Those clouds in the first one - loverly! They turn a snapshot into a carefully composed photograph .

Heysham power station in the distance in 3 and 4?

Steve

Another lovely set of photos of something seemingly mundane to which most people wouldn't give a second glance. The eyes of a master and the lens to match. But mostly the eyes .

Birds or squirrels? My money is on wood pigeons. Always wood pigeons. Flying stomachs.

Steve

Was that in the days when fill flash meant a pile of magnesium powder and potassium chlorate??

Steve

I do indeed!

How on earth do you manage to get those perfect backgrounds? Everywhere I look in my garden there seems to be something distracting behind it, even when it's wildly OOF.

Steve

I had a dream. And the dream was that I was looking at a newly released camera and set of lenses, all sporting a Pentax logo. The camera was small, perfectly formed, light weight and felt wonderfully comfortable in the hand. The lenses were also small and balanced well on the camera.

And I heard a voice saying “Behold, there are no moving parts in the camera (except for the sensor shake reduction). The mirror is a coating on glass that can be made reflecting or transparent at will. The focal plane shutter is no more, instead there is a leaf shutter in each lens. There is no motor for screw drive, the new lenses all have built-in motors. That is why the camera can be so small and light weight.”

And in my dream I was amazed but also puzzled. So I asked the voice “How can the camera be so much slimmer than the K-mount flange focal distance?”. The voice answered “The flange focal distance for the new lenses is much less than for a K-mount lens and a cunning optical path means that the sensor is not behind the lens and the viewfinder is not in a bulky bulge above the lens.”.

Amazement and puzzlement turned to anxiety, for how could I use my K-mount lenses on the camera? “Fear not.” said the voice. “Behold an adapter, the thickness of which is the difference between the K-mount and new flange focal distances. Mount your K-mount lenses on the adapter and use them as you always have.” So I mounted a K-mount lens and it did work as on a K-series camera. “Aha”, I said, “I can now see that a lens with built-in motor works, but how can screw drive work when there is no motor in the camera?”. “Oh you of limited imagination,” said the voice, “the screw drive motor is in the adapter.”. And I was pleased, well pleased.

Then I looked again at the new lenses. There was indeed a leaf shutter in each lens. And an aperture ring on each lens. So I asked the voice “Is it not possible to control aperture from the camera body?”. “Do not be concerned,” the voice replied, “the A setting is still present. Or you can use the aperture ring with the aperture remaining fully open for metering because the ring simply tells the camera body what aperture you want, rather than closing the aperture itself. You choose whether to have the experience of setting the aperture via the body or the experience of setting it via the lens.”

And I was mighty pleased with what I saw and heard.

Then I asked the voice “What are the prices of this camera and its lenses and adapter?”.

But at that point I awoke. For the prices made me realise that I had not had a dream but a nightmare.

Steve

So that's what a GR IV can do with landscape . B&W straight out of camera or post-processed? To my eyes, they have a sort of old fashioned appeal.

How do you feel about what comes out of the GR IV compared with a DSLR?

Steve

Oh dear. I do sympathise. A friend's wife went wandering during the night. He called the police. So did some people half a mile away who saw someone in night attire hanging around their car. Police turned up to both. A clever policeman at the station put 2 and 2 together and wife was returned to friend. That was when friend realised that there was something wrong with his wife. Life hasn't been the same for them since .

As for the photos, the last two suggest a lot of potential in that spot. I hope you can get back there with more time to try different angles and without the worry of constantly having to keep a close eye on your wife.

Steve

I might if I had a dog that could be bothered with it. He just looks at me with a look that says "What's that silly human doing?". I once tried to tempt him by giving him a treat when he brought a ball to me. Then he decided that the ball was of no value to him whatsoever so best to ignore it and go straight for the treat. He's not stupid!

Steve

Yep. What prompted me to get them was noticing that some of my batteries were over 10 yrs old and not holding their charge like they used to. And if your batteries die and you can't get replacements, the camera is as good as dead even if it is still like new.

Steve

SRS Microsystems, one-time sponsor of this forum, was my supplier of choice for some camera batteries (reasoning: get 'em before they go the way of the K series cameras for which they are intended). When they arrived, I was surprised to find some more things in the box. And here they are. A serious attempt to tempt me even though they don't have he 17 in stock? Or getting rid of surplus bits and pieces to someone who clearly has Pentax gear? The pen is useful. The sunglasses fit over my varifocals so might make a public appearance. I'm still trying to work out what to do with the ball - squeeze it to remove the stress caused by the end of K mount cameras??




If you have any Pentax promotionals, feel free to show them here. One day, it might form a valuable historical archive. Looking forward to seeing more Pentax promotionals from the days when there was something to promote... .

Steve