Pentax K20D and K200D on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).

[yvon_bourque1]

Hi Pentaxians and friends,

 

Lately, I have not been able to post new articles as often as I would have liked to.

My day job is getting in the way of my hobby. I may have to remedy that and quit

my day job.

 

My stepson has just started to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from the

US/Mexican border, with the intention of walking it all the way to the US/Canadian

border. That�s nearly 2,000 miles. It will take him all summer and part of the fall.

We met him this past weekend as he was getting his food supplies in Big Bear,

California. I was surprised to see how many hikers walk the trail every summer.

They all gathered at the post office waiting for the door to open to get their

supplies. They can walk about 100 to 150 miles before the dry food supplies runs

out. They mail food supplies ahead of time, in boxes, to small Post Offices near

the trail. They all are well organized.

 

After I had breakfast with him, I drove him back to the location where the PCT

crosses the road, at an elevation of approximately 8,000 feet. The vegetation is

quite different at that elevation and the wild flowers are currently in bloom. I walked

with him for a little while, taking pictures along the short distance I walked. I�m not

a hiker myself and I don�t think I could walk that enormous distance, alone, at

elevations where the air is real thin. If my Jeep cannot go, I do not go.

 

On my way back, I had time to myself and took pictures of the surroundings. I had

my K200D with the DA 10-20mm and the K20D with the DA 16-45mm. I was

amazed at the view and no matter where I looked, there was something beautiful

to photograph. In the pictures above, I tried to show that regardless of the

distance, there was beauty everywhere, from far away to very close to the ground.

All pictures were taken in RAW and converted to JPEG in Lightroom. I had a

polarizer on the 16-45mm. The 10-20mm does not accept filters because of the

lens curvature.

 

Although the K20D is a much better camera than the K200D, I have to admit that I

do love the K200D. It is lighter than the now retired K10D, but has the same digital

engine with the newest updates. The available battery grip makes it very

comfortable to hold and it looks good. It reminds me of the *ist D, only better.

Unless I am going on a photo trek, the K20D stays at home. The K200D has

become my camera of choice to bring with me everywhere I go. It is light, and the

picture quality is great. I have the DA 10-20mm attached to it. I find it to be good

for a walk about lens. When I get more money to spend, I will probably get the DA

12-24mm, because it has most of the focal lengths I usually shoot at, but being a

rectilinear lens, there is less distortion.

 

Thank you for reading.

 

P.S. In a few days, I will release a new AF adjustment chart for free downloading .

I designed it with AutoCAD (Engineering Computer Aided Drafting, for those who

are not familiar with the software) and it is very precise. It is designed for all

Pentax users, and especially the K20D users, as the camera is capable of

adjusting front or back focusing errors, and keep it in memory for up to 20 lenses.

It is quite different from the chart floating around on the internet for the Nikon D-70.

It will also come free with all our K20D books in the future. I will post the link to

download the chart on this forum. It will be free for downloading it.

 

Thank you for reading,

 

Yvon Bourque<div></div>

[personalphotos]

Yvon, It sounds like a wonderful spot. You mention "in the pictures above" but I don't see a link. Did you see my post to you about a month ago on how to download to the thread? It was added to your thread here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00P4XB

 

Nice shot of the flower at 8000 feet Btw. That is quite a journey that your stepson is undertaking. I hope he has a camera of some sort on this incredible journey. Although I assume he is traveling as light as possible.

Thanks in advance for the focus chart, we'll look forward to having a look at it. I'm assuming you were referring to the Sigma 10-20 (not a DA) or were you using the Da10-17 (curvature - no filters)?

[._._z]

"how to download to the thread"

 

Upload, not download.

[personalphotos]

Sorry it was 6:30 Am....

[andrewg_ny]

The "pictures above" no doubt apply to his blog entry (blog URL is in Yvon's profile) from which this is apparently cross-posted.

[azemerov]

Yvon,<br>

What lens was used for flower shot - DA10-20 or DA16-45? For me the bokeh is very harsh.

[mountainvisions]

Harsh bokeh is a sign of the limiteds!!