Comments made by johnriley - Page 1746

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I suspect that the expiry of some patent has enabled the SDM lenses to be made. It would be a simple explanation as to why it's not been done before.

Comment by johnriley posted on why is pentax so noisy? at 17/06/2009 - 00:44

Quote:
Surely the M3 had a better viewfinder than the IIIF?

Yes I think it did (it's a while ago now) but it's just huge, cumbersome and heavy. Despite the viewfinder, the IIIF was IMHO a much better camera.

Comment by johnriley posted on I've got a K-7 to play with for 2 weeks!! at 17/06/2009 - 00:40

I never used the split image anyway, so I just focus on the general ground glass as I always did.

This is much easier if the dioptre is adjusted correctly. To recap, you point the camera at an evenly lit area (white wall, sky...) and with the lens out of focus adjust until the etched lines in the viewfinder are sharpest. Your eye is now focusing at rest on the ground glass and focusing will be much easier.

Comment by johnriley posted on Hello and a question at 16/06/2009 - 22:04

The idea is to fill in a small defect in the glass coating with black. That way light won't reflect off it and cause a flare spot.

So yes, you paint the glass. However, very minimally and only to fill the defect, a bit like fixing a chip on a car windscreen.

Comment by johnriley posted on Chipped coatings - how serious? at 16/06/2009 - 22:01

Quote:
Ooh er - putting paint on it sounds a bit scary!

I've never actually attampted this, so you're on your own!

Maybe an insurance claim would be less painful?

Comment by johnriley posted on Chipped coatings - how serious? at 16/06/2009 - 21:38

In terms of the area of the front element the actual area obscured may be quite small. The biggest danger might be flare around the defects.

The traditional remedy is to get some black paint and very carefully fill in the defect. This will reduce the visibility of the defect.

Needless to say, it's not ideal.

Whatever happened?

Comment by johnriley posted on Chipped coatings - how serious? at 16/06/2009 - 21:20

Quote:
By the by, I was on the Pentax Japan website yesterday, and counted 32 "K" lenses. Back in Pentax's heyday, I seem to remember there were 27 lenses available. Most are of very recent design.

It depends when you look, but in the M series days there were over 40 lenses and I have just counted up the number in the copy of "Pentax Lenses and Accessories" that happened to be in front of me and they numbered a staggering 52. This was 1987.

Of course no-one bought any more lenses then than we do now, probably less, so it was all largely theoretical for most of us.

Comment by johnriley posted on AP First Look at K7 at 16/06/2009 - 19:47

You can use them all in manual and aperture priority modes. You'll have to activate a custom menu to permit use of aperture ring and then operate the lenses in stop-down mode.

A bit more trouble, but it will work.

Having said that, lenses with an "A" on the aperture ring will be rather more convenient.

Comment by johnriley posted on Hello and a question at 16/06/2009 - 18:46

For those who are mystified by some comments above, SMC Takumars are manual focus lenses, and therefore the focusing is very quiet indeed.

Comment by johnriley posted on why is pentax so noisy? at 16/06/2009 - 18:00

That's fine Rees, if it suits you then it's the right thing for you.

I don't think there are many DSLR users though who would get on with the Leica M3. It is reputed to be the best 35mm camera ever made, in terms of construction quality, but be that as it may I found it heavy, bulky and the viewfinder just dreadful.

I preferred the more compact screw thread IIIf that I tried at the same time.

Comment by johnriley posted on I've got a K-7 to play with for 2 weeks!! at 16/06/2009 - 17:57

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