Mirchi Cafe with Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited

2010-07-28
Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shots
I have nothing to do in dinner time when I get fed up with my own cooking. Not that I can't cook, there are times that I want my dinner made by others and be served with some decency after a verrry down day with work. All test shots without PP and straight from K-x in auto-ISO with 100 to 1600 and 3200. No PP on noise.

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shots1/40 sec, f/4.0, 15mm, iso 1600, 0 Ev, Pentax K-x
Wide open in f/4.0

All along, I love my DA 35 for close up and the DA 21 comes close as second in terms of close up. And I thought 4.0 may be a bit slow for indoor shots. The lighting is not the worse kind but dark enough that the shutter is not appropriate in iso 800. I used ISO 1600 on f/4.0 and ISO 3200 on f/5.6. Corners may be soft -- how the hell I know. I don't pixel peep and I don't test lens with charts. I field test them with what I see. It seems alright in indoor.

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shots1/40 sec, f/4.0, 15mm, iso 1250, 0 Ev, Pentax K-x

What I am getting is that the lens seems to do okay for indoor with K-x. Yes, we won't get outstanding pictures in ISO 3200/1600, but the results are quite good to me. The close up in DA 15 limited makes it an interesting candidate to bring along for food shots. And it can cover the interior shots though a bit slow when compared to other limited. Its minimum focusing distance is 0.18m whereas 21 limited is slightly longer in 0.20m.

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shots1/25 sec, f/4.0, 15mm, ISO 1600, 0 Ev


Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shots1/40 sec, f/4.0, 15mm, ISO 1250, 0 Ev

On the ice water drink shot above and few of the test shots, there are blue fringes to the left with window lighting but seems odd to me. Later after some more studies of the location, I found that the blue fringing was likely caused by the blue and red neon lights on the front of the Mirchi restaurant.

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shotsColor is off in AWB

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shotsChicken Tikka Masala in Mirchi Cafe
Served with Basmati Rice and Naan.

Mirchi Cafe is a restaurant with interesting burgers and pizzas but I am more keen on its Indian/Pakistan mix of rice and naan dish. I finish the rice with the Masala Chicken sauce first. Half of its chicken is left to go. It just shows you how good the mild flavor source is. I am afraid of hot and spicy. Anything mild and medium goes well in my book for favorite food. The lady in the kitchen did it perfectly for me with request to be milder than their default of Masala spicy, someone gorgeous please marry this chef for your life which has great potential for a life journey full of tastes and senses.

Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shotsGreat Chef in Middle behind doorway to Kitchen


Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited on food shotsA goodbye shot to a wonderful experience in Mirchi Cafe
I recommend the specialty dish with Naan and Rice

Traveling with Pentax K-x and DA limited

2010-07-18
Waihi Beach with DA 15mm limited
HDR, hand-held unfortunately

waihi beach with pentax k-x and pentax da 15mm f/4.0 limited
I have just finished my vacation trip to New Zealand and I will have a more thorough reports on the limited lens and K-x on the trip. The DA 15mm limited is quite outstanding in the trip. I have 15/21/35/70 and a long zoom with Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6. In hindsight, I could have done it with only 15/35/70-300mm and K-x. The 21mm works better on street shooting, night scenes, portraiture with landscape as background and indoor while the 15mm really takes over in landscape and scenery.

Waihi Beach with DA 15mm limited
Traveling with Pentax K-x and DA limited

Sunset taken with K-x
Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD
traveling with pentax k-x and da limited

Colomandel Walkway
with DA 15mm f/4.0 limited
traveling with pentax k-x and da limited

Amazing New Zealand Fantail
with Tamron zoom
traveling with pentax k-x and da limited

Colomandel Walkway
with DA 15mm f/4.0 limited
traveling with pentax k-x and da limited

Colomandel Walkway
with DA 15mm f/4.0 limited
with HDR
Traveling with Pentax K-x and DA limited

My crew of lens include 15/21/35/70 limited plus the Tamron zoom. I love the 70mm limited but it is the least used lens in the trip. It just happens that in my trip to NZ, my shots mostly goes for the landscape and hence the less use of 70mm in the trip. The 70mm is sharp and does wonder in portraiture. I tried using the 70mm on sunset photos but I later find the longer zoom to be more flexible. The 70 flare control though good can not match up to the 15mm. The 15 has the crown for best flare control.

All in all, the limited lens are a joy to bring in the trip. Small, compact and big on image quality. And I balance it out with a longer zoom on the Tamron. The DA 55-300mm would have been an excellent choice, so is the Sigma 70-300mm, to mix with limited to round out a focal range of 15 to 300mm in traveling. I need the long zoom as some part of my trip involved butterflies and birds from New Zealand.


Related

Funding Hobby With Affiliates

2010-07-01

I am constantly in struggles in not picking up any of my film cameras. However, they do speak in a silent voice for a photographer for a picture, a stroll in my neighborhood, a story to be told, a poem in the making, a song to be sung and a journey to be discovered. I am in the crossroads in falling in love with digital and films at the same time. And I wish I have the all the time as a full time professional who can fund my hobbies without guilt. Time and Money are the constraints in the hobby.

It is not my Dell, not my Macbook but my Pentax is calling me for actions. But it is expensive to fund my photography hobby as an enthusiast. All the gear, accessories and film processing put a dampen effect on the hobby. I keep asking for practical means others have thought about in funding their hobbies. And I have added three Affiliates marketing banner in my blog page on the sidebar. Please help support this site through your future potential purchases of photography gear and accessories from affiliate banner links with BPPhoto, Adorama and Amazon.









Film is always beautiful and intriguing to me along with my digital gear. I got my first roll of Fuji Superia 200 developed and I am surprised with how good color film can help capture the scene in my weekend hiking trip with my Ricoh xr-p and Cosina 55mm f/1.2.

All shot with Ricoh xr-p and Cosina 55mm f/1.2
in Fuji Superia 200

fuji superia 200 with ricoh xr-p and cosina 55mm f/1.2

fuji superia 200 with ricoh xr-p and cosina 55mm f/1.2

fuji superia 200 with ricoh xr-p and cosina 55mm f/1.2
fuji superia 200 with ricoh xr-p and cosina 55mm f/1.2

fuji superia 200 with ricoh xr-p and cosina 55mm f/1.2
I thought about giving up on my film gear to cut down on cost. And that includes my Pentax 645N and my 35mm film gear. That will help in cost but likely to suck huge time in my hobby. If you check on my past gear and knowing what I have been through in various control exercises as in three months LBA moratorium in the past, they don't particularly work well for me. I always love trying out something different, be it on film or digital. And I surely love to blog about them in this blog to share my experience with others. I know that gear hunting is not photography and having another lens or another camera won't do a thing in improving my skills in photography. But I see the lame excuse of freedom, excitement and enthusiasm with a strange tool that invites me to explore with pictures and journey to be untold. I do extend my dilemma with my readers and I ask for your help to consider your future potential purchases of photography gear and accessories with affiliate links that you see on this blog. Your help and continued support is very much appreciated.


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Welcome to Hin's Photo Corner, this is my learning blog on photography, blogging and advertising. And I hope you enjoy your visit. For contact, please comment in blog post or email me directly hintheman at gmail.com.

 

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