Hin's Photo Corner: August 2010

Pentax K-x Dead with Memory Card Error

2010-08-30 Posted by Hin Man

It does not give me the slightest pleasure in reporting my dead Pentax K-x White. It has the persistent memory card error no matter what card that I have put into the camera SD slot. I have tried seven different individual SD memory cards of four different brands in Sandisk Extreme III 4 Gig, PNY Optima SDHC 8 Gig, Transand SDHC 8 Gb and Kingston SDHC 4 Gb. All of the memory cards are working fine in my Pentax K20D.

I call up Pentax Customer Support with toll free number 1(800)877-0155 last Thursday and I was mislead by the representative in waiting for her email instruction. It was likely my fault in not confirming the email twice with her. On 2nd call to Pentax Customer Support today on Monday, I was glad to talk to Matt who was courteous and responsive. Instead of email, Matt outlined the critical information that I need to package my dead Pentax K-x to send in.

Here are the rough steps to follow for servicing my K-x under warranty. The address is actually the physical address of CRIS camera service

Package it for shipment to this address, I will be using USPS priority with $500 insurance

Pentax Service Department
250 North 54 Street,
Chandler, AZ 85226
Provide proof of purchase as in an invoice or email notification on purchase. In my case, I will send in my Paypal invoice with Beach Camera. It is utmost important that the invoice has the name of the owner and the date of purchase for warranty service
Provide a brief note on the problem. I am using this blog page to describe my problems with dead Pentax K-x white in NOT able to read any SDHC memory cards.
Provide contact information as in phone contact and email. I will need to include them in the printout of this blog page

My problem is simply that my Pentax K-x white can't read any memory cards that I have used. The same set of cards work fine on my Pentax K20D in both reading and writing.

It goes as if something get damaged in the card reader in the camera. Matt from Pentax Customer Support offered me the suggestion on camera "reset" and I tried that option but the "Memory Card Error" still persisted. I am in my wit's end on troubleshooting the problem. It appears like a hardware failure.

While I am explaining the problem, there are also two complaints on the physical appearance of my white K-x after nine months of usage. Though it is free from smudges and dirt after months of usage. The white K-x does has its cosmetic problems in having a chrome line worn out easily as you can see in this picture on the chrome line below the shutter release which has lost partially the metallic chrome strip in various spots under the shutter release. And the broken chrome line has become somewhat sharp edges for me to hold the camera.

And another minor cosmetic but critical issue to me is the lost of the red SR label in front. The combination of red SR label is the best recognition of Pentax SR feature that is built into the Pentax body and I really missed that label on my white K-x. I think I lost it after 6 months of usage. The red SR label is at the bottom and it appears as white in the following picture

I truly hope that Pentax Service Department can help me fix my Pentax K-x White and that I get to use it once again without issues. I was informed about 4 weeks of service time and I will send the camera out on August 31, 2010 and I hope my loyal readers cheer me up while my beloved Pentax K-x White is in service.

Update:

8/21/2010 -- broken at 9 months of beautiful service
8/31/2010 -- shipped out to CRIS with USPS priority
9/2/2010 -- arrival in CRIS
9/8/2010 -- parts back ordered from Japan
10/1/2010 -- parts arrived in CRIS, repair started
ETA unknown in each call
10/11/2010 -- repaired camera arrived at my home from CRIS

Rolando Morales Sensational In National Night Out 2010

2010-08-25 Posted by Hin Man

I was fortunate to have my neighbor organizing Nation Night Out on August 3, 2010 and it was our 2nd time with Rolando and his band members playing sensational music for the event. Food in potluck style from my dear neighbors were outstanding. I fell for the guppy syndrome in not able to stop eating. But of course, I never forgot capturing those memorable moments with my digital cameras. The outstanding food could wait but not the photos and short video clips. I had two cameras on my shoulder with Pentax K20D and Pentax K-x White.

All videos were shot with Pentax K-x White and
Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited

The music was simply fantastic and Rolando played it along with two of his extraordinary band members on the base guitar and the percussion with hand drums. Rolando music is rhythmic with rich heritage of Latino music and his classical guitar and vocal live performance made the night an enjoyable, enviable and memorable night in Davis Square neighborhood. I couldn't ask for more and I felt short in not having a proper video camcorder clip as I was relying only on the short video clip from my Pentax K-x White. I should have invested in a proper camcorder for future similar events.

I have become an instant fan of the band's music and I have gone to Rolando Morales's website and signed up for his newsletter.

The National Night Out started out on the food tables where my neighbors tried to stomp us with their best recipes and best take out food of different ethicnicity for the party. And they did it with style in decoration and a touch of homey feeling with flowers in a wonderful garden we all enjoyed visiting.

But as the night progressed with dimmer lighting and the food pictures started fading into the wonderful music, my attention and photos all turned to the center stage of musical talents in the event. The performance went with character of deep vocal voice, and the rhythmic beat by the drums and base guitar add dimension to the music. I loved the classical guitar played by Rolando, my heart went mellow with his music and I have since become the fan of his music.

All night shots were taken with Pentax K-x White and
Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
Many in wide open f/2.8 apertures and
iso 1600 without post processing

And the wonderful music made it truly a memorable night for me and my neighbors. And I actually regretted not buying one of Rolando's music CD on display for sale that night. Thanks to his website on Audio/Video, I can still sample some of Rolando's recent music in MP3. I look forward to visiting one of his live performance events where he has his full band playing.

As everyone started packing for the night and my last photo still pointed towards Rolando where he was packing for his equipment on stage. It was such a romantic night and I would miss it until the next meet up with Rolando and his wonderful music.

Related:

Pentax FA 77mm limited goes insane with Pentax K-x White

2010-08-21 Posted by Hin Man

pentax fa 77mm f/1.8 limited, pentax k-x white, insane

I have recently forced myself to decide few lenses to go. My 70mm and 40mm limited are the ones to go. I am contemplating on 21mm as I like it for street shooting and people shot but I am tempted to try the crazy thing in Tamron 10-24. I wish someone have tried it on Pentax and tell me all about it. I don't trust reviews on test chart and soft this and sharp that. I like user real photo experience. It is not urgent as I love to keep my 21 as long as I can afford it. Having both the 15 and 21 is a blast for wide angle needs. And I have the funkiest liking on 10-17. So my wide angle needs are as complete as I think it is with 15, 21 and 10-17 for the fun factor. But you all know me in wanting to try out the unthinkable in Sigma 10-20 or Tamron 10-24 and swap with the 21. I know I am going backward with Justin.

Now on the 70/77 story. The 77 is insane every time that I use it. I shoot some shots wide open in many instances, it is still a reasonable shot. Fringing seems like a character that happen more in 77mm than the 70mm. But 77 is keen o sharpness and surreal color that make a picture pop over the 70. Its speed in f/1.8 allow me to go insane in indoor shots.

Here are few shots on a Goose feather. After a big crop, I can see the detail and I think it is really sharp. I hate Photography as an exact science like RH measurbation on image quality.

All shots taken with Pentax K-x and Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 while the wind is blowing quite heavily on a clothing hanging line. Shame on some of the shots that are over exposed

#1 The set up
with cloths drying line and wood clips

A big crop to see the goose feather

#3 California Blue Sky
I shot up into sky and a crop.

And thanks to the wonderful color in 77mm limited with surreal quality not easily found in other lens.

#4 B&W to cater the over-exposure

I like the grain on the wood clip as well as the 3D depth in the shot. Please excuse the over-exposure, my dear k-x is a crying baby with over-exposure. I actually use -1 Ev in some of the shots.

And this cat shot that I have no time to frame the shot. As soon as I open the screen door, I get about two shots with one that look down at the cat and I kneel down next for the head shot and right after the shutter release, he turns and heads upstairs. It is a giant cat.

Again, I love the depth and the soft and very smooth off focus rendering, it helps to isolate the subject of focus greatly though I rush into the shot without much thinking.

#5 Opening screen door

1/40 sec, f/5.6, 77mm, iso 800, 0 Ev

1/60 sec, f/5.6, 77mm, iso 800, 0 Ev

Impressions & Notes

As I have noted before. Color and sharpness is outstanding in FA 77mm f/1.8 limited.
The fast speed in f/1.8 makes the 77mm limited all more of a great value when it comes to indoor and low light type of shooting. The bokeh in wide open is awesome but I do notice light falling off in wide open aperture. Care has be taken in using wide open aperture wisely.
The FA77 and DA 70 limited are not keen on close up. But the sharpness in both lens can help you as a macro lens in cropping huge. In the test shots with the white goose feather, I did a large crop close to 85% crop and it surely looks like a macro shot
Cyan color fringing are noticed in high contrast areas. It is unfortunate and some Pentax folks in community prefer the DA 70 limited because of the frequent fringing. I treat the fringing as a character in the lens as the color from FA 77mm offers surreal quality not matched up by the 70 limited. If fringing is a concern, go with 70 limited which also excels in sharpness and color and it has the quick shift focus that is absent in FA limited lens series.
I thought often about the field of view after crop factor that adds up to roughly 115mm. It is outstanding in half body portraits but one has to zoom with feed. In actual shooting with outdoor portraiture, I actually like my DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 due to the zoom flexibility. But in terms of prime quality, color and sharpness, and compactness, few can match up with the 77mm limited
Among the FA and DA limited, my favorite is the FA 77mm limited for its surreal color, great sharpness, and awesome speed in f/1.8 when I need to push and balance with ISO and hand-holding shutter in demanding situation

Licking One's Lens! What! Really?

2010-08-06 Posted by Hin Man

product and test shots of Tamron sp 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A

What! Really? Are you out of your mind? That is Grose! At least some Canonian did it in a controversial music video with a Nikon girl licking a Canon lens and camera. I am NOT making this up. I whined in the response to the video but many other of my friends in Pentax community see it as good humor and fun to watch despite the fact that the video ends with a laugh at the brand of lesser known Pentax. I thought about not linking the video here which will bring up the controversy in brand loyalty. But that is not complete reporting if I do that. I want to share a bit of a similar encounter in a lesser scale -- smelling of one's lens displayed in a 24" Dell monitor

I recently visited a co-worker of mine who had his cube filled with beautiful pictures with a lot of outstanding traveling shots in Europe. I was fascinated to say the least. I immediately went to strike conversations with him and everything started normal and well as in every relationship. But the oddness does not come until he talks about his most favorite Nikon lens he has used in those 15+ pictures in his cube. He brought out the Amazon link for Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR II AF-S lens. "What gives," I asked and he got his glass literally touching his computer monitor with "oh yeah, that is my baby." He then went on to describe his beauty while smelling the lens in front of his 24" monitor. If my co-worker is onto a D700 as his main body, I may have understood him better but with a D300 (not sure with a 's' or not) and with a digital crop, I don't think I see the reasons for his admiration or "Licking his Nikor lens" so to speak.

I checked online and price he paid is actually higher than what is currently quoted and according to my friend, it is worth every penny he has thrown at the lens. I stopped short in asking him how he married to carry a 3.3 pound-er on his D300(s) body around Europe. I don't see the pictures with Hin licking a 3 pound-er lens but rather crying and shaking throughout the trip. My Pentax pancake 70mm f/2.4 limited that I had on my Pentax K-x White didn't even remotely interest him a thing or two in the visit. I am not disappointed but I am curious on the logic in traveling heavy all throughout Europe with a such an heavy gear.

Tamron 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
is on the back of my K20D

My equivalent of the similar focal-length and speed lens is my Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 (30A) and Markus has discussed about this lens in an earlier thread. The cost of this MF lens is about 1/10th of the the Canon and Nikon branded equivalent. We miss the AF in this manual primes. Whether my heavy 3+ pound-er can produce 1/10th of the image quality is NOT as important to discuss but rather on the weight and the FOV when used in aps-c sensor in Pentax. With a tripod mounted on this adaptall-2 lens and together with the adaptall-2 p/k-a, it is more like a 3 lb 4 oz (not exact but close enough) weight. When I used it in two event shootings. I can't hand-hold this lens for over 30 minutes of non-stop shooting. I can recall the feeling of sore hands and quite a number non-keeper in the shooting. Due to the weight, it is not my favorite lens at the moment. I need a support system as in a better mono-pod. At the moment, I have a cheesy Dolica mono-pod and I don't think it can work well with this heavy lens plus body. Please bear with me that I am not harassing people and big fan of heavier equipment. We are happy with whatever works for our styles and we can care less of what other people thought of. I hope to stay neutral and not come out as someone who likes to flame with a biased opinion -- which I do have with the Pentax lighter primes and lighter zoom lens. Lighter does not equal to 'better' but it does fit my style of traveling light.

Pentax DA* 50-135/2.8 is smaller and about half the weight of a 70-200/2.8. 60-250/4 is in between the two.

DA* 50-135/2.8: 67mm filters, 765 grams, 76.5x136mm
DA* 60-250/4: 67mm filters, 1040 grams, 82x167.5mm
FA* 80-200/2.8: 77mm filters, 1510 grams, 88x195mm
Sigma 70-200/2.8 HSM II: 77mm filters, 1370 grams , 86.5x184.4mm
Tamron SP 800-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 (30A): 77mm filters, 1359 grams, 81.8x173.5mm

The 30A will weigh a bit more with the p/k-a and tripod mount. I have been using a 3rd party tripod mount for a Canon lens that I admire -- the Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L, the non-usm one which is quite compact when I tried it from my Canon buddy.

I was shooting using both of my 70mm and 77mm limited alternately so that I can come to a conclusion what I miss in the down-sizing of my limited primes, most of these shots are from my 77mm

Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 next to
Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 (30A)

Though the SDM issues, I am knocking on wood that it stays as my most favorite Pentax zoom and I don't mind the SDM to be a touch slow as I rather it be slow and ugly than something that weighs more and cost more. The DA* 60-250mm f/4.0 is the next best zoom that Pentax has offered and I truly hope the positive trend gets better in SDM and affordable pricing, and more options in the long end such as 100-300 and 100-400.

With the hoods mounted, they both look unexpectedly bulkier, especially the DA* with a long and deep hood

No way I lick my lens
Not Pentaxian!
Only Moronic Canikon in the Video!

Small is beautifully smart
Worth drooling, do they!

My main traveling crew with 15/35/70 limited in my recent New Zealand trip. My 35mm limited can be replaced with 40mm but I have a sweet spot on flowers and butterflies. What I am trying to get at is that heavy and big does not equal top-notch performance with high price tag. Lighter and compact also does not equal mediocrity. We can care less how others make fun of our gear towards the end in the video.

Xanh Mountain View with Pentax DA 10-17mm fisheye

2010-08-01 Posted by Hin Man

Pentax DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 fisheye

After getting Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited and that I have used the new lens quite a bit for the ultra wide angle needs, I question myself if I need Pentax DA 21mm limited and my fisheye lens with Pentax DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5. Before I jump into any conclusion, I try to bring it to good use whenever I find the right scene. I am so glad to bring this lens to a group lunch in Xanh in Mountain View, a very classy Vietnamese restaurant that offer buffet lunch with great style and good taste. I was very much indulged in good food but I tried to find time for pictures. The fisheye lens really came through in the tight corners to have 180 degree view at 10mm and it does well with people shots in 16 and 17mm where the distortion is not as severe.

I was late to the table as I spent the extra few minutes of time in shooting the restaurant interior.

Lots of variety of Vietnamese Dishes

Love the spicy soup

Plenty of vegetable dish and brown rice
for the healthy conscious
Meat dish as in spareribs and
lemon grass chicken are hard to resist

And I was surprised with a drink of salty plum soda and it was surprisingly refreshing and good. This place is a must visit if you ever think of lunch in Mountain View Castro street.

Salty Plum Soda
Taste much better than how it looks

17mm is quite alright for people shot
with mild distortion
Wall decoration is interesting with
Painting on girls on Bikes

Service is fast and courteous

And when I left the restaurant, the narrow doorway leading to exit to the garage parking invites the widest angle to savory the good-bye shots to a wonderful experience in Xanh of Mountain View. I have told my boys and wife that I will bring them to this classy restaurant next time we visit Mountain View.

10mm vertical and pointing straight to exit

10mm with focal point at the bottles

step back and focal point at bottle again
at 10mm

Hin's Photo Corner

Pentax K-x Dead with Memory Card Error

Rolando Morales Sensational In National Night Out 2010

Pentax FA 77mm limited goes insane with Pentax K-x White

Licking One's Lens! What! Really?

Xanh Mountain View with Pentax DA 10-17mm fisheye

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