trw

<p>No optical viewfinder: no thanks.</p>

<p>I've always found my K10D to be very good at high ISO in low-contrast situations - or situations that can be made low-contrast through skillfull use of flash.</p>

<p>The Metz 48 <em>is</em> good. That it doesn't have wireless master is not a big deal since the pop-up flash on the K10 and later does have wireless master.</p>

<p>A great many K-Mount primes are sharper than their sensors can resolve. Which is sharpest is probably irrelevant, just which are as sharp as matters unless you're shooting with low speed T-Grain B&W.</p>

 

<p>For pocket flashes I've got a pair of opus "B2-Remote Flash". Each is optical trigger only, full power (GN=10 ... probably feet, but unspecified) only, 23mm x 60mm x 67mm. Each takes one AA (works with NiMH). Certainly not powerful enough for mains, but I have used them to light a background slightly, highlight elements, and to make lamps appear to be turned on. </p>

<p>If you're using it off-camera with an umbrella adapter, bounce and swivel doesn't matter at all. If you're going to test the voltage, it's the difference between the centre contact and the contact in the indent between the hotshoe and flash body that matters.</p>

<p>I started out with Vivitar 2800's on auto-thyristor mode with cheap optical triggers tripped by a Canon 133a with two layers of unexposed but developed slide film over the lens (a cheap IR Pass filter), shooting 35mm and 6x6 colour negative film. It worked but there was no preview capability and a lot of guess work involved. </p>

<p>Shortly after I got my K10d I added a pair of used Sunpak flashes with manual power setting. They worked with better control, plus I could see the results right away and adjust if needed and experiment more. The optical trigger system continued to be reliable at short ranges.</p>

<p>Next I added an Opus brand radio trigger set. It is marketed as for use with Opus brand studio flashes in a studio setting. That is where it should stay. With my flashes and outside the studio, reliability was VERY poor. Even at shorter ranges than usual in a portrait studio (ie clamshell lighting a teacup poodle pup). There are very frequent unintended firings and failures to fire.</p>

<p>Next I purchased two sets of YN-16 triggers. They are much more reliable with the Sunpak flashes and have much greater range than the Opus. </p>

<p>A while later I purchased a pair of BF-160 from a sponsor of this site. They are "budget" class studio flashes with integrated reflector, modelling light, and 4 stop adjustable (in 1/3 increments except more between 1/1 and 1/2). Their power, size, and features are all between a hotshoe and a "pro" studio light. Pricewise though, they are LESS than a new manual-only hotshoe flash. Quality is good for a budget product, except the umbrella holder but a pair of binder clips solves this. I was having an issue with unintended firings and non-firings, but this may have been due to a low receiver battery. Unintended firings are less of an issue (so long as you're not looking directly at it) as the recycle time is very short. The optical sync is not disableable though, so bring a roll of electrical tape if there will be many flashes at your venue; It also seems to start getting tripped if you have the modelling light on too long.</p>

<p>Of course the BF-160 only work where there is AC power available; I have yet to try them on an inverter pack. I still keep all my old hotshoe flashes for background/fill etc or for use where there is no AC. This discussion only covers flashes and triggers though, not the miriad Lightstands, umbrellas, clamps, battery packs, diffusers, reflectors, backgrounds, etc that I've bought or improvised out of non-photography gear...</p>

<p>(run as root)<br>

<code> dd if=/dev/urandom of=~/randomdata.dat bs=2048 count=524288<br /> sync<br /> date<br /> dd if=~/randomdata.dat of=/dev/sdx1 bs=16384<br /> sync<br /> date<br /> </code><br>

should be a decent benchmark on any distro unless they've changed the semantics of sync in a <em>dangerous way</em>, and so long as randomdata.dat fits in RAM.</p>

<p>My laptop also has a PCI MMC interface SDHC reader. It's just sad it won't boot from it (BIOS doesn't support it)</p>

<p>Haig, that was shot with on-camera flash!</p>

<p><a href="http://trentwhaley.smugmug.com/Photography/Harbour-City-Photo-Club/5998027_pvysk#854199865_Z8QGn"><img src="http://trentwhaley.smugmug.com/Photography/Harbour-City-Photo-Club/flashin-2/854199865_Z8QGn-M.jpg" alt="Mark Marren @ HCPC Club Meeeting, April 27, 2010" /></a><br>

I took my K10D, 50/1.4, and Metz 48AF-1 to the HCPC Meeting Last Tuesday.</p>

<p>Sorry Michael, offering TTL would also require having a sensor with a matte grey surface, rather than a glossy but highly absorptive one. The TTL flash sensor has to look at the reflection off the film to do TTL. </p>

<p>I recently acquired the Metz 48af-1 for on-camera work. It's very nice for techniques similar to those taught on (a site that I apparently can't mention here due to past spam disputes), with exposure close to ambient unless there's no ambient. The interface is sub-optimal for anything beyond P-TTL and adjusting the EC and zoom, or manual work, but that's what I bought it for. Recycling time is fast with eneloop NiMHs at low power (high iso, close to ambient, f2-f4, bounced). There are no snap in gells, I use a CTO sheet gell taped over the head. If you want a LOT of pops or are trying to do 100iso/f8, I imagine the 58af's higher GN and external battery pack option are handy.</p>

<p>For off-camera where there is a power outlet I use a pair of flashpoint BF-160's. They may not be the best out there, but they're the best WS/$ you'll find and surprisingly good quality for $60/head. If you want to use bare bulb or a softbox, these are not for you though; they have an integrated reflector (fairly wide pattern though). Obviously, recycle time does not vary by number of pops, but a lot of full-power pops in quick succession will trip the thermal shutdown for a few seconds. At lower power, recycle is very fast. There is no gell holder and if you just tape a gell over the head, it WILL melt if you turn on the modelling light.</p>

<p>Another suggestion is to try laying flat objects on a scanner that can do very high resolution (eg a flatbed film scanner that can do 4800dpi). </p>

<p>I'm baffled by the zip file being for mac users and exe for windows users. They could just skip the exe version as zip files are supported natively by windows XP and later even if some people mistakenly think they need winzip.</p>

<p>If you're using centre spot metering... The dark shadow on her dark hair is where your enter spot would be... Try matrix. Or if you're setting focus and exposure and re-composing, check that the AE lock on shutter press was not set back to default when you upgraded the firmware. That said, my 50-200 consistently underexposes, so it is possible to be the lens.</p>

<p><a href="http://trentwhaley.smugmug.com/Photography/Picture-of-the-Week/"><img src="http://trentwhaley.smugmug.com/Photography/Picture-of-the-Week/Kennedy-Lake/840275734_BT35F-M.jpg" alt="Kennedy Lake" /></a><br>

Kennedy Lake, Near Ucluelet BC. K10D, FA35/2</p>

<p>No pentax photos for me this week. I was busy with computer work and spent what little photography time I had cleaning the internal parts of my scanner then scanning and post processing some old LF and MF film. The top image in <a href="http://trentwhaley.smugmug.com/Photography/Picture-of-the-Week/">my POTW gallery</a> is from my Mamiya C220 with Mamiya-Sekor 135mm f4.5 on Provia 100f, from september 2007.</p>

<p>The Pentax connection is that I used my K10D to do the metering.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure that Kodak also has a tiny printer but for 4x6. Not quite pocket sized though.</p>

<p>Music turns back on every time you visit a new page. Users preference should be preserved between pages somehow.</p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2587049479_4b8bb06a5e.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="332" /></p>

<p>Here is an example of a group shot with 50mm on a 1.5 crop factor body. Lighting however was 2x sunpak speedlights, crosslit.</p>

<p>There was a large shaded lawn to work on.</p>

<p>Also note that after re-sizing an image for web display (by pixel count), you won't want to use that file for making prints, so be sure to make a copy before resizing.</p>

<p>If you actually want to photograph a lamp and are using flashes to light it's detail, I find a mini pocket slave strobe with a coiled up piece of vellum set up like a snoot makes a sufficient approximation to a lightbulb to make it look like it's lit.<br>

Like this: <br /> <a href="http://cheekymonkeyglass.ca/gallery.html"><img src="http://cheekymonkeyglass.ca/images/thumbnails/dragonflylamp.jpg" alt="lamp" /></a></p>

<p> </p>

<p>Also, there's always some event happening outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.</p>

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<p>One more vote for the street life in Vancouver.</p>

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<p>I figured the reason for the paucity of Pentax dSLRs on their supported list was because they hadn't bothered to test them as they (used to) focus mainly on point & shoots. If it supports SDHC cards with FAT filesystems, eye-fi <em>should</em> work. Whether they will "support" it or not is another matter. Another possibility is that the metal frame of the K10/20/7 may interfere with transmission. I am pleased to hear that it works in your K20 as I was thinking of eventually getting one for my K10. </p>

<p>The DA 50-200 is highly underrated. It's cheap but good (not great, but cheap)</p>