hinman

The vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 was likely made by Kiron, the Kiron copy is sharper but the Tamron 20A does a bit better in close-up. I can't pick one over the other and not miss the other. I now end up appreciating what I have as I can use tamron pk-a adaptall-2 adapter on my Pentax gear or mount it on my Sony gear through a complex combo of adapter converting adaptall-2 to Sony Alpha then onto Alpha to E mount -- two adapters. Because the zoom is a small and compact, the combo is still very usable and not too heavy in street shooting -- much lighter than DA* 50-135mm zoom. The Sony platform now has a Techart Pro adapter that can AF using PDAF turning many Leica M mount lenses that is less than 700g into AF lenses. And I will try the 20A with the AF in my Sony system soon. When I try the setup with FA 43mm f/1.9, the whole thing AF without a problem. 20170613-DSC01633 by Hin Man, on Flickr 20170613-DSC01632 by Hin Man, on Flickr Essentially all of my FA limited lenses can AF in my Sony system through a TechArt Pro adapter along with a Pentax K to Leica M mount. This is the whole reason why I pick and compromise in getting Sony A7RII over Pentax K-1. And if I am crazy enough someday, I will get use my Pentax lenses shooting film on a Leica clone film camera such as the Bessa R variations Voigtlander Bessa R. Or I can can get a Leica M to Pentax K-mount and try my two Voigalnder lenses on my Pentax aps-c bodies. https://www.cameraquest.com/voigrf.htm Cheers, Hin

If I ever unload my Sony K-5 along with an old Sony NEX 5N and if and only if, I manage to find extra money, I would like to get a KP to complement my usage with K-3. Ideally I like to have a K 3II and a KP. It is unfortunate that K-1 is the ideal candidate for me but I am already invested in Sony full frame and I can't jump back easily.

A very good write up, I learn quite a bit in the article link. I want to drop a thank you note to Kenneth.

I don't see anyone, I want to post more in case to lure my friends back. NOTE: I can't visit this page from Chrome as it keep flashing with an Ad opening and closing and making it impossible for me to view the page let alone doing any posting. I solved my own issue in using Firefox just for this forum posting. If you have problems, try Firefox DSC06737_HDR by Hin Man, on Flickr HDR Aurora with Soft & Airy in Landscape preset collection Cheers, Hin

#4 Pentax DA* 16-50 and K-3 shines Bleeding Purple by Hin Man, on Flickr I did a group shot of friends at work. It was not an easy shoot as I was totally not prepared for the right setting and I couldn't ask for a repeat. I was shooting at around 21mm and when I suggested dabbing and the group responded beautifully. I forgot to widen my zoom and hence the cropping. I should have checked but the light was dim and it was only discovered when I edited the raw. I did the coloring purple for a reason as Yahoo color is in purple. I designed the outfit of purple shirt and white tie and bow. And somehow I wants consistency in the picture and I went above and beyond in the editing department to pull this through in LR. It is impossible to tone mask a white tie to purple, no matter how I tried, it came out mostly white with a pinkish pink and not purple. I later learned from a friend in the video production team to lower exposure to give LR the contrast and hue to locally mask off the each of the tie white area to purple. It ain't perfect and I sweated hours to make it. Just wanted to share with you all Cheers, Hin

#3 Kiron 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5, $19 from Etsy 20170604-DSC06954-2]20170604-DSC06954-2[/url] by Hin Man, on Flickr Light fixtures in church this morning in Bridges Community Church in Mission of Fremont, California. I was off focus using an unfamiliar but recently bought used Kiron manual focus zooms that cost $19.00 from Etsy -- that is right not Ebay. It comes with a problem on loose focusing ring and I think I may have fixed it ugly with a piece of paper tucked into the underneath of its focusing sleeve but it seems to work. I fixed it with a piece of pink paper card with black wording, I would love to re-fix with black or red paper with black accent. In Bridges Community Church, I have seen this lights fixture where a big LIFE dashboard of colored lightings are on display. I will need to reshoot this light with a better lens but I really like the off focus shot in macro mode where I had issue in getting too close to the light to nail the focus. My recent ACL rehab still prevents me from walking loosely and freely. Life throws me a lemon and not only do I treat it like a golden lemon, I've made juices out of it after church service. It is a picture with divine nature.

#2 Love Drumming Most liked instrument -- the drums by Hin Man, on Flickr What I truly admire and dream about is playing drum. I once took few lessons in a fun class in church for less than a month with 5 sessions on drumming and it is the most fun of musical instruments that I have ever played with. I have played guitar and harmonica in childhood but the drumming experience tops it all. My instructor and teacher at the time called me a funky drummer as I am consistent at one time and funky and offbeat the rest of the time. You see a pattern here, I am the same on photography, I can be awesome and I can be ugly at the same series of photographs. Life is at odd with one's thinking, I may be ugly all the time without friends telling me so. And that is okay as I like to think some of my work is still awesome and appreciated. If you read psychology, you can read how insecure but happy I am at the same time.

Posting Sunday instead of Saturday #1 Aurora HDR on flower Aurora Landscape Creative Drama by Hin Man, on Flickr I recently downloaded Aurora HDR 2017 edition. I am impatient when I see the export function is disabled in the downloaded version. I purchased it the same day that I downloaded. It is about $89 with coupon but I went ahead purchased a Trey Ratcliff's videos on the training. I have not gone through the videos as I like to explore slowly on my own. And here is a collage of a few flower shots, also toned in Aurora. All are shot single shot. Aurora Trey Ratcliff -- Peanut Butter Blowout by Hin Man, on Flickr I found Trey's preset the hardest to use as the color are too saturated and have the bleeding effects that is harder to tone than others. I like to use his first preset and Trey has funny names on the preset. There are other collections that I found more closer to nature and easier to tone down the HDR effects.

Ed, thanks again for the great input and sample. I am totally new to HDR an bracketing. I did my bracketing shots without a tripod and I was shooting with A6000 and a Zonlai 25mm f/1.8 E-mount aps-c lens. I did try to check [x] on alignment in stacking up the series in Aurora, maybe I understand the [x] alignment option wrong, the merge came out worse than not having it unchecked. The likely movement in between shots is a challenge to me as well and I will try to use a tripod/monopod next time. I don't quite know why some of my bracketed shots come out as 4 shots instead of 5. I also don't see a big difference between the 3-shots versus 5 shots. But I don't yet have the trained eyes and I am very casual on pictures. This is a 3 shot bracket that appears to be okay but I am sure the hand-held shots along with my A6000 is quite taxing for the fine detail when pixel peeping Captain Kimo Lightning Bracket: -0.5, 0 , +0.5 and by Hin Man, on Flickr So much to learn, try and retry -- exciting. Cheers, Hin

I was wrong, my copy of Nik Collection does have the HDR Efex Pro 2. I was not seeing the HDR option in the Edit plugin menu from LR but the it is one of the many applications in Nik collection when I spotlight search on Mac. In browsing the presets, I find Aurora to be more powerful and installed with rich variety of presets, the landscape and Captain Kimo are my favorites so far. The split tone and layering seem very capable in Aurora. I have only touched some entry points with some of the presets. And I am going through my usage with 3 to 5 bracketed shots. Will use a monopod or tripod on next outing. There is so much to learn and this tool has added powerful tool together with my Lightroom usage.

Captain Kimo Lightning Bracket: -0.5, 0 , +0.5 and by Hin Man, on Flickr bracketed shots but I forget the tripod in the hiking, it wont be practical unless I found a monopod that double up as a hiking stick Aurora Landscape Soft & Airy by Hin Man, on Flickr

Green Carpet Green Carpet by Hin Man, on Flickr single HDR with Aurora -- Pigeon in Captain Kimo preset Yellow Banana Slug Banana HDR -- Color Structure by Hin Man, on Flickr Finally my HDR helps me with a very yellow banana slug. The original color is more brownish yellow. I feel like cheating. That is the guilty unhealthy thinking and what do you all think of HDR type of photography? It is my 1st week into HDR with Aurora and some iPhone and Android app. Aurora Landscape Soft & Airy by Hin Man, on Flickr Landscape Realistic by Hin Man, on Flickr I edited the last one too fast and the HDR looks way busy on the background then the original picture. Overall, I am liking Aurora as an good aid for trying out HDR especially when I have prepared bracketed shots to get fuller dynamic range in the pictures on both shadows and highlights. Thanks for all the valuable inputs and feedback. And Michael, I went and check my version of Nik Collection from Google, I unfortunately don't see the HDR Efex. I will look in search and other places. I love both Silver Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro, they are essential part of my b&w and film simulation for digital. Cheers, Hin

#6 Green Carpet Green Carpet by Hin Man, on Flickr single HDR with Aurora -- Pigeon in Captain Kimo preset #7 Yellow Banana Slug Banana HDR -- Color Structure by Hin Man, on Flickr Finally my HDR helps me with a very yellow banana slug. The original color is more brownish yellow. I feel like cheating. That is the guilty unhealthy thinking and what do you all think of HDR type of photography? It is my 1st week into HDR with Aurora and some iPhone and Android app.

I am so grateful that an admin moves my original post on 'Trying out Aurora' into the Digital Darkroom forum. You can view the thread in Digital Darkroom -- Trying out Aurora . Some recent changes on photo.net have made it triple the efforts to post anything. Our forum has shrunk in enthusiasm and member posting and I have seen no replies to some of the POTW threads. Not even a single reply to picture posting -- this is as pathetic as I have ever come across. This is not to undermine the efforts of photo.net but a buggy and poor design come a long way to take the joy of discussions and picture posting. Photo.net is a great resource but all the restrictions such as no reedit after few minutes and no second posting within minutes make it a real chore. This morning, I have to change from Chrome to Firefox in order to stay away from flipping Ads and flipping screen. On my Chrome, it will expand and collapse and likely I can only fix my Chrome issue with a browser cache reset. I am breaking the POTW rule and I am asking others to post a comment or better 1 image to stop Hin. And please feel free to move or delete if this violates the forum posting. #5 Green Grass In Captain Kimo Mego Moon Preset Green Grass in Mega Moon by Hin Man, on Flickr

Thank you so much for your valuable pointer. I love my Nik collection and I have been using Silver Efex and Color Efex and some Analog and I will look into the HDR Efex Pro that you mention. The Nik collection is superb in my opinion. Cheers with big thanks, Hin

#4 Aurora HDR Learning Aurora Learning by Hin Man, on Flickr

Aurora Learning by Hin Man, on Flickr

Thank you Ed for your valuable input. I already purchased this software. Will hopefully put it into good use. Yesterday, I edited my hiking picture with Enlight in iOS. It surprised me with two simple filters Enchanting Redwood In Fog Purisima Creek Redwoods by Hin Man, on Flickr Purisima Creekside Redwood in Woodside, CA . I went hiking on Memorial Day in Woodside and my older boy now knows where to explore way smarter and more curious than his Daddy. When I saw a downhill slope, I paused and I had to split with my family as my knee was not doing well on downhill. I went back to my van with a short 0.5 mile hike back. I paused and went slow to take pictures. . Suddenly the fog kicks in and I can afford to take pictures as if there no time limit. I literally took 50+ pictures in a short window of 30 minutes. I tried different bracketing stops for subsequent editing in HDR. Though not much hiking, I was very content with my artistic outlet. On my way home, I was too tired from my allergy and my wife took over the driving. I transferred a few singles to my iPhone and played with Enlight. And Enlight app has been awesome on iOS but I don't see it available on Android. Oh boy, this phone editor app has bunch of image filters and image adjustment with presets that really open my eyes to another reality. . HDR or unrealistic pictures are not for everyone but I am an unusual photographer who likes cartoon type of animation and I love virtual reality. I hate 3D movie tough and I will never like it until I see it without sickness and headache. . This picture took the first preset filter with Mystic tone and then I tried a duotone image filter in the middle with pale blue tone. I sound like a great editor and I am actually randomly try the presets with one touch fix. When things are not planned, it is the most rewarding and beautiful. I . Please comment especially if you like or dislike the picture.

Purisima Creekside Redwood in Woodside, CA . I went hiking on Memorial Day in Woodside and my older boy now knows where to explore way smarter and more curious than his Daddy. When I saw a downhill slope, I paused and I had to split with my family as my knee was not doing well on downhill. I went back to my van with a short 0.5 mile hike back. I paused and went slow to take pictures. . Suddenly the fog kicks in and I can afford to take pictures as if there no time limit. I literally took 50+ pictures in a short window of 30 minutes. I tried different bracketing stops for subsequent editing in HDR. Though not much hiking, I was very content with my artistic outlet. On my way home, I was too tired from my allergy and my wife took over the driving. I transferred a few singles to my iPhone and played with Enlight. And Enlight app has been awesome on iOS but I don't see it available on Android. Oh boy, this phone editor app has bunch of image filters and image adjustment with presets that really open my eyes to another reality. . HDR or unrealistic pictures are not for everyone but I am an unusual photographer who likes cartoon type of animation and I love virtual reality. I hate 3D movie tough and I will never like it until I see it without sickness and headache. . This picture took the first preset filter with Mystic tone and then I tried a duotone image filter in the middle with pale blue tone. I sound like a great editor and I am actually randomly try the presets with one touch fix. When things are not planned, it is the most rewarding and beautiful. I . Please comment especially if you like or dislike the picture.

#3 Greenish Charm Greenish Charm by Hin Man, on Flickr

#2 Enchanting Redwood In Fog Purisima Creek Redwoods by Hin Man, on Flickr

#1 Redwood In Fog Purisima Creek Redwoods by Hin Man, on Flickr I know the processing maybe of odd type to some. But I was very impressed as I shot a bunch of hiking pictures in the fog and light drizzle. My wife drove us home while I tried download pictures to my phone and do the editing. The transfer to phone take care of the raw conversion and I edit this with two filters on Enlight that currently only work for iPhone. If you know of a good editor that work well in both iPhone and Android, please comment. I also use ActionDirector (for video) and PhotoDirector. Enlight has support for layer and masking.

20170513-DSC06462_HDR by Hin Man, on Flickr Mending Bridge by Hin Man, on Flickr

See my thread disappearing, try to reply.

Just bought Aurora HDR to try out something different. I know that HDR is not for everyone but I am at the age that anything different gets my attention and I like it so far to spice up my pictures with color. On one extreme, I like everything black & white and now I try to explore the dreamy and often controversial side of unrealistic picture. 20170513-DSC06528_HDR by Hin Man, on Flickr DSC06538_HDR by Hin Man, on Flickr DSC06453_HDR by Hin Man, on Flickr Aurora HDR Test by Hin Man, on Flickr All the above are shot without bracketing. I will try to work with my bracketed shots and see how Aurora works. Some feedback will be highly appreciated. Cheers, Hin