Hin's Photo Corner

My family did hiking on the same park with Bayfront Park in Palo Alto for two consecutive days and we went on the 2nd time to help my wife looking for her left missing glass fallen off during the hike and we also visited Capitola Art & Wine Festival and had a great time both in the beach and the venues with art display and music events. In both occasions, I had my Pentax K20D with Tamron 200mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 04B and I find the small 200mm very much to my liking for a longer lens that is easy to carry due to its small form factor and smaller size compared to other 200mm that I know. Though it is not fast as in f/2.8, it has plenty to offer as a 200mm lens. This is a non-sp tamron adaptall-2 lens but I don't notice any difference in terms of color and coating.

I absolutely fell in love with the sunset lighting half way through our hiking. My family were ahead of me as I was overwhelmed as usual with the spectacular view that only lasted in minutes before the sun drops below the mountain horizon.





I always enjoy running into dog's owner and I always ask for permission to take their dog's pictures. I love dogs and cats and I can't think of a pet that I don't like. But I am sure I will find one. As for Beca's case, it is unique lap dog as she is a lovely female lap for 11 years and she is mellow, kind but very active like a 1 year old. As soon as I learned about the age, I offered my amateur service for free as I would love the dog owner to have more portraits with Beca. And I shot a series with Beca and the photos are on its ways to the owner. They loved the preview of Beca's photos as some of them show a different smile and gesture of Beca. More in this flickr slide-show with Beca. I should have changed lens to the 43mm and had extra for the owner and dog portraits but my family was waiting for me.



This lens works well in music event that allow you to have a compressed view on the performer



And I use this lens to catch up with my family who usually runs ahead of me



Impressions & Notes

• This lens is non-sp in the adaptall-2 lens series
• I find focusing smooth but harder to obtain focus when I use it on film body. Best use of this lens is on a mono-pod
• This is not the sharpest 200mm that I have used but very good in overall performance.
  
• Best character in this lens lie in its small form factor and lightweight
• It comes with a built in lens hood
• It does have flare issue when aiming directly at the sun but reasonably good otherwise
• Color and depth is great in shooting portraits from a distance. The bokeh is lovely at the right setting especially when background objects are farther apart.
  
• Great color and contrast that I get from this lens.
  

Related

• All adaptall-2 related articles
• All 200mm related lens
  
• Tamron 200mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 04B initial Tests
• Soligor 200mm f/2.8 in M42 mount
• Tamron adaptall-2 p/k-a adatper
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I went through the Yelp page to find this wonderful film development lab that is in downtown of San Jose. I finally managed to find a local lab to develop my first three rolls of b&w film. For my trial I use Kodak Professional BW400CN that are readily available in Walmart.

When I called the store FotoExpress in downtown of San Jose, the owner greeted me with patience and courtesy and I think it was the Henry mentioned in Yelp page by few of the reviewers for the store. Henry is extremely reliable and patient to give me a quote and rough time line for the photo processing. When I arrived at the store, I was treated especially well by both Henry and his staff. The store has all the films in display and Henry spent his courteous and busy store time with me walking through the black & white films, color films, slides and the intriguing 120 films that I wanted to learn in the near future.

The store provides scanning of my first three rolls of film with a nominal fee as a combo package. The scanning service is outstanding to say the least. There is absolute no comparison with those from Ritz and Walmart that I had tried before with disappointment. The cost is a bit more but when I saw the results and the attention to details and great custom service, all is worth. My nostalgic path back to film has an enviable answer -- I got Henry as both my mentor and lab to go to for future services in years to come. I can't find another store that has better service than that in FotoExpress in downtown of San Jose.


By the way, they are actually located on 7th street and it is easy to pass it by on Santa Clara street in downtown of San Jose. Remember 7th street and cross junction with Santa Clara and there is private parking next to the store as well as parking lot for 1 hour parking with super market store nearby. Parking won't be a problem.

Regarding the lab, I strongly encourage my readers to look through Yelp and search engine with Google and Yahoo Local and see the film processing labs that take on 35mm in c-41 and perhaps slides with e-6 (I don't remember if this is right as I have never shot slides for fear of falling in addiction). What I do is that I call each one of them and talk to the operator (hopefully the guy or gal who actually process the film) and ask them some newbie and seemingly naive questions and test their patience

• basic cost in just development without 4x6 print
• scanning, how much and the resolution
• what scanning they use and how do they avoid dust and scratches on films
• what films and slides they recommend for testing a roll of film on a camera that may have issues. What to look for in testing a roll
• Do they support b&w printing exclusively, do they scan b&w differently than color? What are the reasons
• Do they support 120mm films, this is important to me as that is one of the ultimate goals for me to go to film? If digital full frame FF is all that special, I welcome the nostalgic path in owning Medium Format MF with 645N now and enjoy the ride with Pentax 645D slated to come in 2010. I call my Pentax 645N my Pentax 645DLol

I really want to thank you to my forum friends in their suggestion to find a dependable local film lab as one of critical steps to enjoy film. I searched really hard and ask around, everyone don't like the Walmart, Target and Costco experience and I then I researched in Yelp listening especially to University students and amateur professionals comment on their experiences on selected photo labs. And I found a small lab that charge a bit more but the service won my heart and soul as the owner explained the film differences, slides and what 120 film to try and what to pay attention in the trial. He is like an mentor when I walk into the lab. He offers me even another local contact that is like Eric equivalent in my area. The owner name is Henry and he refers me to one and only super dude that he knows who is dependable in fixing/repairing film cameras.

Some scanning pictures from my 1st three rolls of film with Pentax SuperProgram and Ricoh xr-p. All pictures below were shot with Ricoh xr-p and Tamron SP 17mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 (51B)

I have been waiting for an opportunity to test out my new used adaptall-2 lens with Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A. It is really a beautiful lens to own. When Oktoberfest in Yahoo! campus was arranged from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. I was all for the event with the 30A zoom. I can't drink any alcohol and beer and wine is not my thing. I felt bored when I got to the festivity. But as soon as I aim my lens at the beer ice chest, Oktoberfest 14th annual mug from Yahoo! and live performance. My enthusiasm was well and alive. Due to the late afternoon, lighting was even but a bit on the dark side, I shot most in f/4.0 to f/5.6 setting. The sharpness and bokeh in the Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 really did its job wonderful for me. I felt like I have accomplished my task well in finding a manual focus zoom with fast and constant aperture in f/2.8. Bokeh, sharpness and color are quite good in the testing. The lens is a bit on the heavy side. A monopod will come to mind in my next investment.












Impressions & Notes:

• Consistent with my initial impressions, the lens delivers in terms of bokeh, color and sharpness
• Apertures from f/4.0 to f/5.6 in the late evening deliver results that are rich in color and contrast. Bokeh is soft, smooth and seems very pleasant on the green background
• I had a lot of fun shooting live performance in 180mm with a lot of detail in the facial expressions of the performers.
  
• A bit heavy to use it for a longer duration. A monopod is high on my to-buy list to work with this heavy zoom.
• I don't have its default tripod ring collar and I have no idea how to find its original tripod ring. My 3rd party tripod collar for Canon 70-200mm f/4.0 L lens with 66mm diameter seems to fit but a bit tight to close the screw knob.
• Focus and Zoom ring is very pleasing as noted in my initial impressions
• Zoom makes event photography more fun as excitement and flexibility is right in the zooming to frame the shot with great ease and this adaptall-2 zoom does not disappoint for event photo with emphasis in outdoor setting requiring longer reach. And this zoom lens helps greatly with good bokeh and depth to iron out interesting subjects for portraits and candid.
  
• Overall a highly recommended adaptall-2 fast zoom lens worth consideration if 80-200mm f/2.8 in a heavy zoom lens speaks in volume to you.
  

Related

• Tamron 30A and mono-pod
• Licking One's Lens
  
• All adaptall-2 related articles
• Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
• Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5 adaptall-2 19AH in Gilroy Garden
• Tamron 75-250mm f/3.8-4.5 adaptall-2 104A
  
• Tamron adaptall-2 p/ka adapter
• Tokina AT-x SD 80-200mm f/2.8 with 'A'
  
• Hin's Camera Gear

The REI Ultrapod II mini-tripod has been my best companion that I always kept it together in the case of my DynaTran Amvona tripod. My recent table top product shots of heavy lens is a testament that this mini-tripod can take on heavy weight. I can always count on it for product shots of my gear. I used it on a 3.5 lb lens with Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 in M42 and my latest Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A, it is not a problem for the 1 foot long mini tripod. It is as dependable as I can hope for a product that cost me little when I got it in REI store online about the time that I bought my Pentax K100D in 2007.




There is a tip that I can share with my readers in hooking up the tripod without a quick release. While there may be an option to buy separate quick release for mounting head, I simply use it as is originally designed. I collapse the three legs and use the collapsed legs to aid to make it easier to screw in the nut onto the mounting hole on tripod ring or camera body. Not the perfect solution but this way of planned mounting will make the mounting task easier.





Impressions & Notes

• Very sturdy and value add for a small mini-tripod. I hope I can find copies to buy as give-away gifts planned for subscribers, commenter, friends of this blog page
  
  
• A great gadget to use in hiking with small setup
  
  
• Absolute joy to use with point & shoot camera
  
  
• Velcro strap may not be strong enough to hold a heavy setup.
  
  
• No issues on using it on table top for set up from 3.5 to 4 lbs
  
  
• Tip in mounting includes using the collapsed legs and Velcro to secure the mounting screw nut onto the mounting hole with ease while turning the collapsed legs in a clockwise direction.
  

Related:

• REI Ultrapod II mini-tripod -- REI online store link
• REI Ultrapod II minit-tripod initial report
  
• Dynatran AT-CF992 from Amvona
• Joby Gorillapod
• Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
• Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 in M42
  
• Hin's Camera Gear

I have several versions of the Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 made by Kiron and I like the two touch zoom the best out the three that I have owned in the past. I sold all but kept the last one in M42 mount in 2 touch zoom design as I like Av mode with M42 lens without the extra step in stop-down metering.

• Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 in K mount -- one touch zoom
• Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 in K mount -- two touch zoom
• Viviar 70-150mm f/3.8 in M42 mount -- two touch zoom is my current one

It is relatively smaller and should not be considered as a big lens when compared to the DA* zoom or the Vivitar series 1 zoom. It covers a useful range for portrait and candid shots that require a longer reach. Combined with the 2x Kiron multiplier, you have a range of 70-150 in f/3.8 and 140 to 300mm with lost of 2 stops close to f/6.3 to f/7.1. I have not used the multiplier on this lens as I find the focal length 70-150mm really fit my needs as in DA* zoom. It is smaller and lighter than DA* making it an easy candidate to bring along.

I tried it out over the weekend with some candid shots in f/3.8 indoor, results are quite reasonable and when stopped down to f/5.6 and more, the lens is really sharp and the 1:4 close up in the 70mm is quite useful for flowers











Impressions & Notes

• Lens is relatively small with a good focal range from 70-150mm.
• With multiplier, it can go to 140 to 300mm
  
• Constant aperture in f/3.8 is quite useful
• Wide open aperture is a touch soft but which lens is NOT at wide aperture. With the candid test shots on my boys, I am very impressed already, more use will tell.
  
• Very sharp overall for this lens
• A great street performer that is not intimidating and heavy to bring as an alternative to bigger lens as in DA* 50-135mm.
• Close up focus happens in 70mm end and it is roughly 1:4
• Filter size is 52mm
• The built in hood is not nice but I find it too small to be reall useful
  
• Color tend to have a blue cold tone
• I like the two touch zoom design, as any focusing will less likely move the zoom position
• Very nice and decent lens to get on a budget
  
• Best strength in this lens is all the sharpness and smooth and quick focusing ring that is good with fast action shot. I would love to get back focus trap, I will experiment on slipping a piece of aluminum foil in between the K-mount and the lens rear to enable focus trap
• A value and inexpensive lens not to be missed

Related:

• Kiron 2x matched multiplier
• Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 in m42 mount initial test shots -- 2-touch zoom
  
• Vivitar 70-150mm f/3.8 in K-mount -- 1-touch zoom
  
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Genuine Pentax M42 adapter
• Hin's Camear Gear
  

I happened to help my friend taking pictures for the graduation ceremony of Bharatanatyam Arangetram for their daugther. Bharatanatyam is a Southern Indian Classical Dance. It was my most challenged shooting where flash was not an option and fast movement of the dancer posed both excitement and difficulties in the shooting. Due to the lighting and need of speed, I took my best prime and zoom lens for the job.


Best Pentax Portrait and Event Lens

• Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited -- shots on the red dress
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 -- shots on the green dress
• Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 -- used in family and banquet shots when I could use flash
  

Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited

The lens delivered good results and I chose it for red dress in the first portion of the dance when the dance movement was faster. Unfortunately, I pushed the lens into wider aperture as in f/2.0 and f/2.2 hoping to leverage the ISO to within 400 to 800. I might have done better with f/2.8 and iso from 800 and up to 1600. And in using Av mode with f/2.0 and f/2.2 in ISO 500, I get shutter speed not quite matching the fast movement in the dance. 1/200 of a sec is a safer speed in the dance. Another difficulty comes from the fixed prime and awkward decision to make in NOT zooming with my feet as my position would block the views of audience behind me. I ended up crouching in the front row and took as much shots as I could for the faster part of the dance.

Framing of the shots became a difficulty in the shooting. WB and color was also an issue with the strong stage lighting along with the reflective golden stripes in the clothing. My Pentax gear are not the best in dealing with red color, I shot all in jpg. In hindsight, I should have shot that portion in raw but I could not afford the time in post processing 1K+ pictures after the shooting.








Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8

In the second half of the dance, I used the DA* zoom and the dance was slower in the greeen dress. I used TAv mode throughout 1st and 2nd half of the dance, the mode really helps me to freeze the motion when speed is critical in the 1/125 to 1/200 sec range. Though the dance was slower, I did the right thing to shoot more in ISO 800 to ISO 1600. Though heavier, the DA* zoom surprises me with the performance that seem to rival squarely with the prime lens. The ability to zoom also help tremendously in framing the shot in place.


Impressions and Notes

• Both lens really help me in the difficult shooting. I call them the best event and portrait lens that I have used.
• Though it is not a fair comparison, I prefer the results and consistency from Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 in the shooting. The IQ of the DA* zoom rivals the quality of my insanely good Pentax prime in the 77mm. It is simply amazing.
• The 77 limited is much easier to use for long duration due to its small size and lightweight. I felt sore arms half way in the shooting with the DA* zoom that I found myself crouching in the seat to find the needed extra support for my arms in framing.
  
• The FA 77mm f/1.8 did allow me to have pristine shots in extremely dark scene in the intermission where I could comfortably take pictures of the musicians and backstage.
• It was a lesson to be reminded to trust the higher iso in Pentax to work with faster movement.
  
• TAv mode is found invaluable when shutter speed is critical in making the shot
• The quiet SDM in the DA* zoom is suitable in stage shooting. If I had the Pentax K-7 with quiet shutter noise, I would have the least chance of disturbing the audience
  

Related:

• Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited Insanely Good with K-x
• Bharatanatyam Rehearsal with Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Pentax DA 70mm f/2.4 limited Test Shots
  
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited
• Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
• Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4
• Cosina 55mm f/1.2
• Pentax K-7
  
• Hin's Camera Gear