I love using older lenses, a particular favourite is the Pentax-M 28mm F3.5 that accompanies me on all my landscape trips and gets used on most of them. It seems to particularly like the K-5iis, not sure why.

I also use the modern zooms too and these are more convenient and usually a bit more contrasty, but not necessarily sharper or better.

Regarding M42 lenses, I can't understand why more of us don't use an adaptor permanently attached, with the 'spring clip' removed. Using them this way makes them as convenient and quick to change as a true bayonet lens, with no downsides as far as I've experienced. Contrary to some advice I've seen, you absolutely do not need to buy a 'genuine' Pentax M42 adaptor. I have six or seven cheap copy ones (all from the same supplier) that cost around £7 each and they fit perfectly, no wobble, no play, no looseness and they do not 'stick' in the camera bayonet mount.

I would not sell any of my old manual lenses at present, M42 or bayonet mount.

Regards
David

Hi Peter

The answer is 'there is no right or wrong shutter speed' to use when photographing water. It depends on the effect you wish to achieve and the conditions pertaining at the time. For example, with very rough seas splashing against the rocks a fast shutter can be very effective. For a waterfall or similar, anything from 'very sharp' to 'very milky' can work well. I've recently posted a couple of shots with 'middle ground' shutter speeds, where the water is blurred, but not excessively so and there is some detail and pattern in the flow. I find this works well for shots that need to look a little 'abstract' or 'artistic', but others may disagree. See below:







I would say that a tripod is a 'must' for this type of photography, especially considering that it's often quite dark in the UK when the water's flowing at its best / most dramatic, also as you've pointed out, hand-holding is difficult at slowish shutter speeds.

A polarising filter is also an essential in my bag and it serves several useful purposes. It decreases the light by a stop or two, it enhances colours and it reduces reflections. Usually, the reduction in light entering the lens that a polariser gives is enough for me; I rarely use ND filters for photographing water, unless I go the whole hog and use a '10 stopper' for a really milky effect.

Hope this is useful!

Regards
David

Hi Alan, these are both nice images but I don't think they quite hit the spot as much as your shots normally do.

The shadows are a little heavy in both - maybe this is intentional but I think they would benefit from a lift in this area. The second one is much better with the lamp moved away from the edge, but there is a dark halo around it which attracts my eye a little.

I think you've chosen particularly difficult subjects here Alan. My favourite is the second one,

Regards
David

Thanks for the comments Barrie, I've just noticed a stray leaf on the 'Leaves on a Rock' image that I need to clone out!

Best wishes
David

A lovely set Simon, the last three in particular are my favourites.

Regards
David

Congratulations Philip, it's a striking image, your win is well deserved.

Regards
David

Hello everyone, here's a few photos from my trip to the Lake District this weekend just gone. There's a mixture from a climb to the summit of Haystacks and a visit to the waterfall at Ambleside. As always, CC is welcomed. Most are with the K-5iis and a variety of lenses, one is with the K-5.

A Conversation At The Top - K-5iis, Pentax-M 28mm F3.5





Leaves On A Rock - K-5iis, Pentax DFA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR





Alone on The Summit - K-5, Samsung D-Xenon 12-24





A Little Tarn - K-5iis, Pentax-M 28mm F3.5





A Glimpse of The Lake - K-5iis, Pentax-M 28mm F3.5





Ambleside Waterfall - K-5iis, Pentax DA 16-45





Light & Clouds - K-5iis, Pentax-M 28mm F3.5





Fence on Haystacks - K-5iis, Pentax-M 28mm F3.5





The Flow - K-5iis, Pentax DA 17-70





View Across The Stones - K-5iis, Pentax DA 16-45




Thanks for looking, hope you like them.

Regards
David

Excellent shots Alistair, really well done. I also like my Siggy 150-500 and it performs well in the AF department, even in quite dim light. I've not tried continuous AF with it though.

Regards
David

Thank you Philip

Regards
David

Thanks sincerely to you all for your comments and observations, they really are very useful to me.

I was with Shaun that day Alan, it was a very productive shoot that we got up very early for on a cold and frosty morning.

Thanks particularly to Dr. Orloff for the insightful comments, all of which I agree with. You have pointed out many of the things I had concerns over, which is probably why these images were not processed when I first shot them. Not too sure if they are 'too sharp', the sharpening applied to these shots is quite small, but I'm always conscious to try and make them look OK in the small size they can be posted in the Gallery / Forum. They look absolutely fine in the full size on my PC and when printed out, they are not over-sharp, but on these compressed versions I think they may be a little overdone.

What no-one has picked up on (which I'm surprised about) is that there is a small amount of camera movement on the third image, which affects the IQ. I would not consider this one worthy of printing for this reason.

Thanks again everyone, I am very grateful.

Regards
David