salve for my disappointment

Several new Pentax products have been announced for the CP+ trade show: a 1.7x teleconverter, some medium-format updates, compact cameras (now labeled Ricoh not Pentax, as expected).  No 17-85± or 130-380± zooms - although a new 70-200± was placed on the list of future items.  I had hoped that one or two future lenses would become imminent ones.

Given no 17-85 option is forthcoming, I have picked up another copy of the DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 - my third.   Recent shots in snowstorms demonstrated the value of a wider weather-friendly zoom, and since I really don't want to change lenses at ~50mm any more this is the answer for now (i.e. this coming week).  It's not that it's a poor lens, but shooting at the long end revealed color fringing beyond my tolerance, and my unwillingness to engage the in-cam corrections led to many results that left me dissatisfied.  If I stop before 100mm and stop down more at the long end, this should be satisfactory.


I have felt that the 18-135 lens has been overpriced since its inception, but this used copy was 'properly' priced at about 3x the 18-55WR.  Quiet, WR and good range; just remember to go to f/8 above 80mm and you'll love it, I keep telling myself.  It's the doing that matters though!

no way I need this: Quantaray 28-70 f/2.8-4

While I am quite happy with my 21-40-70-105mm prime set, some days a zoom fits best.  Those are days when the image isn't known until it's known, or lens changes aren't what I choose to do - lazy days, I guess.  Even so, just tossing any lens on the camera isn't the answer either; too much lost quality or light grasp isn't a good thing!  So I'd been looking over the midrange options, and wondering...

The ~28-70mm lens range has been popular for decades, especially in the film days.  With aps-c it's more like 40-100 which is not much for wide angle, but for urban shooting I haven't found much need to go wide and pull in power lines, traffic and such.  Most of the lenses in this range are either indifferent or built for full-frame digital at f/2.8 throughout, and those are heavy and expensive - not what I'm seeking right now, but a nice idea.  Choices would be the Sigma 28-70 (replaced by the 24-70), the Tamron 28-75 and little else.  Looking into older models I find things like I already have, the Quantaray/Sigma 28-90mm macro - nice but f/3.5-5.6 which is OK but not great.  Anything else?

Hmm, Sigma once made a 28-70mm f/2.8-4.0 in both manual (UC) and autofocus (DG).  The lens looks pleasantly small, though reviews are rather mixed - especially for the UC model.  I found one online and put in a fair bid for the Quantaray variant, thinking DG - but I confused a screw-head with the AF drive pin, so in fact I bid a bit high for the UC model.  The price didn't go that high, so for $35 I picked up an indifferent lens that was bound to fall short of my 28-90.  Drat.

Drat?  Hmm first tests look quite good in fact!  The K-5ii does not drop from f/2.8 in the readout screen, but blank-wall tests show this is f/2.8 to nearly 40mm, f/3.2 to 50mm - much better than I expected and substantially faster than the 28-90.  Yes it's manual focus but with a bright lens that's not a huge deal, and leaving AF enabled allows the AF points to light up when I get to focus.  So much for regret: another $35 bargain lens joins the collection, and the DA21 plus this will cover a lot of focal length!

two pancakes, one crêpe

Many have extolled the virtue of the Pentax DA pancakes: 21mm, 40mm and 70mm Limited primes that serve very well and are tiny to boot.  At one time I owned the DA40 and 70 at once, and I liked them very much but the budget demanded a sacrifice.  I later picked up the DA21 so my lifetime triple was complete!

Now I have picked up a new 40mm - not the DA Limited but the XS model that came with the K-01.  If the others are pancake lenses, this is surely a crêpe as it's substantially thinner.  It loses quick shift but is optically the same excellent lens; I look forward to using it to replace my lens cap! :^)  Actually the lens-cap for this is about the size of a rubber quarter, so hopefully I shall be able to keep track of it.

The fourth prime is a Sigma 105mm macro, which is larger and heavier than these three combined.  Hopefully I can justify carrying such a 'beast' now and then!

200th post, this better be good!

Well one can dream :^) 

It's new, and it's green! 

The ASUS HD 7 tablet is here! For one who only uses Android on a phone it's quite an update (for iPad users, not) - larger screen, decent resolution + faster updating, and a newer Android version (4.2.?? rutabaga soufflè or some such). I picked the green, which is almost chartreuse but on the green side; presumably it will be hard to misplace, though once a cover goes 'round it matters not. Now I can waste time in any room I please, and not have to rush to the 'office' to look at something stupid or irrelevant online. Yes I do occasionally do something productive on computers, like lots of research on which tablet to buy :^)

Pentax kit update

Maybe this time my list will last more than two weeks - though rumors are floating now of the 18-70 DA DC WR ETC update.  It was once a DA* 16-85, then DA no*, now of lesser range though decently fast.  I would prefer a 17-85 f/3.5-4.5 DA DC WR myself but we'll see how rumors settle out during the coming weeks.  If this can be had for substantially less than the DA 20-40 DC WR LTD then I am probably in.  I dislike having a lens that stops around 50mm!

Primes: Rokinon 8 fisheye - Pentaxi DA21 Ltd, DA40xs, DA70 Ltd - Sigma 105 1:1 macro - Hanimar 400mm preset
Zooms: DA L 18-55 (white), Quantarays 28-90 1:2 macro & 100-300 (both full frame), Pentax DA WR 50-200

so many ways to play

So assume you have a couple of lenses you like, and some you don't.  An easy assumption since nearly every camera user will invent reasons to rework the kit, sometimes on a mere whim or rumor! In any case, how does one go about rearranging the kit, and find true imaging happiness?

Wide/Normal
I have a few great primes in the DA21 and DA70 Limiteds plus a nice Sigma 105mm macro.  I can stick a prime in between the Limiteds (35 or 40mm?), or choose the new 20-40mm Limited zoom and release the DA21 back into the wild.  Another option is a 17-50mm f/2.8, which would go nicely with the 70 and 105.  I could also abandon Pentax and pick a Sigma or Tamron 28-70 or 28-75 zoom at f/2.8, which could send the DA70 packing¹.

I really dislike Pentax' forcing a lens change around 50mm (16-45, 16-50, 18-55 + 50-135, 50-200, 55-300 etc.)² as I find the 50mm zone worth moving past in one direction or another.  This suggests that I'm a good candidate for their upcoming DA 17-85mm± offering, which should appear in 2014.   In the meantime a DA35/2.4 would fill my gap with the least expense - assuming a DA40xs does not magically appear.

Tele
A few shots with the DA50-200 have shown how the primes obliterate this compact lens - but what after that will I be willing to carry?  Actually the Sigma 100-300 can cover that ground for a while despite its relatively slow f/4.5-6.7 aperture, though the HD 55-300WR would be a good option too.  I owned and liked the Sigma 50-150, and the DA* 50-135 does drop into my price range at times.  This is less of a priority so I can punt on telephoto decisions for now - but I'd think a weather-resistant 17-85 + 100-300mm would make a simple and impressive pair most days!



P.S.  The magic worked: I found a used DA40XS for less than the price of a used DA35/2.4!  I did not expect that, but I'll cheerfully take it.  Most reviews say this is an optical clone of the Limited lens without quick shift, but some like it a lot less.  When the time comes it can be sold with my K-01 and bring it back to its original complete and bizarre nature. :^)

¹ I do have a Quantaray 28-90 with 1:2 macro, but it's f/5.6 at the long end, and it flares some when the light is wrong.
² the DA 17-70 bridges that gap, but with no WR I'll wait and manage with primes.

tool, or toy? we shall see..

I've (re)joined the Android tablet crowd.  My previous venture was not quite a tablet, it was the color Nook; Android beneath, but Barnes and Noble kept that secret well hidden behind their firmware!

Given a tight budget, I was torn between the well-liked Nexus-7 (2012 refurbished) or a 10-inch Asus (closeout); each had something I liked, but neither was quite the right one.  I then searched a review site for the best battery life, and up came the ASUS HD 7 tablet: mostly like the 2012 Nexus-7 but with a memory slot.  That allows me to move a microSD card from camera to tablet.  Other tablet sites were a bit less impressed than the first on one item or another, but the majority agreed that if you must spend less than $200 this was a very good choice.  In fact it sells for under $150, making it a still-better choice!

I chose green but let's face it - that looks like lemon-chartreuse to me.  Well, it's less likely to hide from me in that color!

Not possible... well maybe.

No way can this photo exist.  It was taken in a dark room lit from the hallway, just before my mom's birthday cake with several candles showed up at the other end of a long table.  It was taken one-handed using live view, and the screen showed no detail but the AF-confirm light was lit.  Click.

K-5 ii, 1/13 second & f/3.5 at iso8000 with the DA70mm Limited.  No processing done: this is a small web copy of the original jpeg image.  I will need to calculate the EV value on this one to see how dim that is. 
Doesn't really matter though: it can't be done - even with two hands.  Right?

shooting in the dark!

First tests with the II show its SAFOX-X AF system is quite impressive.  I took shots of inside my closet where only some large print could be read visually, and focus locked on and the super-16 sensor pulled out the details.  Another shot of a stack of moving-boxes in a dark corner also turned out eerily great, considering just how dim it looked from behind the camera.  This is quite a set, and given the II's talent I can imagine just how the K-3 is impressing early adopters!

The SMC-DA21 Limited is also very nice and will serve fine as my wide option instead of the 18-55 zoom.  Owners have spoken of how well it performs after a service call, so maybe once finances are in order it will keep the K-5 classic company on its trip for the shutter/stumble issue.

Others are now receiving the HD DA20-40mm Limited zoom and are cautiously evaluating, mostly seeing very good results.  That's for later I expect, but not for a while.