Maybe they'll go for mass confusion. Have you seen how many other things are in those knives?

SOMEBODY was never given a Swiss Army knife...

quote:

Originally posted by Hasa:

quote:

Originally posted by lithos:
Yeah.

Who the fuck gives their army a knife with a corkscrew?

A country that borders on France and has been lying low for two hundred years.

This wouldn't be funny if it didn't come from a German.

Of course, as history shows, anyone who invades France will go through Belgium. Not so much for strategic value as a tradition. Hell, if Poland invaded, they'd make time for Antwerp.

In photographic news, the bastards at Ted's have run out of Tri-X. Was thinking about the Ilford alternative - HP5 (high-speed, cubic grain) - but $10.95 a roll, it's three bucks more than Tri-X, which I've come to love. And since I was pushing to 1600 anyway, I went with Fuji Neopan 1600 - the Mean Old Man special. Haven't had it scanned yet, but will, to check it out. Shit. Haven't devved it either.

Anyway, anyone got any tips for any of the films mentioned? Characteristics, development notes, stuff like that? Tri-X, Neopan, HP5?

In the past three days I've read over the entirety of this thread, and I have to say, the sheer fascination with cameras and gear is addictive.

Lithos, I know you're the big Pentax promoter... what's the difference between this Pentax K100D and this Pentax K100D camera?

Also, I keep reading the term "SLR"... and apparently completely missed the explanation for it. What's it stand for?

single-lens reflex



my baby!

quote:

Originally posted by striv:
single-lens reflex



my baby!

Got some mirror in there, didn't you?

Ah-ha, very cool. That explains it, thanks Striv. =) What do you think of the camera? Worth the investment?

quote:

Originally posted by Oniichan:
Lithos, I know you're the big Pentax promoter... what's the difference between this Pentax K100D and this Pentax K100D camera?

Simple. The first camera does not come with a lens - it's body only - the second comes with the 18-55mm zoom.

Keep in mind, folks, that the K100D Super is just about released. It's an update, incorporating some features of the K10D - dust removal on the sensor and ultrasonic motor focusing.

This will a) give you another option for the pickng a camera and b) drive down the price of the original K100D's.

Thanks, lithos. Guess it should have been obvious, but I'm still a big camera newb. Good news about the new K100D, too... hopefully it'll mean I won't break my pocketbook if I get an older K100D.

Holy Shit!

quote:

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 19.07.2007.
Carl Zeiss now offers its premium lenses for 35 mm SLR (single lens reflex) cameras for an additional camera connector: the K bayonet.

Zeiss is calling it the "ZK" mount.

Interesting that Pentax is never mentioned; though I guess it's for legal reasons. And Pentax essentially considered the K-Mount open-source, anyway. When other camera makers were thinking selfishly, Pentax was thinking for the good of the photographic community.

And, even more interestingly, Zeiss has chosen the K-mount, which, at this point in time, means pretty much Pentax (you can't really call Samsung a serious contender, and Vivitar's 35mm K-mount SLRs barely register these days). Perhaps we can look at the other 35mm, third-party mount Zeiss make, the ZF - Nikon SLR mount, which shares similar (but by no means as complete) backwards-compatibility with older cameras.

Maybe Zeiss are being smart, and can see the current Pentaxes offer good value for money - and if you chose to shoot film, will be excellent value for money. Maybe it's because there's more K-mounts out there than anything else.

Of course, it would be easy to say they're ignoring Canon, but the EF mount is a completely electronic mount, and don't forget there's two of them (EF and EF-S) really. Canon, I don't think, lent their mount to anyone else, like Nikon (to Kodak and later, strangely, Fuji. Kodak musta pissed them off baaad...) or Pentax (Ricoh, Cosina, Vivitar, Samsung...)

But, really, why? Few pros who shoot film shoot Pentax. There's a lot more cachet and technical features in Nikon and Canon, and even Minolta, rest its soul. Pentax never really aimed that high in 35mm, except with the old, manual LX, instead focusing on consumer and advanced amateur gear (and they're doing all right by it - nothing wrong with it) at least in terms of camera bodies. Though perhaps this might be a tad retrospective, judging the cameras in terms of the effects and labels the market played upon them. Pentax's range of lenses, however, was good enough, and certainly as good as any other Japanese glass.

Some might say it's the loss-leading schemes and locking-in of Canon and Nikon that drove Pentax down.

Is Zeiss testing the waters, with a lens mount that's no doubt vastly spread over some wide demographics? Who knows? Pentax might just seem a nice, stable sort of company. I can't imagine your average, modern digital camera user to ever want (or even know about) manual focus primes or even Carl Zeiss (apart from that name that's on the front of Sony digicams) which a flash, shiny 18-250mm zoom is available. No one gives a shit about the actual qualities of the glass anymore - which with digital is certainly the biggest thing the shooter is able to alter that will have an effect on the film image. Because now you can't change film. Glass, glass, GLASS!

Especially since the lenses will no doubt cost more than the cameras, and although this really isn't unusual it will vex the fuck outta the average Joe Snap'n'crap. Manual focus will even make it less attractive.

Zeiss have pretty much been lensmakers, and shaggingly good ones from all reports. Whether it's anal German precision or whatever, glass is their forté, even more so now Contax is, sadly, six feet under. I never imagined Zeiss aiming at the enthusiast market by itself (ie, without the backing of someone like Sony) which is, frankly, what it's doing.

Maybe Zeiss sees in Pentax a few similarities with Contax, besides the last four letters. A slightly batshit crazy company ("It's the mid-nineties, Pentax. Why are you still cranking out a camera that's all manual and the size of a government flat? AND WHY IS IT SELLING?") like Contax ("'Focus bracketing?' That's as near crazy as that AF rangefinder you put out.") Just as Contax showed up Leica in terms of bang-for-buck, Pentax shows up Nikon and Canon - and, well, like it or not, Pentax is one of the Big Four That Survived (Nikon, Canon and Olympus being the others.)

Who knows? Either way, I'm glad my lil camera's been blessed by these guys, for whatever reasons. Excellent glass - after all, Tally Isham can't be wrong.

Maybe Zeiss just wanted to get revenge for Pentax stealing the name of their screw mount.

Help and advice needed!

I'm going overseas in about 48 hours, and I decided to buy a 2GB compact flash card for my Canon A95.

Open camera, remove old card, insert new card, turn camera on, and the display tells me "No memory card".

So I remove the new card, reinsert the old card, turn the camera on, and the display tells me "No memory card".

The camera was working perfectly well with the old card until I removed it.

The new card would need to be formatted for the camera, but that option is greyed out in the menu. Presumably because the camera thinks there's no card in situ. However, in each case the card appears to be properly located.

Now I've got no storage, when my Cunning Plan was to travel with an extra 2 Gb.

Any suggestions, or will I have to buy myself a new camera to travel with (I'm assuming there won't be time to get the Canon repaired before I leave)?

quote:

2GB compact flash card for my Canon A95

Pop it in your computer and check what the file system is, Fat32 or what. It may just hate the particular brand of CF card you bought.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonA95/page2.asp

Gromit, it probably ain't the memory's fault, nor should you replace the camera (for that reason).

Sadly, Gromit, some older devices simply don't support 2Gb and larger cards, even if they're not SDHC:

From Wikipedia:

quote:

Many older devices will not accept the 2GB size even though it is in the revised standard. The following statement is from the SD association specification:
"To make 2GByte card, the Maximum Block Length (READ_BL_LEN=WRITE_BL_LEN) shall be set to 1024 bytes. However, the Block Length, set by CMD16, shall be up to 512 bytes to keep consistency with 512 bytes Maximum Block Length cards (Less than and equal 2GByte cards)"...Citation for this is more difficult as the SD organization hides this problem.

Sorry, Gromit. You're best off buying multiple smaller cards, anyway, in case something happens to one.

Oh, and FYI, Gromit, if you're looking for new memory cards, DO NOT BUY THEM FROM A CAMERA STORE!!!

Camera stores, in Aus, are notoriously expensive when buying cards on their own - Ted's, Camera House and the Kodak Express shops are bad for it. Although camera stores are more likely to throw in a new card when purchasing a new camera.

The camera shops around here still list basic, normal-speed 1Gb Sandisk SD cards at about sixty to ninety bucks. 2Gb's are still in triple digits.

1Gb Sandisk Extreme II SD cards from the Brisbane CBD's JB HiFi are $35 - this is what I use. Even better, 1Gb Sandisk Extreme II SD USB - these are great little SD cards that snap in half to expose a USB plug, letting you use the SD card just as you would a USB flash drive (including pulling photos off them) - were going for $38. These weren't on special or part of a sale or deal.

Having said that, the Extreme II's and other high-speed SD cards are a pretty moot point in most digicams, as most don't write at a speed fast enough anyway; your A95 is certainly one of these.

This means that you can go even cheaper, with standard-speed cards from Sandisk, Lexar or Panasonic, say. A 1Gb normally goes from JB HiFi or Wow! Sight and Sound for about $20-$25. Get a good brand, but you don't need a fancy one, Gromit.

My father gave me a camera today he doesn't use anymore. Exakta HS-10 with a Vivitar lense. Now I have to learn how to use it.

Hi Hasa, welcome to real photography.

More correctly, Wanderer, welcome to the world of K-mount photography .

See what I mean about open-source design?

Use it, Hasa! You've got a shitload of great lenses to choose from! Though Vivtar's are most certainly not to be sneezed at.

quote:

Originally posted by lithos:
Oh, and FYI, Gromit, if you're looking for new memory cards, DO NOT BUY THEM FROM A CAMERA STORE!!!

Camera stores, in Aus, are notoriously expensive when buying cards on their own - Ted's, Camera House and the Kodak Express shops are bad for it. Although camera stores are more likely to throw in a new card when purchasing a new camera.

The camera shops around here still list basic, normal-speed 1Gb Sandisk SD cards at about sixty to ninety bucks. 2Gb's are still in triple digits.

1Gb Sandisk Extreme II SD cards from the Brisbane CBD's JB HiFi are $35 - this is what I use. Even better, 1Gb Sandisk Extreme II SD USB - these are great little SD cards that snap in half to expose a USB plug, letting you use the SD card just as you would a USB flash drive (including pulling photos off them) - were going for $38. These weren't on special or part of a sale or deal.

Having said that, the Extreme II's and other high-speed SD cards are a pretty moot point in most digicams, as most don't write at a speed fast enough anyway; your A95 is certainly one of these.

This means that you can go even cheaper, with standard-speed cards from Sandisk, Lexar or Panasonic, say. A 1Gb normally goes from JB HiFi or Wow! Sight and Sound for about $20-$25. Get a good brand, but you don't need a fancy one, Gromit.

Thanks lith, and thanks also Martin.

Any idea why I still get a "no memory card" message when I re-insert the 512Mb Sandisk that's been working happily with the camera for the last 3 years or so?

That's what's annoying me - I can't even use the camera the way it was. I'm seriously considering buying a cheap digital that will take the 2Gb Sandisk Ultra II that I bought yesterday, just so I've got something I can take pics on.

do you think it's possible when you removed the oldie the mechanism got buggered? maybe blow on it?

Didya try removing the batteries, letting it sit for a while, turning it back on and inserting the card again?

Might be time for a new camera. The Pentax WP series is fairly cheap, and are waterproof - perfect for Fiji!