Hin's Photo Corner

I have recently grown to love the use of mono-pod for hiking and use with heavier lens. I bought a cheapo Dolica mono-pod and I had purchased also a Manfrotto 3229 and the combo seems to help me to make better use of my heavier gear






I did the shooting on not-so-nice noon setting when the bunnies preferred to hide in the shadows. But I did get more keeper shots with the 30A















Notes & Impressions:

• The mono-pod does help in the shooting as I find myself with stability that I don't have before
  
  
• I don't feel as strained on my hands in the shooting with 30A
  
  
• Mono-pod is more portable and I find it easier to use over tripod especially in terms of framing the shot.

• While the Manfrotto 3229 works well for me, I would have liked to upgrade the mono-pod with better build material and shorter length when collapsed
  

Related:

• Oktoberfest
• Tamron SP 80-200mm f/2.8 adaptall-2 30A
• Licking One's Lens
  
• Tamron PK-A adaptall-2 adapter
• adaptall-2 articles
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

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.


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.





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:

• Yahoo! Music On The Green with Kate Earl
• Pentax K-x Videos in San Diego Seaworld
  
• Pentax K-x White
• Pentax K20D
• Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Pentax DA 15mm f/4.0 limited
  
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

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

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.




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
  

Related:

• Pentax FA 43mm f/1.9 limited
• Pentax K-x White
• Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited Insanely Good
• Pentax FA 77mm limited vs Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
• Pentax DA 70mm f/2.4 limited
  
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I saw this bird facing backward from me and I had my Tokina SD 400mm f/5.6 at the time with Pentax K-x. I carried the gear with my mono-pod from Dolica left in my trunk. I set up for the shooting while struggling with an lighting problem. The morning light is to the left and most of the bird appearance was under the shadow in back-lit setting.

Upon focusing, the bird turned around facing towards me and seemed not bothered by my appearance. This was an odd encounter for me in the park as most birds would have disappeared into another tree and nowhere to be found in the viewfinder.


I thought it looked like an American Robin though I wasn't sure. I went to stay with AF.A and only use single shot with catch in focus enabled for my manual focus prime. I set f-aperture to be high in f/7.1 and f/8.0. My iso setting is perhaps a bit high in the 400 and 800 range. Shutter speed is in between 1/400 to 1/1000 sec. I was preparing for a flying moment but the bird stayed still for minutes and I was the luckiest photographer that morning.





Impressions & Notes

• I went too high on the ISO settings, I would have tried lower ISO as in 400 and 320.
  
• PF/CA is found on the branches at close examination, not too bad for the Tokina prime
• Sharpness is great in the setup with K-x. Lots of details of the bird under the shadow are retained. A kudos to K-x for shadow detail.
• 400mm at 15 to 30 feet shooting distance can still crop the bird in horizontal orientation and I do two things to avoid the cropping. I moved back a bit from the bird and I used vertical orientation.
  
• I wish I have the red focal point for a point of reference to the eyes of the bird as I try to nail focus on the eyes
• The K-x viewfinder is smaller and dimmer than my Pentax K20D. I can't see the hexagon in bright daylight. I can only count on the beep and catch-in focus in make the shutter release for the shot.
  
• Unlike moving objects, I prefer to use of AF-S as I can count on the catch-in focus. With AF-C, I lose the catch-in focus and I can't re-compose the shot after focus lock is obtained.
• The A setting in the Tokina SD 400mm f/5.6 is big plus as a stop-down operation will surely move the focal point causing slower reaction to the scene

Related:

• Pentax K-x White Arrived
• Pentax Long Lenses and TC
• Tamron SP 500mm f/8.0 adaptall-2 (55BB) mirror lens
  
• Tokina SD 400mm f/5.6
• Pentax F* 300mm f/4.5 on Terns
  
• Hin's Camera Gear
  

I don't think I know what I am doing. I initially try the Monochrome WB in Pentax K-x without any extra filter and I find the results quite plain and not to my liking. It is later that I find that there is a series of filters as in Yellow, Cyan, Red, Green, Blue and Infrared among others. The IR filter stands out the most intriguing one and I used it over the weekend with my Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 limited.

The IR filter has added another dimension into the Monochrone preset white balance. Once the IR filter is used, I only adjusted two settings in the initial try out

• B&W (Monochrome WB) set from Info button and Custom WB setting
• Change from my default Bright Image Mode to BW (Monochrone) WB, then add two more changes
  
  • tone is default
    
  • +1 on High/Low Key Adj
  • +1 on Contrast
  • Fine sharpness -1 is default in my setting
    

The IR filter adds a bunch of fun to the digital b&w photos and I am sure to continue to experiment the filters and the various settings such as the tone and high/low key adjustment. I am especially impressed with the set of filters and adjustment provided in K-x for digital b&w photography


Related:

• Pentax K-x White arrival
• Pentax K-x and Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
  
• Pentax K-x White HD Test Videos
  
• Pentax K-x White In Disneyland
• Pentax K-x High ISO Habit
• Pentax K-x White with DA limited
• Compare Pentax FA 77mm f/1.8 limited and Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8
  
• Hin's Camear Gear