A walk with a digital camera

[limr]

Well, here they are.

First, a shoutout and big thanks to @mctb for selling me the Pentax K-7. I played with settings for a few days, and even read at least part of the *^(^$#) manual! I was testing it with a K-mount Vivitar 35mm lens with an A setting but also wanted to see how it handles the purely manual lenses, so I used the adapter that was also generously included in the package (thank you!!) to mount my M42 thread mount Pentax 55mm f2 lens.

Then I took her for a test run on a trail near my house that has already been captured on many many frames of film. They are mostly shot at f2.8 because it's trickier to manual focus with the K7 than I'm used to with my film bodies, so I was purposely making it more important to nail the focus in order to practice. Plus, I do like me some shallow depth of field

So how'd I do?

Trees:

Flowers:

Ferns:

Wildlife (cropped pretty far down on the chippy and even moreso on the frog):

 

[tirediron]

Nice set Lenny! I really like "Ferns".

 

[mctb]

You'll get used to the manual focus using a digital screen. The shot of the tree bark is great

 

[Ysarex]

Nice geraniums, and they're not frozen. There's a good chance I would've yanked that leaf if it were me -- not sure about it.

Joe

 

[Peeb]

Fun! Peeb likes.

 

[chuasam]

Well done, Manual Focus is a pain with modern cameras because they don't use grid glass or split screen cat eye thing. Some digital cameras have focus assist in live view mode. I often set the magnification in macro and move in and out to focus

 

[Rick50]

Looks like you got your shallow depth of field and your focus so win-win.

 

[limr]

Nice set Lenny! I really like "Ferns".

Thanks!

You'll get used to the manual focus using a digital screen. The shot of the tree bark is great

Thanks! I might use live view if I am having trouble with the viewfinder, or if the light is low or something. There is a little focus aid light that flashes, so that helps. I'm getting used to it.

Nice geraniums, and they're not frozen. There's a good chance I would've yanked that leaf if it were me -- not sure about it.

Joe

Thank you. I wondered about the leaf, too, but they felt lonely, unbalanced without it.

Fun! Peeb likes.

Thanks

Well done, Manual Focus is a pain with modern cameras because they don't use grid glass or split screen cat eye thing. Some digital cameras have focus assist in live view mode. I often set the magnification in macro and move in and out to focus

Yup, I've got a little red light that flashes in the viewfinder. It's definitely not as easy as using a 35mm film camera, but I'm managing. I've got a few tricky film cameras - like the waist-level finder on my Praktica - and so I'm used to manually focusing in less-than-ideal circumstances. Just need practice! If I'm using this to scan film, I may use live view and macro.

Looks like you got your shallow depth of field and your focus so win-win.

Thanks, Rick

 

[jcdeboever]

Looks like you got a handle on the hardware. It's not easy to focus using manual glass as mentioned. Looks good.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[limr]

Looks like you got a handle on the hardware. It's not easy to focus using manual glass as mentioned. Looks good.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Thanks, jc!

 

[KenC]

Good to see you having fun with digital now that you've drunk the Kool-Aid with most of the rest of us.

I had Pentax film cameras and some of my lenses were total manual ("M" lenses, no shutter priority) so I switched brands rather than deal with them. I applaud your perseverance.

 

[robbins.photo]

Great. Ok, well guess it's time to start stockpiling more ammunition and freeze dried foods.

I mean sure, it's a great set and all. But Lenny shooting digital? Ya, that's one of the seals in the Book of Revelations being busted wide open there...

Next thing you know 4 guys on horseback will be showing up.

 

[limr]

Good to see you having fun with digital now that you've drunk the Kool-Aid with most of the rest of us.

I had Pentax film cameras and some of my lenses were total manual ("M" lenses, no shutter priority) so I switched brands rather than deal with them. I applaud your perseverance.

Oh, there's no way it's worth it to me to switch brands. It's really not that important to me. I'd much rather deal with the manual lenses than spend the money on a new system and also spend the time getting used to it. That would be no fun at all. I'm also way too much of a Pentax fan girl

As for "fun"? Well, it was interesting. A little anti-climactic. At first, I was taking a lot more shots and checking them to see what to expect from certain settings - especially for things with a wider dynamic range, knowing that the K7 would handle it differently from film. Once I got a handle on that, I'd just take a shot or two and move on. Sometimes I'd stop and look through the shots. At the end of the walk, I was feeling a little bit like, "So...that's it?" It almost felt more like a toy camera than the Holga does!

Honestly, it seems pretty easy to me to get "pretty" pictures, and when that's all I feel like doing at that moment - just take some pretty pictures for the sake of shooting something - it might be one of the cameras I grab to accomplish that. But when I want to do something more expressive, I'm always going to turn to film. I just understand that "language" better and can express myself more easily.

Or it might just turn into my film scanner

Great. Ok, well guess it's time to start stockpiling more ammunition and freeze dried foods.

I mean sure, it's a great set and all. But Lenny shooting digital? Ya, that's one of the seals in the Book of Revelations being busted wide open there...

Next thing you know 4 guys on horseback will be showing up.

Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I have not switched to digital. I've added a digital camera to the line-up for very specific things. I'm using it now for things I'd normally shoot with film just so I can become more familiar with all the bells and whistles, but let's not expect that to last!

 

[robbins.photo]

Now now, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? I have not switched to digital. I've added a digital camera to the line-up for very specific things. I'm using it now for things I'd normally shoot with film just so I can become more familiar with all the bells and whistles, but let's not expect that to last!

Well if you'd actually switched to digital I wouldn't have bothered with the extra ammo or the freeze dried food, I would have just bought a really expensive bottle of bourbon and watched the world end in short order.

Lol

 

[yahgiggle]

i find these all boring try to focus better next time and look for better subjects number 6 is your best one but even the focus looks out on that one too