Photography

I've recently acquired a Pentax *ist DL Digital SLR. This is the first SLR of any sort that I've owned, and while I'd reached a level of photography I was happy with with my previous camera, an Olympus C720 Ultra Zoom, and while that camera took - and still takes - great pictures, I wanted the flexability of lenses an SLR could give me. I'm still learning to use the Pentax and its lenses.

Lenses: The *ist DL package I ordered (from Dell) came with the SMC Pentax-DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm, f3.5/5.6 lens. I traded my father my Olympus for his Pentax K1000 setup, including several KA series lenses, which means I also have a Sigma 75-300mm f4.5/5.6, an SMC Pentax-A 1:2 50mm f2 prime, and a Kalimar 2x teleconverter. After that, I added an SMC Pentax FA 80-200mm f 4.7-5.6 autofocus zoom. Most recently, I've added an SMC Pentax DFA f2.8 100mm prime macro. Of my glass, the Pentax lenses seem to have the best optics. They focus sharper, they get better colors, and so on.

Software: My software set is still in flux. Presently I'm using Lightroom beta 2 (because free is good) and Photoshop Elements, both from Adobe, on a Dual G5 Powermac with 2gb of RAM. (Doing this with only one GB of RAM was painful - lots of swapping.) The software that came with my camera was so poor as to not bear discussion.

So okay, enough talk, on with the pictures. JPGs should have EXIF data intact.

A rather cheeky squirrel.
75-300mm lens.		 Some ducks in Little Goose Creek
75-300mm+doubler.		 A tree on the far bank of the creek.
75-300mm+doubler
A ThunderBird, over my house.
75-300mm lens, 2x adapter.		 An iris. 80-200mm
closeup filter.		 Sunset on Blodgett Peak
80-200mm		 Oreo. 100mm Macro
Various test images shot with the QDOS anaglyphic 3d lens.


You can see more of my photography here. Lots of doll pictures. Some naked doll pictures. Mostly these were shot with the Olympus.
Update: (03/01/09) Heh... yeah. Been a while. I finally got my hands on a bit of kit that I've been waiting for a long time. Some years ago, Vivitar made a series of reasonable macro/tele zoom lenses called the series one. Second to last in that series was a lens called the QDOS, whcih was a fairly ordinary 70-210 zoom, save for one interesting feature. It has a filter built in that renders the image in red/green anaglyphic 3d, the stuff of 1950s 3d horror films. Normally these lenses command princely sums on ebay, so when one went by for $80 buy it now from a bidder with no sales history, I took the risk and bought it. The transaction was flawless, and within the week, I had my very own KA mount QDOS lens in very reasonable condition. Pictures are above in the table unimaginatively marked "3d". Probably also on my flickr account soon, too, if I can remember my password. Obviously you'll need red/green 3d glasses to see these photos properly.
Update (08/28/06) New glass! I finally got a macro lens today, my birthday gift to myself. It's an SMC Pentax DFA f2.8 100mm prime macro. Deliciously sharp, much faster than the zoom lenses I have that cover that range, and in all ways what I'd expect of Pentax glass. And quite reasonably priced. The picture of Oreo, above, is the first good pic I've gotten with it. Many more pictures here and there. New doll pics. Woo!
Update (06/21/06) Some weeks ago, I acquired an SMC Pentax FA 80-200mm f 4.7-5.6 autofocus zoom. It's not the fastest lens, nor is it the deepest zoom, but it and my SMC P entax A (manual focus) 50mm f2 prime are optically the best lenses I own. The SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 and the 80-200 are the lenses I use the most often. Because I am an autofocus junkie, why? Also. Starting to expand my gear to include better off-camera light. You can read the same site I'm reading about that here. To date, I have a pair of Vivitar 283 flash guns, vp1 variable flash controllers for them, and a ton of pc cable gear to hook it all up. Radio triggers, light stands, and umbrellas are in my future, but as I haven't gotten around to making the cardboard parts Strobist recommends, I'll hold off on buying more gear. Vivitar 283s are big, powerful flashguns. Cool. :)
Update: (05/31/06) Some days you shoot twenty frames and get one good pic. The Thunderbird shot above is that one good pic. Camera on full auto except focus. 600mm of telephoto, plus the usual 1.5 multiplier for this camera. Focus on infinity. f/6.7, 1/250 sec exposure, ISO 200. (Not sure why the camera went with such a slow film. I may have to not let it choose for action shots.)
Update: (04/12/06) Quite a few new doll pics at the link above, using both my 50mm f/2 Pentax prime and the 18-55mm autofocus lens that came with the camera, as well as the slave strobe I got from my father. And closeup filters. Woohoo!