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But you live there Don .. not just visiting ! And by the sounds of it Mongolia's wide open spaces and horse riding herders are far more fun than Manitoba !
Comment by Frogfish posted on Lens Advice, please? at 24/04/2011 - 20:55
I have no idea why people think a macro would be a good lense to take to Mongolia. We are talking wide wide open spaces on the plains, lakes, rivers, people for sure, horse-riders, congested chaotic cities / towns and possibly temples.
If it were me I'd be taking a Sigma 10-20 (or similar Pentax / Tamron), your 18-55 and your 50-200. And you've got it covered. You may also need a wide low light lense (I'd suggest one of the Sigma line-up of 24/1.8 or 28/1.8 (which is a macro too !) or 30/1.4) as you will be in plenty of poorly lit environments, possibly even inside a yut. Take lots of batteries, a CPL filter and SD cards plus your tripod.
If it were me I'd be taking a Sigma 10-20 (or similar Pentax / Tamron), your 18-55 and your 50-200. And you've got it covered. You may also need a wide low light lense (I'd suggest one of the Sigma line-up of 24/1.8 or 28/1.8 (which is a macro too !) or 30/1.4) as you will be in plenty of poorly lit environments, possibly even inside a yut. Take lots of batteries, a CPL filter and SD cards plus your tripod.
Comment by Frogfish posted on Lens Advice, please? at 24/04/2011 - 19:44
Smeggypants wrote:
I'd like a 300mm 1.4
No you wouldn't. Unless you have a sherpa with you when you go out shooting I'd like a 300mm 1.4
Edit. oops - done already. ah well.
Comment by Frogfish posted on Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM Review at 24/04/2011 - 08:19
Very nice Jamie - #7 gets my vote from the second set.
Comment by Frogfish posted on Angkor Wat - Cambodia at 23/04/2011 - 20:38
An amazing place and high on my list of places to go / see ... soon !
I love #5 - that's my favourite from this set. Show us more !
I love #5 - that's my favourite from this set. Show us more !
Comment by Frogfish posted on Angkor Wat - Cambodia at 23/04/2011 - 06:46
Yes I saw that on BBC World last night. At least it was quick, considering some of the places he''s been it could have been much worse. Sad loss. RIP.
Comment by Frogfish posted on R.I.P Tim Hetherington at 21/04/2011 - 13:18
And another vote for the Metz 50. P-TTL has been excellent so far.
Comment by Frogfish posted on Which Flash for my K7 ? at 21/04/2011 - 13:14
DA 18-55.
The FA 28-80 could be OK since you are using flash as it's a slow lense .. but it's not that sharp either so I'd leave it at home.
You do need to take a back-up lense though (just in case !) so maybe the 18-250 which is slow but sharp (is it sharper than the 18-55 anyone ? If so then maybe that should be your weapon of choice) and the 40/2.8.
The FA 28-80 could be OK since you are using flash as it's a slow lense .. but it's not that sharp either so I'd leave it at home.
You do need to take a back-up lense though (just in case !) so maybe the 18-250 which is slow but sharp (is it sharper than the 18-55 anyone ? If so then maybe that should be your weapon of choice) and the 40/2.8.
Comment by Frogfish posted on how to, using flash at 21/04/2011 - 11:57
Smeggypants wrote:
If anything it was under reported because of the amount of users who don't have fast lenses and thus the wider DOF covered up the problem.
I've used THREE K-5s now and ALL OF THEM suffered the low light FF problem. That's no coincidence.
Pentax also recognised the fault and released a Firmware update to address it.
My first K-5 wasn't fixed by the FW 1.03 update and was one of the duds. I got it replaced ( quickly thanks to SRS's excellent service ) The two K-5s I own now have had the low light front focus fixed by the update.
So no, in regards to the K-5s on the market since it was released the percentage on both the sensor stains and the low light AF issues is not low.
To a certain extent your answer is just an endorsement of my statement : "It only appears in very specific situations". From the Stavros Flatley concert thread I posted, through the lovely 19x12 print of my wife taken in a restaurant, through a pro shoot at the Irish Ball and so on ... I haven't encountered the FF issue - and probably won't since the firmware has virtually eradicated this issue. Maybe I just got lucky, I don't know.Frogfish wrote:
Even the focusing issue was blown out of proportion by people who don't actually know how to properly test for FF/BF. It only appears in very specific situations.
No the focussing issue wasn't blown out of proportion. It's significance was very real.Even the focusing issue was blown out of proportion by people who don't actually know how to properly test for FF/BF. It only appears in very specific situations.
If anything it was under reported because of the amount of users who don't have fast lenses and thus the wider DOF covered up the problem.
I've used THREE K-5s now and ALL OF THEM suffered the low light FF problem. That's no coincidence.
Pentax also recognised the fault and released a Firmware update to address it.
My first K-5 wasn't fixed by the FW 1.03 update and was one of the duds. I got it replaced ( quickly thanks to SRS's excellent service ) The two K-5s I own now have had the low light front focus fixed by the update.
So no, in regards to the K-5s on the market since it was released the percentage on both the sensor stains and the low light AF issues is not low.
As for the stains - well JR and others have answered that one. Again I just go back to Pentax's statement that it only affected the first batch. I don't think that on-line polls are that indicative since most people who own the cameras didn't vote and there is a substantial body of evidence that could repudiate the results of that poll since it was not conducted under strict scientific parameters and obviously other factors could have affected it's viability.
However all of this debate (which has really already been done to death and only fuels paranoia) is basically just to bring us to the conclusion that, for 95% of people, buying a new K5 now, there won't be any issues for them to contend with. Therefore I still believe Life Is Too Short to worry about whether you may or may not end up in that 5% - if you do then just return it for another or get it fixed under warranty !
Comment by Frogfish posted on K5 number 3...? at 21/04/2011 - 11:50
Smeggypants wrote:
But I wouldn't say the issues with the K-5 were a small percent at all. Around half the owners of early K-5s who frequent pentax forums around the world reported sensor stains, and a huge number of people had front focussing issues.
Of course as Pentax manufacture and sell more K-5s the percentage of dodgy bodies will go down.
I wouldn't like to have to sell a K-5 built in 2010 though.
'Early' is the key word there.Frogfish wrote:
Every high tech consumer product has a small percent with issues -and we are only talking aout a small percentage. The K5 has got over the main one - sensor stains - and I really can't see any point whatsoever in waiting for Pentax to learn 'lessons' .. yeah right. Canons & Nikons also have some 'issues' so what are you going to do .. give up using a DSLR ?!
Life is too short to wait for the perfect camera.
It certainly is. Every high tech consumer product has a small percent with issues -and we are only talking aout a small percentage. The K5 has got over the main one - sensor stains - and I really can't see any point whatsoever in waiting for Pentax to learn 'lessons' .. yeah right. Canons & Nikons also have some 'issues' so what are you going to do .. give up using a DSLR ?!
Life is too short to wait for the perfect camera.
But I wouldn't say the issues with the K-5 were a small percent at all. Around half the owners of early K-5s who frequent pentax forums around the world reported sensor stains, and a huge number of people had front focussing issues.
Of course as Pentax manufacture and sell more K-5s the percentage of dodgy bodies will go down.
I wouldn't like to have to sell a K-5 built in 2010 though.
It was only the early batch of K5s (only the very first batch if we believe Pentax ?) and the situation today is very different. Even the focusing issue was blown out of proportion by people who don't actually know how to properly test for FF/BF. It only appears in very specific situations.
So the actual percentage is low, and dropping all the time, as the current production models don't have the stains.
Comment by Frogfish posted on K5 number 3...? at 20/04/2011 - 22:24
