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40mm

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Posts posted by 40mm

    DX sized sensors. The "Ideal" format.

    in Mirrorless Digital Cameras

    Posted

    The bigger sensors are much more expensive because it's much more difficult to make them that size without imperfections. Quality control is a nightmare on something as huge (in the microelectronics world) as 36 x 24 mm. Many sensors of that size don't get to leave the factory, so the QA overhead is an expensive problem. No doubt, manufacturing techniques and tools will improve and the cost of manufacturing big sensors will eventually fall. How long that will take and how far the fall might be is anyone's guess at the moment. You can bet there's some very clever engineers already working on it.

    Pentax: Is it going up or down...

    in Pentax

    Posted

    I've no expertise on the business management of Japanese camera makers, but I do suspect some folks underestimate Pentax. I agree that it's unlikely they'll ever be 1st or 2nd in DSLR market share but, from using and evaluating their products, I suspect they know that as well. If they can't be the biggest fish in the pond, to remain profitable they need to distinguish themselves in other ways that more precisely targets a smaller, but still lucrative share of the market. It seems to me that's just what they're doing.

     

    There's some excellent products from Pentax that are never going to make them top dog, but nevertheless seem to attract sufficient, and growing, following. Their new DA primes, for example. Small, high quality, "pancake" lenses. The, frankly exquisite, Limited lenses. All very good products that attract not all, but a significant minority of a more particular consumer. Affordable quality. To some extent, this is true of their camera bodies, as well. I bought a DS because it had enough of the features I wanted, but more importantly, I felt it was the best handling and most comfortable to use camera in its class. Pentax has a tradition of designing well-engineered products that don't compete purely on a simple comparison reading of the spec sheet and the headline feature-set. For a company that's not at the top of the market, this seems to me to be a smart strategy. They're after a bigger share of a smaller market.

     

    Good grief, I don't intend to sound like a Pentax fanboy here, honestly, but I do find these subtleties of the market quite interesting. As a non-professional consumer of quality camera kit, if there's enough folks who like the less mainstream approach Pentax are taking, I can see a future for them.

    Buying used lens

    in Nikon

    Posted

    I have a 100% feedback rating on ebay over about 100 transactions. I buy and sell plenty and have only one poor experience, which was partly due to my own willingness to take a risk.

     

    There's many reasons people buy and sell used gear online. In my case, it's a cheap way to try out a lens or other bit of kit. If I like it, I keep it, if it doesn't suit me for whatever reason, it can usually be sold for whatever I paid for it. Many folks like to try new things.

     

    There's huge amounts of good cheap used 35mm gear out there, as many sell off older stuff to finance new digital kit, for example. I bought a 4x5 camera a couple of years ago, just to give it a try. Decided it wasn't for me and sold it again in good working order, for another example.

     

    I'm certain I'm nothing unusual and there's thousands just like me - buying and selling items for fun and for very little long-term cost, or profit, and with no malicious intent.

    Pentax *istDS focusing problem

    in Pentax

    Posted

    If you're careful to keep the shutter release depressed as you recompose... then I don't know. I suspect it's not the firmware upgrade, because 1.02 has been available for a while now, and I've not read of any similar problem before. Sounds like your camera might need to take a trip back to Pentax.

    Why is Pnet placing a data-mining cookie on my computer?

    in PhotoNet Site Help

    Posted

    B Diamond, if you're still worried after reading everything Brian has so patiently and diligently explained:

    <br><br>

    In Mozilla, go to Tools > Options... > Privacy > Cookies. Notice the two checkboxes? "Allow sites to set cookies", and "for the originating site only"? If you're really paranoid, uncheck "Allow sites to set cookies". No more cookies for you. In practice, you might find that inconvenient. Many sites use cookies to save you from having to log in every time you visit, for example.

    <br><br>

    If you check "for the originating site only", third-party cookies (like those set by embedded .gifs, as Brian describes above and commonly used as crude tracking devices by advertisers) won't be accepted.

    <br><br>

    Mozilla also makes it easy for you to clear your cookies periodically (all of them, or selectively) by following the above path and clicking the "View Cookies" button. No harm in that, as long as you don't mind having to re-log in to any sites that require it, etc, thereafter.

    <br><br>

    If you're still not comfortable, you might like to try the <a href="http://adblock.mozdev.org/">AdBlock extension</a> for Mozilla, which, with a bit of configuration, can be used to deny images from particular ads that might also pass along a cookie.

    <br><br>

    A cookie is just a key-value pair. A small nugget of text data. In and of itself, it's completely benign. It can't "call home". It can't "see" anything else on your computer. It can't execute code or install anything. It can't "do" anything, because it's just a bit of text. All that can happen is that it can be read. The only thing that can read it is a single web server (specified at the time your browser saves it).

    Mt. Kilimanjaro

    in Nikon

    Posted

    How much experience do you have of climbing above 15,000ft?

     

    It's cold and exhausting up there. Keep it simple. Use equipment you're very familiar with and not much of it. The thin air magnifies and weight you carry and messes with your concentration. I've used an Olympus OM-1 and a couple of small lenses on Kilimanjaro and that was enough to cope with. It's a great experience, have fun.

    The requested URL was....

    in PhotoNet Site Help

    Posted

    I develop web applications for a living. I'd expect any web tech to know exactly how that sentence ends just from the first part, because we've all seen it a bazillion times before. Given this is a site bug and this is a site feedback forum, I considered it a useful title. Obviously, I was in error, for which I humbly apologise.

    need film recommendation

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    For wider exposure latitude, you might like to consider using a print film, rather than slide. If you want to stay with slide film, you might find Sensia or Astia are a little more forgiving in the contrast department. Personally, I like Sensia. It's sharp and nicely balanced for open daylight (just the right saturation and contrast, in my opinion), scans well, but it's underestimated because it's not billed as a "pro" film. The price doesn't hurt so much, either.

    Shooting for magazine cover

    in Sports

    Posted

    I've done just a couple of bits for magazines and it's my very limited experience that 1) As a photographer, it's not your job to worry about the technicalities of printing (beyond providing file sizes/formats asked for), and 2) Ask! The design and graphics people at publications are (again, in my limited experience) very happy to discuss what they need and, if necessary, do a little hand-holding through the workflow. It saves them time, because ultimately there's much more chance they'll get exactly what they want to make their eventual production job easier. If you're receptive, honest and pleasant to work with, despite admitted inexperience, your reputation as a professional will be enhanced. A helpful, willing and flexible attitude often beats an opinionated expert.

    Tokina 28mm f/2.8 MF on *ist DS

    in Pentax

    Posted

    Thanks for these ideas. Sticky blades would explain the over exposure (probably a couple of stops by f/22), but not the difficulty mounting the lens. The blades appear to move fine, anyhow. There's no obvious sign of damage anywhere on the mount (this is a new lens). One thing I did notice is that the mount is marked "P/R", rather than the usual "P/K". I assume that's for Pentax/Ricoh? Don't see why it would make a difference, but maybe there is?
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