All Forum Comments
Comment by viewfinder posted on What exactly IS a 'limited' lens? at 04/05/2007 - 12:55
Only you yourself can truly answer your question because most landscape photographers fall into their own way of thinking about landscape and this will reflect into how they capture images and thus, what lenses they gravitate to.
Some of the factors which will affect your choices are;
What kind of terrain,..ie., vast vistas to small local scenes and situational views.
What kind of transport situation,...ie., whether working from a vehicle or steep mountain tracks / rucksack equipped etc.
What kind of timescale ie., late distant views will require large aperture,..bright scenes you can use small lenses.
What size your work will be reproduced at and in which media. ie., large prints for exhibitions require the most careful lens choices and testing,...web illustrations are not usually as demanding.
The budget of the user.....
The pictorial eye of the photographer,..ie.,do you only like large sweeping views,...must those views have foreground interest,.....do you prefer 'cut out' segments of those views or landscape features.
Purpose of the work,...ie., do you need to comprehensively cover a particular area of are you casually selecting the odd view.
A good way of thinking about some of this is to go to the nearest library and spend some time looking thru landscape books both photo and art. The landscape books of Charlie Waite are particualrly useful when considering lens choices.
In my own landscape exploits over the last 20 years 60% has been with a 50mm lens on 6x6 format,..this equates to slightly longer than half 'standard' lens focal length,......30% has been mainly 'cut outs' of landscape features etc using a moderate telephoto about two and a quarter times 'standard lens' focal length,..180mm on 6x6. Only the remaining 10% were shot with the 'standard' 80mm lens, and the occaisional long lens etc. During this time various lenses have been tried including a fish-eye and shift lens but were found to not really be my thing!
For DSLR use I am looking for a 20 or better, 24mm lens with at least f2.8 max aperture,......an 80 to 90mm lens with at least f2.8 max aperture,..and, a 28 to 35mm f2 or larger. Also 50mm f1.4 since it looks useful and is small to carry. Whether or not this can be encompassed in a zoom lens or moderate physical size and high enough optical quality, is still being determined
in broad terms when selecting photo gear, it helps to bear in mind Andreas Feininger's great advice to photographers when buying,..'always remember the "three P's",...the 'purpose', the 'pocket' and the 'personality' of the user....
Hope some of this helps...
Some of the factors which will affect your choices are;
What kind of terrain,..ie., vast vistas to small local scenes and situational views.
What kind of transport situation,...ie., whether working from a vehicle or steep mountain tracks / rucksack equipped etc.
What kind of timescale ie., late distant views will require large aperture,..bright scenes you can use small lenses.
What size your work will be reproduced at and in which media. ie., large prints for exhibitions require the most careful lens choices and testing,...web illustrations are not usually as demanding.
The budget of the user.....
The pictorial eye of the photographer,..ie.,do you only like large sweeping views,...must those views have foreground interest,.....do you prefer 'cut out' segments of those views or landscape features.
Purpose of the work,...ie., do you need to comprehensively cover a particular area of are you casually selecting the odd view.
A good way of thinking about some of this is to go to the nearest library and spend some time looking thru landscape books both photo and art. The landscape books of Charlie Waite are particualrly useful when considering lens choices.
In my own landscape exploits over the last 20 years 60% has been with a 50mm lens on 6x6 format,..this equates to slightly longer than half 'standard' lens focal length,......30% has been mainly 'cut outs' of landscape features etc using a moderate telephoto about two and a quarter times 'standard lens' focal length,..180mm on 6x6. Only the remaining 10% were shot with the 'standard' 80mm lens, and the occaisional long lens etc. During this time various lenses have been tried including a fish-eye and shift lens but were found to not really be my thing!
For DSLR use I am looking for a 20 or better, 24mm lens with at least f2.8 max aperture,......an 80 to 90mm lens with at least f2.8 max aperture,..and, a 28 to 35mm f2 or larger. Also 50mm f1.4 since it looks useful and is small to carry. Whether or not this can be encompassed in a zoom lens or moderate physical size and high enough optical quality, is still being determined
in broad terms when selecting photo gear, it helps to bear in mind Andreas Feininger's great advice to photographers when buying,..'always remember the "three P's",...the 'purpose', the 'pocket' and the 'personality' of the user....
Hope some of this helps...
Comment by viewfinder posted on The ultimate landscape lens? at 03/05/2007 - 09:27
Whatever it is, or is for, it sounds like bad news to me!
Turn it off and forget about it before it buggers up what you are working on!
Turn it off and forget about it before it buggers up what you are working on!
Comment by viewfinder posted on K10D custom function: Auto EV compensation at 02/05/2007 - 19:02
Er,....I don't think you did George,......'Bretbysteve' said that....
Comment by viewfinder posted on 63% think film gives better results than digital... at 02/05/2007 - 15:48
"......why are they taking out full page ad's when there are, as you have told us, no digi users reading AP?.."
Well, because they have all stopped making film cameras of course!!
The more I see of surveys the more I think they are all baloney because the interpretation is essentially a language that nobody has agreed the dictionary for,....If you just take these figures above, they can be interpreted in an almost infinite number of ways to show all kinds of 'conclusions' non of which have any value in real world terms whatsoever!!
Just deciding what constitues "best quality results" is another 20 surveys at least.....
Like most of the 'information' that is piped to our ears and eyes by media and other sources, it's basically bullsh*t and more bullsh*t.
Well, because they have all stopped making film cameras of course!!
The more I see of surveys the more I think they are all baloney because the interpretation is essentially a language that nobody has agreed the dictionary for,....If you just take these figures above, they can be interpreted in an almost infinite number of ways to show all kinds of 'conclusions' non of which have any value in real world terms whatsoever!!
Just deciding what constitues "best quality results" is another 20 surveys at least.....
Like most of the 'information' that is piped to our ears and eyes by media and other sources, it's basically bullsh*t and more bullsh*t.
Comment by viewfinder posted on 63% think film gives better results than digital... at 02/05/2007 - 12:46
it's no less likeable than the other wunderplastik....
Comment by viewfinder posted on More Pentax pro penetration of photograpers at 02/05/2007 - 12:51
It would be good if Pentax could penetrate the pro andserious user base but this seems unlikely untile pentax do something about some lenses,...not many pro users will be satisfied by a 16-45 f4 zoom and a few quirky 'miniturised' primes that 'may' exist somewhere out there beyond the blue..
The K10 is currently standing head and shouldres above the othres in it's class, although that isnt especially difficult! its interesting, apparetnly quite well designed, even if that was by the bloke who did the front of the Ford mondeo, and, it woud appear to work quite well if you can bypass th mindless complexity,.....However, any thoughts of a half decent system stops when you try for the lenses...
You can get a weird little 21mm thing like a bottle cap, but you have to put up with a dingy v/f picture as max aperture is only f3.2..!!?! The price for this miracle is a staggering £400....if you can find a 'dealer' who will condescend to sell one. Then there are equally weird 40mm and 70mm 'bottle caps' which are not 'pro' lenses if any of th reviews are to be believed due to chromatic aberations.
All the lenses that pentax need to support a pro / serious system they have stopped making,....if they could re-launch a 20mm(that you can get your fingers around), 24mm f2, 28mmf2, 50mm f1.7 & 1.4, and 85mm f2 they would get a lot of attention....especially if the prices were kept as competitive as the K10.
The K10 is currently standing head and shouldres above the othres in it's class, although that isnt especially difficult! its interesting, apparetnly quite well designed, even if that was by the bloke who did the front of the Ford mondeo, and, it woud appear to work quite well if you can bypass th mindless complexity,.....However, any thoughts of a half decent system stops when you try for the lenses...
You can get a weird little 21mm thing like a bottle cap, but you have to put up with a dingy v/f picture as max aperture is only f3.2..!!?! The price for this miracle is a staggering £400....if you can find a 'dealer' who will condescend to sell one. Then there are equally weird 40mm and 70mm 'bottle caps' which are not 'pro' lenses if any of th reviews are to be believed due to chromatic aberations.
All the lenses that pentax need to support a pro / serious system they have stopped making,....if they could re-launch a 20mm(that you can get your fingers around), 24mm f2, 28mmf2, 50mm f1.7 & 1.4, and 85mm f2 they would get a lot of attention....especially if the prices were kept as competitive as the K10.
Comment by viewfinder posted on More Pentax pro penetration of photograpers at 02/05/2007 - 11:01
Tony,
The 24mm f2 is not only as rare as rocking horse manure, it also has some issues (or not) according to various revieewers and other sources, plus tacky silver paint job!
The 21mm f3.2 'limited' would be useful if it was'nt for the pathetic maximum aperture and the vastly inflated price...
I have had a good look at the Sigmas but although they are apparently nice lenses they are MASSIVE!!.....about 50% larger than the Nikon 24mmf2 However, I may still go the Sigma route as they are the only game in town!
The 24mm f2 is not only as rare as rocking horse manure, it also has some issues (or not) according to various revieewers and other sources, plus tacky silver paint job!
The 21mm f3.2 'limited' would be useful if it was'nt for the pathetic maximum aperture and the vastly inflated price...
I have had a good look at the Sigmas but although they are apparently nice lenses they are MASSIVE!!.....about 50% larger than the Nikon 24mmf2 However, I may still go the Sigma route as they are the only game in town!
Comment by viewfinder posted on Late arrival DA* lenses causing a problem at 28/04/2007 - 18:13
I'm in a similar position,....trying to find some lenses and waiting to see if pentax will survive as a camera maker, or is it going to be the same scenario as i found myself in last year with Minolta 7D,...waiting for anouncement of new model which turned out to be anouncement of Minolta giving up to Sony..
There is a myth that there are lots of lenses for pentax however, in reality there are very few available either new or secondhand. I have been watching ebay since Christmas and twice a day for the last few weeks,..there are plenty of 50mm's and the odd 28mm but you can forget it for the wider focal lengths.
I don't know of any 24mm f2 anywhere.
In new pentax wides there is only the 14mm at huge cost.
The only new wides for pentax are the Sigma 28, 24, and 20 in f1.8 and they are massive in size,....equal to the medium size medium format lenses,..about 50% larger than the old Nikon 24mm f2.
There is a myth that there are lots of lenses for pentax however, in reality there are very few available either new or secondhand. I have been watching ebay since Christmas and twice a day for the last few weeks,..there are plenty of 50mm's and the odd 28mm but you can forget it for the wider focal lengths.
I don't know of any 24mm f2 anywhere.
In new pentax wides there is only the 14mm at huge cost.
The only new wides for pentax are the Sigma 28, 24, and 20 in f1.8 and they are massive in size,....equal to the medium size medium format lenses,..about 50% larger than the old Nikon 24mm f2.
Comment by viewfinder posted on Late arrival DA* lenses causing a problem at 27/04/2007 - 18:51
'TheOnlinePhotographer',...the blog of photo journalist Mike Johnston has an interesting response to his request for article ideas.....
eatured Comment by Michael Seltzer: How about the Pentax Digital 645?
Oh, that's right...there is no Pentax 645D!
I'm thinking of starting a new magazine called The Vaporware Review. It would include product announcements, interviews with designers and manufacturers, and in-depth product reviews. I imagine this would well serve the photographic trade (maybe the entire technology industry).
As a first go, I'd like to see if I could get my hands on the obviously mal-formed under-glass model of the 645D. If I can’t, I can always build one. Doesn’t look like it would be too difficult. Maybe out of cardboard, or a lump of clay I pushed on here or there and painted black. Or better yet, Bakelite. Wonderful stuff, Bakelite, especially in that 1950’s yellow—a color not seen in nature and, like the secret pigments of some of the (long dead) great artists, one no one has been able to correctly reproduce since. Anyway, once I get a mock-up, I’d take it out for a field test, see what it can do. I’d try to cram a CF card into it, press down on the fake shutter release until something goes click, then write up the results (“On the plus side, this baby’s practically noise-free, unless you drop it. Trip the shutter and there’s no mirror noise, no vibration, no mirror slap at all, because there’s no mirror, no shutter to trip, and even if there were, there’s no way to trip it! And you can set this beauty up on a tripod, press as hard as you want on the shutter release and leave it for hours, and there will be no luminance or chroma noise—absolutely none! On the other hand, the resolution’s not so good”).
I mean, why wait for product to do a review? Why wait for data? In a world with such announcements, where people become celebrities not because of anything they’ve said or can do, but simply because…well, God knows; where even the government doesn’t allow pesky little things like data, information, or understanding, and certainly not the cries of the well-informed, to stop them from doing what they “know” to be right, why wait at all? Let’s go marching boldly forward, advancing the tide of ignorance (and trying to make a buck in the process). Hey, that could be the magazine’s tag line. What do you think?
Uhh—that you're having a bad day at the office? —MJ
s
”
?
eatured Comment by Michael Seltzer: How about the Pentax Digital 645?
Oh, that's right...there is no Pentax 645D!
I'm thinking of starting a new magazine called The Vaporware Review. It would include product announcements, interviews with designers and manufacturers, and in-depth product reviews. I imagine this would well serve the photographic trade (maybe the entire technology industry).
As a first go, I'd like to see if I could get my hands on the obviously mal-formed under-glass model of the 645D. If I can’t, I can always build one. Doesn’t look like it would be too difficult. Maybe out of cardboard, or a lump of clay I pushed on here or there and painted black. Or better yet, Bakelite. Wonderful stuff, Bakelite, especially in that 1950’s yellow—a color not seen in nature and, like the secret pigments of some of the (long dead) great artists, one no one has been able to correctly reproduce since. Anyway, once I get a mock-up, I’d take it out for a field test, see what it can do. I’d try to cram a CF card into it, press down on the fake shutter release until something goes click, then write up the results (“On the plus side, this baby’s practically noise-free, unless you drop it. Trip the shutter and there’s no mirror noise, no vibration, no mirror slap at all, because there’s no mirror, no shutter to trip, and even if there were, there’s no way to trip it! And you can set this beauty up on a tripod, press as hard as you want on the shutter release and leave it for hours, and there will be no luminance or chroma noise—absolutely none! On the other hand, the resolution’s not so good”).
I mean, why wait for product to do a review? Why wait for data? In a world with such announcements, where people become celebrities not because of anything they’ve said or can do, but simply because…well, God knows; where even the government doesn’t allow pesky little things like data, information, or understanding, and certainly not the cries of the well-informed, to stop them from doing what they “know” to be right, why wait at all? Let’s go marching boldly forward, advancing the tide of ignorance (and trying to make a buck in the process). Hey, that could be the magazine’s tag line. What do you think?
Uhh—that you're having a bad day at the office? —MJ
s
”
?
Comment by viewfinder posted on Why not 'review' the pentax 645D? at 27/04/2007 - 08:15
Does it mean limited production as in; "we made five so get fighting among yourselves".....?
Does it just mean that they are for collectors only?
Perhaps it means that every lens is signed by Mr Pentax....?
Perhaps its just way of saying 'exists but not really available'.....?
Anyone know?