborn about making calls in our home, just like the recent Androids!  the 4s is also more annoying when a call fails, beeping thrice loudly in my headset. It seems pretty clear that a cell tower has moved, or several trees have grown just enough to be troublesome.  And so I return to the 4.5" Android with all its little eccentricities that I prefer over Apple's little eccentricities..

* Wonder of wonders - the USPS site was correct, and the 8" tablet is Out For Delivery.  Impressive 1-day flight from Florida to Portland, guess they weren't served drinks!

And then, this -

Clearly this ongoing chat about tech could happen to anyone, and a daily update on tech woes isn't my plan for this place.  I am therfore crushing the last three posts into one to avoid cluttering the blog with such talk.

Cameras are up next - honest!

excuse me - but Two?

The second K-r body arrived on my door-step today.  For a total of $118 I have two bodies in like-new condition with a total of 130 shutter actuations.  This for a four-year-old design with minimal video abilities and a HOYA label on the bottom?!?

Well yes, that's what I did.  At those prices, why not?  How much can I complain about in this case, and what do I lose if something goes awry?  I have the K-5 interface that I know very well (give or take a few items like the 3-way AF switch).  I regain interval timing which the K200 and NX300 lack.  I can go to ISO4000 at 12Mpx - yes the Samsung can do it at 20 but I don't seem to shoot many poster-size prints.  And I have a small camera that natively takes K lenses and stabilizes them.  What am I to regret here?

 Lórien wants a small but talented camera, and one for each of us; the Pentax Q was a good option and nx300 even better, but this saves cash, uses common lenses and is mighty small!  I guess I could find her a 40mm XS for the ultimate minimal dSLR.. some day

OK, my one regret is that they're both black.  But wait: for about $25 I can find a parted-out body and steal its baseplate (or top, front or back cover)!  I can pretend it's a K-2S with black body and red or white bottom plate.  Whoopee?

Cheap thrills abound.

p.s. looking at the camera on the right, you see why the K24 lens was sold in Ugly condition..Image taken with the A50/2.8 macro, glad it's back :~)

hooked on ergonomics

Each camera system has its vital features (if you like them) or quirks (if they aren't your type).  I like the Samsung nx300 for many things (including its compact size!) but the small and talented K-r is reminding me about many Pentax features that I really like.

High on that list is shoot/play/±, the sequence that turns a jpeg shot into a raw file after the fact.  This saves me a lot of switching to raw in advance or using raw+jpeg mode when doing casual imaging.  Most of my shots have no future on a wall so jpeg is fine, but many have lighting or color issues that might make a difference - and raw can make that image show its full potential.  Massively handy!  Also cool is the in-camera processing, which I often use to crop, re-tint or convert to monochrome/IR simulation for dramatic cloud images.  It's really nice to use the buffer in such creative ways!  Similar things can be done with many other cameras including the nx300, but I find that for no clear reason it suits me better on Pentax bodies.

Yes the K-r shows its age in many ways, like 720p no AF video.  I've now experienced the joy of fullHD auto-focus videos..and find it seldom convinces me to shoot more of them.  Pentax has said in the past that video is not a priority to them, and it seems they had me in mind!  I like the NX1 concept whereby 8MB images can be extracted from their  4k video - but that's a future item for me.  As of today (around noon) I'm more than satisfied with the K-r/K-5 ergonomics, lesser video data and the OVF/Live combo set.

This week will reveal a K-3ii model, it seems - leakers have an image, forum members have dreams.  Apparently a different sensor (whether denser or just updates) is vaguely confirmed, the prism hump is different (AF? WiFi?) and who knows after that?  Time will definitely tell.

comeback flashback

As much as I've enjoyed using the NX300, many times even with fast glass I find blurry/shaky results.  "Everybody" talks about how a bulky camera is great for removing such issues -- but I believe SR/SSS/younameit stabilization works even better.  I'm a fan of small cameras, and sadly most companies believe focus-group studies (those "everybodies") that bulky cameras convey status so better features almost require a big body for credibility.  Too bad for me.. more or less.

Pentax introduced the K-S1 in part to show that a small camera can be very talented; the reviews focused on "disco lights" and "flashing LEDs" and o by the way, great images.  I liked the concept so much that I preordered a white one -no blue, no black!!  Then a budget contraction hit, I pulled out, and soon the fashion police disguised as camera reviewers came out swinging.  The K-S1 now has a very conventional sibling, and everyone loves and wants a K-S2. (No this is a different "Everyone", it's everyone else!)  Amazing.

And yet some strong logic is at work here.  The K-S1 can do great stuff, but for reasons unknown many common camera functions & features were left out - like image rotation, which has been commonplace for at least five years.  Weather seals are also absent, OK by me but I need at least one wet-weather body - so the K200d will do.

While seeking deals in the vastness of eBay I encountered a dumping of Colorado K-x and K-r bodies.  These presumably are coming from people who bought quantities of spares from the former Pentax Authorized repair shop that was recently de-Authorized.  Still at $20 more or less, why not drop a bid?  Soon I had my second K-r in my hands.

I had owned one of these in the awful, no-win time between the amazing/groundbreaking K-x and the overwhelmingly impressive K-5.  It was a very nice camera surrounded by amazing siblings, so it felt less good than I'd hoped.  Yes it had a loud shutter, part machine gun and part guillotine.. wonder in what other ways I despised it?  
Wow, such a biased and narrow-minded camera user am I..

Interesting to note that the K-r is almost identical in size to the K-s1.  Yes many new features are absent - no 20Mpx sensor with variable AA filter here.  However, the 12Mpxl sensor is excellent, and items like image rotation are back.  And I paid $28 for a camera with just over fifty actuations on its 100000-shot shutter.   Hopefully it will keep working; I have not tried every feature to ensure its full functionality.  If what works now keeps working though, I still made an absurdly good investment.

 Wow?  Indeed wow.  I'm watching for another one, so L and I can have a matched set!

..so what about the Pentax kit?

Recent posts have been all about the F550, but the K200d is still around. My Pentax kit of the recent past has mutated faster than .. well no analogy comes to mind, it's been that bad. Why is that? Long story..

The past two years have seen great chaos in our personal life, and it's been reflected in my camera gear. In early 2010 my Sony A200 and some Minolta lenses ruled, and our health was under control. I switched over to Pentax as a trial run, picking up a refurb K100d - and I liked it. About a month later my dream camera, the K-7, went on sale for a record-low price (back in the cashback days of yore) - exit K100, enter K-7. About that time my bride started experiencing strange medical symptoms and visiting specialists, but things felt like they were under control. While that was going on, however, I was learning the K-7 was not a great fit for me; it's very much a right-eye camera and I've been a left-eye VF viewer since the mid-70s.

After Thanksgiving 2010, medical issues became a big thing - therefore medical bills did too. Given my ambivalence toward the K-7 and our tightening belt, I let it go along with several nice lenses and picked up a K200d. It worked very well for me, though its low-light limitations were apparent.  After a few months my wife's condition stabilized, which allowed me to look around for fresher options. At that point I found a barely-used k-x and grabbed it: farewell K200d (and strong weather resistance..).  In too short a time I found a great deal on the k-r; I let the k-x go, a move I would later regret as the k-x fit my hands a smidge better for equal image quality. Although I was limiting myself to $50 bids on auction sites (most of the time), it's amazing just how many lenses $50 could buy in a tight economy - so the lens collection got large rather swiftly.

Then the medical issues returned with a vengeance, demanding fresh budget cuts - so farewell to almost all my PK gear, and welcome back to another gently-used K200d and kit lenses. A couple of bargain primes and a Rikenon zoom remained, but the kit is much smaller. And that's where I stand today, waiting a clearer medical signal & keeping a low profile on auction sites.

I reluctantly stretched the budget a bit when I found the F550exr for $175, as I knew that was about $80 below its typical price. I even tried to cancel the order, but it came - and now I'm glad I have it. The budget flexed that far but no further. Maybe in six months the budget will allow me to dream again.. but maybe not.

As to my next Pentax?  Right now, that's a tough one. The obvious choice is the K-5, but my re-training to a right-eye shooter is still a work in progress. What I would choose above all is a weather-sealed k-x, or put another way a K200d with the 12Mpixel k-r sensor. Perhaps Ricoh/Pentax will choose to offer a sealed camera below the K-5, but I would not bet on that happening. Many Pentax users have asked for this (and a WR version of the 55-300!) but Hoya/Pentax was not interested. In the meantime the k200d will serve me well.

turnovers part II

If you go back to my March post you'll see how I sold my K-7 and 18-135 to improve the household budget. I settled in with a k200d and was satisfied.. for a while. The budget crunch eased a bit, a like-new k-x became available - and off I went again. The k-x became a k-r, and several lenses came swiftly. Some were bargains, others simply irresistible - but the result was too many lenses, especially considering that family health issues kept us from traveling to photogenic places. I took some great shots of the yard and my bike commutes to work.. but any camera could do such things justice.

Those medical bills have tightened our belts again, so here I am in a familiar spot - out with the new, in with another k200d! Other than a WR 18-55 (maybe next paycheck?) I have most focal lengths covered, and a few elder primes remain from the sell-off. To some degree I'm settling for old gear - but the k200d is an impressive camera, and while not a low-light champ the 10Mpixel sensor will meet my needs (like it did when its twin sat in my A200). It's also weather resistant, which is almost always a good thing here in the Pacific NW.

Looking back on my previous images with the k200d (like the one above), I see good images and memories of less stressful times. I'm looking forward to tacking many more images under the k200d banner!