Pentax » christianehoej.dk

Leica SMC-A

Nov 202009

In the middle of Copenhagen there is a rather posh photo store. Often, when I pass by, I see a small mountain of Holgas in the shop window, sitting between Leicas and Linhofs. FYI the Holga is a Chinese toy camera, known for its cheap plastic lens, false light, heavy vignetting and unpredictable colour rendering – all contributing to its cult-status in some circles.

Another gadget in somewhat the same ballpark is the Lensbaby. It’s a lens, made up by a single piece of glass in a plastic tube, intended for mounting on a SLR. By squeezing the plastic tube, you can not only adjust focus, but also shift the axis relative to the sensor. The latter means that while some part of the picture will be in focus, other parts even in the same plane will be completely unsharp.

I think the cult of creating photos with technically inferior and/or unpredictable equipment is a little too much. However, I can relate to the fascination of not giving a damn about technical perfection and just start playing with pictures. I have considered buying a Lensbaby, but its a little to expensive for something, that might just be a short lived fancy. So, I decided to build my own trash lens. Of a certain class though: no less than a Leica.

At first I stripped most of the inner parts from an old Pentax SMC-A zoom optic. Then I took the optic from a Leica slide projector, and stuffed it into the remains of the SMC and secured it with some foam rubber. The result is a Leica Hektor with a Pentax K mount. It can be focused by sliding the Hektor back and forth inside the SMC – and the focal plane can be tilted much like the Lensbaby.

The last effect is used for this portrait: one eye is (almost) sharp while the other is completely unsharp, even though they are in the same plane. Since the original photo had dull colours and low contrast, I decided to desaturate it but raise the contrast.

If you don’t tilt the lens, it’s just not very sharp and have a very small depth of field – and a very blurry bokeh. The photo of the puppies has had the colours saturated quite a bit in post processing.

As a true photo-geek I had a couple of hours of fun from de- and re-constructing these old lenses. Does the result have any practical use? I doubt it….

Grabbing at a longer stick

Photography No Responses »

May 102009

…using the SMC-A 135/2.8

Most of my pictures are shot with focal lengths below 55mm. But sometimes its fun to change perspective.

One of the nice things about being a Pentax use is that you don’t have to be a millionaire to try out different types of lenses. Since you can mount any Pentax lens manufactured since 1975 on a present day Pentax DSLR, there is a wide range of second hand lenses to choose from. Some of these lenses are much sought after and expensive – others are abundant and cheap.

The SMC-A 2.8 135mm usually comes cheap. Admittedly, it doesn’t have the best of reputations either. In fact, it’s generally considered to be insufficiently sharp, lacking in contrast and generally best forgotten about.

My personal experience is, that true as this may be when shooting 35mm film – which is what this lens was designed for some 24 years ago – things get a bit more complex when mounting it on a DSLR. First of all, the APS-size sensor means that you are effectively cutting off the outermost and most soft part of the lens. Secondly, especially when shooting RAW, it is quite easy to fix any issues with contrast in the post-processing.

This doesn’t necessarily change the A2.8/135 to a star performer, but it makes it useable. But what really count in favour of this lens is that it is very compact. To be precise its only 77mm long and weights 340gr. in its classic 1980′s style solid metal build. Mounted on a modern day Pentax camera it also gets the benefit of anti-shake. Result: a lens with a 35mm-equvialent focal length of 200mm with a maximum aperture of 2.8 that can be used handheld.

This opens a lot of creative possibilities. And while you try them out, you can start wondering if they justify spending money on something better in the same focal range….

Pentax – dead in Denmark?

Photography 13 Responses »

May 072009

Seems like Pentax is becoming a rare species in Danish photo shops. As far as I know, the only shop with a decent selection of Pentax cameras and lenses in the greater Copenhagen area is …. in Malmö, Sweeden.

About a year ago, Pentax changed its danish distributor. Since the old one wasn’t exactly pro-active, that could have been good news. However, the new one seems to be even more sedated. Try to compare www.pentax.dk with www.pentax.se – this should give you a good hint of why Pentax is more and more marginalized in Denmark.

Thankfully, we still have the internet. If Pentax don’t bother selling their stuff in Denmark, we can allways buy it from Sweeden or Germany.

New camera

Photography 1 Response »

Apr 092008

Since the introduction of K20D, the new Pentax top-of-the line model, the price of the 1½ year old K10D has plummeted. At the time of writing, it is available for less than 5.000 DKr. (approx. 665 €) with the kit lens. That is so cheap, that it would be almost irresponsible not to by one. So that’s what I did

The following is not a review – just some random thoughts before and after the purchase. K10D was the centre of much attention when was launched, won several awards and was reviewed a lot of places – mostly favourably. Detailed evaluations can easily be found on the net. Some examples are DPReview, with a typical exhaustive list of features, while the review on Imaging resource and Photo.net are more centred on real user experience…

Despite the attractive price I hesitated a bit. The K10D had grown a bit in comparison with my old *istDS, and the compact form factor was one of the reasons why I originally chose Pentax. An alternative would have been the new K200D, which has the shake-reduction, weather-sealing and 10 MP sensor in common with the K10D – but in a body the same size as *istDS.

But in the end I’m glad that I chose the K10D. First of all, the controls are exceptionally well laid out, including two, partly programmable, input-dials. The K200D has more limited controls. The viewfinder has a true penta-prism and is very good – while the K200D has a less exceptional penta-mirror.

Compared to the *istDS the autofocus are definitely faster and more precise. The image quality also strikes me as improved: while the DS has a tendency for exposing slightly to the left, the K10D is much more spot on. I’m not sure if it’s the higher resolution or better exposure, but it seems like there is a higher dynamic range with more shadow details.

In less than two weeks I have grown used to using a slightly bigger camera. To be fair, the K10D is still lighter and more compact than comparable models, such as the Nikon D200 and the Canon 40D.

Pentax news

Photography 3 Responses »

Jan 302008

Pentax has announced two new camera bodies:

K20D is an update of the ”enthusiast-model” K10D, where the most notable new feature is a newly developed 14.6 MP sensor from Samsung.
K200D is an update of the “entry-level-model” K100D. However, features-wise this new camera is very close to the present “enthusiast-model” K10D.

More information can be found here, including some sample photos. Update: A better source of sample photos ssems to be http://benjikan.smugmug.com/gallery/4217920#246645793

Zeiss nu til Pentax

Photography No Responses »

Jul 272007

Carl Zeiss er en legendarisk tysk producent af kvalitetsoptik. Mens udviklingen er gået imod zoom og autofocus har Zeiss holdt fast i traditionen for manuellle optikker med fast brændvidde – lysstærke, velbyggede og af meget høj optisk kvalitet. I mange år har man også markedsført sine egne kameramærker som Contax (som nu er ophørt) og Zeiss Ikon (som netop er genopstået).

Men Zeiss har tilsyneladende opgivet at komme ind på det digitale marked med et eget kamera. I stedet er man gået i samarbejde med bl.a. Sony. Sidste år vakte det en vis opsigt, da Zeiss annoncerede, at man nu også ville markedsføre nogle af sine traditionsrige optikker med Nikons F bajonet og med M42 gevind. For nylig kom så meddelelsen om, at de samme optikker fremover også fås med Pentax K bajonet.

Mens det virker oplagt for Zeiss at satse på Nikon så er det lidt mere overraskende, at man nu også hopper med på K bajonetten. Selv om de sikkert er et mindretal, så er der formentlig en hel del fotografer der savner de gode, gamle lysstærke fastoptikker, som de store mærker har nedprioriteret i takt med, at man har koncentret sig om zoom-optikker med USM-motorer, optisk stabilisering, mm. Der skal nok være et marked for Zeiss-optikkerne blandt Nikonfotografer.

Men Pentax? Dels er det er mindre mærke end Nikon. Dels adskiller det sig fra stort set alle andre mærker derved, at man har fastholdt et pænt udvalg af fast-optikker i høj kvalitet. Hertil kommer, at fordi Pentax-kameraerne er de mest bagud-kompatible på markedet, er der gode muligheder for at skaffe sig og anvende ældre fast-optikker. Faktisk findes de fleste af de kombinationer af brændvidde og lysstyrke som Zeiss tilbyder allerede i Pentax’ sortiment – enten det aktuelle eller som udgåede, men endnu tilgængelige. En Pentax SMC-A 50/1.4 er kendt for at være en meget fin og velbygget optik. Zeiss’ Planar T* 50/1.4 er givetvis endnu bedre. Men er den også den håndfuld tusindlapper bedre, som den vil koste mere end en god, brugt SMC-A 50/1.4?

Omvendt kan man måske formode, at netop Pentax-brugere vil være blandt de mest interesserede i netop den type optik, som Zeiss traditionelt har stået for? Det diskuteres lige nu ivrigt på The Online Photographer. Men under alle omstændigheder, så kan det kun være en fordel for nuværende Pentax brugere, at der nu bliver mere optik at vælge mellem.