Pentaxians... Any out there?

Freakscene said:
CA can be identified and removed in colour photos but manifests just as unsharpness in monochrome. It is easier to deal with in colour photos. I found the 43mm Limited super sharp on film, including on Adox CMS20, APX25 and Acros. Interesting that you saw CA. I’m looking forward to using it on a Monochrome dSLR.
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Most of the Pentax glass with CA is only at or near wide open, in my experience.
 
nickthetasmaniac said:
One of the all-time Pentax wides, adapted on a Z6.

Aurora Australis | Tinderbox, Tasmania

Nikon Z6 and SMC Pentax 28/f2. 20" @ f2.8 and 3200iso


Aurora australis by Nick Clark, on Flickr
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Oh wow. Was that in the last couple of weeks? The aurora has been visible as far north as Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula, not just on long exposure photos.

And yes, it’s an amazing lens. The prices have gone crazy in the last couple of years.
 
Freakscene said:
Oh wow. Was that in the last couple of weeks? The aurora has been visible as far north as Kangaroo Island and the Fleurieu Peninsula, not just on long exposure photos.

And yes, it’s an amazing lens. The prices have gone crazy in the last couple of years.
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Yep last weekend. It was an amazing couple of nights. I saw photos online from as far north as Dubbo. In southern Tas is was very clear to the naked eye.

Have prices for the 28/f2 changed that much recently? They’ve gone for $800-1000aud for as long as I can remember… I was lucky enough to get this one from Colton Allen in a straight swap for a 5cm Summicron.
 
nickthetasmaniac said:
Yep last weekend. It was an amazing couple of nights. I saw photos online from as far north as Dubbo. In southern Tas is was very clear to the naked eye.

Have prices for the 28/f2 changed that much recently? They’ve gone for $800-1000aud for as long as I can remember… I was lucky enough to get this one from Colton Allen in a straight swap for a 5cm Summicron.
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That’s amazing. Yes, the aurora has been very visible and clear. Amazing.

I miss Colton, he was a very engaging and interesting guy.

IMG_1494.jpeg

Sample size is low, but I have definitely noticed a recent uptick. Average eBay price is over $US1000 over the last 6 months.
 
Freakscene said:
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Sample size is low, but I have definitely noticed a recent uptick. Average eBay price is over $US1000 over the last 6 months.
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I'm always wary of the price trend feature on Pentax Forums. In this case it's literally one guy who paid $1300 for his copy. The review before that paid $150 and the one before that paid $300... Ebay sale do seem high, but there's not many hey!
 
This video was interesting--I think they are on the right track with emphasizing the manual aspects of film photography to contrast with phones and other digital cameras. I hope they can allow for some manual control of exposure and focus as well, even though as with a manual film wind it is probably cheaper to drop in a totally automatic module for these functions.
 
Cascadilla said:
This video was interesting--I think they are on the right track with emphasizing the manual aspects of film photography to contrast with phones and other digital cameras. I hope they can allow for some manual control of exposure and focus as well, even though as with a manual film wind it is probably cheaper to drop in a totally automatic module for these functions.
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Agreed. Although their dedication to the manual wind lever is admirable, other aspects of the "film experience" are, in my opinion, more important. Manual focusing with some kind of rangefinder would be key, or at the very least, zone focusing with a good depth of field scale. Also key is the ability to set exposure manually. Again, personal preference, but I won't be bothered trying to use any camera that doesn't offer me these two capabilities.
I think it would do a disservice to first-time film users if they were locked into automation (a feature you can't turn off is a bug). With the ability to expand into the use of manual controls, the camera could be a gateway into greater control of the medium, and new markets for more sophisticated cameras.
I'm leery of the emphasis on "fun" as it's expressed in these videos. It's redolent of the kind of mindless stuff that "Lomography" promotes. For myself, I have a great deal of "fun" shooting with a view camera and utilizing all its controls, but then I'm a snob and a grouch, of course. Nevertheless, a camera that allows new users to push further, beyond owning a toy, growing their vision and craft, is what's needed.
 
Cascadilla said:
This video was interesting--I think they are on the right track with emphasizing the manual aspects of film photography to contrast with phones and other digital cameras. I hope they can allow for some manual control of exposure and focus as well, even though as with a manual film wind it is probably cheaper to drop in a totally automatic module for these functions.
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The interesting aspect in this video for me - dude sitting in some dusty corner. I'm a believer at starting from garage projects.

The rest is dope. They are going to take typical fixed focus, no aperture box like Ilford/Harman re-usable camera and and some plasticky, cheapish version of lever rewind. Which they have tried to cheap out by removing parts while been totally clueless how it works until they called some who knows.
I totally get it. They are into mass produce. And these days it needs to be made for user capabilities equal to idiot ( only mobile phone camera user) and as cheap as possible to have huge profit margin.

So, fixed focus, single aperture box with cheap film advance lever.

Kind of astonishing. It went from cheap Cosina SLR chassis for sale at BH fifteen years ago, then same chassis went for 1K USD as Bessas(memuchos) and now this dope.

No wonder LCAG is charging armUNDleg for film Ms which often comes as defective NIB and good luck to get it fixed.
 
That video pissed me off. Here was my reply to it:

”This is embarrassing. Designing a wind lever mechanism is a challenge in 2023, in a “modern camera”? No wonder the older engineers laughed at you. Take a look at magazines such as Popular Photography or Modern Photography from 1972, 1964, or even 1954 when Pentax introduced the first commercially successful SLR with an instant return mirror. Look at the mechanical technology that was being used then. 65 years ago. Film winding mechanisms have been around since the first Leica in 1934. If that’s too difficult, then use 120 film and a little red window to see the frame number like a Brownie 127-format camera. Really - just re-make the Pentax Spotmatic of 1964 and be done with it. Then you get the spiritual film winding you’re looking for, rewinding (!), metering, and all the millions of screw-mount M42 lenses that are out there. Plus, the user can set aperture and shutter speed. That’s it. Make that. You made it before.”
 
Pál_K said:
That video pissed me off. Here was my reply to it:

”This is embarrassing. Designing a wind lever mechanism is a challenge in 2023, in a “modern camera”? No wonder the older engineers laughed at you. Take a look at magazines such as Popular Photography or Modern Photography from 1972, 1964, or even 1954 when Pentax introduced the first commercially successful SLR with an instant return mirror. Look at the mechanical technology that was being used then. 65 years ago. Film winding mechanisms have been around since the first Leica in 1934. If that’s too difficult, then use 120 film and a little red window to see the frame number like a Brownie 127-format camera. Really - just re-make the Pentax Spotmatic of 1964 and be done with it. Then you get the spiritual film winding you’re looking for, rewinding (!), metering, and all the millions of screw-mount M42 lenses that are out there. Plus, the user can set aperture and shutter speed. That’s it. Make that. You made it before.”
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I don’t think you understand how quickly knowledge and technology can be lost from companies, and without being there you have no idea what the residual depth of knowledge and skill in Ricoh-Pentax is like. Of course there are pre-existing designs for winding mechanisms. But that is different to designing one from scratch to fit in a set of design parameters. Can you do that? I can’t.

Kodak had to teach themselves how to make E6 again when E100 was reintroduced. This is analogous. Be grateful that they are giving it a go at all, if you are interested; it is much garder than you think.
 
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