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rickbehl

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Posts posted by rickbehl

    Pentax 6x7 MU body w many lenses, accessories. Should I sell or keep it?

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>That's a great setup you got there! I also have a Pentax 67II set up with a few lenses and it is still my main equipment for landscape and nature work. Although everyone has their own opinion about it I actually think the quality of well exposed and developed film has something which digital still cannot quite replicate especially if shooting on transparency. Although with enough tweaking in post-processing you can get a 'filmic' look I'd rather spend my time out in the field making images than sitting behind a computer trying to improve them after the event...</p>

    <p>I know some digital folk will disagree with the above but this is just my own feeling... So for now I am happy to continue using my 67 and even buy new lenses (such as the 2 fantastic zooms) to improve my photography. Of course if photography is your day job then the above argument does not really hold as in this case you do really need to make sure you nail your shots at the end of the day in order to 'keep the lights on' so I would be more likely to switch to digital...</p>

    <p>Rick</p>

    Focus a Pentax 67 55-100mm Zoom Lens

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Yes, I forgot to mention the additional accessories required for each different thread size which would also add weight. Well caught Mario!<br>

    Be aware though that these 55-100mm lenses (in good condition) seem to be rarer than hen's teeth which also means that they do seem to command a premium when you do see one for sale :-(</p>

    <p> </p>

    Focus a Pentax 67 55-100mm Zoom Lens

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p><em>"The zoom weighs about as much as the two lenses it replaces combined."</em></p>

    <p>Actually before I bought the zoom I would normally pack the 55mm, 75mm and 105mm into my backpack (as well as the 200mm). So by carrying this one zoom I'm actually replacing 3 lenses with a combined weight of 1.875kg. This compares to a weight of 1.21kg for the 55-100mm zoom. Usually I also prefer to shoot primes but a saving of 700g and backpack space does seem to make sense... Especially if like myself (and probably Mario) you plan to walk for any length of time with this system and a tripod, etc...</p>

     

    Lee Filters on a 67II with 55-100m Zoom Lens

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Hi,</p>

    <p>Just picked up a 55-100mm zoom lens for my Pentax 67ii body. I know the filter ring is 95mm on this lens. </p>

    <p>Currently I am using a combination of Lee and Hi-Tech filters (Grads, NDs, etc) in a Lee Holder with a number of adaptor rings for the previous lenses I was using. With this new zoom I am going to need a new adaptor ring (95mm thread) to attach the holder to the lens. I see that Lee don't make a 'Wide Angle' version of their 95mm adaptor ring. So I wanted to ask if anyone is using the Lee 95mm 'Standard' adaptor ring with this lens and if so whether there are any issues with doing this? (eg, vignetting, etc).</p>

    <p>Thanks for any help!<br>

    Rick</p>

    Focus a Pentax 67 55-100mm Zoom Lens

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Thanks Steve. As always you are the fountain of all knowledge when it comes to the P67 :-)</p>

    <p>A couple of follow up questions though. Do you find f/32 to be useable without diffraction in most instances where you have foreground, middle-ground and far distance background? Obviously my previous lenses were limited to f/22 and so occassionally I was struggling to try and keep the whole scene before me in focus even at this aperture. I'd like to believe that if f/32 is very sharp that I could use it to get that extra depth.</p>

    <p>Good idea about putting dots on the barrel! I will try and add these. I do have a laminated card (bought on ebay) for medium format hyperfocal distances at various apertures and focal lengths as well as an iphone app that supposedly calculates the same thing. I guess I could start with those and see how they look....</p>

    <p>Thanks again,<br>

    Rick</p>

    Focus a Pentax 67 55-100mm Zoom Lens

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Hi,</p>

    <p>I recently was fortunate enough to be able to pick up a 55-100mm Zoom lens for my Pentax 67 II camera. This is my first zoom lens for the camera and I'm very much looking forward to using it after hearing very positive things about its quality.</p>

    <p>Most of my photography with the Pentax 67ii is Landscape work and my main lenses were the 45mm, 55mm, 75mm and 105mm. I expect the 55-100mm zoom to replace 3 of these lenses in my bag. However I have a question regarding how best to focus the zoom lens. As most of my work is in landscape I am almost always looking to maximize depth of field without losing too much sharpness. I found pretty much all the primes mentioned to be great quality even stopped down to f22. I couldn't really see any softness introduced by diffraction, etc.... When focussing the primes I would use the lens barrel to put the infinity mark just between 22 and 16 on the left side in order to maximize depth of field (assuming I had a shot which included a far horizon/mountain, etc). </p>

    <p>Now my question is what should my technique be for obtaining maximum depth of field with the 55-100mm zoom? I don't believe I can now use the lens barrel to see what the limits of the focus are going to be. Should I now rely on adding hyperfocal distance 'markers' to the lens at various focal lengths?</p>

    <p>Any opinions on what approaches are available would be much appreciated !</p>

    <p>Cheers, Rick</p>

    Nikon 70-200m f2.8 VR II

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>Actualy Shun is exactly correct regarding what the manual says about tripods and VR. Personally speaking when I am using a tripod it is usually because I am shooting landscapes/cityscapes and I want the sharpest image I can get. So I use a high quality Gitzo tripod with a damping plate and a Markins ballhead. In addition I have removed the centre column for extra stability but may hang my camera bag for that extra bit of weight. On top of this I would probably be using one of the smallest apertures (f/13-f1/16) to truly get as much depth of field and sharpness in the shot... So in this instance I would switch of VR... but this is just my type of shooting and may not be typical of other users...</p>

    <p>I don't shoot sports but do shoot wildlife when there is some about and also do some street photography. That's where I see this lens with the VR function on being very useful.</p>

    <p>Andy, I too would love a 300 or 400 f2.8 but the prices are really beyond my means (at least until I win the lottery). Hence one reason I could justify this lens to myself with the thought of adding the TC-20E III teleconverter shortly after to get the extra reach.</p>

    <p> </p>

    Nikon 70-200m f2.8 VR II

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>Thanks for the replies. I will assume the lens is fine then and the slight noises are normal. A couple of answers to a few of the comments here:</p>

    <p>John, from the manual it says to switch VR off for tripod use. switch on/normal for handheld regular shooting (including panning type shots) and on/active for shooting from a moving vehicle.</p>

    <p>Matt, yes, I think 1/15s at 200mm is pushing things and in reality where sharpness is critical I would probably try and bump ISO or push my film.</p>

    <p>Thanks again<br>

    Rick</p>

    Nikon 70-200m f2.8 VR II

    in Nikon

    Posted

    <p>Hi,</p>

    <p>I just treated myself to a cheeky birthday present to myself and purchased a 70-200mm f2.8 VR II lens. I've only had the chance to take the lens out once so far but initial signs are very promising. I have a couple of questions though:</p>

    <p>1) Is it normal for the lens to make a couple of sounds after the finger is removed from a 'half-pressed shutter' position? This only happens when VR mode is on so I am assuming that it is something to do with this function. The sounds is like a little hum or click. Not loud but definitely there in this mode and not when VR is switched off.</p>

    <p>2) What sort of shutter speeds in general are other users able to achieve with this lens handheld at say ISO 100 or 200? Again initial tests show that I should be able to get down to 1/10 to 1/15 of a second at ISO 400 when the lens is at 200mm. Just interested to hear other experiences.</p>

    <p>3) If anyone else has any useful tips on using this lens I'd be glad to hear them.</p>

    <p>Thanks in advance,<br>

    Rick</p>

    FocalPoint glass carrier for 9000ED

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    Yes, that is the thread and advice I used to get my Coolscan 9000 working under Windows Vista 64-bit. I'm glad I

    found that thread as I was starting to panic when I bought the scanner home and it wasn't recognized by my computer.

    And I really wasn't keen to downgrade back to 32-bit.

     

    As always make a backup of any system files you are changing before starting.

     

    Rick

    FocalPoint glass carrier for 9000ED

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Hi, I also recently purchased the Coolscan 9000 primarily to scan my Pentax 67 II transparencies too. While 35mm slides and filmstrips are handled pretty well I haven't really managed to get 'edge to edge' sharpness on the 6x7 images.</p>

    <p>I have resorted to ordering the non-rotating glass carrier as from this and other forums it seems to do the job more often than not. Again I agree with the other posters in that if you have to do the job then it's worth spending the money to get it done right especially if you have already 'invested' in the scanner.</p>

    <p>As for the 32-bit/64-bit question after some problems getting the CS9000 running under Vista 64-bit I managed to get it to work with the help of another posting on these forums. You have to mess around with a file or two but it wasn't difficult and it is all explained in the post. Do a search and I'm sure you can find the information easily.</p>

    <p>Rick</p>

    Enlargement from Color Slides

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    I have had prints made at Excellent Colour and the quality was indeed 'Excellent' :-)

     

    More expensive than colour 6 but if you are really concerned about quality above cost then I think justified. I have a

    feeling they scan and then digitally output but worth asking.

     

    Contact Details:

     

    Excellent Colour

    7/F, Room 701, Beverly House

    93-107 Lockhart Road

    Wanchai

    Tel: 2866 8090

     

    Be interested to hear what they say.

     

    Rick

    Extension Tubes

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Thanks Chuk!</p>

    <p>I've just realised that my extension tubes may be the manual ones and not the 'AUTO extension tubes'. I am guessing that the procedures described above relate to the 'Manual' version of the tubes as I would think the 'Auto' version automatically stops down the aperture without you having to use the lever yourself before taking the shot?</p>

    <p>Cheers, Rick</p>

    Extension Tubes

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>Thanks for the responses. I'll try and get out with the camera and tubes in the next day or two to try them out. A couple of thoughts and conclusions on the replies so far...<br /><br />1) Seems best to use these for close-up/macro type work rather than trying to use them for the 'extra reach' (eg wildlife type images)<br /><br />2) Looks like general consensus is that the tubes are optimally used with focal lengths in the range of 75-165mm (75mm, 90mm, 105mm, 135mm, 165mm) although of course they can be used practically with all lenses with maybe less than optimal results.<br /><br />3) I think I get it now with the EC. When the manual says x2.0 it translates to 1 extra stop (ie, double '1' ONE time) and when it says x4.0 it means 2 extra stops (ie, double '1' TWO times). If I summarise the data from the tables in the manual I believe that as a rule of thumb to remember the EC:<br /><br />Tube #1 (14mm) : Add 0.5 Stop<br />Tube #2 (28mm) : Add 1 Stop<br />Tube #3 (56mm) : Add 1.3-1.5 Stops<br /><br />Again using the TTL meters obviously helps removing the need to remember these numbers.<br /><br />4) Looks like there should not be too much loss of image quality as long as tubes are used individually and stacking is avoided. Generally it sounds like I should be using very small apertures to get maximum sharpness throughout? As f/22 may introduce softness it sounds like f/13-f/16 is optimum? Also, as noted and probably dictated by these shutter speeds a tripod sounds mandatory.Conversely using a tube with longer lenses should help to produce nice bokeh (probably good for portraits with the 165mm?)<br /><br />5) A bit confused here. After a couple of tests it looks like the tubes do not allow the aperture modification to be used (pentax service centre mod to display aperture instead of the frame number in the viewfinder display). This is not a big issue really. However just so I am clear on how to measure exposure. It sounds like I cannot use Aperture Priority mode? And I'm not too familar with the term 'stop-down metering' (excuse my lack of knowledge here). Am I right in thinking the procedure for metering with these tubes are:<br /><br />i) Switch metering mode to manual (ie NOT 'A' mode)<br />ii) Compose and focus the scene<br />iii) Set desired aperture for required DOF. <br />iv) Use the DOF Preview lever to stop down the lens to desired aperture and then set shutter speed to correct exposure (using viewfinder meter to get to Center Mark '0').<br />v) Press 'Meter Lock' to lock exposure or keep DOF lever locked at stopped down aperture. (However the P67II manual says that the 'ML' button cannot be used when the camera is in Metered Manual Mode?)<br />vi) Release shutter<br /><br />Does that sound correct?<br /><br />Thanks again for all your help!<br /><br />Rgds<br />Rick</p>

    Extension Tubes

    in Medium Format

    Posted

    <p>On Point 3. above, just to confirm that when the manual says x1.6 it actually means add 1 2/3 stops?</p>

    <p>Using a simple example from the manual, using tube #2 has a Exposure Factor of x2.0. So if the original exposure (without tubes) was 1/100s, the exposure with tube #2 should be increased by 2 stops so in this case 1/25s?</p>

    <p>Thanks again,<br>

    Rick</p>

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