Tagged: Pentax KP

Environmental Changes

Those who have been following my blog for some time should have noted that I stopped writing about climate change and global warming.  One reason was that it has been a disruptive subject among some older generations, such as those who live at Homewood at Plum Creek.  Another reason I stopped was that I firmly believe that global heating is happening and we are beyond the point of being able to stop it due to our inability to ever convince populations to make the changes necessary to reverse it.  I believe that we need to change our approaches to dealing with it.

I believe that the results of global heating are going to be major and very disruptive to all aspects of global societies.  Everything will be impacted severely.  Our cultures will change, our economics will change, our food sources will change, migrations will change, our politics will change, and our financial and human support of our senior generations will be impacted negatively; i.e., every manner of our existence will be changing and we need to understand this and act accordingly for our continued existence.  Plan for changes since everything will, to various degrees, be changing.  Our total environment will change.

I am still considering projects and ways to continue with my blog and photography and I have not decided whether to tackle writing about the environmental changes coming, or not.  I know that it wouldn’t be appreciated or change the manners of my local viewers.

The first three images were made along Plum Creek and the last one was made on the edge of the big pond at Homewood.  I used my Pentax KP camera as I walked and considered how, or if, a Pentax DSLR camera will fit into my future photography of the local environment.

Back to a Pentax DSLR

I decided to go back to using a Pentax DSLR camera for my outdoor photography this fall and winter.  I used a Pentax KP with a Pentax 18-135mm zoom lens to capture these images.  The camera-lens combination is heavy, but it is also very weather resistant and sturdy and it has a nice tilt LCD.  I’m also enjoying using the optical viewfinder.  And, notice that it has lovely colors.

Pentax DSLR Role?

If I am not going to sell the Pentax DSLR and lenses, I would like to get back to using them.  I made these test images at the 300mm focal length setting of the 55-300mm lens.  I continued using it as I had in the past, shooting raw files and then processing them in Lightroom Classic.

I wasn’t happy with processing them since my computer was really running slow thus dragging out the processing and seemingly taking forever.  After every movement of a slider I had to wait for the effect to take place.

The only good thing was being able to expand my photography beyond what I can do with the Fuji X100V.

I Like Pentax

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I used my Pentax KP camera with the inexpensive, lightweight, weather resistant 18-55mm kit lens using the “P” mode to make this image.  I like the ease of using this setup and I like the way the raw files work-up in the LR software.  I also like the large hand grip (it comes with three different size hand grips) and the weather resistance and the light weight for a DSLR camera.  I therefore intend to continue using this camera for my personal photography as well as for my outdoor Homewood photography.  You don’t see or read much about Pentax cameras anymore, but I don’t know why.  They are still one of the best buys in cameras.  My only problem is finding enough subjects to photograph.

A Pentax Camera

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I tried a variety of photographs yesterday morning as I was experimenting with what I can do with the 55-300mm lens.  It looks like I will be able to make most of my outdoor images with this lens, providing I find anything worth photographing.  Since I am not photographing indoor activities at Homewood while we are locked down, it means that I can do all of my photography with my Pentax KP DSLR camera.  It seems to have taken a major calamity to enable me to finally do everything with one camera, and not with a mirrorless camera at that.  Since I’m not photographing close to people, I don’t need the silence of a mirrorless camera, and the Pentax DSLR system has smaller lighter lenses that cover the range from 18 – 300mm (effective 28 – 450mm with its APS size sensor).

Notice that I said I can do all of my photography with a Pentax DSLR.  I like to have the flexibility to document whatever I see that might be of interest to the residents of Homewood.  In addition, I can make images like those above with the same setup; but, a DSLR and a long zoom lens are not what I would prefer to use.  If I could do what I prefer, I would be using a mirrorless rangefinder like camera with just an equivalent 35 or 50mm prime lens.  If I were still traveling, I would like to use just a prime lens to photograph different country scenes as well as people in their daily environments … no zoom lenses, and no camera bag.  I would like to use that setup to make long-form documentaries about issues of interest to me.

But, there is a wide gap between what subjects there are to photograph that I can make, and what I would like to do; but, I am OK with using my Pentax DSLR and documenting things around Homewood as well as making images similar to those above which are fun to process.  I can, at times, even use my 35mm macro lens on the KP along with my zoom lenses and be happy with my Pentax camera.  I don’t know yet, but maybe my “new normal” mode of photography after we get the virus under control will continue to be just using a Pentax setup; i.e., my one and only “back to the future” camera system.

Pentax Crop-ability

Before I decide whether to switch back to Pentax gear I need to decide on what focal lengths I would likely want and see if Pentax has the lenses I want.  Since 40mm is the longest focal length I have at the moment, I took a picture of the trees on the horizon with that limited 20-40mm lens.  Note the trees in the center of the first picture that are furthest away.  The second picture is a crop from that center portion of the first picture that I then up-sized to make the version you are looking at.  See the birds in the trees?  Now I have an idea of how much zoom-cropping I can do.

I made this check as I was trying to decide whether to get a zoom lens or the 70mm limited prime lens.  Based on this check and some ideas of what I might be photographing, I decided to try the 70mm prime lens.  My thinking is that I might do some of my walkabout and Homewood photography with the 70mm lens and the camera-lens combination wouldn’t be too heavy.