Old Film Photo

With my new Macbook and Aperture, I am now re-organizing my old photos into one single library, so I have a chance to remember my old photos again.

Attached photos was taken before DSLRs were invented. Though it's years ago, I can still remember the set-ups for this photo - in the old days, films are expensive, and I press the shutter with care.

Camera: Pentax Z1
Lens: Pentax FA 70-200/4-5.6 Power Zoom
Film: Fujifilm RDP
Filter: B&W Soft Focus

Oh, I like the old days!!

Apple Aperture

I am now trying to use Aperture on my new Macbook to organize my photos. After a few weeks' usage, I really like the program's simple interface; powerful editing / organization functions; and many many plug-ins are available. I can upload photos (together with notes and captions) to a number of social sites including Picasa, facebook, blog, gmail etc all in Aperture. So just one program can solve most of my photo organizing / uploading need. Cool.

However, I have a few complain about Aperture:
1) It's doesn't work very well with the Pentax EXIF - it can't read the lense's model name. Adobe's Lightroom, on the contrary, can read the full name of Pentax lense without problem.
2) The RAW interface of Aperture doesn't not have a quick preset of cloudy, sun... etc to choose. It just have the color-temp. slider to work on.

Overall, I rate the program at 85/100.

DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 ED

This lens has been a recent fad for Pentaxian in Hong Kong, and I can totally understand that - it's unique view angle; convenient to use; lightweight; legendary Pentax color....

Recently I borrow my friend's 10-17 for a few test shots. I used it snapping for only around 15 minutes, just get a basic feel about this lens.

In the 15 mins I am using it, I love it because my K20D is very snappy with lens - very fast focus, attractive when look into the viewfinder... etc. However, when I back home and view the photos on computer, I really don't like the distorted view angles of fish-eyes. I really prefer snapping with my DA14 instead.

Don't get me wrong - there is no quality problem of the DA10-17. It's indeed a good lens. It's my own problem I can't get in love with it - as always, I feels dizzy when I look at fisheye photos.... I am through with this lens - lucky me no need to spend extra money. ;)

Live view

The live preview function of the K20D is useful in shooting low angle shots like these 2 cat shots.

However, the AF doesn't work in the live preview mode, and you have to MF with the LCD screen. How in the right mind Pentax thing this is a good function? Not to mention the corse LCD screen, the reason I want to use the live view is because I don't have an convenient angle to look into the viewfinder; so How can I have a convenient angle to look at the LCD to focus??

Birds in park - by Tokina ATX 80-200/2.8

Photos with Tokina ATX 80-200/2.8 lens.

The lens is an old design, and the focusing clutch system is quite stupid - you are supposed to be able to switch AF/MF with a simple push-and-pull of the focus ring (just like the focusing clutch you find on FA*24 and FA*85), but you need to turn to the right position when you push from MF to AF position.... and the position depends on where you focus last time. Such a headache.

The AF of this lens doesn't work very good with my old istD, when the focus sometimes locked at obviously mis-focused. However, with my new K20D, I find the focus is quite good and FAST! The fast focus is mainly due to the internal-focus design of this lens.

Color-wise, the lens is quite of Tokina taste, which means low in color saturation. This is simply a matter of taste, not necessary a bad thing and this can be easily corrected in the digital world. Attached photos are un-altered in the color saturation, so judge yourself.

Broken lens - Tamron 70-300

A careless accident, I dropped my Tamron 70-300 lens on the floor. The zoom ring probably gets off-geared, and the lens doesn't zoom with the zoom-ring. However, it still can be zoom with push-and-pull of the lens barrel. Focusing and optics seems fine to me. Here's a few shots AFTER the crash - I think it's fine.