PhotographyBanzai.com

I noticed at PentaxForums that the member Frank posted images taken with the new DA-L 35mm f2.4 lens. This confirms that the lens is capable at full-frame sensor size! So my question to Pentax is this… Why wasn’t this lens released as a two version lens? DA-L 35mm f2.4 as it is currently.  All plastic including the mount No quick shift No weather resistance D-FA 35mm f2.4 WR Quick shift focus Metal casing and lens mount Weather seals Rounded aperture blades if it doesn’t already have them. I would buy a D-FA 35mm f2.4 WR the moment it was released as long as it wasn’t outrageously priced. The current lens on the other hand, while cost effective, is missing key Pentax features.

I picked up a Pentax DA 14mm f2.8 lens used locally for a good price around a month ago. It’s a rectilinear (flat field) wide angle lens designed for APS-C sized imaging sensors with a sizable aperture for this type of lens. Normally, I’d shy away from APS-C only lenses as I try to buy with the future in mind, but out of current offerings from Pentax all of their wide angle lenses to my knowledge only are able to cover the crop sensor. Considering the price and interesting properties of the lens I could not pass it up. Check out the Pentax Super Wide Angle SMCP-DA 14mm f/2.8 ED (IF) Autofocus Lens through my affiliate links:  Used on KEH ebay B&H Photo Video Amazon As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases! Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: Bayonet Lens Construction: 11 groups 12 elements Angle of View: 90 degrees Aperture: F2.8 Number of Diaphragm Blades: 6 Minimum Aperture: F22 Minimum Focusing Distance: 6.72 inches Filter Diameter: 77mm...

Thanks to a good tip from a user at a forum I frequent , I decided to test with just the FA 50mm f1.4 lens on both bodies. The difference this time is that I covered the data connections between the cameras and lens for the second sample set. Reason for the testing:  Find out if the K-7 is “cooking” the ISO/exposure settings when it sees that a wide aperture lens is attached. Also, analyze the data to better understand how CCD (K10D in this case) and CMOS (K-7 in this case) sensors record similar data. The test components:  K-7 camera body (CMOS type imaging sensor) K10D camera body (CCD type imaging sensor) Pentax FA 50mm f1.4 allowing the data connection and disabling the data connection by covering the connections with tape. I can confirm success as the EXIF data does not list the lens when covered. A single 20-LED lamp for lighting and a toy car as the subject inside a light tent. Another lamp around 4 feet away due to it being night time in the test. A solid tripod Ca...

After doing some testing with the Chinon 55mm f1.7 I was really wanting to take the lens out. So after a meeting today I took the lens and the K-7 out for a stroll at one of the local parks near the Rock River. I’m pretty enthusiastic about the results considering I probably paid a pretty small amount for the lens quite a few years ago. Considering it’s an M42 without any data connection to the camera body, it’s extremely easy to use out in the field.  My setting overall:  Highlight correction on and shadow correction +2 on. User mode set to (P)rogram, I have the camera control the shutter speed and ISO while I handle the aperture. Switched primarily between f1.7 and f5.6 throughout the walk. The aperture setting f1.7 is surprisingly sharp and contrast-y.  Here are a few of the photographs ( full set on Flickr . Smugmug Flickr free accounts are now limited to 1000 photos, so these might not be available.): Using the manual focus ring with this lens is a dream compared...

To follow up on my article here about the possibility that camera manufacturers are upping ISO behind the scenes with older wide aperture lenses, I attempted to do a test with two of my lenses and the two camera bodies I have. The test components: K-7 camera body (CMOS type imaging sensor) K10D camera body (CCD type imaging sensor) Chinon 55mm f1.7 (M42 Screwmount + K-adapter designed for film) Pentax FA 50mm f1.4 (K-mount FA lens designed for film but likely with consideration from Pentax DSLR engineers because it is still sold new) Daylight with a single 20-LED lamp for lighting and a toy car as the subject inside a light tent. A solid tripod Here is a photo of the setup and a second of the Chinon 55mm in case you are interested in what it looks like: The test process: – I took photos with each lens on each camera using the widest respective aperture (1/100s, ISO 200) and f8 (1/8s, ISO 200) with custom white balance by allowing the camera to take a test image. – I had to slightly rea...

I noticed this video on a forum posting at dpreview.com and thought it was amusing. Apparently the Beatles had a fondness or some type of advertising deal with Pentax back in their heyday. EDIT: The video is no longer available on YouTube. Try a Google search to see information about it.  If you do a search in Japanese on youtube , you find quite a few other unusual advertisements. What the thumbnails look like in case videos get removed over time. A collection of commercials titled "1978-1996 ペンタックスCM集" There is an old advertisement where a Pentax Spotmatic is used by a young woman as she travels around and plays around and photographs pretty much everything in sight. I think the size of Pentax and colors fit one of their target demographics and always have (young women). Defeating the myth Pentax is “selling out” with their new colorful DSLR cameras:  The video is titled "［懐かしいCM］ PENTAX （昭和40年代） ×3":  Pentax forcing their name into peoples’ heads. "1964年CM...

https://luminous-landscape.com/an-open-letter-to-the-major-camera-manufacturers/ I noticed this link a few minutes ago. It’s an interesting article and I suggest a visit to check it out. Using facts from the DxO group, the author suggests that large aperture lenses are not being fully utilized by current digital camera sensors due to a failing in their design. Light rays coming from the outer edges are not parallel enough, so they never reach the light sensing devices in the sensor. He also notes that when these large aperture lenses are being used, the cameras are increasing the ISO to compensate behind the scenes without user knowledge. From a Pentax perspective, I wonder if this is a reason Pentax has been releasing lenses “slower than film days” to increase the overall parallelism of the light rays. For example the new DA-L 35mm f2.4 is very similar to the old FA 35mm f2 lens, so maybe the loss of 0.4 f-stop was to improve the overall ability of the lens to get as much of the...

Fall is in full force now. Strong winds and leaves everywhere. I took a few images today with the K-7 and FA 50mm f1.4. These images below are in the range f1.6 to f2.0. I was looking to get some action shots, but of course once I went outside the wind didn’t pickup much. Curve Slice 3rds Suspended

I was planning on writing an article about my three wide angle lenses (14mm f2.8, 10-17mm fisheye, and Zenitar 16mm fisheye). I started taking a few sample photos with each and noticed something strange. The images at wide aperture with the 14mm f2.8 looked really poor. Initially I was thinking that user error was involved, so I went through various processes about… 3 or 4 times with the same result. Eventually I tried the 14mm f2.8 on my other camera body and received an extremely sharp image at the same aperture setting. It’s just a fact of life that there are tolerances and levels of variation when electronic and mechanical devices are aligned and configured. What I know now is that my K10D has an issue with something called front/back focusing, so far I only know it happens on the 14mm f2.8. The mechanical device inside is slightly miss-aligned so when I take a large aperture shot, the intended area of discernible focus isn’t where I expected it to be producing a seemingly un-sharp...

Thanks to David at my local camera shop Camera Craft for giving me a M42 reversing ring + M42 to K-mount Adapter. This is a fun little gadget that’s a nice cheap way to get into extreme macro photography. This is what the reversing adapter looks like. The black ring is the one that you connect a lens to backwards. The silver ring is the adapter that converts the M42 screw mount to Pentax K-mount. This is what the adapter looks like when it is mounted to the camera with a lens. In the photo I’m using a Pentax FA 50mm f1.4 lens and a K10D camera body. When choosing a lens to reverse, it’s best to find one that has an aperture ring, otherwise you will need to get creative by somehow moving and locking the aperture lever to stop-down the lens when necessary. Here is a very quick test: First off I took a photo at f1.4 of a 40mm LTD lens hood. A nice tiny-tiny slice of focus is available to work with. My second test was at f5.6 of a USD quarter dollar. You can see a larger area of perceiv...