mikeshoup

So my good friend Phil asked me if I would shoot his wedding this summer. I told

them I'd think about it.

My biggest concern is that I don't have the equipment for it. Right now, I have

the Samsung GX-10 and Pentax K100D Super bodies. I also have the 18-55 kit lens,

a 70-300mm f4-5.6 Tamron lens, and a few manual focus primes from the film days.

I don't think any of these lenses will do as part of the wedding is indoors. I'm

looking at purchasing one or two more lenses for this. What do you recommend?

I'm currently looking at the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens. Would this suffice for the

wedding?

What other budget lenses can you guys recommend? Phil and his fiancee told me

they don't really have all that high expectations of me (thanks guys :p) but I

still want to a decent job.

They all work, and work just fine.

Manual Focusing is trickier on the smaller viewfinder and matte screen of the dSLR. The camera will aid you by beeping/lighting up the AF point when it thinks you have it in focus.

If you're using glass with A positions, exposure can be done just like any other lens on the camera.

If you're using older M glass (without the A position on the aperture), then exposure can be done in Av, but only wide open and in M mode by pushing a button to stop down and the camera will pick a shutter speed.

Virtually every lens ever made for Pentax mount is entirely usable. Some just come with tricks.

Consider warranties. While the K10D doesn't have a reputation of breaking, what if?

If you buy used, see if you can get a warranty.

I have a Konica AutoReflex TC. I was told these cameras work only with 1.3V

batteries, but can some how be calibrated by a shop.

How can I check if its been calibrated by a shop? I put in a pair of Wein Cells

(after waiting the couple hours after removing the tabs), and when I compare its

light meter readings to those of my Pentax K100D Super when in center weighted

avg mode, the TC reads about 1 stop over. IE: With both at ISO 200, the TC will

meter a scene at f-8 while the K100D will meter the scene at f-16.

Would this make sense if the TC's light meter was calibrated? and for what

batteries, silver oxides? Or can I not even compare a DSLR's light meter

readings to the old meter on my TC?

You can install the ntfs-3g module on a mac using <a href="http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/">MacFUSE</a>, however you likely won't have the ability to do so on school computers. I've tried this myself on a buddy's Mac, and it worked great.<br />

<br />

You can also format the drive as HFS+ in Mac, then run <a href="http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/">MacDrive</a> on you windows pc and it'll read the drive.

I like the Tamron 70-300mm 4-5.6 Di. Its reasonably sharp wide open and is nice and compact for its focal range. I wish it were faster, or at least maintain f4 the whole way through its range, but you get what you paid for.

I used it last night at a basketball game. All the photos in the following album were taken with it:

http://mshoup.us/?page_id=23

I used a K100D Super @ 1600ISO, and mostly wide open the entire night. I was up with the band (being a trumpet player) and was sitting pretty high up and at the far end of the gym. The lighting was fairly bright seeing as the gym is less than one year old.

The photozone.de's review of the Tamron is for the Di lens with 1:2 magnification. The one for $130 does not have the 1:2 magnification. Whether or not the optics are the same, I couldn't tell you.

I actually just purchased the Tamron Di lens. It arrives tomorrow. I'll let you know how it fairs. The reason I picked the Tamron is its the only one I could find any reviews on, and they seem to all state its a decent lens.

The Tamron one is this one: http://www.adorama.com/TM70300DPXAF.html which retails for $180

I just recently purchased a Konica Auto S2. It looks like the camera was

dropped, as the filter threads are dented, and the lens sits crooked on the body.

Is there anyone who specializes in the repair of these Konica rangefinders?

Also, how much would a repair like this cost? If its too much, it may just be

more worth it to purchase another rangefinder. These S2s seem to go fairly cheap

on eBay.

I'm a huge fan of open source.

Before I was into photography, I was a programmer. I run Linux as my primary OS, but have been finding it difficult to keep up with photography in Linux, so I resorted to reinstalling Windows XP on my system.

I use GIMP all the time. I think its awesome.

I'll have to check out imgseek. Looks pretty slick.

Good to know I'm not the only open source photographer out there.

What's so special about these things?

I picked one up at Goodwill for $1.99 after I read the article here on point and

shoots. After looking them up on eBay, it was revealed to me that these things

go for a lot. Even the basic T4 (which is what I have) seems to go for $75 minimum.

Why they high resale? I'm running a roll of film through it to make sure it

works, then I'm seriously considering eBaying the sucker.

So, I just got my hands on an old Konica Autoreflex TC. Came with a Konica

Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 lens, Sigma 28mm f/2.8 and Lentar 135mm f/2.8 lenses. Seems

like a decent setup. A pretty basic camera without any fancy features.

What is there to know about these cameras?

If the film is important, don't trust it to one of the big chains. I have been taking my C-41 35mm into Wolf Camera which did a lot better than the local Walgreens and King Soopers (Krogers). Though if its a roll that is important to me, I take it to a more expensive photo lab that I trust.

Walgreens had a bad habit of scratching my negatives. King Soopers had a bad habit of cutting the negatives sloppily, a lot of times leaving part of a photo on the previous strip.