Taking up a comment from JohnMcD and his newly acquired Nikon...

Isn't it amazing the variation in bokeh with lenses?
For example, how about this for a Canon 24-105? I love the shot, but the bokeh is definitely not for me

Sigmas also seem to have a characteristic bokeh - more "busy" than the Canon even.

I wonder why Pentax seem to have the "buttery-smooth-melting" bokeh sorted out so well?? (Like the 50/1.4, the 100/2.8, 24-90 etc etc) Except I'm not quite so smitten on the 16-45 bokeh when compared to the 24-90.

Any thoughts?

Matt

Here's a "heads-up" and a question...

I have noticed that the K10D and *ist-D will not show overexposure when using flash (either internal or external)!

For example:
* Take a high speed lens (like 50mm f/1.4)
* Turn off the flash
* Set the camera to Av mode and pick the widest aperture
* Set it up so the shutter speed shows something like 1/500s
* Now turn on the flash (not in HS mode!)
* Shutter speed shows 1/180!
* Take the shot and it is BLOWN out.

Normally the aperture & shutter speed flashes in the view finder when out-of-band, but it clearly does not when the flash is turned on.
(It's caught me out more than once!)

Now the question - does the K20D do this too?



While I'm on the flash issue... I have, as yet, been unable to find a way to get the camera to meter ambient with flash - except in fully manual. Generally I like to exposure about -1 to -1.5 for the ambient and let the flash fill in. But there doesn't appear to be any way of getting this done automatically (which would be great for function/event photography!)

Let me know what you find...
Matt

Would have been a good move Check out the list from Argyll to see what devices they support - you might get a S/H unit.

If you're serious about colour, then you will definitely need a device - the colour of the display shifts over time and so monthly recalibrations are definitely a good idea (depending on how paranoid/critical/fussy you are).

I can definitely guide you through the PC setup, and can probably fumble my way round the Mac.

Sounds a nice idea.

Now you are sounding desperate!! It's true that colour management can make you do strange things, but that's a step too far
Maybe you need a break from image editing?

EDIT: ROFL @ Don. And now I'm very hungry...

Matt

Nathan,
That's a very kind offer I'm not that far from you either...
Trouble is it has to be the monitor + the video card You have to calibrate as a system, and not just the monitor.

Do you have a hardware calibration device? Like Spyder/Huey etc? (EDIT: I could set up a remote control access to your machine and guide you through the process)
Matt

LOL! Thanks Don
I can't afford the Mac hardware. Even though I've seen OS X can be installed on Intel PC hardware now (But it's against the Apple EULA - dang!)
Trouble is, I have to use PCs for work - firmware programming, hardware stuff, etc. Much just isn't available for Mac or Linux. I (now) have a great respect for the OS X and just wish I could legally run all three OSs (XP Pro, OS X, and Ubuntu )

Colour management on the Mac was one of the main points of interest... but Argyll definitely narrows the gap

Other thing is the cost of migrating all my apps (CS2 Premium, Silkypix, etc, etc).

Alas, the K20D/DA* is on the wish list first

Matt

Thanks Robert. I'm already using Ubuntu, RedHat, Suse, etc under VM Workstation (for testing and development). It's just when I migrate the host system to Ubuntu for real....
(may do an install on a clean HDD with the M200 as there are several issues with that platform - just to test the water!)

TBH, Argyll is a cinch to use - it's just command line based (which scares some people away!) Still learning about it though...

Matt

Was this the original Pentax one, or the Nikon one (that I believe fits and is slightly lower magnification)?

I'm very short-sighted so have to wear specs all the time and have held off this accessory because of possible vignetting issues... I'd really like to know if it's a worthwhile addition

Matt

Of course, you understand that I'll also need the K20D & DA* lenses to double check the monitors
Matt

I've been messing around with some of the Open Source CMS systems out there - seeing if I could get my laptop/tablet to start behaving itself and thought I'd share a tip or two here

I have the Spyder Pro & Spyder 2 Pro - which have seemed great... but the Toshiba M200 was never that hot on colour. There were times when I thought I'd just ditch the lot and move over to Mac

However, after a lot (read a LOT) of searching and reading I have settled on "Argyll CMS" - http://www.argyllcms.com/doc/ArgyllDoc.html
Admittedly I had a few installation issues (detailed below), but now I have moved over to using it on both laptop and desktop - and have to say that there is now much better consistency between the machines. Hooray!!

So, a few hints and pointers:
* If you're using a Spyder, then you have to run "spyd2en" with a Spyder setup CD or EXE file. See here.

* On Windows you MUST change the device driver for the Spyder so that Argyll can see it. See here.

* Ok, so it's all command line based - but it's not difficult...

* Calibrate: "dispcal -v -d 1 -y l -o MyMonitorProfile" - will calibrate monitor #1 as an LCD using medium quality and output both the internal calibration file and the .icm file. Be warned - takes an age (you can add "-q l" to lower the quality and speed it up)

* Loading: "dispwin -d 1 -I MyMonitorProfile.icm" - will install and load the file for monitor #1.

On a dual monitor setup I have a little CMD (ie batch file) that is in the Programs / StartUp group to call "dispwin" for each monitor. This is much quicker than the Spyder software and doesn't have an annoying splash screen (but doesn't remind you to recalibrate).


Of course, the added bonus is that Argyll works on Linux & Mac as well... so when I migrate to Ubuntu/Kubuntu or Mac then I still retain the "know-how"

(And you can install this on as many machines as you need and use a single hardware device to calibrate them all)


Does that help??!
Matt

Thanks for the link Daniel
However, note that the one you link is for SATA drives. The one I was referring to was parallel IDE.
...which is a good point for the OP to check before buying a caddy
Matt