istD - the very strong camera!

I get my istD at Apr 2004, almost 4 years from now. I fired it over 40,000 times; dropped it for several times; and it's still going. Over all these years, it only hung in 2 incidents, and both were because I use it when raining for a few hours.... in both cases the camera get life on when it was dry after an hours time. Amazing, hug?

What's more, I recently took it to a trip again, and find myself still satisfy with the picture quality of this old bleed DSLR. The photo gallery is here, and below are some of the pictures:

(by FA77/1.8)


(by DA16-45/4)


(by DA16-45/4)


(by Tamron 70-300/4-5.6)

Kid shots with FA77

Frankly, my istD / FA77 combo doesn't focus fast enough to capture kids in action. thanks to the large apeature, I find manual focusing with this lens is very easy and enjoyable.

Go Karting

Just took a few shot in-between my own karting session. Since photo is not my main objective, just bring my cheap (and light) Tamron 70-300. It doesn't let me down.

A few portrait shot with Tamron 70-300/4-5.6 LD

All taken on a trip to Ocean Park, Hong Kong a few years back:

K10D Grand Prix Package

Looks nice, but, what for?

I actually hide the brand logo and model no. of my cameras (with black electrical tape). I hate nosy pass-by around to peek which model / brand I am using.

New DA* lens

The 2 new large aperture DA* lens will be available on the market very soon, according to a Japanese site.

I, however, do not have any interest in these 2 lens whatsoever. If I like to use large aperture zooms, I'd been using Nikon now. Sorry Pentax fans, but Nikon has done a very good job in it's full-line of zoom lens. Pentax is very good at prime lens, and very good in the small overall system size, but not the zooms.

More kid shots with FA77/1.8

Really a nice lens. I like it very much.

Bokeh of DA21/3.2

It's actually not bad, for a lens at this focal length and apeature.

Kid shots with FA77/1.8

The image quality of FA77 is very good, giving very pleasure result. However, the focus speed on my istD is quite slow, and cannot lock into correct focus quite often. It's a big problem with kid's shot, so I have to resolve to use MF. Although the f/1.8 make it very easy to MF, I still hope the AF speed problem can be solved in other DSLR models.

A few bird shots with Tamron 70-300/4-5.6 LD

The depth-of-field myth on APS-DSLR

A common question: "how does the depth-of-field on 1.5X crop factor (APS size) compare to full-frame film?"

I don't want to go into the theoretical and mathematical details of depth-of-field. So I will use a Palm program to solve this. The circle-of-confusion used by the program is 30um for full-frame, and 25um for APS-DSLR.

In short, the DOF is affected by: focal length, shooting distance, aperture, and film (sensor) format. So the above question is a tricky question because it has 2 different answer. The DOF on 1.5X DSLR is bigger then 135 full-frame, and it's also smaller. It all depends on how you look at the question.

First, if you are using 'equivalent' lens on your DSLR, shooting at the same position, using the same aperture.... the DOF on DSLR is greater than full-frame film. eg:
full-frame: 75mm lens, f/2, distance=2m
APS-DSLR: 50mm lens, f/2, distance=2m
You will get the same framing and perspective with the above 2 setting. But the DOF with APS-DSLR will be bigger than full-frame 135:
DOF of full-frame: 1.96m to 2.04m, ie. 8cm
DOF of APS-DSLR: 1.92m to 2.08m, ie. 16cm

So, many people say full-frame has more 3D feeling than APS-DSLR. The main reason it the difference in DOF: a shallower DOF gives more 3D feeling.

On the other hand, if you are using SAME LENS, shooting at SAME DISTANCE, than the DOF of APS-DSLR will be shallower than full-frame 135, eg:
full-frame: 50mm, f/2, distance=2m, DOF=1.91m to 2.10m, 19cm
APS-DSLR: 50mm, f/2, distance=2m, DOF=1.92m to 2.08m, 16cm
So if you are going to use the DOF scale on your lens, the DOF on APS-DSLR will be approx. 1/4 stop shallower.

Submit your shutter count

HERE.

Someone has tripped the shutter of istD for over 130,000 times, and still living. Not bad.

Tokina ATX 828 (80-200/2.8)

The old story: there is no large aperture tele-zoom from Pentax, period.

The FA*80-200/2.8 is not only expensive, but not readily available on the market. So I get the Tokina ATX 80-200/2.8 a few years ago, to fulfill my long wish to own an heavy tele-zoom.

Just a few days after I get my ATX 828, I regarded. The lens is very heavy, and I don't really have that strength to bring it out. After owning this lens a few years, I can only a few samples taken with it in my hard-drive.









To be honest, the lens is not bad. But it's not that impressive too.

On the picture quality side, the image is quite soft at f/2.8. sharpness improve at f/4, and not a big problem f/5.6 and beyond. The color is overall a bit pale. This characterist, however, make it a very good portrait lens. Thanks to the 9-blade aperture, the bokeh is also quite nice.

The ATX 828 is very well constructed. It's solid and feels like a tank. The inner focus mechanics is a very nice design, and only a small lens-group move inside the lens when it is focusing.... it's particular usful to the Pentax AF system: the camera body doesn't have to try too hard to move the lens elements, and the overall AF speed is quite nice.

My only complain is the stupid AF/MF switch of the ATX828 - at AF setting, you cannot manual focus the iens (even with the camera body set at MF). You have to switch to MF mode, which is very clumsy: you need to turn to the right position, then pull back the focusing ring. The 'right' position is different everytime, depends on where was your last MF distance. How stupid!! Imagine when you need to fine-tune the camera's AF.... IT SUCKS! Well, you can always put the focusing ring to the MF position, but then the focusing ring will turn with AF, and also slow down the AF speed. The focusing ring is very well located on the lens, and if it turns during AF, it will affect your handling of the lens.

Legendary Bokeh of FA77/1.8

Just test FA77/1.8 at the 64 candle night memorial. Really love the legendary bokeh of this little jewel. (All photos taken with istD, at ISO 3200. Converted to b/w in Photoshop)









The other photos are here.

Kid shot with DA21, again

I have to admit, I really love this lens. Small and handy, fast focusing, very nice image.

The f/3.2 is not a big problem, it's actually only 1/3 stop smaller than a f/2.8, but the f/3.2 in the DA21 is very usable.

Pentax AP 50 anniv.

Reported by DC Watch.

Are the Pentax management still dreaming about their glorious history? Come on, old man! Wake up and put-up something really matches the modern day demand..... PLEASE!

Pentax deal

Pentax finally accepts the buy-out offer from Hoya.

Good news is they will continue the DSLR business with Pentax brand. So there should be no worry of no support in the near future. My biggest concern, however, is that good engineers in the Pentax may depart from the new set-up. 2 areas are specifically important: DSP and the optics design.

Let's hope for the best!

Big head shot with DA21

Kid shots with DA21

Photo Filter in Photoshop

I am still using istD, very slow in saving files, and tehrefore I mainly shot jpeg.

For time to time, I will make mistakes and need to save in Photoshop; just like the following example.

In a MacDonald brithday party for my son's classmate, I was using a diffuser covering my 360 flash and hope to get a better light quality. I was wrong. The power of 360 is too low and unable to override ambient WB. Since I use flash WB, here's the result.



So I apply photo filter in Photoshop CS (found in "image" --> "Adjust" --> "Photo Filter"), setting was cooling filter 82, 25%. Here's the resulting photo.



Not bad. For old guys who started photography in film days, we are easlier to understand photo filter than R-G-B color tunings....