moving and imaging

I've now reached the point of packing up the home where living minimally will need to serve.  With several items in the kit not receiving much use, some lenses can pack up easily - but others should be more visible.  The challenge of not cramping one's style is now in play!  Worse yet is the risk that, once all is unpacked again, I may have learned to do without what was packed... not a bad thing really, but sobering.

Step one is easy: I really don't need the two full-frame zooms in my APS-C bag right?  Well, one is my only 1:2 closeup option (though I have several 1:3ish that will do), and the other gets me to 300mm.  I'll take the chance and pack them.  The two Limiteds will stay out, as will the DA16-45.

For lighter telephoto and poor weather the DA50-200WR should stay - wait though, that doesn't really matter with the K-01 does it?  The K-5 is being packed as its electronics are in need of service, and that includes SR - so really the 50-150 f/2.8 is as useful for low light as the 50-200 f/4-5.6 is for weather seals.  Ah well the WR lens is pretty small so it can stay, and the SMC-A 24/2.8 and new 8mm fisheye can go in the packing box.

The easy-to-pack items are the SMC-M 50mm f/2 and the 400mm f/6.3 preset; those are very rarely in use and can be done without for a bit.

So for the next month or three this is my mini-kit:
K-01 ghost-camera + DA16-45, 50-200WR and Sigma 50-150 zooms + DA Limiteds 40 and 70

And the Q might as well be easy to reach too, being so small.  As daylight weakens it shows its limitations with the small sensor though.  Were I seeking a small camera again, the Lumix GM-1 looks mighty handy: Q size but m4/3 sensor, and a 12-34mm zoom that would play nicely with the two adapted Limiteds.  Oh yeah, I'm not seeking a small camera... shame on me for speculating so much.

YAKU October '13

So here's the kit as of autumn 2013. The K-5 and K-01 have some new optical company!

The top row is the SMC-A 24mm f/2.8 and new Rokinon 8/3.5 fisheye.  This one replaces the Sigma 15/2.8 fisheye, which was crowded out by the DA16-45 f/4 (center of 2nd row, flanked by DA50-200wr and Quantaray 28-90 1:2 macro).  The third row is the Sigma 50-150/2.8, DA70/2.4 and DA40/2.8 Limiteds, and the Quantaray 100-300.  

The 55-300wr has just been announced; that should be a challenge to keep out of my bag -especially now that the 50-150 has covered the DA50-200wr's territory.  Sure wish the Sigma were rated as weather resistant!

The two Quantarays are full-frame friendly and allow 28-300mm on my Pentax ME/SE film body; the 24mm works for film also, as it was intended!

We'll see what 2014 brings!

 * YAKU = Yet Another Kit Update

Ricoh brings the K-3 to market

The K-3 is quite a dense camera, features galore and more than before!  The K-5 is still all I need and substantially more, but those new specifications are head-turning.  I'm doing my very best to hold with what I have now so its grand opening will not see me in any virtual lines - but it's good news for Pentax and therefore for owners of all K-mount cameras.

another dip in the pool ('dip' is a verb here)

I watched with surprise and disappointment recently as the only 500+ gram lens I'd ever want was being sold in a forum I frequent.  The price dropped a time or two, and nobody jumped on it.  It dropped again, and sat a week.  Taunting me!  :^)

And so, again, I snapped.  I scraped together funds from a few untapped sources and bought a Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8.  This now becomes my most-expensive lens, and easily my heaviest.  It should be worth owning despite the bulk: two stops faster than the DA50-200 and slow 100-300mm zooms, and nearly a speed match for the DA70 Limited.  (I admit that I tried to move that lens first to cushion he blow; it's a hard lens to lose though!)  I already have 67mm filters for the DA16-45 so the 50-150 makes a great pair with it.

I expect that its output will force me to re-evaluate my weight limit on lenses.  Yes I've been a weight wimp, 450 grams / one pound lenses have been the max - but it's my hobby and I play it my way!

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

image from wikipedia.com

Double whammy

A day or so later the Samyang/Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 fisheye went on sale, for $60 less than its typical best price.  That one was more likely to be added in my imaging future, and the 'wait' is over.  The 15mm lenses are too close to the DA16-45 to justify, but the 8mm fits nicely in my kit.  In its Pentax iteration it even 

So now I have yet another Pirate lens, one to make me say arrrrgh!

we interrupt this program... breaking news!

The wheels are in motion for a move!  Well more precisely, a storage unit
is not in motion, but stationary in our driveway.  Same result though.


Leaving this city will be a first for me, after 56-plus years - and my bride will sell and buy her first home ever.  The news won't actually break us, in fact it will free us from breakage in some ways - and if we pack carefully nothing at all will actually break. 

We won't be moving very far, but it will definitely count as moving.
This effects of this news will trump most picture-taking for
the coming month or two, so that makes it worth noting here.

tests at 50mm

Another common focal length in my collection (and others' as well) is around 50mm.  I have five ways to play right now: Rikenon XR and SMC-M f/2 primes, the DA50-200 (max f/4), a Quantaray 28-90 macro (f/4.5 at 50) and the DA40 Limited is close enough.  Oh rats I forgot the 16-45 at f/4 - so a supplement will follow soon!

Tests were not precise: hand-held and manual focus at the widest apertures, since they will all be fine at f/5.6 anyway.  All were shot with auto ISO and WB, and as DNG raw files with the K-01; no processing other than posting from Picasa so its raw defaults are shown here.

Depth of field was an issue with the f/2 primes, as the center of the bud and the pollen stems are not a match with the petals.  Anyway, in this case the no-surprise winner was the DA40 Limited, which loses a stop to the f/2s but is a modern optical marvel and a mechanical throwback with its all-metal construction.  Second* would go to the 28-90 macro; this lens dares to perform well despite its bargain-bin price of $35-50 most of the time.  If you hit the first Ritz closeout it was under $10, which is what I paid to go with my Sony Alpha A200!

The two 50mm primes did pretty well but contrast was down a bit, likely from their older coatings.  The 50-200 has a fairly long minimum focus that is better suited for flower shots above 100mm.  Still, the image is decently sharp with great color & contrast. 

I've tried the DA40 with a bargain +1 and +2 closeup filter attachment, and while this brings one closer the images are just not the same.  Sure your DoF is razor thin, but it just looks less saturated and less amazing.  No doubt a $100 closeup filter would outperform a $10 one, but we use what we have not what we might consider.  The DA40 Limited does excellent work and can get pretty close, and for me that'll do.

* Update: the DA16-45 is quite good also; exposure was a little brighter but the time of day was different.  Sharpness and bokeh are pretty similar on this shot.  And I got a bee-fly in the scene (lower right), that's pretty cool!  

DA40 at f/4 at the top.

must ... stop ... looking

I put some of my kit at risk - and for what?  Well, a fine 105mm Sigma macro that's what.  
The deal didn't happen, so the DA70 (likely my best lens) remains with me.  Whew, I suppose?

I currently own prime lenses that cover 15 to 70mm, and I also cover 16-300mm with three relative-bargain zooms.  When funds are really tight as they are now, trading is all I have to work with - and it is not to be done carelessly.  No doubt a 100mm prime is a fine idea (hey wait didn't I just sell one? o yeah), but letting go of something else on the list isn't wise.  The 15mm fisheye is the most expendable, but not at a fire-sale price  unless the budget is such that I cannot afford to keep it.  For now it can stay at a price that will not hurt too much to part with.

This month's bit of cash went to a set of 49mm filters; time to stop adapting 52mm filters since I have but one matching lens but four that take 49s.  In the past I had the opposite setup, and I somehow failed to send off those filters as the lenses were sold.

Maybe in a few months a manual-focus 100mm is in the cards - but I must shop warily!

the hidden cost of lens-switching

I find that my kit no longer needs 52mm and 58mm filters.  How odd, as a few months ago I needed nothing other than those!  That was partly thanks to a 49-52 and 55-58 step rings.  Now everything is 49 and 67mm with a few stray 55s, so as a result many of my filters will be on the block now.  And it turns out I have more than one of some of them, such as two 58mm cPolarizers - that could use an explanation...

Both the 28-200 and 18-200 are moving on, so that last test was done just in time!  The winner by attrition: Pentax DA 50-200 WR.