A great team: K-7 and DA16-45

 

This is a default jpg with nice contrasts. I had hoped to get the deep red foliage and spiky spruce, but the detail in the spruce branch was a surprise. Now I know the difference between 10 and 14 megapixels: my previous camera would not have hit me like this, and it had some excellent Minolta glass on it. I'm really impressed at how this turned out!

So it begins.. er, resumes!

I shot screw-mount SLRs from 1974-82 before shifting to Pentax' PK-mount gear.  In my heyday I had several lenses, the best were my M24-50 f/4, M40/2.8 and an off-brand 24mm - but I was tiring of such large cameras and fell prey to the compact craze.  My first try with a Pentax 35mm compact showed soft and badly-vignetted corners, so off I went into digital compact cameras. After stints with a Kodak LS443, Lumix LC40 and Casio's P505 (still with me), I realized that what I wanted to create couldn't be done with little cameras, so I began my search.

I tried to like Pentax again (still had the 40mm pancake lens!) but the K100D/110D were not quite for me.  I finally settled on Sony's A200 as a fine intro to dSLR cameras.  It served me well for two years, but Sony was marketing to other people than me in 2010 with NEX, the 5-series and other diversions that led me nowhere.  Their A700 was nearly gone, and its larger size was too much to overlook despite the excellent features.

I looked over my shoulder at Pentax again, picking up a refurb K100d and a 55-200 Sigma plus some manual PK lenses.  This was a temporary camera, as my sights were set on the K-7 whose features were very similar to the A700 but in an A200-size body. When the eb/pp cashback program's demise was announced I panicked :^) and looked further into K-7 prices.  In mid-June the price net of cashback too good to resist.. so I didn't!

So today's kit consists of K-7 (with K100d backup), DA16-45 (another cashback steal), Sigma 55-200 and PK primes (SMC-A 50/2, Chinon 28/2.8, Rikenon 135/2.8).  I now have a K1000 body with Rikenon 28-100P to play with as well, a huge and heavy (605g) beast of a lens with great optics but a tired body (some play in the rings even after tightening some screws).

Here's a shot with the 50mm at f/2.5 - not perfect focus, but great effect and color.  It's nice to be 'home' again with Pentax gear.

summer's end

The weather has finally decided to change from summer to autumn here in the NW USA. What an amazing year we've had, a winter with as much snow as I've seen in my 50 years here (including Christmas, at last) followed by a record number of days at or above 90°. We could still reach 80° into October, but for now it's rain showers and perhaps snow above 5000' in the mountains. A change is in order, and I've always enjoyed the weak sun of October.. not to mention the great colors coming soon!

a full summer wanes..

This summer's vacations were packed together tightly - a little too much so for my tastes.

 
Four camp trips in a month, each with decidedly different styles, gear and weather. First off was a family camp with the tent-trailer, a reasonably normal event even though I had to set up then return to work for ½ day! We returned home to pack for the big 2-in-1 trip after that, taking a full-size tent for the next weekend and backpack gear for the following week. This trip started with record heat and thunderstorms, but in Yosemite NP devolved into snow-pellets and driving winds that cut our hike short and sent us out by another path (Buckeye Creek, image above). Returning home through the amazing Crater Lake park, we then geared up yet again for the Oregon Star Party, taking the tent-trailer and as much astronomy gear as could fit into our car. It was an exhausting five days of hot weather (again) and clear nights, meaning up all night and poor daytime naps. By week's end we were back into cooler weather but our exhaustion from the combined trips had caught up to us. Next year we'll plan things a bit differently.. I think!

summer's best images here!

Hard Times and Good Deals

It's sad to see so many companies disappearing in my lifetime, let alone in two years. My folks likely had such times, but never in mine. While Ritz isn't going the way of Circuit City, their closing of several branches has made some camera gear available at very low prices. I visited the one nearby shop that will close about a month ago, and they had nothing noteworthy for a Sony/Minolta dSLR. Last week I stopped in again - and only Sony and Pentax lenses were still in stock! I left the 70-300 on the shelf but picked up an 18-200 and a 28-90 'macro' lens for less than $160 combined. That will probably force me to shuffle my lineup a bit, but in the end money will go back into my bank account with these bargains - that's pretty rare for me in the camera biz! Let's face it, a new lens is like Christmas even if it's similar to something you already have. I hope to learn a few things about the 18-200 over the holiday weekend, and post shots to Picasa soon.

Tossing in some images on May 17

 

A group of imagers at DPReview chose Sunday as the day for everyone to submit images. It turned out I was homebound for most of the day, so here's a collage of images from my yard. Most of them were with the Tamron SP14, but two with the 18-250 are in here too.

Going wide: Tamron's 14mm/2.8

 

Well, after a lot of online and off-line shopping for a sub-18mm lens, a deal finally came to me. CameraWorld lowered the price on the Tamron SP 14mm f/2.8 into my budget. I had looked at this lens before and been impressed, though I wish it were lighter; for the price I paid I can manage the weight. My first tests show a touch of back focus when up close in low light, so I need to watch out for that - and the extreme field of view can catch flares off the sun at surprising angles. In any case, it's very well put together and will capture some unique views.

Larry's party!

 
A small crowd of well-wishers gathered at Silcox Hut, high above timberline on Mt. Hood, for my brother's birthday-party. My wife could not attend, and the car would be needed early the next day, so I stayed until bedtime and caught a snow-cat ride to the car (which had 4" of fresh snow to scrape off!). The sky failed me both on arrival and departure, thwarting my plan to snowshoe to and from the hut - but skies cleared while I was there, allowing for some fine imaging opportunities. I didn't get back until after 1AM, but it was great.

Images here!