xpiotiavos

April 14, 2010

On the subject of stacking multiple exposures, here ya go: <div>

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November 8, 2009

Hey all! Haven't posted in a while... school sucks ;) Anyway, I got asked to shoot a John Mark McMillan concert the other night, and had a blast. It was nice to be reminded how awesome the K10D is at ISO1000.<div>

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September 25, 2009

that's what Jesus would do

</blockquote>

For the record, you just implied that Jesus would buy Nikon equipment over Pentax.

September 9, 2009

great shots, all! Camus, "Stormclouds, Wairarapa" is like nothing I've ever seen. Well done!

mine for the week:<div></div>

August 23, 2009

I spy a boat.<div>

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August 22, 2009

I spy the color blue.<div>

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August 21, 2009

snow!<div>

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August 11, 2009

Thanks for the kind comments, everybody!

As for my stacking method: I stacked the files manually using the GIMP by simply dragging and dropping each new layer onto the stack and selecting the "lighten only" stacking mode on the layers tab. It took quite a while, and is far from a perfect method, but at least it's a proof of concept -- I'd never tried anything like that before.

Justin, I vaguely remember you talking about a similar stacking method, so if you're around, perhaps you could lend us some PP wisdom: I was hoping that stacking so many images together would virtually eliminate the noise in the photo, but there's still a considerable amount left. Is there a way around this?

August 10, 2009

Hey everybody!

As some of you already know, I took a two month trip to Swaziland this summer, and since so many of you helped me with gear and technique suggestions, I figured I'd post an update for you!

My kit overall was the K10D with DA 18-55mm II, FA 35mm f/2.0, and Sigma DG 70-300mm lenses, plus the AF 540 flash, BG-2 grip, and a manfrotto tripod. After shooting in light rain, dusty environments, on the beach with 20 knot winds, and carrying the entire kit (minus the 70-300 and tripod at times) with me in a National Geographic shoulder bag at all times, these are my thoughts:

First, holy crap I love pentax. There's simply no other system out there that would have allowed me to carry all of that gear into all of those conditions for the price that I paid. The weather sealing on the camera body allowed me to shoot on the beach while being blasted with wind and fine-grain sand without being paranoid, and allowed me to generally focus on what I was doing in harsh environments rather than having to baby and worry about my equipment (the toughness and protection of my Earth Explorer bag contributed a lot to that, so yeah! Way to go National Geographic on making an excellent bag!). Also, the compactness and light weight of the 18-55 II and FA 35 lenses allowed me to carry what I needed without being slowed down by the weight and bulk of my bag. And considering that the TOTAL cost of my camera gear, bag and tripod included, was somewhere around $1800, there's just no way any of the other manufacturers could compete with pentax on these points.

Now, a few complaints to balance things out: I'm still on the fence about my opinion of the AF 540 flash. The wireless function is absolutely outstanding, but the re-charge time and the overall practical capabilities of it don't hold a candle to the Nikon SB-800, which is also considerably smaller and lighter (I shot next to a guy using Nikon gear for a few days. Great guy and a great photographer, for the record.) Granted, the SB-800 is more expensive, but shooting next to one of them for a day of taking ID photos left me wishing that Pentax would at least come out with a better and more expensive flash system to call their flagship, and keep making the AF540 for all of us pro-sumers (After all, it's still a very capable flash for a good price, despite my complaints). Also, I had issues several times with dust and dirt getting into the flash, making it hard to tilt up and down. I know it's not supposed to be weather-sealed, but neither are any of my lenses, and I abused them just as much without any problems. All in all, I'm left feeling like the flash unit is just not up to par with the quality that we're used to seeing from Pentax.

And now, after much ado, some photos! (All shot with the K10D)

[DA 18-55mm II @ 40mm, f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/400th, Av]

[DA 18-55mm II @ 28mm, f/8, ISO 200, 1/60th, Av]

[FA 35/2 @ f/3.5, ISO 400, 1/160th, Av]

[DA 18-55mm II @ 24mm, f/4, ISO 200, 1/1250th, Av, filled using AF540 flash in P-TTL mode]

[FA 35/2 @ f/3.5, ISO 200, 1/50th, Av, AF540 in wireless P-TTL]

[FA 35/2 @ f/2.2, ISO 200, 1/200th, Av]

[stacked 186 images taken with the DA 18-55mm II @ 18mm, f/4, ISO 1000, 30sec, M]

August 10, 2009

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but forgive me if they have.

Even when you're in manual focus mode, the AF confirmation light in the viewfinder will light up when your camera thinks you've achieved the proper focus point. Or, at least, that's how it works on my K10D + 50/1.7 M.

August 2, 2009

Hey all, This weekend, I joined up with a group of my friends to go caving at Tumbling Rock Cave in Scottsboro, AL. The trip itself was a blast, but it came with a welcome surprise: When we arrived at the entrance, we were greeted by the property managers to register, etc, and immediately one of them, staring at the K10D in my hand, goes "oh wow... you're holding a Pentax". Turns out both of the managers were Pentaxians, and expert cave photographers at that. We nerded out about our cameras for a few minutes (to the supreme confusion of the rest of my group, i'm sure), before heading into the cave (my photos below). Hopefully, I'll get another chance to go soon, perhaps this time with more of a focus on the photography aspect :P. Check out Sabrina's work at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brinabat/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/brinabat/</a>, and Nathan's work at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/realms_of_reality/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/realms_of_reality/</a>.

A few of my own from the day: <a title="20090731-IMGP4498 by adamwilson.photo, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2637/3780311874_c5cbabb600_o.jpg" alt="20090731-IMGP4498" width="900" height="602" /></a>

<a title="20090731-IMGP4499 by adamwilson.photo, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3473/3779502341_9b91bf7db4_o.jpg" alt="20090731-IMGP4499" width="602" height="900" /></a> <a title="20090731-IMGP4504 by adamwilson.photo, on Flickr" href="

<a title="20090731-IMGP4504 by adamwilson.photo, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3540/3779502733_0ce048ab26_o.jpg" alt="20090731-IMGP4504" width="900" height="602" /></a> <a title="20090801-IMGP4524 by adamwilson.photo, on Flickr" href="

Special thanks to: Nathan, for giving me the general idea for that first shot. My friends, for not leaving me by myself in the cave while I broke down my tripod and lighting stuff (well, the did it once, but I forgive them). Pentax, for weather-sealing my camera!!

July 20, 2009

not the most careful composition in the world, but for a spur-of-the-moment "ooo that lighting is pretty" shot, i'm happy it ;)

[ K10D + 18-55mm II ]<div></div>

July 20, 2009

Hi all,

I'm starting to dabble in star trail photography, and read about the technique of taking a series of consecutive shorter exposures and stacking them together, rather than taking a single long exposure.

So I decided to try it out, and now have 186 30" exposures that need stacking. The question now is: how in the world do I stack that many images? I use GIMP and am familiar with stacking images using the opaqueness sliders, but I don't want to even think about how long it would take me to stack 186 files using that technique.

Is there a software program available for the mac that will stack the images for me? I can't seem to find anything using google, etc.

Thanks for the help!

June 1, 2009

3.

(i tried posting that a minute ago but it doesn't seem to have gone through. sorry if it's a repeat.)

June 1, 2009

τρείς (3)

for this reason: "I also seem to sometimes have a group of 3 that is better than a single photo."

May 29, 2009

As long as the new WR version of the 18-55mm is optically the same or better than the current version II lens, I'll be a happy customer.

May 9, 2009

heh. i'm 6'2" and 205. right there with ya, buddy.

May 9, 2009

Thought #1: Great shots of the Mayan. I got a chance to stay at the Mayan Palace in Puerto Peñasco this summer and it was lovely. Looks like the Grand Mayan is even better.

Thought #2: GREEEEAAAAAAAATTT. I'm boarding the Houston - London flight on Continental in a few days....

May 6, 2009

I'll be in Manzini mostly, working with an organization called Adventures in Missions.

You're in SA, right?

May 3, 2009

and the edited version:<div>

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May 3, 2009

HA! Mis. You're funny. Do you see the time stamp on my last message?? Viva la college vida, baby.

Anyway, my pentax battery in camera and off-brand battery in the grip w/ NR turned on kept my shutter open for a humble 2424 seconds (~40 minutes) last night. There was no amp glow in the frame, but upon boosting it +4.00 stops in light room, it become obvious that the problem is still there, it just wasn't exposed for long enough to become obvious in the frame.<div></div>

May 3, 2009

Hi. Thank you everybody for the responces. You guys are right: it's the so-called "amp glow." I realized after looking over my exif data that for both of those frames, my SR was on. Woops!! So I took an exposure with SR turned off and got the same glow (and, incidentally, LESS exposure time out of my fully charged battery as with SR turned on, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever).

I threw on my battery grip and turned on the dark-frame subtraction to 1) see how long the batteries last and 2) see if the glow goes away.

I'll report back when I wake up in the morning ;).

May 2, 2009

Hey everybody.

In preparation for an upcoming two-month trip to Swaziland, I picked up a couple off-brand batteries for my K10D labeled at 1800 mAh. The Pentax label battery is listed at 1650 mAh, so I figured I'd give them a try. My main interest on the battery front is in relation to star trail photography, so I was hoping the 1800mAh batteries would give me an extra hour or two of exposure time.

I'm getting a bit off track, but the Pentax labeled battery is still the champ, keeping my shutter open for an average of 2.85 hours verses the new-fangled 1800s which keep it open around 2.4 hours. (with dark frame subtraction turned off)

Anyway, back to the point: On my first long-exposure test exposure, I had my camera sitting on my desk with the lens cap on, but forgot to put the eyepiece cover on, so I figured I was just dealing with light leaking through the viewfinder when the first frame came out looking like this:

( K10D + FA35/2 @ f/8, ISO100, 2.97 hrs )

So on the next few runs, I made sure the lens cap was on correctly, swapped the eyecup for the viewfinder cap, and hid my camera under a towel in my closet with the lights off just to make sure. However, the odd purple area didn't go away, and all of my exposures still look like this:

( K10D + FA35/2 @ f/8, ISO 100, 2.83 hrs )

Anyone have any idea what this could be? I've never tried exposures this long in the real world, but the fact that the purple area shows up even when my camera was isolated from all light worries me, as it makes me think it's a flaw in my sensor.

Has anyone else ever heard of this? Or ever encountered it themselves?

May 2, 2009

@ John O'Keefe-Odom - is that from The Rescue?? one of my really good friends is on staff with IC.

great shot, btw!

May 2, 2009

here's mine for the month. my friend tina and my other friend stevie's hand.<div>

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