Photos taken by a Pentax camera for tech. discussion - Season 0

[pinholecam]

Curtain rises.....

M85/2
Considered the worst of the Pentax 85mm.
I've not had any of the others to compare, but I think it produces well enough for the price.
Its about the size of the FA50 which is small compared to its brethren.
Iits the cheapest fast Pentax 85mm around, and very often goes under the radar as it has historically poor reviews. I say 'historically' as you'd notice that as reviews move on in chronological order, the old reviews have slammed this lens, but the new ones seem to given it some praise.

Regardless, the pictures are posted here for everyone to judge for themselves.

Letme guess, SMC K 135/2.5?

I wish I was more attentive on ebay to get that one

 

[pinholecam]

Here is a photo I took in the morning, to test out my newly bought K50/1.2:

K-7 + K50/1.2 @ F1.2, 1/160s, ISO200 in JPG. Only a bit sharpening applied after resizing.

Original photo was taken in landscape orientation, cropped to portrait. I kinda like the OOF rendering of this lens. It'd probably become one of my most used lens

You are real lucky to bag one so cheap

 

[creampuff]

pinholecam nice lens.

I take lens reviews with some circumspection because having bought many lenses from different brands and formats over donkey years, the one thing that almost never gets mentioned is that no two lenses are exactly alike. Take the FA 50mm f/1.4 for example, I've bought 4 copies of this lens new, and even once tried out 6 copies that were available in the shop and I can say I could detect small but discernible differences between them. When I bought the VL 125mm awhile back and most recently the VL 58mm, there were obvious differences among the several copies I could try out. Same for the other brands, whether OEM or 3rd party because lenses all go through a fairly high degree of hand assembly and testing. A lot boils down to consistent QC.

 

[kesha]

FW, can I post some nude art photos in the gallery ? lol

 

[tyzts]

Hi all,

Just wanted to include a link to some photos taken by a K10D and DA 21mm. I think this lens is sharp and contrasty. What do you all think? ;-)

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5393357

BTW, my DA21mm is on sale here:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=563091

 

[pinholecam]

Here is a photo I took in the morning, to test out my newly bought K50/1.2:

K-7 + K50/1.2 @ F1.2, 1/160s, ISO200 in JPG. Only a bit sharpening applied after resizing.

Original photo was taken in landscape orientation, cropped to portrait. I kinda like the OOF rendering of this lens. It'd probably become one of my most used lens

Ok. some hard questions....

How does it compare with the 50/1.4? (ie. DOF wide open and sharpness as they both stop down)
I guess this is the important question for this lens. I thought of this lens quite a bit, but finally pulled myself away from BBB virus by rationalizing that the 0.2 stop made very little difference. In fact based on DOF calculator, there is no DOF diff.
It is a engineering marvel though, and one of the reasons I thought of getting it. (not to mention the bragging rights )

 

[Ben Loke]

See link for pics taken with FA85 & FA31.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5401841#post5401841

#1

 

[istDeS]

Went to shoot the Strike Freedom Gundam at the Gundam Fiesta with K7 + DA15mm at ISO800.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5414629#post5414629

 

[pinholecam]

Went to shoot the Strike Freedom Gundam at the Gundam Fiesta with K7 + DA15mm at ISO800.

At 1st I though it was a model, then I saw the different arm positions. Pretty cool!

 

[pinholecam]

Some pictures taken on Fri after work.
Last time I took pictures here was like 8yrs back, so no theater, new bay area, IR, new Fullerton, bridge. So this time around there was plenty to take in, but very little time. I only managed to take Fullerton hotel in good light. The rest were 'might as well take'.

More shots posted here:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5415425#post5415425

 

[Ben Loke]

These 2 pics were taken last July 1, 2009 in the morning with K20D+CZ 55mm/1.8.

 

[pinholecam]

Come Support the GeTai!

I was quite impressed by the quality of the singing. How come these ppl don't join Singapore Idol?
I found myself hard pressed using the DA 55-300/4-5.8 and worried in my initial snaps than I would fail miserably without a fast telephoto prime/zoom. This event really pushed the limits of lens, camera body and photog as I struggled to get decent sharpness, composition on a dynamic stage and motion allowing or stopping shutter speeds.

more picts here.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5423819#post5423819

 

[knyghtfall81]

Replaced my Vivitar S1 135mm f2.3 with the topcor 135mm f3.5 - deliberated hard on this issue, as the Viv S1 is a very good lens - very sharp wide open, great bokeh, and focuses down to 0.9m, which is better than the norm for 135mm lenses. The topcor is more limited in low light situations, can only focus down to 1.5m. On top of that, the glass is not that great - more internal dust than my Viv S1, scratches on the front and rear elements. On the surface, it does seem like quite a bif downgrade.

The reason why i changed it is more because the topcor is smaller and more handy as a walk-around lens - I figured a reasonably good lens that is handy and sees a lot of action is better than an excellent lens that doesn't get out much. After trying it out, I have no regrets with the change - the topcor has proven to be a joy to handle in its weight and focusing, it handles purple fringing and flare much better than the VS1 135mm, and the colour and bokeh are excellent.

Here's 1 picture taken with the topcor wide open. I have adjusted the WB and tweaked the exposure of the shot, but no major pp done:

close up on the flower in focus

close up on the bokeh

Think this lens is going to be quite a regular fixture on the camera

 

[night86mare]

some recent photographs taken with the pentax k20d and sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6.. always my favourite lens, especially when factoring in the price.

 

[pinholecam]

some recent photographs taken with the pentax k20d and sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6.. always my favourite lens, especially when factoring in the price.

Nice images from you always.

I've found the Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 not to be the pixel-peepers lens for sharpness. It even loses out against my Soligor 17/4 at 17mm (although by just a tad bit). Centre sharpness is ok, but corner sharpness is no that good. Then again I've viewed loads of review pictures at 100% for other UWA, and they are generally not sharp on the corners. I guess bending so much light into the area of a small sensor is just too hard for any UWA. I had thoughts of selling it, but yes, at its price point and wideness (no wider rectilinear lens for APS-C), there is simply no replacement. Not to mention that pixel peeping is my own fault since my normal viewing is on LCD monitor or TV, in which the sigma images look just fine.
In other words, still the widest and certainly irreplaceable when the need arises.

What do you think of your copy?

 

[night86mare]

yes, most uwa suffer from corner softness, but the sigma especially so. you can see KRW's series of comparisons here (need to click yourself further). specific page for 12 mm sharpness here.

i must say, i don't really discern much visible "corner sharpness" in my photos, in part i think it is possibly because of the type of composition i like - something simplistic, inclined towards long exposure. if you keep that in mind it is not hard to see why it doesn't bother me that much.

here is a 100% crop from the first picture posted above.

 

[pinholecam]

yes, most uwa suffer from corner softness, but the sigma especially so. you can see KRW's series of comparisons here (need to click yourself further). specific page for 12 mm sharpness here.

i must say, i don't really discern much visible "corner sharpness" in my photos, in part i think it is possibly because of the type of composition i like - something simplistic, inclined towards long exposure. if you keep that in mind it is not hard to see why it doesn't bother me that much.

here is a 100% crop from the first picture posted above.

Thanks for the links. Very informative. I'd have to agree on how the sample images look on the Sigma. Its really a matter of 'just take more pictures' and not worry about the pixel peeping. Its interesting to note that the other 3 UWA can do FF at around 17-18mm :think:

 

[alanswan]

The pinholecam's merlion photo shows alot more distortion compared to night86mare's 2 photos.
Is this because of the composition or choice of subjects?
Or simply because was the merlion photo at 10mm and the other 2 at 20mm?
Very curious, because a lot of UWA photos I took with my Sigma 10-20 also shows substantial distortions.

 

[pinholecam]

I removed the prev post and replaced with this one.
Seems that the photobucket linked pictures are turning out soft.
Seems like I have to find another photo storing site.

 

[istDeS]

Didn't shoot any birds for a while and Zec was asking me about it last week when we gathered for dinner.

hey Zec! this one for you, pacific swallow, just a common bird.:bsmilie:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=574615