Had a good lunch at a garden centre yesterday, followed by a bit of camera fun. The thing that might be of interest to some, is that the photos were taken with an old Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8 manual focus lens on a K-r body.

The great thing about the animals there is that they are so co-operative and they stay perfectly still. Being ceramic is an advantage - the real ones can drive photographers potty.

1.[IMG]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb327/MrB154/PUser/IMGP2725r1.jpg[/IMG]

2.[IMG]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb327/MrB154/PUser/IMGP2724r1.jpg[/IMG]

Philip

What is this? - please describe/explain.

The camera doesn't have to be back focusing by 10 feet to give the effect observed. E.g. On the second photo the lens was set at f=24mm and aperture f/4. If it was focused accurately on a point 12 feet away, the depth of field would be from 8 feet to 24 feet. But if it was actually focusing just 2 feet beyond at 14 feet, the depth of field would extend from 9 feet to 34 feet. This could have the effect of making the car parked after the Rolls appear in the zone of sharpest focus.

Philip

I apologise for not mentioning in my first post that I love the shots of the Rolls, although I agree with Smeggy about the focus. I also realise that you didn't request critique but, as I am sure you know, the images' apparent focus could be enhanced with a bit more processing. For example:

[IMG]http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb327/MrB154/Reworked%20Photos/RR-00_K5_0729a1.jpg[/IMG]
Just my opinion, of course.

Philip

If it is needed, calibration really does make a difference, particularly at wide apertures, short distance and longer focal lengths. The following might not be the best way - you can buy expensive kits - but it is a simple method that works for me, and you can use it almost anywhere:

Put a page of text (e.g. a magazine page) flat on a table in good lighting. Set Av Mode and set the 18-135 lens to 50mm focal length with open aperture f/4.5. Hold your camera (steady hand can work but tripod is best) looking down at the page at an angle of about 45 degrees, and about 50cm away. Use the centre focusing point to auto-focus on an obvious word in the text, e.g. one at the start of a paragraph, and take the photo. View the image on the LCD and magnify the view. The word should be in sharpest focus, plus a few lines of text below that word (i.e. nearer to you) and a few more lines above (i.e. further away from you). (Because of the way depth of field works, there should be more lines of text in focus above the word than below.) Repeat the test several times to check and, if necessary, apply some lens fine adjustment and re-check. On a K-5 it is in menu C4/26. My 18-135 on a K-5 needs +4 of fine adjustment.

Philip

So does the K-r.

Why do companies offer cashback deals rather than simply reducing their prices? The only credible answer is that it must be some sort of scam - it has to be more profitable to run a cashback program, despite the extra administration costs involved. Presumably, there must be some way of investing the extra paid by the customers, so the longer the cashback is delayed, the more interest is made. The psychologists will have calculated the optimum length of the delay, so that the vast majority of customers get the feel-good factor of their refund, everyone is happy, and it doesn't feel like a scam. Simples.

Philip

The latter is more likely to be the case than is the former. It is human nature to want to use the best one can afford, and there is no disputing the K-5's superiority. Not only is it technically excellent for stills photography, but its weather-sealing could be regarded as an essential feature for anyone photographing outdoors in the UK!

Regarding reviews, John Riley has written well about both cameras here on PU; e.g. the K-5 verdict is at -
https://www.pentaxuser.com/review/pentax-k-5-review-394#Verdict
If you can stretch your resources to get the K-5, go for it - you might even acquire a taste for Spam!

Cheers.
Philip

I agree, Alan, and mine spends 99% of its time on the front of my K-5. Being weatherproof, this is an ideal combination for any outing in the UK! The critical comments on the lens really only apply to the extremes of its parameters - it is very much, as you say and as your photos show, sharp where it matters. In fact, the MTF figures indicate that, for where it matters, and in the middle of the range (f/5.6 to f/11), its resolution compares favourably with that of the Limited lenses.

A good choice - hope you enjoy using it as much as I do.

Philip

Are you enquiring about the relationship between what you see on the LCD of a camera, and the full-screen image on a monitor? If so, it depends on their sizes, usually quoted for the diagonal of the screen.

Eg. My K-5 has a 3 inch screen and my notebook PC has a 15 inch screen. Therefore, the image on the K-5 would have to be magnified 5x. However, for my 21 inch desktop PC monitor, it would need 7x magnification.

At these magnifications, the part of the image visible on the K-5 LCD appears to be the same size as the same part of the image on the monitor, when viewed from the same distance.

Philip