tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-341464782012-01-03T21:26:31.968-07:00mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-34722916737999743492009-11-22T19:30:00.008-07:002009-11-22T19:44:50.277-07:00

My 45-200mm arrived last night and today I was able to take some quick snapshots around the house. So far so good! With the GF1 (didn't yet had time to try with E-P1), the AF is very fast and virtually silent. The lens is not too big nor too heavy and balances nicely on the GF1. The mega O.I.S is very impressive and I can get reasonably sharp images at 200mm and 1/30s! From an IQ

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-30211378889269249312009-11-12T19:38:00.016-07:002009-11-12T20:00:03.483-07:00

It has been a while since I posted something here. Well, lots of things going on and not enough time. I will try to do some m4/3 reviews (E-P1 and GF1) soon. In the meantime, here is a post about using the Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 micro with the E-P1. So I decided to give my micro Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 a try. This lens is a leftover from my Nikon days and the only thing I needed was to find a cheap

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-26494858934933750852008-08-05T18:03:00.009-06:002008-08-05T18:16:20.032-06:00

A snail enjoying the moisture brought by tropical storm Edward... this little guy is about 1/2 inch from head to toe (!)

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-5543370474378263042008-06-25T21:40:00.006-06:002008-06-25T21:45:47.215-06:00

Seems to me that DR is pretty good with this camera. I didn't do any direct comparison but it might be as good as my DSLR (Pentax K10D). Image shot in raw, converted with ACR and post processed in Photoshop. Exif embedded in image. PS: I didn't use the S100FS' extended DR feature, as it's a jpeg thing... The Galleria - Houston, TX (as usual, click on the image to get a bigger version).

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-50393158039564068782008-06-12T20:47:00.003-06:002008-06-12T21:03:09.446-06:00

I got myself a Fuji S100FS. As a long time DSLR guy, who likes to use prime lenses and doesn’t really enjoy electronic viewfinders, I’d never thought I would buy such a camera (a 14x zoom? Come on!). But after reading all the good reviews and feedback from users, I decided to give it a try… To keep it short, I like pretty much everything about this camera: the speed (startup time, AF and write

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-34595792966480390912008-01-24T15:18:00.000-07:002008-02-01T12:53:26.636-07:00

I reached my bandwidth limit and I had to remove temporarily all the pictures. Sorry for the inconvenience. Images are back now.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-21955575440610315532007-12-07T18:59:00.000-07:002008-01-04T21:42:38.040-07:00

About this Review Since I don’t think that the world needs yet another K10D review or that I can (nor want to) compete with the cohorts of highly talented and meticulous professional reviewers, I decided to focus on what makes the K10D unique and innovative and not waste your time going after the minute details of each and every options. All my comments about Image Quality are based on

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-23248511539084808392007-11-27T23:47:00.000-07:002007-12-07T19:05:23.260-07:00

I found that Adobe ACR does a decent job at converting to B&W (HSL/Grayscale and Tone Curve). Also, it is quite convenient because your settings are automatically saved in the sidecar files. Here are some images using this technique. K10D in raw format converted with ACR. Exif embedded in images. And yes, that was a cloudy day.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-76876619660824550102007-10-30T22:11:00.000-06:002007-12-07T19:05:11.919-07:00

It has been a while since my last post. I am kind of busy. I will resume posting as soon as I can decide what my next camera will be... the Canon 5D is very tempting with the recent price drop, yet I don't feel like carrying around a 2 lb. over-sized camera. I also need a small P&S and I am thinking about buying the Canon G9... Stay tuned!

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-69747732780200397552007-07-18T03:47:00.001-06:002007-09-30T22:51:24.953-06:00

I bought a LX2 last week and took it for a test drive in San Antonio, TX. I liked the camera very much: size, controls, build quality, lens, 16:9 aspect ratio, responsiveness and of course the ability to shoot raw. Mega O.I.S is very helpful if not as effective as what I am used to with my Pentax K10D or K100D. 1/2s hand held! Not too bad ;-) Unfortunately, the image quality

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-85110619141156354652007-06-24T23:30:00.000-06:002007-09-30T22:50:47.193-06:00

Between Washington and Somerville, Texas. Stormy skies and rain showers but it was a nice day, overall. And I am glad that the Pentax K10D is weatherproof.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-18734239081987755832007-05-07T15:32:00.000-06:002007-07-19T22:27:49.858-06:00

I am having a blast with this fun lens. It's way more versatile that I was expecting. Indeed, a fish eye ZOOM makes lots of sense. Yes, it shows some CA and Purple Fringing, but nothing that can't be fixed in post processing. Pentax K10D with Pentax DA 10-17mm Fish-eye. Raw processed with Adobe ACR. Very good at close-up too...

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-84009067442079268662007-03-13T00:39:00.000-06:002007-05-18T21:51:25.940-06:00

I was reluctant to buy the FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited mainly because I already own the DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited and the FA 50mm f/1.4. Both are excellent lenses and I couldn't justify adding the 43 Limited for the futile goal of completing my collection of Pentax Limited lenses. Another reason why I didn’t immediately bought this lens (beside its sporadic availability) is the numerous reviews, from

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-36344196240706638992007-03-09T16:19:00.000-07:002007-03-09T16:23:19.217-07:00

D200 + Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 at 200mm f/2.8 1/800 ISO 1600 Raw processed with ACR 3.7

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-4624073838715296222007-02-25T21:34:00.000-07:002007-02-25T23:04:24.383-07:00

Back in October 2006, I had the opportunity to try the newly introduced DA 70mm f/2.4 Limited "Pancake" lens along with the legendary FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited. I posted some sample images from both lenses in the Pentax SLR forum at DPreview. The images were lost when I switched to another ISP. Upon request, I decided to repost them with the (edited) comments I wrote about these two fine lenses.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-62692658136614227402007-02-24T10:29:00.000-07:002007-02-24T10:54:12.036-07:00

I calibrated ACR 3.7 to my K10D using the ACR Calibrator script (you need to edit the script so then it works with ACR 3.7). Here are the values: Shadow Tint-3 Red Hue-14 Red Saturation+22 Green Hue-6 Green Saturation+6 Blue Hue+13 Blue Saturation-5 I wouldn't recommend to use these values "as is" but as starting point if you can't do your own calibration (you need the

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-82588740208783285122007-02-20T22:28:00.000-07:002007-02-20T22:40:56.193-07:00

I took my K10D (with FA 31, FA 77 and DA 21) and D200 (with AF-D 80-200mm f/2.8) to Brazos Bend State Park (TX). K10D - DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited K10D - DA 21mm f/3.2 Limited Nikon D200 - Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikon D200 - Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikon D200 - Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D Nikon D200 - Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-4642126051867325832007-02-20T22:07:00.000-07:002007-12-07T19:07:27.268-07:00

K10D with FA 77mm Limited and DA 21mm Limited. There lenses are fantastic!

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-91055324190854096432007-02-14T21:23:00.001-07:002007-12-07T19:07:59.023-07:00

Quick and dirty test to evaluate how SR performs with the K10D and K100D. Lots of people are asking me about SR performance and I wanted to provide a bit more than just my suggestive evaluation. I used the Pentax DA 50-200mm for this test. For reference, I also added 3 shots from Nikon D200 with Nikkor AF-D 80-200mm f/2.8 (obviously, no SR). All shots were hand held (duh!) and taken at 200mm ISO

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-9051143565740527112007-02-14T21:10:00.000-07:002007-02-14T21:48:30.393-07:00

I really enjoyed using this fantastic camera. If only Olympus had released a couple of fast wide, normal and portrait prime lenses... Well, Pentax did it so farewell to the Oly E-1. Olympus E-1 Gallery

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-21910807341058045072007-02-13T23:14:00.000-07:002007-12-07T19:06:08.043-07:00

That wasn't too bad. Good thing I backup everything ;-)

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-34152706990709146752007-02-13T22:00:00.000-07:002007-12-07T19:07:27.270-07:00

I never shoot jpeg, but I was curious to see how "bad" the jpeg mode was with the K10D. (I am being sarcastic, K10D jpeg is great). To make things worse, I used the FA 50mm f/1.4 wide open. You tell me ;-) K10D 1/250 f/1.4 ISO 100 - FA 50mm f/1.4 Full image: 1:1 Crop (center) 1:1 Crop (edge)

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-81802206538655551732007-02-13T21:57:00.000-07:002007-12-07T19:06:19.828-07:00

Sorry for that! I recently relocated to Texas from Colorado and I had to switch to another ISP. This is why all the pictures are gone :-( I will try to fix that as soon as I can.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-57040583718734001692006-12-03T00:16:00.000-07:002007-02-13T22:34:11.558-07:00

Couldn't believe my eyes: 1.3 seconds hand held! And yes, I do drink coffee ;-) Full image 1:1 Crop

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-16095746099231003562006-09-28T11:33:00.000-06:002007-02-13T22:30:29.824-07:00

Another great lens, another sunny day in Northern Colorado ;-) This is my first weekend with this lens. Well, lots of good things to say about this little gem: sharpness is insane (with K100D), colors are great and build quality... well, it's a Limited! Vignetting, CA and distortion are very well contained. Minimum focusing distance makes it great for close-ups. I was first concerned by the

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-77730062282369606882006-09-13T01:26:00.000-06:002007-02-13T22:42:22.147-07:00

Today I received my first Pentax DA Limited: the minimalist 40mm pancake. This lens and the two other Pentax pancake lenses (DA 21mm and DA 70mm) are the reason why I decided to buy a Pentax K100D camera. After playing for a week with the K100D and the DA 18-55mm I decided to invest in some fine Pentax lenses. This K100D is just too much fun and the Pentax DA Limited are irresistible! The

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-63556330620219281182006-09-11T14:33:00.000-06:002007-02-20T22:42:24.845-07:00

Few pictures from today at Rocky Mountain National Park. The hike starts off at Bear Lake to ends up at Emerald Lake. Very short and easy one. Elevation is between 9,000 and 10,000 feet and temperature was in the high 40s at Emerald lake. Not extreme at all, but I though it was worth mentioning it. K100D shows a tremendous amount of details in the shadows. Not so great in the highlights:

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-11762265024244075112006-09-10T02:18:00.000-06:002007-02-13T22:51:46.383-07:00

I am having lots of fun with K100D, SR and Kit Lens. AF performed flawlessly in this very challenging lighting. Noise is almost non existent. Also, metering nailed it all the time. OK, quite silly and boring subjects, but I can't help myself taking pictures with this wonderful and exiting little camera ;-) All pics at ISO 1600 with shutter speed between 1/2s to 1/8s. Handheld, obviously.

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-19588650400232911892006-09-10T01:52:00.000-06:002007-02-13T22:57:12.556-07:00

Second day with the K100D and a lot of fun with this cute little camera ;-) I went to Pawnee Buttes, CO for a quick hike. Size and weight of the camera with kit lens is a blessing when hiking. The Weather was fantastic (as usual) and the sky deep blue... which produces horrible noise when the raw image (converted with Pentax Photo Laboratory to DNG) is processed with Adobe ACR with the

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-1157873855483527282006-09-10T01:27:00.000-06:002007-02-13T23:02:07.936-07:00

Just received my K100D kit yesterday. First impressions are very positive. I love the size of the camera, the effectiveness of the SR feature, and the overall build quality. AF is way better that what I was expecting after reading all these posts about slow and hunting AF. It seems to be reasonably fast and very accurate. I didn't have any issue focusing with low light and/or low contrast

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-28648218146438133552006-08-16T17:24:00.000-06:002007-02-13T23:11:02.236-07:00

Just received my Nikon to 4/3 adapter (cheap one bought on eBay, made in China. $45 with shipping). I am thrilled! Results are fantastic. Another good reason to keep my E-1 along with my Nikon gear. So far, I successfully tried the following: 20mm f/2.8 AFD, 28mm f/2.0 AIS, 50mm f/1.8 E series, 55mm f/2.8 AIS micro, 100mm f/2.8 E series, 105mm f/2.5 AIS, 135mm f/2.8 AIS and 200mm f/4 AI. All

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34146478.post-42397810362216610152006-03-15T17:46:00.000-07:002007-02-13T23:13:17.876-07:00

The old Nikkor 45mm GN "pancake" makes a great combo with the D200. It has an excellent center sharpness, a great bokeh and very nice color rendering and ... it is very compact. It a all metal lens, very solidly put together, with an awkward focusing action that accommodates the automatic diaphragm coupling. If you're thinking about getting one, just be careful that you buy a factory AI

mskadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05565993750060611669noreply@blogger.com2