jaophotography

<p>I don't have a K20, but I tried one out for a few weeks. The one big thing for me was the fps on the k20, as it seems very slow compared to the k10. I looked on Image-resource.com and their test on it said 2.75fps vs. 3.1fps of the k10, and you can feel the difference.</p>

<p>The k20 I tried seemed to have something wrong with the sensor as well. At random, bands of noise would show up that were impossible to extract during post processing.</p>

<p>For the color accuracy, here are two links of test for the k20d and k10d.<br>

K20d - <a href="http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K20D/K20DhMULTII0100V1.01_colorerror.png">http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K20D/K20DhMULTII0100V1.01_colorerror.png</a><br>

K10d - <a href="http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K10D/K10DhMULTII0100_colorerror.png">http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K10D/K10DhMULTII0100_colorerror.png</a></p>

<p>Over all, the k20d is a very good camera, and the 14.6MP are quite amazing. I didn't crop and print any of the images from the k20d, but I'm sure it would be just as good cropped to 10mp as the k10d is.</p>

<p>As for the Expanded Dynamic Range goes, it does work. If you have to shoot in the middle of the day, you won't be getting those clipped highlights that so often happen. It does add just a little noise, but nothing to worry about unless you shoot at 1600 or 3200 ISO. I was amazed at the noise reduction for high ISO. It reduces the noise while keeping the image sharp, which is very useful.</p>

<p>Like Roger said, "I guess that all comes down to what you feel is important in a camera." The k20d is good, but as I only have 26,000 shots on my k10d, I still have 74,000 shots to go until the shutter wears out. I calculate that I will round the shutter count off to 100,000 in about 6 years, so until then, I'm not planing on upgrading until the K7 comes down in price. :-)</p>

<p>-Jon</p>

 

<p>With cooler temperatures, fall is in the air as well as the undergrowth. These bushes always turn orange about the first or second week of June.<br>

-Jon</p><div></div>

<p>Truly some great work this time as well.<br>

This first one I did some manual focus blending in CS2. At F/11, it was still impossible to get both flowers in focus, not to mention that they were on about a 20" stem with a slight breeze!<br>

"There seems to be a correlation between the shutter button and the wind."<br>

I'm now working on a yellow flower with a stem that looks about 3 feet long and a little bigger than a pencil lead!</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Nick, like I said before, I'm not even sure why the picture turned out. The way I got the colors though, was using the graduated blue cokin filter (Gradual B2 - A123). The sunset was very yellow, and adding the blue on top turned the yellow/light pink into deep pink.<br>

What's kind of odd is the way I discovered the blue filter trick. I was on my way home, riding with my dad at sunset, and noticed that the sunset was a much better sunset looking through the band of color at the top of the windshield. A few years later when I got a cokin filter set, I tried the blue filter and wow what a difference it made to previous sunsets.<br>

BTW, the ISO was on 100-about the only thing set right on the camera at the time.<br>

Glad ya'll (both of you) liked it:-)<br>

-Jon</p>

<p>Mark the same thing happened to me a few months ago. I picked up my k10 and the strap caught on something and it fell about 6 inches, back first, onto a friends k20! The LCD screen hit the mode dial of the k20, and left a very small ding in the screen. I never checked to see if I could get it fixed and now I hardly even notice it.<br>

Another time, right after I bought the LX, I was heading out the door and set the camera atop a load of books on my other arm while I opened the door. Needless to say, the camera started sliding and I just watched it fall from chest level to the wood steps in the garage. I couldn't move fast enough to grab it, and a thousand things went through my mind. It landed upside down and the film rewind mechanism/ISO/EVcomp got bent. I sent it to Pentax and they refurbished the camera for $250, so now I have a Pentax LX that is basically a new camera inside.<br>

I'm so glad that I bought a Pentax as my first camera and continued in the line of miniture tanks :-). I knew one person that dropped his camera and the lens got impacted into the mirror box so bad that it wasn't even worth it to fix it.<br>

-Jon</p>

 

<p>Ben, you're not late until early next Sunday Morning. :-) I like the first shot. </p>

 

<p>Arkadiy, no, that was <em>one </em> of the first times I shot digital. Actually, that was the first sunset that I took on digital. I got the K10d in November when it came out, and this shot was in July. I really hadn't done much digital until then because of the results I got from Velvia. In fact, I really didn't start mostly digital until over a year ago.<br>

My Favorites so far;<br>

David, I like the first shot the best. Just wondering, is that a jpeg directly from the RAW? IMO, it needs just a touch of contrast.<br>

Lorenzo's Hanging by a Thread.</p>

 

<p>This last one couldn't have had anything worse going for it. This was one of my first 'digital' images that I took. I really don't know why it turned out, except I was using a Pentax camera. This picture really shows the effectiveness of Shake Reduction, and it is sharp.<br>

Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm @ F/6.7, 1/8 shutther speed, graduated cokin blue filter, SR turned on, JPEG @ 6MP out of camera and <em>no</em> tripod.</p><div></div>

<p>Looks like the discussion payed off. Everything looks good this time around.<br>

This past week I went to a friends graduation, and when the party started dying down, I saw this and knew it had to be a picture.</p><div></div>

<p>Wow, when I first saw the pictures of the camera, I didn't like the design. After reading the specs, and reading this, all I can say is wow, that's going to be my next camera.<br>

Justin, I know a few people that bought canon cameras because the fps were faster, and the AF was 'faster'. A couple of days ago, I tried one of those talked about canons and found the AF on the K10d to be just a hair faster, and twice as accurate. Now, the fps were something but what's the use of 20 soft shots vs. 5 sharp shots?Another thing I'm wondering, does the K7 have an early shutter penalty? The canon camera that I tried didn't; I was able to push the button as soon and as fast as I wanted, and it would take a picture. If the button on the k10d is pushed too soon, it refuses to take a picture. This is all in single shot mode BTW.<br>

If the K7 has even faster and more accurate focus than the K10d, along with 5 fps, oh wow!<br>

-Jon</p>

<p>2, it would be quite short with only 1 per person. Just remember, everyone, to post your best.<br>

-Jon</p>

<p>Liam, I agree very much.<br /> Michael, posting one image per week would provide the viewers/posters with absolutely the <em>best</em> pictures, and limit the loading time of the page. Even with high speed internet it takes about a min. (I can't imagine dial-up)<br /> -Jon</p>

<p>This last one is from the same street. Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm, virticle grip, the first picture was ISO 640, and this picture is ISO 500.</p><div></div>

<p>Wow, sorry to hear about Javier.<br>

Haig, did you steal one of my cats? The cat in the picture (the post directly before) looks just like one of the cats around here.<br>

I never go street shooting because I really don't like the experience of it. I guess I know too much about the life of the street to delve into some urban adventure. But, this one time I went against inward feelings and braved the streets (about 2 blocks) of St. Louis, MO.<br>

This first one is a <em>hand-held</em> panoramic. Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm, virticle grip.</p><div></div>

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<p>Dave, the reason it looks cramped is, I had to crop about an inch from the left of the picture because part of another duck got in the frame. I thought about cloneing it out, but I haven't taken the time yet.<br>

I also noticed the lack of contrast this time around. Sometimes when I post, the pictures look a little darker, but lately they basically stay the same. I think the reason they stay the same now is because I change the color space to sRGB, add some contrast, and then save.<br>

Yes Peter the foreground was all black. Actually, I wouldn't be doing <em>any</em> sunsets except that doing an HDR was the last resort. I have tried many times to get a decent sunset without success until just recently with the HDR's. I figured if the HDR didn't work, I would be off to the camera store to find one of those GND filters and buy one of each kind. Then try different combinations on a sunset until I found what I was looking for.<br>

Seeing that I only posted two images, here is another HDR that I was only using for a test to see how good it actually works.<br>

Pentax K10d, pentax 18-55mm, this time auto bracket using +/-2.0, tripod.</p><div></div>

<p>This next one, I used the Tamron 75-300mm. In my viewing, that lens is almost as sharp as my 50mm f/1.7, and on the k10d, the focus is just a hair slower than the kit lens. I tried a Sigma 70-200mm F/2.8 and the focus was so slow and inaccurate that I went back to my 'cheap' lens.</p><div></div>

<p>My favorites this week is Moose from Ian Forsyth, and Justin's HDR. Haig, Piece de resistance is a nice picture except I can't see the pupil of her eye for all the reflected light around it. Great Picture though.</p>

<p>Well, I tried another HDR without really knowing what I was doing. I read up on it before I processed this picture, so this is really new for me.<br /> Pentax K10d, pentax 18-55mm @ F/11, used auto bracket w/ 5 exposures, +/- 0.7. tripod.</p><div></div>

<p>This next one was early morning in the Rocky Mountain National Park at Sprague Lake.<br>

Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm @ F/11, Tripod.<br>

-Jon</p><div></div>

<p>Some really good shots this week!</p>

<p>This first one I shot was under some heavy clouded skys called the Devil's Backbone; Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm @ F/11, Tripod.</p><div></div>

<p>OK, something happened on that last post! :-?</p>

<p>I'm a little late but I guess it's better late than never.<br>

This picture I shot with the Pentax K10d, Pentax 18-55mm @F/11. On the way to this location, I saw a small tornado on one side and a large thunderstorm on the other side. These storms were miles away, so there was no real danger.</p><div></div>

<p>@ John & Leo: Come to think of it, the bark of the stem did look like grape 'bark.' But I've never seen a grape with those kind of leaves. I am in the south eastern U.S., in fact, that picture was taken at a hotel in south Georgia about 20 miles from the Florida state line. Thanks for your help!<br>

Nick, I like the expression in "Library "Pizza Parlor.""</p>

<p>-Jon</p>

<p>Thanks Leo, but one question; if it is a kind of grape, shouldn't it be a vine? This was a small bush about waist high, and what about those leaves? I guess I should also add that this bush was a planted bush, because I saw it as part of the shrubbery at a hotel in South Georgia.<br>

I'll look it up and see if I can find something similar in a plant book.<br>

-Jon</p>

<p>The lake was shot on Provia 100F. The shutter speed was somewhere around 5 minutes.<br>

This last picture is why I love Velvia. I shot this in full sun using the sunny 16 rule with Velvia 100F, Pentax LX, probably a Pentax 50mm f/1.7 @ f/11, shutter speed 1/250.<br>

BTW, does anyone know what bush this is?<br>

-Jon</p><div></div>

<p>I think I posted this picture before, but it's almost my best picture on film.</p><div></div>