PhotographyBanzai.com

I’ve been interested in insuring my camera equipment for a while now. Considering online retail value, my gear is getting up there in total cost. So much so that in my current situation I would not be able to replace much of it if something were to happen. I’m personally focused on just insuring my equipment as I don’t really do much that deals with professional liability like a photographer that owns a studio. My research so far brings me to a few companies: Zurich North America They are said to be one of the insurance companies that is open to photographers, but there site doesn’t say anything on the subject. Hill & Usher They seem to be one of the most open companies toward photographers as their site includes a lot of information on the subject. The policy they show on their site seems geared toward professionals with studios or people that derive a lot of their income from photography State Farm I have general insurance from them, so I thought they would be a good option. ...

I’ve never been that motivated to use an external flash when doing the type of photography I usually do. I completely understand the need for additional light in most situations to uniformly expose a scene. I have a Sigma 530 DG Super flash, diffuser, two slave flashes, flash stands, and flash brackets yet I don’t use them that often. My primary reason is to avoid extra bulk and to make my gear feel less… startling… to my subjects. So I started looking for a flash that could provide me the ability to fill the foreground with a decent amount of diffuse light. My other requirement was to be as small as possible. In the same line of something like the Nikon SB-400. Metz has the mecablitz 24 AF-1 which would have been my first choice, but it isn’t sold in the USA. I saw an ebay seller, but they wanted $80 plus a lot in shipping. Too much to spend for an experiment. Promaster sells a similar item, but it is not available for Pentax. I eventually found something with the same ideals. It take...

This embedded video below is a clipped together “music video” from full 1080p HD clips I recorded with the new Pentax K-5 camera. The example video using the K-5. As I was saying, I used a Pentax K-5 (1080p @ 25 FPS), at the highest quality setting. All clips were set to 40% speed and patched together in kdenlive ( kdenlive.org ) for Linux with a creative commons licensed song (see the end of video for credits). The project was rendered in H264 @ 1280×720 and uploaded to Youtube. It looks to me that my K-5 has a few troubled pixels that are stuck to a shade of red when the ISO gain is high enough. You probably won’t be able to notice them, but I’ll have to look into software solutions to see if I can easily correct those pixels.  I was using a firmware that was one upgrade back from current, so I’ll be eventually testing the new firmware and consecutive ones that are released to see if they correct those stuck pixels in video mode. The camera has a “pixel mapping” functionality tha...

I just recently spent a weekend in Wisconsin to take photos at an Anime convention.  My standard setup for most of the convention:  K-5 with the DA 14mm f2.8 around the neck. K-7 with the DA* 55mm f1.4 in a camera bag. So I would take a few frames with the K-7 (portrait) and then another few with the K-5 (fully body). The setup worked surprisingly well. If you spend any time reading my blog, you will know I prefer prime lenses, hence the two camera bodies. While primes are quite challenging, I feel they best fit my style a good deal of the time.  A few videos related to the equipment I was using:  Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8 lens Pentax DA* 55mm f1.4 Pentax K-5 Playlist Pentax K-7 Playlist Here are a few highlight images: When I was going to a large sit-down event in the main programming room, I would switch to this setup in the meantime to take portraits: K-7 with the FA 31mm f1.8 around the neck for people photos. K-5 with the DA 50-200mm WR in a camera bag for the eve...

This Sigma lens came out around 2004 as a reasonably priced higher-end zoom lens specifically designed for digital SLR cameras. It has a maximum aperture of f2.8 throughout the entire zoom range, which is its claim to fame to being considered a higher-end lens. The reason it was lower priced probably had something to do with the unusual zoom range, 24mm being 6mm short of most standard kit zoom lens ranges (18-55mm).  The barrel material is standard EX fair, which is either a love or hate thing for users. I personally am not too fond of Sigma’s textured paint on plastic that they use. I bought this lens many years ago and just recently traded it in to help pay for a new camera body. My justification was that I rarely use it as I prefer prime lenses in the focal lengths it covers.  Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: K-mount Lens Construction: 15 groups, 16 elements Angle of View: 84.1 – 39.6 degrees Aperture: f2.8 constant Number of Diaphragm Blades: 9 Mini...

One of the nice things about shooting with Pentax is that pretty much every lens that was made for K-mount will work on current DSLR cameras (the same can be said of M42 screw-mount with an adapter). There are probably a few exceptions, but I personally don’t know of any. This lens I’ll be looking at today is a fully manual telephoto prime lens with a large aperture.  The lens has some heft to it! A lens with specifications like this would cost hundreds of dollars if it had auto-focus and current-day lens coating. The reality is that it’s a bargain bin lens that can be had for probably around $50. I had bought this lens quite a few years ago from keh.com expecting a “generic 135mm f2.8” lens, and that’s what I got. From what I can tell, Focal was a brand-name for K-mart or Sears and MC stands for multi-coating. Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: K-mount Lens Construction: black metal with rubberized focus ring Angle of View: 18 degrees (11 degrees in APS-C) Apert...

The Zenitar was one of the first lenses I bought after getting a Pentax *ist DS kit in late 2005. While I’m not sure exactly why I opted for the Zenitar over something more practical, I ended up buying one new from an Ebay seller as it was cheap, said to be sharp, and interesting due to the fisheye feature.  Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: K-mount Lens Construction: 10 elements in 7 groups Angle of View: 180 degrees (83 degrees in APS-C) Aperture: F2.8 Number of Diaphragm Blades: 6 Minimum Aperture: F22 Minimum Focusing Distance: 1 ft (0.3048 meters) Filter Diameter: 26.5mm threaded rear mount type Maximum Magnification: 0.13x Dimensions: 63mm x 49mm Weight: 0.31 kg Case: soft Velcro closure type Objective Cap: Push on Hood: built-in (full frame) Lens Aperture Ring: yes Tripod Adapter: No Diaphragm Control: manual Focal Length: 16mm (equiv. 24.3mm) Notes: fisheye type lens  General talk about the lens and its features: The Zenitar 16mm f2.8 Fisheye lens is ...

Pentax USA just confirmed that the K-5 in silver will be released here. To go along with it the 40mm, 21mm and 70mm will be sold in silver. New offerings from Pentax. Another interesting product is the new pocket-able waterproof camera, the OPTIO-WG1. That looks like a seriously useful digicam. Waterproof, GPS, and substantial rubberized construction. The 645D also has a new wide angle lens available. I personally think they hit a home run with this update. I wanted a K-7 in silver, but that was limited to a 1000 piece production run in Japan. Now with the K-5 Silver available in the USA, it’s a really tempting option. The question is where to find the funds for one though…

It’s not often that you see high-end cameras come in anything besides black. The old adage: “You can have any color, as long as it’s black…” would be fitting. On the other hand, Pentax has continually released a limited edition of each high-end camera body in silver. The main issue is that the quantity is only around 1000 and they are only officially sold in Japan. Some time last year I had seen a single K-7 Silver on Ebay, but I just couldn’t justify the price premium and having to buy from a 3rd party to get the camera. Silver! Lately, there have been rumors that the K-5 will also be coming out in a silver version. Just a few days ago some pictures were leaked from Pentax Europe’s website. What I find odd so far is that the K-5 has only been available for around 4 months, which seems too early for a special edition camera body to be released. Maybe it means Pentax took a hint that the global market might be interested in a higher level body that isn’t just black. Assuming the picture...

If you frequent camera forums, you often see people wonder when a camera will come down in price. With a little math, it’s pretty easy to calculate how much a new camera will come down in price. Well at least a reasonable guess based on past data. I wrote this up for a forum posting and thought it would be good for the blog too. The Pentax K-5 with a lens. Let’s do a calculation (using Adorama.com for current body-only prices): The Pentax K-7 was being sold from 7/2010. Started at $1299.99 and currently $868.88. (difference of 431.11 over 1 year 7 months) Means it loses around $0.75 a day. The Pentax K5 started selling from 11/2010. Started at $1599.99 and currently $1468.00. (difference of $131.95 over 3 months) Means it loses around $1.38 a day. So in around 5 months, the K-5 might be between $1200 and $1350. Assuming the exchange rate situation stays as it has been between the USA and Japan, I think the price is pretty valid and expect it to be around that in 5 months. Though, it sh...