Photo Shumi

NEW SITE - PHOTOSHUMI.COM

2008-09-09T11:35:00.003+09:00

I have created a new website with my own domain at photoshumi.com so if you look here regularly, please update your bookmarks. I will not be updating this blog anymore. The reason being is that it's a little annoying having a blog and a portfolio at different locations and I the new site is much more intuitive and a little more aesthetically pleasing.

Thanks.

The Lonely Unicycle

2008-09-04T19:55:00.002+09:00

Super Takumar 105 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/350 sec

I was just walking up a flight of stairs and noticed this very cute and lonely child's unicycle. The photo is out of focus but I feel it adds to the loneliness of the subject as if it's been forgotten.

Day 2 : Part 2 - Osaka

2008-09-02T13:27:00.017+09:00

A crossing for people and people crossing each other.

Stranded, she once felt alone.

The storm, she come and floods areas where I am not.

The same crossing but one for mechanical serpents.

A meal and mirror and we can smile.

A friend in this place.

Under ground but not too deep.

We jump to touch the ceiling or the surface.

Sky Building shows me where I am and want to be.

The city and the skyline come to meet me, high above the rats below.

Together we howl at the stars.

Deep down to an oblivion, we search for ourselves.

Day 2 : Part 1 - Nara

2008-09-01T18:29:00.016+09:00

Who will today bring?

A temple which houses her.

Purification Ritual

A door, splintering grain.

Buddha, never hiding.

Buddha, a flame for so many

A stone garment that sways.

Guard this place, your soul depends on it.

Games for good luck.

I say goodby to this place and reflect on what I've seen.

A monk, a wish, a man, the heat.

Book Review : The Photographer's Eye - Michael Freeman

2008-09-01T14:45:00.008+09:00

Since getting into photography I haven't actually read any books, getting most of my info online. As my skills increase, my craving for more specialized aspects of photography grow also. The reason I got a book in the first place was for something to read on the plane from Australia to Japan as I wasn't in the mood for fiction, even though I had the new Koontz novel tucked away in my backpack. As a visual arts student, I learnt more about concept and less about composition, colour and technique and just for the record, my experience at a modern art university was pretty shallow. The professors/lecturers were pretentious arseholes who had more concept and idea than practical skill and therefore have nothing to teach me as an artist as any artistic medium needs both concept and execution skill.

This leads me to a book that really balances out a few things for me as a "trained" artist, Michael Freeeman's The Photographer's Eye. This book covers aspects of photography not usually written about and if they are, I doubt they'd be as specific and readable as this, although I hear Learning To See Creatively by Bryan Peterson is also a great and informative read. The Photographer's Eye covers different aspects of composition and how framing, design, shapes, light, colour, intent and process are all connected and can be utilized to produce better photos that convey meaning and relevance to the photographer and more importantly, the viewer.

This is not a book about your camera, it's not a how-to book, it's not a dummies guide to taking photos. What it is is a book to explain to you the art and design of image making and how people read them. Michael Freeman writes and conveys his ideas easily, even if your new to composition. The cool thing for me is that it's helped me think about my intent before pressing the shutter, I feel better as a photographer when I don't delete half the photos I took as they don't aesthetically work. This book also isn't a one off read and will be a great reference guide. I can't wait to read it again in a few months as I let the information slowly digest, in the meantime, I'll be reading Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers by Christopher Grey. It looks a little full on but I'll jump in and see what it offers as I want to get more into lighting and portraiture work.

Super Takumar 105mm 2.8 & some filters

2008-08-31T12:57:00.006+09:00

I've been in Osaka for the past few days traveling with and visiting friends. One of my main goals was to take a few street photographs to overcome my fear/embarrassment of shooting in the street. The second mission was to finally track down Osaka's camera shops, especially the second hand ones.

At one of the shops (Yaotomi Camera), I bought a decent conditioned Super Takumar 105mm f2.8 for a very good price. Optically, it's very good with a few dust spots but no fungus or scratches. The body of the lens is slightly worn but no heavy scratches or dents and well worth it for ¥5,100 ($46.00 USD). I'm pretty excited to have this lens as I've seen some great photos taken with it and it also fills the gap in my Takumar collection between the 55mm and the 135mm. Now I only really need the $85mm.

At another shop (kitamura), I found some second hand 49mm filters all in excellent condition for my Takumar lenses and they were all under ¥800 ($7.30 USD). In the below image, the first filter is an Asahi Pentax YG filter which I'm guessing is for B&W film photography. I bought it anyway because it was pretty old and in great condition with original case, on a DSLR it will just cast a yellow / green on the image, so I'll probably never use it. The second filter is a Kenko Circular PL which are very cool to use, a must have for the outdoors. I had a circular PL for my Pentax FA 28-105 and used it often and was happy to find one cheap for my Takumar lenses.

In the next photo, the first filter is a Kenko MC Protector which I'll leave on the Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 and the second filter is a Kenko MC Skylight 1B which balances colour outdoors.

I will post more information soon on camera shopping in Osaka with directions, maps and other information. I'll also post some photos taken with the Super Takumar 105mm 2.8.

Day 1 - The Freeway to Osaka

2008-08-31T11:25:00.015+09:00

A truck crashes on the highway, spilling oil. Rescue Crew arrive.

Contemplating the work ahead.

People, curious and frustrated

The media, reporting to the masses from above.

The landscape as boredom sets in.

Sleeping, waiting.

Back in the land of the moving, the city awaits us.

Performers, he's playing just for me.

Yoko, playing with light at the end of a long day.

Enough playing, it's time to sleep.

Sayurichan

2008-08-28T08:55:00.002+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180

My friends recently had their first born and I offered my humble photographic skills to take some photos of baby Sayuri, mum and dad. This was also a great opportunity to test out the Vivitar 285HV, on and off camera. This photo used some nice ambient light coming through the window and I bounced the flash with the diffuser to light baby Sayuri's cute little face.

Techie shit aside, I really like this photo as it captures wonderfully what a new parent must feel. Here, new dad emits love, warmth and protection.

From the Haze

2008-08-27T16:17:00.006+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/1.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/500

Just showing off the beautiful bokeh created by the Super Takumar 55mm 1.8, though the subject is nothing to drool over, it's easy to get lost in the creamy background.

2 in 1 DIY Snoot & Grid Spot

2008-08-25T14:19:00.012+09:00

After reading the many cool DIY reader projects at diyphotography.net I saw a cool idea for a cheap and easy DIY snoot for my Vivitar 285HV. So since I have nothing but time on my hands lately, I decided to make one although mine looks different and is much bulkier. I basically used 5mm foam board from Japan's infamous ¥100 stores ($1 USD), cut out the shape and taped it together. Realising it was way too bulky to be transportable, I decided to add a DIY grid spot that fits inside the snoot with relative ease. I made the grid spot out of corrugated plastic craft stuff, cut it to size, glued it together and then taped it up.

So yeah, it looks a little ridiculous, fair enough but it seems to do the job.

With snoot.

With snoot + grid spot

So there you have my 2 in 1 DIY snoot and grid spot for my Vivitar 285HV, for home use it's fine and I'm looking forward in testing it out more thoroughly, especially for moody portraits. When and if I refine this model I want to take a more aesthetic & practical angle, kinda like on this blog. In the near future I'll make a speed strap and a bounce card / diffuser which should be relatively easy and also the DIY soft box.

My Beauty Queen

2008-08-25T10:21:00.003+09:00

Lensbaby 2.0 : f/2.8 : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/45

Over at PentaxForums there are threads on different lens clubs, eg; Takumar Club and the Soviet lenses Club and recently there's a new Lensbaby Club. After looking through the thread and adding my thoughts and images I realised how little I actually use my Lensbaby. This image isn't actually new but it's an ode to my Lensbaby and a pledge that I'll use it more often.

Chef's Hat - A Diffuser For The Vivitar 285HV

2008-08-23T13:22:00.012+09:00

The free gift diffuser which came with the Vivitar 285HV was a pain in the arse to setup so I was looking at some diffusers to buy online but they were all about $30 and didn't want to piss the wife off too much as I think my little photography related spending spree is officially over!

So while stalking another local camera shop in Fukuyama I found a pretty cool diffuser that comes in M and L sizes which basically just sits over the flash head quite snuggly and happens to look just like a chef's hat! Surprisingly, this product is made by Kenko and re-branded as Harbor and costs ¥840 ($7.60 USD) for the L size and a few dollars less for the M, very cheap.

Here are some examples of Batman posing just for me.

This a pretty quick and nasty example but with some experimentation and of diffuser and or bounce I will be able to produce some well lit photos.

Pinhead

2008-08-22T22:10:00.008+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180

Testing out the Vivitar 285HV flash on the Pentax k10D, this photo had some ambient light and the Vivitar was bounced from the ceiling. I boosted the brightness contrast a little but nothing too dramatic. To speak the truth, I don't really know what I'm doing with the Vivitar but it's pretty easy to get some decent shots out of it. The colour codes; yellow, red, blue and purple start from lowest to highest power and I take a few test shots with the desired aperture and adjust from there. When using an open shutter, I use either yellow or red and for apertures 4 to 8 I use either blue or purple, pretty simple. I guess in time I'll learn how to use the exposure dial more effectively or be able to judge the scene I'm shooting anf control the light from there.

I also recieved the Cactus V2s remote trigger / receiver today and tested a few shots with the Vivitar 285HV and Pentax K10D on Mr.Pinhead. Out of about 30 test shots, the flash fired 100% of the time, although the flash was no more than 40cm from the camera. The reason I say this is that I've read that the Cactus V2s can be somewhat unpredictable and shoot approx 8 out of 10 times as they are a little on the cheap side, depending on the distance.

Here's one shot where I used a lamp to cast the elongated shadow and the off camera flash which was bounced off the ceiling as a fill light. The lamp casts terrible yellow light which I kind of fixed in post but still, the colours are pretty shitty.

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/5.6 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180

This is the same image as above with a little post tweaking to really give it that creepy, horror touch, just how Pinhead likes it!

Online Photographic Portfolio

2008-08-21T15:32:00.014+09:00

Where's the best place to show off your top work, the online photographic portfolio? The place where you weed out the shitty photos, group pools, comments and wanky rants by the photographer? The place where you see only the best photos from that photographer and basic information? Well, there are a few options out there and I'm going to list a few just for you, paid and free.

One option is to get your own site/domain/hosting plan. For either a professional or budding enthusiast making a few dollars from their photographic skills, I think this would be the best option. Although this opton is the most editable it is more time consuming and you may want to have some basic html and web design skills but there's a lot of help on the net. I think a good setup would be to get the server space, make a domain name, download wordpress.org's free software or pixelpost.org's software, create a portfolio with some free photoblog themes and a blog all on the same site. Use the blog to bullshit about shoots, ideas, hardware, etc and the portfolio to show your not only just talk, plus you'll probably have a flickr account too for networking. This all will cost you about $150 - $200 per year, not bad.

The free way is just as effective but not as compact, it's a little more spread out, just like here at Photo Shumi. I'm running this blog from blogger.com, my everyday photos at are at flickr and my portfolio is at fotologue. So that's what I want to tell you about, a few cool websites that offer free hosting of your photos, have clean, uncluttered interfaces and are easy to view and navigate your photos.

Personally, I recommend the Japanese run fotologue (don't worry, it's in English too). You get 20mb upload per month, a beautiful flash based dashboard and gallery and very fast uploading / viewing times. It is community based with comments, tagging and groups but it's not as full on as flickr where there's a group for every single topic known to humanity, at fotologue you can be fairly inconspicuous and use the gallery for showing off your work. And if you do happen to get into the community spirit, it's not clustered with shit photos and is quite inspiring to check out the other users. Look at my fotologue portfolio here.

Another free website is Aminus 3 where you can post a photo a day, check out this portfolio by fellow gaijin Mike Cash. Again, it's simple in design and easy for viewers to navigate which is the most important thing when prospective clients may be wanting to check out your work. Could you imagine giving out your card and having someone trawl through your flickr gallery, not good. So that's why I recommend using something that is a little more pleasing to the eye and gives the viewer a chance to see your best work without interference.

UPDATE : 27th 8th 2008

I just remembered another cool site to show your portfolio as well as have a blog, check out Uber.

Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5 - Lens Test

2008-08-21T12:48:00.008+09:00

After having this lens for a few days, I haven't had the chance to take a lot of photos with it but a few things I noticed is one, it's really small (more so than the SMC Takumar 28mm f/3.5) and two, it's very sharp, even wide open (f/3.5). Here's some size comparison shots to my other Takumar lenses.

In order of appearance : Super Takumar 135 3.5, Super Takumar 55mm 1.8, SMC Takumar 28mm 3.5 and Super Takumar 35mm 3.5

To make this a complete picket fence happy family, I'll need to adopt the 35mm 2, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.9 and the 105mm 2.8.

Super Takumar 35mm 3.5

I did mention she was sharp right? Check out the 100% crop below (unedited).

Nice threads huh?

The Selves

2008-08-20T15:35:00.002+09:00

Super Takumar 35 mm 3.5 : f/5.6 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180 sec (bounced off the ceiling)

(view large)

First real setup self portrait shot, others didn't really work out too well, especially when using a manual lens. I was also testing out my newly acquired Super Takumar 35mm f/3.f lens which I bought over at Pentax Forums Marketplace. Sorry about the model subject, I didn't really feel like taking photos of mundane things around the appartment and I was the only willing subject around :)

Photos were taken with the Slik Pro 330 DX, Pentax wireless remote, Pentax K10D, Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 and Vivitar 285HV.

Kenko Portmate A filter

2008-08-20T08:46:00.009+09:00

I was in my local camera shop yesterday, Kitamura Camera where they have a cheap bin with lens caps, straps, used filters, etc and sometimes I come across some decent stuff. So yesterday, I was looking for some 49mm protector filters for my Takumar lenses and happened to find a Kenko MC Portmate A filter, with box and case for ¥500 ($4.50 USD). I'm not sure if it's used but the filter's box is definitely old but the filter is immaculate.

I couldn't find any English information on the web whatsoever, but quite a few in Japanese, so maybe the filter wasn't sold outside Japan. But basically it's a softening filter for portraits. Luckily, the instruction manual had both English and Japanese instructions so I scanned the English one for your viewing pleasure. It states that the Portmate A filter is for 85mm to 135mm lenses, so my Super Takumar 55mm (82.5mm with 1.5x crop factor) should be fine.

Vivitar 285HV - First Impressions and Test Shots

2008-08-19T17:09:00.015+09:00

So...The Vivitar 285HV came today and of course, like a little girl when she gets her first boyfriend, I squealed in delight as my wife shook her head. First impression...BIG! Man this thing is huge, it actually dwarfs the K10D as if it were a little point and shoot, check this out.

So, after the initial shock of it's gargantuan size, I, unlike other barbarian men, actually read the manual. Then, after not understanding a thing, attached it to the K10D and started firing away until I kind of figured out what was going on. Then, I went back to the manual, did a little cross referencing and before I knew it, it was producing acceptable photos. Photos below were shot in RAW and are 100% unedited, click images to enlarge.

Super Takumar 35 mm 3.5 : f/8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180 sec (bounced off the ceiling)

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180 sec (bounced at 60°)

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/180 sec (bounced off the ceiling)

Above image at 100% - Just showing off the Super Takumar 55mm sharpness (check out that dust!)

So after an hour or so of playing about the Vivitar 285HV I came to the conclusion that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy taking my photography to a hopeful next level. And next week, when the Cactus V2s triggers come, it will be even more fun! I'll have a more thorough review/test in a few weeks.

Cactus V2s Wireless flash Trigger

2008-08-17T12:41:00.007+09:00

As I posted earlier, I'm awaiting the Vivitar 285HV Flash unit, hopefully it gets here tomorrow (Mon 18th). Even though the the flash will work directly with the Pentax K10D out of the box, the supplied cord allows for the flash to only be mounted on the camera which in my view, limits it's use.

So what I've done on my limited budget is buy a Cactus V2s trigger and receiver set from Gadget Infinity which cost $32.95 including postage and when buying through their ebay store, you get a nifty little flash stand for free. I'm looking forward to playing with all my new toys I bought over the past few weeks (Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5, Vivitar 285HV and the Cactus VS2).

The idea of off camera flash to me is a little mind boggling (I'm a Visual Art grad), where radio transmitters, extension cords, PC sync cords all get in the way of getting the job done. But I watched a few YouTube movie tutorials by Photographer Chris Warkocki (codiac2600), also a Pentax Forums member where he talks about the K10D, Cactus V2s triggers and shooting in nightclubs or bars. Watch Part 1 and Part 2 which gives you a good indication how easy and effective off camera flash photography is. Also, check out these videos (1 - 4) with a review of the Cactus VS2.

Pic Lens - The Future

2008-08-17T12:15:00.003+09:00

I've never posted info on on any new and fancy software or hardware but I feel that if I don't tell you about this you, your life and your online viewing experience will be somewhat empty. So, if your a firefox, Safari or IE user and love browsing photos online, download the free PicLens plugin from Cooliris and your viewing experience will change for ever, it actually makes you feel cool, even when your not.

I've been using PicLens for a few weeks now and love it. This plugin is absolutely essential, especially when viewing large quantaties of photos at flickr and perfect for viewing group pools. Download the latest version of PicLens here for your browser.

Fukuyama Matsuri #4

2008-08-15T15:37:00.005+09:00

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7 : f/1.7 (?) : ISO - 560 : Shutter - 1/180

A beautiful woman should always be in focus and luckily, this one is. The reason I cropped the photo square was due to the distracting elements in the background which took away from the young lady and her graceful movements. This is one of the few photos of the night that were actually well exposed and in focus.

On another note, I also found the Pentax M 50mm 1.7 a little difficult to focus while 1: under pressure as my mother-in-law wanted to see every photo I took on the LCD, 2: lack of light and 3: The M 50mm lens focusing ring is smaller than the Super Takumar 55mm 1.8.

Fukuyama Matsuri #6

2008-08-15T15:08:00.007+09:00

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7 : f/4 (?) : ISO - 400 : Shutter - .7 sec

This is one of the images that even though interesting, I had trouble with taking in focus photos of the issues I mention in the last post. It's a little more artistic and which makes it hard to see what it is (Japanese men dancing at a Matsuri). The sense of movement, tone and use of available light along with some post processing makes this one of the better shots of the evening.

Vivitar 285HV

2008-08-14T17:06:00.008+09:00

I went shooting last night at the Fukuyama Matsuri (summer festival) to take photos of all the Japanese dancers in the street and got some pretty horrible results using just the K10D and with Pentax M 50mm 1.7. Even though I got some interesting shots, not many were in focus as I was shooting with such a large aperture (f/1.7) because of the low light or with smaller aperture (f/8) with a high ISO (digital noise), so basically I needed a flash!

Slightly pissed off, I started researching flashes and came across many references and referrals to the Vivitar 285HV, a cheaper alternative to other more expensive brands such as Pentax, Sigma, Metz and Sunpak. I decided to order one from ebay at John's Camera Store for $89.00 USD which seemed pretty damn reasonable to me as I just can't justify spending more on a flash. It should get here in a few days and I'll post some pics, thoughts, opinions and troubles in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, here are two reviews on the Vivitar 285HV at Strobist and PopPhoto.

Pentax FA 28-105 f/3.2 SOLD - Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5 BOUGHT!

2008-08-13T14:38:00.006+09:00

Finally sold the FA 28-105 f/3.2 over at the Pentax Forums Marketplace for just under what I asked, overall very happy as I can now spend some money on more Takumar lenses. I'm actually going to miss this lens as it's very versatile and capable, hopefully it's new owner will enjoy using it as much as I did.

I decided while the money was coming through PayPal, I'd buy a Super Takumar 35mm f/3.5 from a fellow Pentax Forums member. Here are some images of the lens I'm buying. Looks like it's in very good condition and can't wait to start shooting with it.

Where I Used To Be

2008-08-13T08:25:00.003+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/1.8 : ISO - 280 : Shutter - 1/10

I think this photo has an interesting, dark and moody feel to it especially due to the lighting, glass and tone. I'd like to take some more photos behind this frosted glass as I think it produces some really interesting shapes and shadows.

Sun Auto Tele-Zoom 85 - 210mm f/4.8 - Test Shots

2008-08-11T13:22:00.010+09:00

Took some test photos today at the Fukuyama Port area with the Sun Auto Tele-Zoom 85 - 210mm f/4.8 lens I recently bought . All the photos below are from the camera with no image adjustments, all shot in RAW.

I wasn't expecting much from this lens quality wise so the results were expected, although some shots turned out ok, especially if I were to tweak them in post like I do to all of my photos. Contrast is pretty decent, although sharpness was lacking in all the photos, especially when blown up. Contrasty shots come curtasy of high colour fringing (chromatic aberation), especially seen in the bird photo at 100% crop.

I didn't get a chance to test the bokeh quality (only seen in the fence photo) or play with the different appertures as it was 35 C° with 60% humidity, so I just wanted to go home and sit in the A/C.

So will I be using this lens? Probably not that often or never as it's just not practical, the image quality isn't there and I'm not much of a large tele shooter. So then you may ask, as my wife already has, why the fuck did you buy it? Well, it was 2,100 yen and I like to spend money on things I won't use.

Here's some shots - All taken with the Pentax K10D. Click for a larger image.

f stop - f/4.8 : focal length - 85mm : ISO - 400 : Shutter Speed - 1/3000

100% crop - slight blurring

f stop - f/4.8 : focal length - 210mm : ISO - 400 : Shutter Speed - 1/500

f stop - f/8 : focal length - 85mm : ISO - 400 : Shutter Speed - 1/4000

f stop - f/8 : focal length - 210mm : ISO - 200 : Shutter Speed - 1/90

f stop - f/4.8 : focal length - 85mm : ISO - 200 : Shutter Speed - 1/180

f stop - f/8 : focal length - 85mm : ISO - 400 : Shutter Speed - 1/750

100% crop - Chromatic Aberration

Sundown & A Fire In The Sky

2008-08-09T15:08:00.008+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8 : f/1.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/500

This was shot at the same time as my last post, except that it was taken with the Super Takumar 55mm 1.8 with an open aperture and low ISO, so it was a quick shot in low light, so therefore not a lot of detail was captured in the clouds. When I converted the photo to mono, the low and interesting cloud formation really popped out, giving it a ghostly, splashing wave like feel.

Indifferent Clouds

2008-08-08T16:25:00.008+09:00

SMC Takumar 28mm 3.5 : f/3.5 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/60

(view large)

Yesterday evening spawned a very beautiful sundown with some fantastic cloud structures so I took this panorama with my SMC Takumar 28mm. After stitching them together and playing with the contrast, colour and saturation I decided to un-stitch them and create an interesting quadtych. I find that borders create tension and unease within certain imagery and photographs, especially continuous ones. For more examples with this style, see here and here.

Yoko's Eye & Half

2008-08-07T11:30:00.006+09:00

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8, f/1.8, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/125 (black & white conversion)

This photo was taken last December, 2007 at the Souzou v.1 opening night which I had forgotten to post on flickr. It's a photo of my friend Yoko who had recently just bought herself a Pentax K10D and I was showing her the wonders of Takumar lenses. I really like the cropping of this photo, the sharpness of her eye and the beauty of the bokeh produced by the Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8.

Featured in JPG Magazine blog

2008-08-07T11:24:00.004+09:00

My Candid Mantis photo was featured in a JPG Magazine post by Adam Hurly. Thanks.

Selling My Beloved

2008-08-05T14:28:00.004+09:00

No, not my wife, not yet anyway :) I'm selling my Pentax FA 28 - 105 f/3.2 lens here at Pentax Forums. For everyday use, this lens is fantastic, I really loved using this lens and the results (for the price) were impressive.

The reason I'm selling the lens is that I want to build up my prime lens collection, mostly I want the Super Takumar 85 f/1.9 and the SMC Takumar 105 f/2.8 and a few others too or go the Pentax ltd route or get the Pentax FA 43. Here's some of the good times had with this lens.

West Beach With Open Eyes

2008-08-04T09:19:00.004+09:00

Pentax FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 : f/11 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/180 : Focal Length - 28mm

(view large)

This photo was taken at West Beach in Adelaide, South Australia. It was taken at sundown so some areas of the photo are fairly dark but I particularly like the reflected colours on the water.

View From A Beach House

2008-08-01T17:17:00.010+09:00

Pentax FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 : f/11 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/750 : Focal Length - 28mm

(View Large)

This is the view from my families beach house at Point Lowly, South Australia. The only real way to appreciate it (apart from actually being there) is to see it by panorama. This photo was constructed with five photos, all at 28mm focal length.

New lens - Sun Auto Tele-Zoom 85 - 210mm f/4.8

2008-07-31T14:47:00.010+09:00

I went to two second hand stores where I live in Fukuyama with a gut feeling I was going to find some lenses. One store, which is right below my apartment had a Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5 with hood and caps at a great price for 3,800 yen (about $35.00 USD). Unfortunately I already have that lens so I didn't make the purchase, if only it was the f/2.8. Next place is a little bigger and had quite a few lenses but only about three in K mount and one M42 which is the lens I bought. I also saw a Pentax K Series prime lens, I think it was the SMC 300mm f/4 going for 14,000 yen ($130.00 USD) which (if the boss lets me) I might pick up.

I can't seem to find any info about this lens or brand, but it's an M42 mount Sun Auto Tele-Zoom 85 - 210mm f/4.8-22 (any aperture for any focal length) which I paid 2,100 yen ($19.50 USD) with front and rear caps and a lens hood. It has the very convenient Manual/Auto switch famous with the Takumar lenses which enables the use of Av mode. The lens seems to be in working order as I took a few test shots in the store but it is missing a small screw on the zoom ring which causes it to very slowly rotate if moved quickly. Once I got back home and cleaned it up, I did realize there was a little hazing or early signs of fungus, but I don't really mind as I doubt I will be using this lens on a regular basis as it's pretty heavy, weighing 800 grams and nearly 2kg mounted on the K10D as it's all metal. The focusing ring is very smooth, is are the aperture blades so for about $20, it was a pretty good deal. Here are some photos of the lens taken with the K10D with the 55mm Super Takumar taken at f/5.6. I'll post some test shots within the week.

Miyajima #3

2008-07-30T09:18:00.004+09:00

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/90

This photo was taken at Miyajima, an island close to Hiroshima City. Miyajima has a few deer roaming the island annoying visitors with nudges and by eating your clothes.

I decided to only use my Takumar lenses on this outing, especially the Super Takumar 135mm 3.5 and the SMC Takumar 28mm 3.5. I would have preferred if the hand was more in focus, so I should have used a much faster shutter speed with a higher ISO.

Seperated

2008-07-28T11:50:00.002+09:00

I can't find the original of this photo so I don't know any of the specs (lens, f/stop. etc). I particularly like this photo as Naomi's eyes are nicely focused but from the side and through the hair but you can still see where she's looking.

Buried Too Long

2008-07-23T15:26:00.003+09:00

Pentax DA 18-55 : f/11 : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/350 : Focal Length - 55mm

Some more texture and photography work. Removed some background elements and used three textures to create a dried mud, dirty look on the hand of a child.

Nails Removed

2008-07-21T14:58:00.004+09:00

Pentax DA 18-55 : f/8 : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/550 : Focal Length - 55mm

Trees On Fire

2008-07-20T12:20:00.005+09:00

Pentax DA 18-55 : f/8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/250 : Focal Length - 43mm

Before really getting into photography with my K10D, I used to do a lot of manipulated photography in Photoshop at uni (around 1999) and it was pretty tacky to say the least. But it was a lot of fun so I recently felt the urge to go back in time and create some "digitally manipulated photography" as we so diligently called it at uni while the film photography students and lecturers scoffed in distaste.

Fuel My Blog - Blog Of The Day

2008-07-16T19:22:00.002+09:00

Just received an email saying that Photo Shumi is the Blog Of The Day on Fuel My Blog...cool.

Harsh Innocence

2008-07-13T17:31:00.003+09:00

SMC Takumar 28mm 3.5 : f/8 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/350

Give Me Structure

2008-07-11T18:34:00.007+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/5.6 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/60

"Give me convenience or give me death" - Jello Biafra.

Gotta admire the Japanese and their love of building things, just like kids with lego. Anyway, I really like how this image turned out in black and white with the strong contrasts. I took this image from a train so I was blessed with a nice reflection of what looks like a wire fence...don't know where that came from but I like it there because it shouldn't be.

Serenity

2008-07-08T20:03:00.006+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/5.6 : ISO - 200 : Shutter - 1/125

On the train to Hiroshima from Fukuyama, this is the area just after Onomichi and it's really beautiful with the ocean and mountains in the background. I used to travel this way every morning and looking at it made me not think of where I was going, which was work.

I had about 4 seconds to quickly take this shot of the lone boatman and overall it came out pretty good, this image isn't cropped or straightened (as I try and think more about composition) with only a b&w conversion and added vignette to help center the boatman.

Night Rider

2008-07-06T08:39:00.003+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 800 : Shutter - 1/6

This photo is the bottom half to Street Love.

Nagoya Spiral Tower #1

2008-06-30T12:28:00.002+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/1500

A photo of the unfinished Spiral Tower in Nagoya, Japan. I'm not one usually for photographing architecture but it's a pretty cool building with some great lines and shapes. I was in a rush for a meeting and should have taken the photo at about f8 to f11 but at f2.8, it's still pretty sharp.

Vote For Bruce

2008-06-29T08:39:00.005+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 1100 : Shutter - 1/30

This is a photo of a great friend of mine and this photo captures one of his many facial expressions as well as his character. The strange lighting from above cast some interesting shadows which really adds to the contrast of the image. ISO of 1100 was a little high but in low light situations and only f2.8 lens noise is inevitable but for the photo it kinda suits it.

Shadows Playing

2008-06-24T20:26:00.004+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/10

I really like the composition of this photo, especially the mirrored elbow as well as the hand and the distorted shadow.

Street Love

2008-06-18T17:10:00.002+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO - 800 : Shutter - 1/4

I used the the light from a convenient store to get a decent exposure while doing a spot of night riding.

I'M BEING PUBLISHED!!

2008-06-15T00:34:00.008+09:00

Holy shit, I just realized that my "Let's Go!" photo for the On The Go theme in JPG Magazine is being published in Issue 16. I didn't know until last night when I checked the preview page and saw my photo and kinda flipped out.

Blue Shorts & Light Streaks

2008-06-14T17:10:00.004+09:00

Another shot where I hover the Holga lens in front of the K10D open mount. It's not easy to focus as the lens isn't actually attached to the body but far from difficult. The light leaks were an added bonus and really brings out the Holga type effect, although I added the vignette in post.

Alien Light

2008-06-12T20:15:00.006+09:00

Holga Lens : ISO - 400 : Shutter - 1/750

This image was shot through two lenses, the Auto Tamron was attached to the K10D and held a detached Holga lens in front of it. The image itself looks pretty holgerish with the out of focus elements and saturation levels, although I did do a little tweaking to the contrast.

UPDATE: Sorry to post false information but when I shot this I was experimenting a lot and didn't write any notes. This image was shot through a Holga lens but not in front of the Tamron. Actually, the K10D had no lens attached and I just hovered the Holga lens in front of the mount until it focused. I'll post some more photos with this method soon.

Eye Liner For Asian Eyes

2008-06-08T10:43:00.003+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO -400 : Shutter - 1/8

I love taking photos of Naomi as she tinkers around doing whatever it is she does, it's very natural and most importantly, she completely ignores me. I cropped the image to 1:1 as it framed the image better, actually the set of photos I took for this session were all cropped square. The shutter speed was pretty slow but luckily I managed to capture her face quite sharp.

Nagoya - Sakae

2008-06-07T08:46:00.004+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO -400 : Shutter - 1/1000

I was in Nagoya last month for work and took the K10D "just in case". I was walking around the Sakae area and came across this really cool mural.

Earth Touch Blog

2008-06-05T15:24:00.003+09:00

I forgot that a few weeks ago the Earth Touch website asked to use my Wallaby photo on their Photo A Day Blog which I posted on their Flickr Group Pool. Check it out here.

Night Screams

2008-06-03T15:09:00.003+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/16 : ISO -100 : Shutter - 8 sec / 22 sec

I took two photos the K10D attached to the Slik Pro 330DX. Both photos were taken in Bulb mode, one for 8 seconds and the other for 22 sec. I then combined them in post and adjusted the layers and added a green tinge and vignette for a cross process effect.

With my limited experience with tripods in general, I found the Slik Pro 330DX is very easy to set up and to maneuver with the tilt/pan head easy to control.

Undokai - Japanese School Sports Day : Camera Man

2008-06-02T09:05:00.003+09:00

Sunday was sports day at the school that I work at in Japan and my job was camera man. I decided to challenge myself and bring my Pentax K10D instead of using their point and shoot which would have resulted in simple but successful photos. With the K10D and three lenses, the task was much more difficult than I anticipated but overall, the shots came out pretty well. I did have issues with the K10D and the setup which resulted in some out of focus and overexposed photos. I shot everything in RAW because I wasn't 100% confident in my ability to take perfect exposures as I was under a little pressure as I was the only person of staff to be taking photos of the event. If I screwed up and couldn't deliver, they would have to rely on spectator sideline snaps.

First of all, I had three lenses with me, all AF which were the DA 18-55, FA 28-105 and the FA 70-200. Neither of these lenses are the fastest at the best of times with AF and it's something I didn't actually think about. Initially, I decided to keep back from the action and shoot with the 70-200 but there were so many parents and family members in the way, so I took advantage of my "Camera Man" status and got in the thick of the action.

The problem was that the lenses or the K10D just couldn't handle multiple shots in a short burst and AF was a major issue. In hindsight, I should have shot in AFC (continuous mode) where the camera would then track the moving object, I'm not sure how well it would have worked with my budget lenses but I should have done my homework.

Unfortunately I cannot post any sample photos due the the privacy law.

Arms Race

2008-05-28T21:19:00.002+09:00

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/2000

New Toys Arrived!!

2008-05-28T20:17:00.008+09:00

Gotta love Japanese customer service...I ordered the tripod, remote and trigger last Sunday night and I received the tripod yesterday (2 days) and the remote/trigger today (3 days).

Her's the items, stolen images from Amazon (At least I credited them!)

I was thinking in which ways can this new setup advance my photography and these major points;

- Sharper photos.

- Steady night shots

- Controlled perspective

- Self portraits

- Bulb photography

Deconstructing Thoughts

2008-05-25T12:17:00.006+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/5.6 : ISO -400 : Shutter - 1/30

A little undernourished this photo. I had to keep this image dark because the ugly digital noise it has when I brighten it. In RAW, the image looks pretty good but converted to an 8 bit JPG, it's pretty shit. So keeping her in the shadows one, allows for a decent JPG conversion and two, adds to the mood of the shot.

Here's the same image in black and white...which may actually be better that the above image while still retaining a sense of moodiness.

New Equipment Coming Soon!!

2008-05-25T11:57:00.004+09:00

I've been putting a few yen away each month without the wife knowing and decided to buy a few things to help me take my photography skills to the next level. Her's some items I've been thinking of buying;

1) Flash - Sigma 530 DG Super (24,000 yen)

2) Tripod - Slik Pro 330 DX (8,000 yen on special)

3) Lens - Probably something 2nd hand and wide angle

I decided to skip the lens, I have enough for now and LBA (Lens Buying Addiction) is controlled and monitored by a professional (my wife). A flash would be great and I really do want one but I decided that can wait as I still want to practice more with working in low light conditions and flash photography would obviously distract from that. So I decided on buying the Slik Pro 330 DX and with it I also bought the Pentax Remote F and the Pentax Cable Switch all equalling about 13,000 yen ($130.00 AUD).

Hopefully the tripod is what I'm looking for; light, durable with a good price and from what I've read, Slik offers that with most of their products. I'll write up a more detailed review of the Slik Pro 330 DX and the remote and shutter combo. Hopefully it will all be delivered within the week.

Naomi x 2

2008-05-24T22:25:00.005+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO -200 : Shutter - 1/6

I was just playing around with my cameras and was shooting with the K10D with the Auto Tamron 35mm through a Polaroid cameras viewfinder. I then cropped the image and this is the result. The small image on the left is from the Polaroid and the other slightly larger image is from the Tamron. Overall, it's a pretty weird and interesting composition with a low-fi feel but through a DSLR.

Nao Style

2008-05-21T19:34:00.008+09:00

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8 : f/2.8 : ISO -400 : Shutter - 1/180

I really liked the cropping on this photo, it makes you really look at her clothes and body pose. Taken with the Auto Tamron 35mm 2.8.

I Will Perform For I...

2008-05-20T21:55:00.009+09:00

Pentax FA 18-55 : f/5.6 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/250 : Focal Length - 55mm : black & white conversion

This guy wasn't pulling much of a crowd at this particular time in Rundle Mall in Adelaide so it was a perfect opportunity to take a few snaps. I took a few shots of him with his eyes closed and I thought I'd drop a few coins for his troubles and then he started dancing which was even better. Thanks mate!

The DA 18-55 kit lens is not usually plugged into my K10D that often but in the mall and for street shots, the 18mm wide angle is pretty handy. Although this shot is at 55mm, it's a nice range for portraits and cropped 1x1 frames his shoulders with the balls nicely.

Sand Art

2008-05-19T20:26:00.005+09:00

Pentax FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 : f/4.5 : ISO - 100 : Shutter - 1/750 : black and white conversion

I took these three shots while at Port Bonython, South Australia. It was the first time I'd seen this design in the sand hills before even though I had been going here since I was a kid. I liked this design as a triptych as they compliment each other nicely but something about it does not quite fit, maybe the composition, angle or maybe even the scale.

My Dad

2008-05-15T20:13:00.005+09:00

This is Juan. A great man and a greater father. Thanks for letting me be whatever I wanted to be.

Himeji Safari & Amusement park : Pt.4

2008-05-14T19:54:00.007+09:00

Just before a strong rain hit us, I took this photo of the Ferris Wheel at Himeji Amusement Park with the Auto Tamron 35mm 2.8 M42 lens. It's quite gloomy and daunting, just the way I like it. The rest of the photos were also taken from the car with the Auto Tamron while going home at sunset.

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/4, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/4000

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -400, Shutter - 1/500

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -400, Shutter - 1/350

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -400, Shutter - 1/500

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -400, Shutter - 1/125

Himeji Safari & Amusement park : Pt.3

2008-05-13T20:07:00.006+09:00

Part 3 from Himeji Safari Park. The last post in this series will be from the Amusement Park.

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/20, Focal Length - 110mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/4.5, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/500, Focal Length - 143mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/5.6, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 200mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/5.6, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/500, Focal Length - 200mm

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/250

Himeji Safari & Amusement park : Pt.2

2008-05-12T17:39:00.011+09:00

Part two of my adventures at Himeji Safari Park. Most of these images were taken while in the driving section, some were with the window up (they're the rules) and some with the window down (me breaking those rules). For the long range shots, I used the very cheap Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5 lens and I'm very happy with the results.

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/4.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/350, Focal Length - 133mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/5.6, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 190mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/5.6, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/60, Focal Length - 200mm

Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-4.5, f/5.6, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/350, Focal Length - 200mm

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8, f/1.8, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/4000 (black & white conversion)

Himeji Safari & Amusement park : Pt.1

2008-05-11T16:30:00.003+09:00

Last weekend during Golden Week in Japan a group of friends, the wife and I went to Hemeji Safari and Amusement Park for a day out. I've never been to Safari Park, although there is one back in Adelaide, South Australia (where I lived prior to Japan).

For this trip, I decided to take a few lenses for different purposes which included the Pentax FA 70-200 f/4-5.6, Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5, Super Takumar 55mm f/1.8 and the Auto Tamron 35mm f/2.8. The reason I took the FA 70-200 and the Super Takumar 135 was too just test out there differences in the field, from quality and practicality. I like the Takumar 135mm f/3.5 for quality and bokeh and the 70-200 f/4-4.5 for practicality and convenience.

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/250

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/350 (black & white conversion)

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/3.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/60

Super Takumar 55 mm 1.8, f/2.8, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/750

Super Takumar 135 mm 3.5, f/1.8, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/500 (black & white conversion)

Amanohashidate - "Bridge in the heaven"

2008-05-08T14:00:00.002+09:00

Amanohashidate which translates to "Bridge in the heaven" is one of the three main attractions of Japan, the other two being Miyajima and Matsushima and all three are called Nihon Sankei.

Today I challenged myself to not use any other lens, only the Tamron 35mm 2.8, although I did have my 28-105 with me in case the manual shots were shit. The Tamron proved to be a great lens and the best $45 AUD I've ever spent (although my Takumar's were a steal too) and was sharpest between f/5.6 ~ f/11. Taking photos of the stretch of sandbar from the lookout, I focused to infinity, set the aperture to f/11 ~ f/16 and snapped away.

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/16, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/180

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/5.6, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/1500

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/3000

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/11, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/180

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/2.8, ISO -100, Shutter - 1/1000

My Daily Photo Fix

2008-05-05T08:05:00.000+09:00

Everyday, at least once if not more if I'm feeling really saucy, I check a hand full of photo based websites for inspiration, news, networking and commenting. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite links and a few words about them.

Digital Photography School - A great, informative website for beginners to enthusiasts. Some of the content can be somewhat basic but overall it has great topics, projects and resources from it's readers. They have great weekly assignments (which I never participate in) though for inspiration and ideas, it's great to check out the submitted work plus their forum is pretty good too.

Flickr - As a member, I go here fairly often to check my contacts new photos, submit images, make comments, add new friends and see if anyone was kind enough to leave one of my photos a message. Flickr isn't the prettiest of photo galleries but the networking and quality of photos is outstanding, you just have to filter through the shit to get there.

JPG Magazine - The reason I like this site so much is that nearly all of the content in the mag and the site is all user based submissions. From the photos, stories, networking and inspiring monthly themes, this site is checked out a few times a day.

Photo Answers - I find UK photo magazines to be the most informative and useful compared to over bloated US mags and malnourished Australian mags and Practical Photography magazine is one of the best enthusiast ones out there. The Photo Answers website is the online version of the mag with a very great array of tips, video reviews and overall top quality information. This is one of my fav photography sites to check out and I buy their magazine whenever I'm back home.

DIY Photography - This site is cool in the fact that they are doing their own thing, coming up with great alternative ideas for readers to try. I personally haven't tried any of their backyard Einstein projects but if I was more into flash photography or DIY electronics, maybe I would. Nevertheless, it's still a good read and a site I check every 3 or 4 days.

Pentax Forums - As a Pentax user, this forum has been nothing but a huge help to me. The people are friendly, unless your rude to them where they will then ever so nicely crucify you :) They also have a great Pentax lens database with user reviews, a user gallery and monthly competitions.

Other sites that I check out;

Strobist
DSLR Blog
PBase
Photo.net
DPReview

Kinosaki - Old School Onsen Town

2008-05-04T02:00:00.002+09:00

Took a road trip to Kinosaki with the wife for our 1st year anniversary, it's a beautiful little onsen (hot spring) in Hyogo prefecture. We stayed in a Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) with it's own private onsen, free tickets to other bigger onsens and dinner/breakfast included. Not bad for $300 AUD for two people.

We arrived just after lunch time and went straight to the Kinosaki Marine World (Japanese) which was pretty cool. It had rained earlier in the morning and the day was still cold, windy and the seas were rough creating some nice coastal photos.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 800, Shutter - 1/750, Focal Length - 50 mm (bleach bypass)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 800, Shutter - 1/1000, Focal Length - 28 mm (b&w conversion)

Taking photos of the animals was a new experience for me, the easiest being the Penguins, the big ones that just stand there and look like their chatting about the weekend. The most difficult being anything indoors and moving, even with the Pentax M 50mm 1.7 attached although I did get a good shot of a Stingray.

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, f/1.7, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/90

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, f/1.7, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/250

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, f/8 or 11, ISO - 560, Shutter - 1/2000

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 280, Shutter - 1/250, Focal Length - 105 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/16, ISO - 1100, Shutter - 1/20, Focal Length - 50 mm

Later that night as my wife was washing away the the last year of frustrations from her weary soul in the many onsens, I walked around the streets in my Yukata with a K10D armed with the Pentax M 50mm and the Tamron 35mm. I took a few photos with the M 50mm but as much as I like it, it sucks just as much as it lacks the A setting on the aperture or the Auto switch like the Tamron and my Takumar lenses, therefore I can't use the lens in AV (Aperture Priority) mode. So I changed to the Tamron 35mm 2.8 and although a 2.8, it performed better at night with ISO at 800.

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, ISO - 800, Shutter - 1/20

Auto Tamron 35 mm 2.8, f/8, ISO -1100, Shutter - 1/8

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, ISO - 800, Shutter - 1/45

Auto Tamron 35mm 2.8

2008-05-04T01:12:00.002+09:00

Here are some photos of the M42 screw mount Auto Tamron 35mm f/2.8 lens I picked up when holidaying in Australia. It cost me $45.00 AUD at Photo Camera House in Adelaide,located in the central markets. After a few sessions with this lens, I must admit that I really like lens. With my M42 lenses, I only have the Takumar's to compare to so it was surprising how much bigger and heavier the Tamron was compared to my Super Takumar 55mm 1.8, nonetheless, it was nice to have some weight for extra support. The cool thing about this lens is that it has the Auto switch, allowing the lens to be used in Av Mode, allowing greater control of the lens.

This type of lens is hard to find info on, but I did find this review of the Auto Tamron 28mm 2.8 on Jayvee Fernandez blog, A Bugged Life.

*UPDATE* - A Pentax Forums member recommended the site Adaptall-2 about the Tamron Adapt-A-Matic lenses which were replaced by the newer Adaptall lenses. Check out some info on the Tamron 35mm f/2.8.

Auto Tamron 35mm 2.8 - Frolicking in the Park

2008-05-03T14:02:00.001+09:00

This is the first time I've taken Tamron out to play all by itself with no backup. It was a friends birthday so a few of us headed to the Fukuyama Art Gallery gardens, drank a few beers, ate some food and played some soccer/football/rugby. After the boys had a kick, the ladies stepped in and had a play. Here's the result with the K10D and the Auto Tamron 35mm f/2.8 screw mount lens.

Overall, the lens was pretty easy to use, even in semi action situations. It's pretty sharp and easy to focus and I really like the 35mm focal range, not too wide, not too tight.

Remember, these photos were taken not completely sober.

Slightly cropped and not too sharp, but that's due to moving subjects and a fixed focus lens...or just me taking bad photos.

Ohh...nice and blurry but adds tension to the story.

About f/11 I think.

Nice for portraits, Naomi here at about f/4.

Australian Trip - Cleland National Park : Pt 1

2008-04-30T01:20:00.001+09:00

Cleland National Park is located in Crafers in the Adelaide Hills near the Mt Lofty Summit and houses many native Australian animals. I went there with my mum, dad and brother on a family day trip the day before I went back to Japan. I decided to take the FA 28-105 lens because it gave me a little range if I'd need it, which I did.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 28 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/8, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/90, Focal Length - 105 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/45, Focal Length - 105 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 1100, Shutter - 1/120, Focal Length - 105 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.0, ISO - 140, Shutter - 1/750, Focal Length - 70 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 140, Shutter - 1/3000, Focal Length - 85 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/500, Focal Length - 105 mm

Australian Trip - Grange Beach

2008-04-26T13:19:00.000+09:00

After a hardy meal and a few beers at the Grange pub, I walked to beach and took a few photos with the FA 28-105. It was very windy and a little rainy and sand was blowing around so the harder elements were new for me to shoot in. I like the resulting harshness in the photos like dark clouds, sand blowing, angry waves and rain splatters on the lens. I converted a few images in this shoot to black and white as I thought the contrasts in the clouds and the waves would work well, hopefully they did.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/13, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/90, Focal Length - 60 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/60, Focal Length - 28 mm (b&w conversion)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/900, Focal Length - 50 mm (b&w conversion)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/15, Focal Length - 60 mm (b&w conversion)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/1000, Focal Length - 105 mm (b&w conversion)

Australian Trip - Whyalla: Views from Hummock Hill

2008-04-24T21:23:00.001+09:00

Here's some shots taken from Hummock Hill in Whyalla, there's some interesting views of One Steel, the foreshore and and the old WW2 bunkers. I used the FA 28-105 which was good for long distance wide angle and the M-50 1.7 for in the bunker (low light) and better use of DOF.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/3.2, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/1500, Focal Length - 28 mm

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/4000 (b&w conversion)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/80, Focal Length - 50 mm (bleach bypass)

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/350 (b&w conversion)

Pentax M 50 mm 1.7, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/1500 (colour boost)

Australian Trip - Port Bonython "The Shack" : Pt 2

2008-04-24T21:00:00.000+09:00

These shots were taken the following morning.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/90, Focal Length - 28 mm (b&w conversion)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/90, Focal Length - 28 mm (bleach bypass)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/60, Focal Length - 28 mm (b&w conversion)

Australian Trip - Port Bonython "The Shack" : Pt 1

2008-04-23T21:33:00.000+09:00

My family own a beach house at Port Bonython and is a great getaway from the hustle and bustle of Whyalla...hahaha, just kidding, it's great just to get away from Whyalla!

I've been looking forward to taking photos out here with the K10D for a long and it was a lot of fun as theres lots nature, sand dunes, beaches and cool sunsets.

Pentax FA 28-105, f/3.2, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/1000, Focal Length - 28 mm

Pentax DA 18-55, f/6.7, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/125, Focal Length - 38 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 280, Shutter - 1/250, Focal Length - 43 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/27, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/45, Focal Length - 85 mm

Pentax FA 28-105, f/8, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 34 mm

Australian Trip - Whyalla: The Backyard

2008-04-22T21:46:00.002+09:00

Here's some random photos of my parents backyard taken with the Takumar 55mm 1.8 and the Pentax DA 18-55 with a macro filter attached.

Pentax DA 18-55 - macro filter

Pentax DA 18-55, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/190, Focal Length - 40 mm

Pentax DA 18-55, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/30, Focal Length - 40 mm (cropped)

Pentax DA 18-55, f/4.5, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/350, Focal Length - 40 mm (cropped)

Pentax DA 18-55, f/4.5, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/125, Focal Length - 40 mm

Super Takumar 55mm 1.8

"Pipa" - Takumar 55 mm 1.8, ISO - 400, Shutter - 1/60 (bleach bypass)

Takumar 55 mm 1.8, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/125 (B&W conversion)

Takumar 55 mm 1.8, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/180 (cropped)

Takumar 55 mm 1.8, ISO - 200, Shutter - 1/250 (cropped)

Australian Trip - Glenelg & West Beach

2008-04-21T14:04:00.002+09:00

As I said in an earlier post, I took way too much camera gear when I went home to South Australia. My main lens when I was there was the Pentax FA 28-105 3.2/4.5 and the Pentax DA 18-55 3.5/4.5, two great walk around lenses, even though they do overlap somewhat in certain ranges. These two lenses woked best for me during the daytime and dusk, but for sunsets, night shots and general low light situations I changed to the Pentax M 50mm 1.7.

Because I have about 600 photos, I will do a best of broken up into different time frames and places. Here is the first set taken on the first morning with a Stella / Coopers hangover which were taken at Henley Square on Henley Beach and at Glenelg Beach.

Takumar 55 mm 1.8, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/4000

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/250, Focal Length - 105 mm (cropped)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 105 mm (cropped)

Pentax FA 28-105, f/11, ISO - 100, Shutter - 1/180, Focal Length - 28 mm

JPG Magazine entry - Creatures

2008-04-18T21:23:00.000+09:00

JPG Magazine have a new theme for Issue 17 titled Creatures and I have submitted this photo titled "The Candid Mantis". I think it matches the theme well as it is a little different. Have a click and a vote if you feel it fits.

News & Stuff

2008-04-12T08:45:00.000+09:00

So I recently came back to Japan after a well deserved two week holiday in South Australia after nearly a three year hiatus. Obviously, I took my K10D and a slew of equipment that was kind of annoying to carry around because I put way to much shit in there.

In my Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW I packed the K10D, Pentax FA 28-105 (walk around), Pentax DA 18-55 (wide angle), Super Takumar 55mm 1.8 (low light), Takumar SMC 28mm (didn't use), Pentax M 50mm (didn't use) and a Lensbaby 2.0 (for fun) and a 2x tele converter (didn't use). Plus a slew of other crap like memory cards, blowers, lens brushes, USB cords, extra batteries, etc.

So for travelling, I could have cut about 40% of weight from the bag and had a happy shoulder, although the Slingshot did distribute the weight evenly.

While I was there I went Photoco Camera House located in the Adelaide Central Markets and picked up a Auto Tamron 35mm 2.8 (M42) lens for $45.00AUD which I was pretty stoked about. It's in pretty good condition but I have'nt shot with it yet. I'll post more info on in a few weeks as I have about 800 RAW photos to process through.

A Stone That Won't Be Thrown

2008-04-07T21:21:00.001+09:00

Camera - Pentax K10D
Lens - Pentax DA 18-55
Focal Length - 40mm
Exposure - 1/45
ISO - 100
Aperture - f/5.6

Blood Tulip #1

2008-03-20T08:49:00.003+09:00

Camera - Pentax K10D
Lens - Super Takumar 55mm 1.8
Focal Length - 55mm
Exposure - 1/125
ISO - 200
Aperture - f/2.8

Comments - A few weeks ago I splattered some red ink on Japanese calligraphy paper for some backgrounds and this tulip was the perfect model. It was lit from the small amount of available light coming through the window plus the kitchen light. I took about 25 photos, deleted about 10 and digitally processed the rest.

This one is probably the sharpest and most dramatic of them all and I like it the best. The water drops are natural as I had just arrived home from a very heavy downfall. In post I added a slight variant of a bleach bypass effect I like to use but without desaturated colours.

Saijo Inari Panorama

2008-03-11T19:30:00.001+09:00

Camera - Pentax K10D
Lens - Pentax DA 18-55mm
Focal Length - 55mm
Exposure - 1/20
ISO - 100
Aperture - f/22

Comments -I don't usually shoot above f/11 and this might actually be my first photo where I shot at f/22. This panorama is made up of six photos stitched together in post, it's also my first panorama on my K10D. It's not much of a photo but it was more of an experiment on using a smaller aperture, focusing and making a panorama.

A Tree, A Plane and Two Lines in the Sky

2008-03-08T09:39:00.001+09:00

Camera - Pentax K10D
Lens - Pentax DA 18-55mm
Focal Length - 55mm
ISO - 1/3000
Aperture - f/8

Comments - I don't usually walk around with the kit lens too often but since I bought the Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW I can pack it and use if it needed. With this shot I just happened to look up and see the plane and just took the shot before it dissapeared. Sometimes you just get lucky when you shoot without thinking and some interesting compositions are created. Here we have 4 very different elements (sky, plane, tree and power lines) that fit together in a weird kind of way.

The image was a little dull in colour and I knew with a high contrast black and white conversion the cloud patterns would really show up.

Days End

2008-03-04T17:20:00.001+09:00

Days End, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Balcony at home, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 50mm

ISO - 100

Shutter Speed - 3.0 sec, on camera flash

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - Brightness & contrast, desaturated colour.

Comments - The last photo I posted I used the on camera flash and it was way over exposed. With this shot, I wrapped tissue around the flash diffusing and spreading the light. The multi-exposure look is actually just one shot, all in camera baby!

JPG Magazine Blog

2008-03-03T20:39:00.000+09:00

My photo "Let's Go" was featured on the JPG Magazine Blog advertising the new theme "On The Go" for issue 16, check it out here.

Overexposed?

2008-03-01T09:35:00.001+09:00

Overexposed?, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Home, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 50mm

ISO - 100

Shutter Speed - 3.0 sec, on camera flash

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - Black and White, dodge & burn

Comments - I never use the on camera flash (like most people) but a little experimenting is sometimes fun to see what effects can be created. The photo is somewhat overexposed but I like the contrast between the face and eyes.

Killing Ground

2008-02-19T17:25:00.001+09:00

Killing Ground, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

This is my first 'set up' shot I've ever taken as I usually just shoot whatever and it could have been a better photo if I would have thought about it a little more. Here are some things I could / should have done to produce a better photo.

1: Added another element in the photo, maybe a knife in the background.

2: Better lighting, here I used a fading a sunset through the window and an overhead kitchen light, can't get more ghetto than that.

3: Some stabilization (like a tripod - which I don't own) because the photo isn't that sharp as I used f/1.7 to get a faster shutter speed. If I had a tripod I would have set the aperture to approx f/4.

4: I think the shot would be better in landscape like this other photo on my flickr page.

Mob Rules

2008-02-17T09:51:00.001+09:00

Mob Rules, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Butsuji, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax FA 28-105 f3.2 - 4.5

Focal Length - 105mm

ISO - 100

Shutter Speed - 1/20 sec

f stop - f/4.5

Post Processing - B&W conversion

Comments - Not much too say, I just think the bokeh in this image is pretty rockin!

Maiko Hands

2008-02-17T09:30:00.001+09:00

Maiko Hands, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Kyoto, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 200

Shutter Speed - 1/1500 sec

f stop - f/1.7 (probably)

Post Processing - Faux Bleach Bypass

Comments - I have been using the Bleach Bypass effect on a lot of my images lately but am aware not to overdo it. The reason I like this effect is that I like when hidden details are revealed and shadows become a mysterious black.

Something Like Remorse

2008-02-13T19:03:00.001+09:00

Something Like Remorse, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Friends House, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 200

Shutter Speed - 1/30 sec

f stop - f/1.7(probably)

Post Processing - Levels and colour

Comments - This is one of the first days of using this lens and I was still experimenting with how to use it. At this time I wasn't using the green button to meter the exposure so I was just winging it. It's way too blurry but maybe that's it's charm, although some of her hair strands are in focus which cantres the image nicely.

Dreams Of Skin & Denim

2008-02-10T15:17:00.001+09:00

Dreams Of Skin & Denim, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - My living room, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 400

Shutter Speed - 1/45 sec

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - Hue & Saturation adjustments

Comments - I like how the image sharper on the top and slowly blurs away creating a dreamy feel.

Apples & Candy

2008-02-05T19:48:00.001+09:00

Apples & Candy, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - Kyoto to Fukuyama Bus, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 1100

Shutter Speed - 1/30 sec

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - B&W conversion

Comments - To me photos and stories are the same thing so here I've stitched these photos of my wife Naomi hell bent on devouring a candy apple. Within every frame her expression is different, capturing a wide variety of emotions and facial expressions such as lust, determination, eagerness, thinking, etc in just a few minutes.

I No Longer Know You

2008-02-02T10:00:00.001+09:00

I No Longer Know You, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - My living room, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 400

Shutter Speed - 1/90 sec

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - B&W conversion, stitching on jeans brightened, vignette

Comments - I really like the pose on this shot, there's not much too it but I feel that she's hiding from something while semi exposed.

Pink Stitch & Stories

2008-02-02T09:39:00.001+09:00

Pink Stitch & Stories, originally uploaded by figmental1978.

Location - My living room, Fukuyama, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 400

Shutter Speed - 1/60 sec

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - Brightness, contrast and vibrancy

Comments - The lighting conditions in my living room are very dim so the only lighting for this shot was an overhead ceiling light and the t.v. I had to boost the ISO to 400 and use f/1.7 to get a fast shot and the results are pretty good. I really like the bokeh produced with M 50mm 1.7 and I think it really suits this shot.

Pentax M 50mm f/1.7 - Update

2008-01-28T16:41:00.000+09:00

I've had the Pentax M 50mm 1.7 for about a month now and have had a few chances to use and get the feel of it. Shooting in Kyoto was a lot of fun being a much more dynamic city than where I currently live so obviously shooting opportunities were readily available. Before I went to Kyoto I happened to be looking through some of the Pentaxforums threads about using M lenses on the K10D and this is what I basically learnt;

Switch to M mode

Focus the shot

press the Green button (light meter)

Shoot

So far, this seems to work pretty well and I have no complaints about this lens. It has beautiful, creamy bokeh, it's sharp and easy to focus with.

Flammable

2008-01-27T20:38:00.001+09:00

Flammable
Originally uploaded by figmental1978

Location - Kyoto, Japan

Camera - Pentax K10D

Lens - Pentax M 50mm 1.7

Focal Length - 75mm (1.5 crop factor)

ISO - 100

Shutter Speed - 1/250 sec

f stop - f/1.7

Post Processing - Brightness, contrast and vibrancy, Bleach Bypass

Comments - I wanted to see how the 50mm 1.7 lens would handle this very dark situation as the only light was coming from the candle flame. I also wanted to see how difficult it was to be able to focus in such low light. I focused on the flame (although it was flickering), focused, pressed the green button on the K10D and took the shot.