Pentax Q trial starts

[raist3d]

@VladimirYo - thanks! More shots very soon.. like right now:

These from yesterday/today. JPEGS out of camera, raws, high ISO's, fish eye stuff. Test and hopefully a photo or two.

(sorry for the car license plate. Could have removed it better if put more time to it):

Love the detail of the prime/bird/colors. Could be much better composed with better background...

San Francisco city hall/upper dome:

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

A few more surprises.

Bird pixel peep - please note that the contrast, saturation and level of noise/shadows has been adjusted a little by me to my taste of the original shot. Out of the camera JPEG looks really good already for a start, and areas like the eye/shadow/head do have data and detail, but I increased the contrast.

Just want to show the kind of detail the Prime 01 can get:

Next is a shot showing what I suspected: the flash can actually outpower the sun! The buildings you see behind the portrait in this shot are lit by morning light on clear sky at 9 am in San Francisco. It's not "a little light" - you can see the sun is behind the head and acts as a bit of a rimming light.

I am surprised the little flash is powerful enough to do it, but I suspected maybe it could due to the 1/2000th of a second flash sync.

No complaints about the little flash, it can do a lot of things. This could work for portraits in daylight, photos of objects like flowers, etc.

- Raist

 

[Terry]

Looking good. Glad you are enjoying it.

 

[raist3d]

Believe it or not, not sold (read: not sure) on keeping it yet. The LX5 is up for a round of street night life tonight for reference purposes… and also…. I think you got mail.

- Ricardo

 

[raist3d]

Crazy, ISO 6400 on red light.

Jpeg out of camera (could look brighter even in-camera):

From Raw (light room 3.6 RC):

- Raist

 

[ptomsu]

@raist3d

completely confused why you shoot now Pentax Q, when all the prior cameras like E3, Olympus DSLS xyz and Pentax K5 are (were) such great cameras.

Could you please explain? What should I think as I thought nothing else can top K5 ???

I am lost ....

 

[raist3d]

@raist3d

completely confused why you shoot now Pentax Q, when all the prior cameras like E3, Olympus DSLS xyz and Pentax K5 are (were) such great cameras.

Could you please explain? What should I think as I thought nothing else can top K5 ???

I am lost ....

I think I understand your confusion given you were very confused once about me shooting a couple of 4/3rds shots while having a K-5, so I am more than happy to explain.

First shooting with a Pentax Q does not mean the other cameras are bad. It also doesn't mean that I dumped the K-5. It seems to me from what I read above- and please correct me as I want to make no assumptions- that it seems to you I have dumped the K-5.

Second, I did not realize you thought nothing could top the K-5. It seems very confusing to me that you dumped it for an E-5 then (which now is going to get dumped for something else). Not sure why you let the K-5 go then if that's what you thought.

Basically over the last years I have two categories of camera- the pocketable street/invisible camera and the high end one. In the ideal world both would be one and the same but that camera hasn't quite materialized the way I would want and need. If I could be happy say shooting a weeding/doing paid work withe a pocketable one, then I would have only that type.

So I decided that since I have bought over the last few years too many cameras and things are at a point that they are pretty good, to lock the latest cameras for the next five years. For the pro category that's the K-5, and for the street category I have not decided yet, but once I do, I will also keep for five years. This is a conscious attempt to focus on photography and not gear, plus save cash along the way.

I ordered a Pentax Q to try it, as that could be my category pocket street camera. I have a fantastic camera- the LX5, and if the Q doesn't cut it, I could very well keep the LX5.

Please, let me know if you have other questions though I would prefer you use either the private message system or start another thread about it (either works for me), as to not derail this Pentax Q trial thread with another subject.

Thanks.

- Ricardo

 

[raist3d]

Golden Gate photo shoot with the fish eye lens today-

This is an attempt to learn how to shoot with a fish eye lens, and how to shoot the Golden Gate in a way that doesn't end up being just another post card shot. A friend came along to do similar. We both trying to push ourselves to shoot with ultra wide (him) or fish eye (me).

Some shots shot with the prime 01 today next post. I think I understand the fish eye, and if I hadn't pushed myself to understand a while back the Olympus 7-14 SGH 4/3rds I would have been probably a bit lost today. I find the key is to make those distortions work composition wise and create something out of it.

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

Ugh, cut a foot. Bad! (B/W with high contrast filter):

Another iSO 6400:

- Ricardo

 

[ptomsu]

The results from the Q look pretty good, at least what you can tell from such a small web image.

WRT other cameras - I fully second your thoughts in principal, as also I had far too many cameras over the last years - Nikon, Canon, Sony, Nikon again, Pentax (only short) and then Olympus (already gone) ....

I was not quite happy with either of those, but thinking back and looking at my images I must say at least most happy with Nikon and Canon. So what I am going to do here is to wait till I see which one brings the better next high resolution DSLR (want that because I still think it might replace my Hasselblad MFD) and then have at least only one high end, high resolution DSLR system. Plus one compact system - Nikon V1 looks pretty tempting and a small P&S, which currently is the XZ1 which I currently really love.

Good point to try to choose once and then stay for some years. Might try to do the same

 

[raist3d]

The results from the Q look pretty good, at least what you can tell from such a small web image.

I can definitively say the Q does much better than the majority of people expected and at full size too. I have posted 100% crops already above, I could do a few more. ISO 6400 sure has noise and looks grainy but what surprises me about the Q on that regard is that it can actually do it without banding, keeping still deep rich blacks and a surprising ability to still keep color. Also of course the fact it can even do it at all! I mean this is a first.

Looking at a pure raw file there's indeed a lot of noise but somehow Pentax figured out a JPEG engine to do this reasonably well and Lightroom can deal with it pretty well.

This is not to say it's going to look like a full frame DSLR, but it's not meant to, and it puts the question of how "good enough" it needs to look to do some real work. To me pixel peeping on the Q is besides its point because if the camera can keep tonality and color so you can do say an 8'' x 10'' at reasonable ISO's (and ditto for web/internet), that's imho good enough. This is not pretending to replace a full frame camera.

The vast majority of cameras nowadays have enough to provide a decent canvas of light. The photographer is by far the determining factor on whether the work is a good photograph or not. The smaller differences tend to be a matter of convenience and preferences, except maybe one or two very specialized things but those are rare, and those looking for them usually know exactly what they want already.

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

Pentax Q Castro Tuesday

Some crops, some contrast adjusts, the super grainy B&W is out of camera, and has that aura which is a lens flare (guy sort of bending a bit).

- Raist

 

[VladimirYo]

Hi raist3d
Where you learn how to shoot on a streen so good? )))

 

[Knorp]

The results are certainly looking pretty good, Ricardo.
Will you keep your Q ? Or is the jury still out ?

Kind regards.

 

[raist3d]

Jury is still out but I will make my mind within the week.

Some snaps processed from Light Room to see how color can be punchier/richier. These are snaps and I don't consider them photographs.

The getDPI Mural ShotTM

This last one is a .PNG to avoid compression, showing 100% crops from a portrait taken after sunset. It is ISO 125 (lowest of the Q) but it was possible because of the fast F1.9. The light is not as intense as the shot may lead you to think. It was kind of dim- like it gets after sun set and a bit dark.

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

What high contrast BW smart filter looks like at max on metal (this is out of the camera other than a crop):

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

Hi raist3d
Where you learn how to shoot on a streen so good? )))

hi Vladimir. I'll be honest and say I am not sure what the sentence means. I don't know what streen means English is not my first language.

But if you mean "shoot well", I did take private photography classes with two fine art photographers and then just shoot , get out and shoot shoot shoot. I also have a photographer as a best friend and we exchange feedback on what we do.

It's been also 6 years now since I started to take photography more seriously, so that's some time too. That said most shots I am posting at the moment are snaps more on the techside than photos with a few photos (hopefully! ) in.

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

Portrait of a friend just tonight. ISO 3200, F1.9, 1/25th of a sec.

- Raist3d

 

[raist3d]

High contrast filter. These shots are out of the camera other than the resize.

"Crane tree" (the trunk is a crane)

Pentax Funky Ad:

- Raist

 

[raist3d]

Portraits of a friend:

- Raist