greg_erker

I believe Paypal will charge back purchases made with stolen credit cards. So if you sell to someone who is using one eventually Paypal will take the money back.

Greg

I clean mine with liquid dishwashing soap and then rinse it many times to make sure there is no soap residue left. Then I fold it in half, then quarters, so the inside is on the inside, then I squeeze it tightly with a dry towel to absorb as much water as I can. That way there shouldn't be too much minerals from the tap water in the cloth. If I were really paranoid I would also rinse it with distilled water before the final squeezing to remove even more minerals.

Greg

It means that the scanning sensor moves 1 pixel width in 1/20,000 of a second I would guess. Since there are about 20000 pixels horizontally and it takes one second to scan the numbers work out.

This page has more info than the blog link: http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm

Greg

The f3.5 is the maximum aperture at 28mm. As you zoom to 80mm the lens gets slower (lets less light through), so the maximum aperture is f5.6. The lens will be able to close to smaller apertures at all zoom settings. I don't know the lens but usually they will go to f22 (sometimes f32).

Greg

There is according to this photo: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0605/pentax_K110D_top.jpg

It's on the power switch like the other Pentax DSLRs.

Greg

The dust is likely on the cover glass of the sensor. So it is

a small distance above the actual pixels. When shooting wide open

the light comes from a big source so the dust speck only blocks

some of the light. Stop down to f16 and the light source is much

smaller, so the dust speck blocks most or all of the light reaching

a pixel.

You can see this effect by making a shadow with your finger by

holding it an inch or two above a table. If the overhead lights

are fluorescent tubes (a big source) the shadow will be not very

dark. But if the overhead lights are small pot lights then you will

have a very sharp shadow that is quite dark in the center.

Greg

I recall that people on the Pentax Discuss mailing list have

de-yellowed their lenses by exposing them to sunlight for

a while (a week or two maybe?). Just make sure the lens can't

focus the sun's image onto something and start a fire.

Greg

Don't re-format until you've tried everything else. If you are

willing to spend money there are probably places that can (try to)

recover the photos for you.

Greg

It's very small. Some people find it hard to use due to the

tiny focusing ring. It is not super sharp but not a dog either.

See http://www.takinami.com/yoshihiko/photo/lens_test/pentax_35.html

for some resolution numbers. It tends to sell pretty high on ebay

because people think it is a rare lens.

Greg

Look at the Panasonic forum on dpreview also. One person's view

was that it was a worthwhile upgrade from the FZ20 for the features

but not if you hope for improved image quality.

Greg

When the camera lens is focued at infinity it is pretty easy

to calculate. From my achromatic close-up web page (www.angelfire.com/ca/erker/closeups.html):

Another approach is to calculate magnification. Convert the diopter strength to millimeters focal length (CU FL = 1000/Diopters). Then divide the camera lens FL by the CU lens FL to get the magnification when the lens is focused at infinity. Thus a +2 CU is 500mm FL. If you use it on a 50mm lens you will get 1:10 life size. The same +2 on a 300mm lens will give you 0.6 of lifesize (1:1.66).

I'm not sure how the magnification is calculated when both effects

are combinded.

Greg

The contact for Ricoh's program lenses can get caught in the auto-focus shaft hole on Pentax AF cameras making it very hard (impossible)

to remove. Should work fine on an MX though.

Greg

Google for "camera registration distances" and you should find

the page that lists them all.

Pentax has a longer registration distance than KM so a screw mount

300mm lens should work.

Greg

You may not be able to collect on the $200 rebate without a US

address. If you have a US friend buy it for you and send in the

rebate form that may work.

Greg

Somewhere on the web is a movie of a partially disassembled 7D

that shows the CCD moving. When powered down the CCD is parked

in the upper left corner. At power up it does some quick movements

then centers itself. From the movie I would guess it has 10mm

total movement. So during used the CCD is centered and you would

have +/- 5mm of movement.

If I find the link I'll post it.

Greg

On some of the 0.42x adapter you can unscrew the front fisheye

part and be left with a high power (but single element) closeup

lens.

Greg

RBT used to make a stereo camera from two Hexar AFs. I mostly

shoot medium format stereo but that would have been my ideal

3D snapshot camera.

Here's Dr T's review: http://home.att.net/~drt-3d/toys/RBTS1/

Greg

Nice test Alan.

Did you press the shutter button each time or was it

a 6 shot burst?

I ask because shooting in a burst avoids the tremors from

your finger pressing the button. So the first and last are often

worse than the middle shots.

Greg

Maybe I mis-remembered that.

skgrimes.com is operational so he/they may still

be an option.

Greg

Mr. Grimes died last year I believe.

Greg

Goodwin Photo is a good place. I bought some Bay 1 to 49mm filter

adapters from them about 5 or 6 years ago. They were fairly poorly

made. One required filing to fit onto my camera. But for the price

I was reasonably happy. I also bought an old Ricoh Diacord from

them and was happy with the transaction.

Email them and ask about their return policy.

Greg

There are photos of 3 different mockup bodies on www.digitalcamera.jp

None look as good as the 645N film camera IMO.

Greg

645 frame size is not 60x45mm. Most film 645 cameras are in the

54 to 56mm range for the long side. So the crop factor is not

as big as you imply.

Greg

Someone on candlepowerforums.com said he damaged his digital

camera with a green laser pointer. I think it was one that

was tweaked to run above its rated power.

Greg

If it's like most macros, it limits the focusing range so

that if the lens hunts for focus it doesn't hunt for as long

before turning around and finding it.

Say the limit is at 1 metre. If you turn it on when the lens

is focused at infinity it will only hunt between infinity and 1 m

when trying to find focus.

If you have the lens focused at minimum and then turn it on

it will only hunt over the macro range out to 1m.

A handy feature.

Greg