This and that (photographer stuff)

[velociraptor]

My wife's uncle went into long term care and he gave me all of his photo kit. He had four Pentax SLR bodies and over 20 lenses. I'm going to use the bodies infrequently (film = $$$), but want to give the lenses some new life. I'm hacking a PK to EF adapter so I can use it on a spare full-frame Canon body. The adapter is designed for cropped sensors. Once this is working I'm assembling a second camera bag that has the spare body and all manual Pentax glass.

I'm also playing with the digital cameras he gifted me. I ordered some new batteries and am putting Roy's Canon Powershot SX-50 HS back into service. He barely used the poor thing.

The drone isn't seeing much use because of the cold and the dreary skies. I have discharged all three of my batteries to fifty percent and am storing them in the refrigerator.

What is everyone else up to?

 

[Jeff T]

Sounds like a lot of work!
But perhaps you enjoy that type of work?

Pentax-Ricoh does sell a number of DSLRs that can use the old lenses.
My collection of lenses run from the 1960s to 2015. They all work with my K3 camera to varying degrees.

Fill us in on how your project goes; and pictures?

 

[Sherlock77]

Nothing specific really... Just my usual rounds of being a Flaneur and Dandy, and photographer too...

Coming up in a couple weeks there are lots of winter events happening that I'm looking forward to, that should be lots of fun

 

[velociraptor]

and pictures?

I'm just happy if I get out and get anything right now. Winter is not conducive to photography for me.

Liquor Barn in the Fog, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Home & Barn, Hwy 791 east of Carstairs, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Ramping It Up, Provincial Building, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

208, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Frosty Evening at the High School, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Old Shed in the Fog, Hwy 791 east of Carstairs, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr


Table for Four, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Monday was sort of productive at least. I got the two daytime panos on the drive back from the pacemaker clinic. The rest came from walking around town with my wife after supper.

 

[Au Naturel]

I'm just happy if I get out and get anything right now. Winter is not conducive to photography for me.

Liquor Barn in the Fog, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Home & Barn, Hwy 791 east of Carstairs, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Ramping It Up, Provincial Building, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

208, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Frosty Evening at the High School, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Old Shed in the Fog, Hwy 791 east of Carstairs, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr


Table for Four, Strathmore, AB, 2022-01-16 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Monday was sort of productive at least. I got the two daytime panos on the drive back from the pacemaker clinic. The rest came from walking around town with my wife after supper.

Looks good to me!

 

[Sherlock77]

A cell phone photo experiment tonight, at a poetry reading I attended... The image itself came out good, but the camera just simply adopted Portrait mode and blurred the background more than I wanted... I was struck by the emotion of this couple and their interaction, but wanted the background poet to have at least some sort of definition, one reason why I prefer using my camera versus relying on an automatic mode... I probably won't do anything with this photo...

 

[velociraptor]

The adapter is working, although I need to use the lens upside-down so the aperture tab doesn't block the mirror in the reflex assembly. Here's a crop from a test shot focused at infinity as shooting to infinity is usually problematic. 28.mm at f8. This is very workable - not bad for a lens that is almost half a century old.

 

[Judge]

Interesting seeing the outrage of both amateurs and professionals over Canon's decision to selectively ban third-parties from manufacturing lenses for their RF camera mounts.

Were they being sincere in their alleged concern over those few vendors making substandard quality lenses that could reflect negatively on their product, or are they simply trying to corral their market into exclusively paying much higher prices for their lenses ?

Either way they seem to be losing customers to competition like Sony and FujiFilm when it comes to their mirrorless line of digital cameras. In the meantime, it's too bad for third-party quality lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron.

 

[velociraptor]

What's Old Is New Again 1 of 3 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

What's Old Is New Again 2 of 3 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

What's Old Is New Again 3 of 3 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

The lens mount mod works, although it means mounting the lens more than 90 degrees off-axis. This puts the aperture tab on the back of Pentax lenses below the relex assembly on Canon full-frame dSLRs so that the mirror movement is no longer impeded. It doesn't affect the image quality in any way, but makes setting the aperture a bit funkier than normal. Quite usable, all in all.

Were they being sincere in their alleged concern over those few vendors making substandard quality lenses that could reflect negatively on their product, or are they simply trying to corral their market into exclusively paying much higher prices for their lenses

Third party lenses were pretty crap two decades back (Sigma!), but the newer glass is pretty darn good and affordable (also Sigma). I'm not buying the quality control argument. I do think they will still sell a crap tonne of R-bodies because they're just that good. Most of us upgrading to them also own a whackload of EF glass that works beautifully on R-bodies with their adapter. An EF telephoto that would do the focus hunt and seek thing or need back focus adjustments on a dSLR body becomes a lightning fast focusing, tack-sharp lens on the new Canon mirrorless.

Yes, I do think they're trying to make $$$ off of lenses through restricting competition because their camera body margins aren't great, but, no, I don't see it hurting them.

 

[velociraptor]

Here are more pics of the new kit:

I'll take that to go... by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

It's time for your close-up by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Here are the first two images I've produced with it:

Not Quite Dead Shed, Strathmore, Alberta 2023-01-22 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

Happy Winds-day, Strathmore, Alberta 2023-01-22 by Sean McCormick, on Flickr

When I'm not happy with photographing what's in front of my eyes, I like to experiment and photograph what is lying behind them instead.