Hin's Photo Corner: 50mm

Showing posts with label 50mm. Show all posts

DJ shooting with Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4

2009-07-02 Posted by Hin Man

DJ shot with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 and Pentax K100D

I shot these DJ shots in a shopping mall where the DJ kindly let me take his pictures while he was serving music in a shoe store. I was using my Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 and Pentax K100D. I was passionate in the shooting as I found the lighting extremely attractive. I wish I had more chances to shoot pictures for people. It was a memorable shoot.

Two years have passed. I still have the same passion in photography that I had before. I continuously find enthusiasm and excitement in the process of shooting people and nature. I am still very much the amateur like two years ago. But unlike the beginning, I am more confused than ever what I can afford to pursue in the passion. I worry too much and I can't follow my heart to do what I would like to pursue in life. I am obligated for financial support for my beloved family. And I am in a state of loss what I can try out next. I always look and quest for shooting better pictures but on the other hand, I lose touch with the purpose in the passion. Is it my destiny to be a photographer? Am I ready to take steps to become a freelance photographer? Would I be able to support my family? Would I get worse in spending less time with my family. I just have too many questions that I don't seem to have an answer with certainty, confidence and comfort.

Related:

Pentax A 50mm f/1.7 + Pentax F-1.7x AF TC

2008-10-27 Posted by Hin Man

After Pentax M 50mm f/1.7, I have been trying to get a good copy of Pentax A 50mm f/1.7. For one, my Kenko 2x Macro Teleconverter does not work well with M lens as it meters wide open aperture. I got my A 50mm f/1.7 along with a broken body in Pentax Program Plus.

The Program Plus camera body seems to be mint cosmetic condition but it misses the focusing screen. And I tested the A 50 f/1.7 one evening in dining out in Niko Sushi. The size of A 50 mm f/1.7 is very similar to the M 50mm f/1.7 but they look cosmetically very different.

Test Shots:

Pentax A 50 f/1.7 lens Test Shot with Pentax K10D

Impressions & Notes

The magical TC turns my A 50 f/1.7 into a partial AF 85mm f/2.8.
Bokeh is not bad at all
85mm is too long a focal length for food shot but the A 50 mm f/1.7 does very well for indoor. Pictures are sharp even when the TC is added and color and contrast are still good in the combination. I expect better color contrast and CA when the Pentax F-1.7x TC is not used
The combo works out quite well for me with partial AF, I call it my FA 85mm f/2.8
Many others have noted the better sharpness in 50mm f/1.7 as compared to f/1.4, I tested all test photos in f/2.8 and sharpness are quite good even in indoor setting.

Pentax Pancake clones with M 28 f/2.8 and M 50 f/1.7

2008-10-10 Posted by Hin Man

Pentax M 28mm f/2.8 and Pentax M 50mm f/1.7

Here is a quick light traveling kit if you ask me. No pancakes, no limited but pure lighter gear from Pentax

Pentax M (better with A) 28mm f/2.8: $45 ($60 for A)
Pentax M (better with A) 50mm f/1.7: $45 ($65 for A)
Pentax DA 50-200 f/4.0-5.6 ($110)

And for traveling with 3 lens that either look like a pancake and zoom to 200mm, that is a very smart kit for traveling in my book. And it totals about $200.00, you can save that $200 with 2 weekends staying home for home meals. And of course, one can do away with the M version of pancake with

Pentax M 40mm f/2.8: $120

Best Lens for Sushi

2008-09-16 Posted by Hin Man

My fridge from KitchenAid was broken after 6 years of service. Defrossing water gushed out every day needing a bucket and a mop for the daily cleanup and the hourly monitor. And the regular compartment of a side by side stainless steel KitchenAid forced us to dine out since last weekend. My buddies craved for the food pictures that I used to like shooting for indoor. I always go to my Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 for the fast lens in my gear that can take food photos up a level of performance when compared to others. And in getting back to my root with dSLR, I brought my Pentax K100D instead of my K10D for the sushi restaurant named Nijo Castle in Fremont of California,

Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

a place that has become my boys' favorite after the first visit. We have dragon sushi in the first visit along with Udon in a nice broth. The special comes with the appetizer in a Spinach Beef wrap.

Highly Decorated Entrance

Dragon Sushi

Nice looking soy sauce

Vegetable Udon

Orange Cast from AWB in K100D

Notes & Impressions:

I defaulted to ISO 400 and use mostly f/2.0 and some in f/2.8 as I go for the bokeh while maintaining sharpness and avoid narrow DOF errors from myself
Quick snapshot in jpg is alright in K100D and I don't worry about post processing in raw files
I asked for fully cooked sushi and hence no raw stuff from the nicely dressed Kimonos waitress
Automatic White Balanace in K100D suffer from orange and yellow cast and hence the warm touch in the pictures. Sometime good and sometime totally not the color of the scene. The preset Tungsten helps a bit but it has its own problem with a cold blue tone. Best solution is to use custom white balance but I fall short in time to save my boys from finishing all sushi
50mm may be a bit long in restaurant with tight space. I see the DA 35 f/2.8 limited or FA 35 f/2.0 would do just as well
Sharpness in FA 50 f/1.4 in f/2.0 get the job done for me. That does not mean that I won't use f/1.4 to f/1.8. It is just that I use them not as often and I reserve it for the darker scenes making the fast lens working extremely well in all cases.
A worthy lens to consider if you are into food shots for indoor. And I see no reason to shoot BBQ for the outdoor, the bokeh and color from the 50mm is outstanding. The minimal focusing distance is great with the FA 50, making it an ideal candidate for close up with a close up filter or a 2x macro converter

Jelly Fish with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

2008-07-11 Posted by Hin Man

Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 is not a macro, but I used a Cosina/Pentax/Phoenix 1:1 Matched Macro Adapter and use fast apertures in f/1.4 to f/2.8 for all of my shots in a dark aquarium. At first, I tried my default setting of f/2.8 in iso 400 but the resulting shutter speed too slow for motion in the jelly fish, perhaps my hand shake too, and I resolved to count on faster speed in f/1.4, f/1.6 and f/1.8 and work with a cleaner background on iso 200.

Pictures were taken with Pentax K10D & Pentax FA 50 f/1.4. All are hand-held shots in iso 400 and 200.

1/40 sec, f/2.8, 50mm, iso 400, 0 Ev

Picture with Pentax K10D, Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 & Cosina 1:1 Matched Macro adapter

#2
1/6 sec, f/2.8, 50mm, iso 400, 0 Ev

1/13 sec, f/2.8, 50mm, iso 400, 0 Ev

1/30 sec, f/1.4, 50mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

1/20 sec, f/1.4, 50mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

1/30 sec, f/1.4, 50mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

1/25 sec, f/1.8, 50mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

Jelly Fish complete Flickr Set

Impressions & Notes:

Metering and AF stays on, this comes in very handy for the FA 50 f/1.4
Almost no addition of weight as compared to extension tubes or Vivitar/Kenko 2x macro adapter
IQ is not the best but very acceptable, there seems little loss of light as compared to 2 stop loss of light in 2x macro adapter and similar loss of light in extension tubes
Sharpness and detail in corner may degrade but results seems reasonable for the center

Pentax SMC A 50mm f/2.8 Macro 1:2

2008-04-23 Posted by Hin Man

Impressions:

The lens is sharp in wide open aperture
Focusing ring is ideal for manual focus. It is the best kept secrets for old Pentax lens in A, K, M Pentax lens that they provide the best manual focusing in close up.
I find the lens harder to use due to short focusing distance
I prefer my other close up lens with K 100mm f/4.0 with longer minimum focusing distance
Lens is perhaps more suited to flowers than bugs
I tried close up on my boys and the lens come up very sharp for portraits
Color and contrast is outstanding but a touch less than K 100mm f/4.0

ABC Wednesday -- Violent moments

2007-12-18 Posted by Hin Man

Photos taken with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

Letter 'V' gives me the most problems and hence some old photos for the post. My little one has some violent moments while enjoying his pot stickers in a Korean restaurant.

I have been leaving a comment to Mrs. Nesbitt asking the whereabout of WalksFarWoman as I have been missing her in all recent ABC Wednesday events since her 'S' post in late November. Her blog in wordpress.com has been deleted and I can't find her anywhere in BlogCatalog or MyBlogLog, and Technorati profile. She is my best friend in the blogging community and a greatly admired writer that I always look up to for inspiration and insights into life with a positive attitude in her poetic writing. I truly pray that she is well and I dearly miss her tonight in posting my 'V' post. I am asking all who knows about WalksFarWoman to make a sincere prayer for her. Much thanks for sharing my concerns of my dear friend.

Last week ABC Wednesday is on
Ultrapod II tripod

Red Challenge in Pentaxworld

2007-11-12 Posted by Hin Man

October competition in Pentaxworld in is 'Red.' And I ran into a red bench in Sportsmart while visiting Great Mall in Milpitas. The Red bench has the logo of "Red XL" and I call it the perfect red photo even the color blind can see as Pentax Red with XL in red. I got around 7 votes from a voting party among 48 entries. It is a already an improvement over my 1st entry back in September.

#1 My Entry

Pentax Blind Red

There is quite a story in the making of three red images for those shots that you see ringed lights on the backround while the word 'red' is tilted to have a flatter angle. I went the extra mile in tilting it for an upward 30 degree angle facing the skyline and lighted sources into the common hallway
in Great Mall. Here is the documentary for the making of my Pentax Blind Red picture

#2 My 3rd choice

#3 My 2nd Choice

Story of composition:

I wish I have another photographer documenting how I shoot the red bench. It is quite a story, of course, I dare not to ask my wife (she has my casio ex-z750) to picture me as my prolonged stay in Sportsmart annoys her.

For #1, I just shoot indoor with no window view. No problem there! For anything with ringed lights such as #2 and #3, I shoot facing window to the mall common area in a Greatmall shopping mall in
Milpitas of California with light fixtures, skylights, and walking people.

For the life of me, many shots come out with the words flat in an angle that is hard to read and I try to show the wording Red with easier reading angle while getting some overexposed ringed lights on upper part of the picture. And I take the shot in a funny post on 1 foot squatting down as in yoga post, quite a maneuver now that I think of it

Two hands on camera as usual
I squat down with my right foot flat on the floor and tip toeing up the far side of the bench -- quite an aerobic performance there already. Everyone passes the windows pauses, laughs a little, and moves on
My left foot is the only foot stable for the posture with my right tiptoe for the tilted bench for the clear wording for Red XL
My head and upper body stay as close to floor as much as my back and legs can stand to get a tilted 30 to 50 degree angle upward to see as much light fixtures and skylight while having red clearly laid out in the shot, results in #2 and #3 with tilted angle and ringed lights

I am quite happy if you see the Red and XL in the red bench -- my entry for at least one vote hopefully. And the vote, if I get any, belongs to all of my forum members who offer comments and feedbacks. I share the glory with you all nicest bunch that I have met online. The thoughtful composition and framing hopefully get some count for the voting of Reds among many competent photographers who have much better skills that I do.

Links:

Red Challenge in Pentax World
I am so happy for the winner as I do place one of my 3 votes for the winner entry. It has the red that is popped from the green color.
The Voting
among 48 entries. My votes go to #14 (the winner), #23, #34. I should have voted for #31 now that when I look at it again. My entry in #39. Thanks to you all for the 7 votes.

ABC Wednesday -- Perplexed Look

2007-11-06 Posted by Hin Man

Photos taken with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

perplexed look at candle with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

Sweetie & Ben with perplexed look

For more of anniversary photos, please visit

Last week ABC Wednesday is on Oh Boy

ABC Wednesday -- New Vow

2007-10-24 Posted by Hin Man

I am on leave from blogging preparing my 10th anniversary. Please come back soon. I want to show how much I love my wife and my two boys on our 10th anniversary. Preparing gift and staging for the surprises tomorrow.

My version -- HinTanic Stone

~~~~~~~~~~~
A True Diamond

I really want her to smile
and I am here to renew my love to
my tireless wife who deserves
the very best from
her
husband
~~~~~~~~~~~

$priceless$
by Hin @ 6:00am after tears
Copyrighted
~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

Give me a mountain, I move it for you
Give me a smile, I walk you with Titanic love
Give me a kiss, I shower you with love and passion
Give me two boys, I raise two kings
Give me your tears, I share it as a sage with love
Give me your worries, I move mountains for you
Give me your cries, I pray to Jesus with tears
Give me your trust, I hold hands with you in heaven

by Hin
@ 6:00am after tears
~~~~~~~

HinTanic Love

All photos were taken with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 hand-held. If you want to see more of the anniversary photos, please visit

Last week ABC Wednesday is on McDonald's

Thoughts on Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

2007-09-28 Posted by Hin Man

Jack In The Box At Night

Jack In The Box with FA 50 f/1.4 hand-held 1/2 sec

Hand-Held 1/2 sec, f/5.0, iso 400, 0 Ev
Post procesed with Picasa Focal B&W

My 1st copy has softness issues even at small apertures in daytime shooting and I returned it for an exchange. I love my 2nd copy of FA 50 f/1.4, I have procrastinated on all the front/back focusing tests that I set out to do when I got my 2nd copy.

The formal testing on my 2nd FA 50 f/1.4 may never happen as I already fall in love with my new lens. The more that I use my FA 50 f/1.4, the more I love the lens. I love it not for the sharpness obviously. I love it for the great color, contrast, wonderful 3D look with narrow dof when I get lucky. And it is a funny term that I use, the picture looks creamy and sometime it sure looks better than the actual scene through my eyes. I have many pictures done at home and I always have the messy feeling about my home and the narrow DOF correct that and my home is as pretty as I can dream about :-)

Okay, back to the softness testing, I find it soft until f/2.0+ for me for indoor portraits -- this is not a definite as I no longer pixel peep to continue the formal part of my testing. For shooting on fine print, I would have guessed it to be sharp at f/2.8 and beyond. For portraits, the creamy look, color and contrast offset the softness that I see. Maybe the softness help in disguise. If you do plan to purchase FA 50 f.14, please do test your copy with some pixel peeping especially for daylight pictures at small apertures such as f/4.0. In my 1st copy of FA 50 f/1.4, it has very unusual softness compared to my 2nd copy and hence I returned for an exchange. Few pictures from my 2nd copy that I am pretty proud, all done hand held

My Crumpler 2 million bag

Yummy Mooncake Label

My Ben On Nebulizer

Ben on nebulizer with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

In short, though FA 50 f/1.4 is a very difficult lens for me to use especially for the narrow DOF, I will not hesitate in recommending it highly to others. But I will add the caveat that one should buy it from good places with a return policy such as BuyDig and BeachCamera. When I find focusing problems and softness at f/4.0 in daylight shooting environment, I am glad that BeachCamera allows me for an exchange. Included below are bunch of links related to testing a new lens. I manage not to use any of them as my normal use on my FA 50 has sold me the idea to stick with the lens for its great color, contrast, relatively low cost, and extraordinary high speed compared to other lens that I have. Pictures are bright and they have the creamy look and rich color that I don't find in my other lens.

1/160 sec, f/2.4, 50mm, iso 200, 0 Ev

Grant & Tati

Golden Retriever with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

Korean Lunch

Useful Links:

Nikon D70 Test Chart -- good reference on lens testing
FocusTest Chart PDF -- PDF print document for download
Manual Focus Lens -- good read on manual focus lens
DOFMaster -- excellent site for learning Depth Of Field
Fast Glass -- technical article on Fast Glass from Dante Steller

Hin's Photo Corner

DJ shooting with Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4

Pentax A 50mm f/1.7 + Pentax F-1.7x AF TC

Pentax Pancake clones with M 28 f/2.8 and M 50 f/1.7

Best Lens for Sushi

Jelly Fish with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

Pentax SMC A 50mm f/2.8 Macro 1:2

ABC Wednesday -- Violent moments

Red Challenge in Pentaxworld

ABC Wednesday -- Perplexed Look

ABC Wednesday -- New Vow

Thoughts on Pentax FA 50 f/1.4

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