Mr. UPS brought my new Pentax FA 35mm f/2 AL lens today. It has an equivalent field of view on my K10d of 52.5mm, making it the closest you can get to a real “fast fifty” FoV on a Pentax DSLR. This lens has been discontinued by Pentax so I figured I’d better snap one up while I could. I paid $330 from B&H with free shipping. Good thing I acted when I did because it’s now not even listed on their site any more…

I’ll be testing it over the next few days for my review. Here’s a shot of the kit (shot in my kitchen studio):

I’m really digging the lens hood (and thus planning a new center-pinch lens cap purchace).

I’m a little concerned about the focus performance of my Pentax K10D DSLR. Before I get too far into it, let me  establish a little background first…

Two years ago I was looking for an upgrade to my then 2 year old Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D). I really didn’t have much more than the kit lens and a cheap-o EF 50mm f/1.8 II, so I didn’t feel too married to Canon. I did my research and decided the then new Pentax K10D represented a better value for the $1,800 I had to spend than the more expensive Canon 30D. So, I gave my Rebel to my sister-in-law and ordered up a K10D body, Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX and Sigma 10-20mm EX from B&H Photo.

The ergonomics, features, IQ, and interface were all so much better than my old Rebel that there wasn’t much time for  retrospection. I embraced my new rig and started shooting like mad. Six months and 20K snaps later I had added the excellent DA* 50-135mm f/2.8 to my kit. To my surprise, Santa (in the form of my mom and step dad) gave me a $1,000 Wolf Camera gift certificate for Christmas 2007. Suddenly I found myself in a quandary.

You see, I had become somewhat smitten by the full frame Canon 5D we had at the office for the Marketing team I managed. It had always seemed so out of reach to me and now suddenly it was all-too-close. After a few days of agonizing over what to do, I ended up selling off my K10D kit to a co-worker friend and added the proceeds to my gift certificate. 2008 began with a brand new Canon 5D body (the $3,000 body was all I could afford). Fortunately, my old 50 1.8 was collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer so I was able to actually use the 5D while I saved up for some better glass.

It was hard to draw many comparisons between the 5D and K10D. They really are quite different cameras- with the 5D being much more like a 35mm film camera than a high-tech digital. Plus, the clunky old 50mm prime I started out with on the 5D really wasn’t anything like the Sigma EX zoom lenses I had had on my K10D. What I didn’t know was that I would decide to leave my six figure job in April to return to school and finish my undergraduate degree. This move required scaling back across the board and my beloved 5D (and all the L glass I hoped to own) suddenly seemed like an excessive luxury. I decided to sell it, my EF 50 f/1.8 II, and the EF 28 f/2.8 and EF 85 1.8 USM I had acquired on Craigslist and invest the proceeds into my college fund. For the first time in 7 years I was without a DSLR.

In September of last year my former co-worker felt pity for my situation and gave me back my old K10D with the kit lens off his new K20D! Since then I have been shooting like mad with the kit lens and a 20-year-old SMC-A 50mm f/1.7 manual focus lens I picked up off of eBay. In the past couple of months that former co-worker of mine has also shared his DA* 16-50 f/2.8 and DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited lenses with me to test on my blog. I wasn’t too impressed by the 16-50 (see review) and my experience thus far with the 35mm macro has been mixed (review here).

While I was at PMA a few weeks ago I played around a bit with all the various cameras on display. Both Pentax and Canon had similar demo set-ups for their top-of-the-range telephoto lenses. While using the DA* 300mm f/4 in the bright tradeshow lighting I tried focusing on a subject standing a few meters away and the SDM motor woooshed close then dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beeped” into focus lock. I then swung the lens up and selected a far away subject- woooosh, dunk, dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beep”. Selecting a subject a few feet away from the second the DA* 300 went dunk, dunk, da-dunk, “beep-beep”. This all seemed quite normal to me. From my experience shooting both the DA* 50-135 f/2.8 and DA* 16-50 f/2.8 SDM equipped lenses.

Then, I moseyed over to the Canon booth where they had a very similar display set up with a 1D Mark III and EF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens. Repeating the short-to-long focus test (this time with a much heavier f/2.8 lens) the Canon went woosh, “beep-beep” to the close subject then woosh, “beep-beep” to the far subject. Selecting a nearby subject to the far one I got bump, “beep-beep”. Surprised I tried several more times, panning the camera around and selecting subjects that were just out of focus. Each time I simply got bump, “beep-beep” as the subject popped into near instant focus. At the time I merely chalked this up to the near 10X cost difference between the two set-ups and continued on my way.

Fast forward a few weeks to yesterday and my niece’s 3rd birthday party. I found myself two-fisting my K10D with 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited and my sister-in-law’s Canon Rebel XT with kit lens (my old camera) while capturing both indoor and outdoor birthday party action. I was immediately aware at how much faster the 4 year old Rebel was locking focus than my K10D was. It was almost exactly like the performance difference I had experienced at PMA.

While the kids were busy taking turns in the kayak (and out of decent photo range for any of my lenses) I took a moment to do a little non-scientific focus testing. I manually set both cameras to infinity focus, selected the center focus point, 35mm focal length (on the Canon) and (in bright sunlight) focused on my hand at around 18″ away, then on the far side of the lake (infinity), then back to a post about 6′ away with the 35mm Macro on the K10D and the 18-55mm kit lens on the Rebel XT. In all cases the Canon nailed the focus point with zero hunting… zip, “beep-beep”, ziiip, “beep-beep”, ziip, “beep-beep”. The Pentax however, struggled a bit. The focus test went weeeee, tick, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” for the close subject, then weeeeee, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” for the far subject. Then, the camera completely missed the post 6′ away and went weeeeeeeeeeee all the way to it’s closest focus distance than weeeeeeeee, tick, tick, tick-tick, “beep-beep” on the post. (To be fair, this is a macro lens).

Thinking that the Pentax 35mm Macro might have been to blame (which it was), I pulled out my Pentax 18-55 Mark I kit lens and repeated this test again. The results were nearly identical with the exception that the Pentax kit lens did not overshoot the post and merely ticked around a couple of times before locking focus. Also, the lighter less damped focus action on the kit lens did make it seem a tad snappier when focusing between the close subject and the far subject. Incidentally, this time to reach the correct focus distance was basically identical for both the Pentax and the Canon kit lenses. The exception being all the tick, tick, ticking the Pentax lenses did before locking focus. (In case you were wondering I also repeated a similar test inside under poorer lighting with the two kit lenses and got nearly identical results as outside).

Discussing this with my co-worker friend, he relayed the results of a similar test he decided to try with his K20D as follows:

I just did back to back comparisons of the K20d + FA 50/1.4 and my Rebel + EFII 50/1.8. In indirect sunlight, using the center focus point I swapped focus between the front hedge at about 10M away and my left hand outstretched.
The Canon will ziiiiip, stop, confirmation beep.
The Pentax ziiiiips from 10M to my hand quickly just like the Canon but then it quickly zips one (or two!) more times before focus confirmation… Almost like it has momentum from the first movement.
I’ve been fully aware of this (and failure to focus–maddening) but had assumed that after twenty years of screw-driven, TTL autofocus technology this was the best the world could do. Seems it’s the best Pentax can do.
IMHO this is the worst aspect of my K20d.

Keep in mind that his test was done with a state-of-the-art $1,000 K20D + FA 50mm f/1.4 vs a $300 6 year old Canon 300D + 50mm f/1.8 II eBay find.

In hindsight I realize now how many shots I have missed over the years with my Pentax due to its slow autofocus performance. The most frustrating part is that the vast majority of shots I’m missing are while the camera is tick, tick, ticking its way towards focus lock, not because it has mis-focused. Once it gets there it is generally just as accurate as any other camera I have used. I hope Pentax is listening and improves the performance of their next generation of DSLRs. In my opinion, this is much more important than live view, more megapixels, movie recording, higher frame rates, and/or higher ISO performance. Pentax’s DSLRs are some of the best values on the market. Bring the AF speed up to par with the competition would end a lot of arguments in Pentax’s favor.

What do you think?

PS- I excluded Nikon from this comparison because I have very limited experience with their modern DSLRs. However, I did borrow a friend’s D300 + 50mm f/1.8 to take some studio shots of my K10D for my DA* 16-50 f/2.8 review. The camera was set up to use all 50-something focus points in AI mode. Being unfamiliar with Nikon’s focus confirmation implementation I didn’t realize until after I was done shooting that when all those grey boxes popped up in the viewfinder that the camera had locked focus. In hindsight I now realize that it was happening so fast that I was unaware that the camera was focusing. To get my shots BTW, I ended up switching over to manual focus ;-)

UPDATE: First of all I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting that Pentax’s autofocus system is any less accurate than anyone else’s. It is clearly quite effective. Also, I fully understand that Pentax has to pick and choose where they spend their limited development funds and I am happy they put it where they have (weather sealing, in-body shake reduction, user oriented controls, etc). In fact, that is why I chose Pentax over the others in the first place. My main reason for publishing this article was to attempt to draw the same comparisons so many Pentax users have over the past few years in a more objective manner so that those who haven’t experienced the differences themselves could be more fully informed. Too many consumers buy products today based on too narrow a point of view and then blame the product when it doesn’t meet their expectations.

The photos for this review were hastily shot with a borrowed Nikon D40. Some of the shots were taken left handed and upside down. I apologize in advance for any lackluster image quality ;-)

I have typically resisted battery grips for my DSLRs because I felt that they weren’t worth the extra bulk. There have only been a half dozen times in my the past 5 or 6 years that I actually drained a fresh battery while shooting. Even then, I just pulled a back-up battery out of my bag/pocket and kept on shooting. My K10D routinely gets 200-300 shots out of a charge so I haven’t even bothered to pick up an extra battery. After playing around with a Nikon D3 and a Canon 1D Mark III (both cameras with built-in vertical grips) I was struck by how much better these cameras felt in my hand- despite their heavier weight. In preparation for heading out to the PMA show I decided to pick up an extra battery. While I was shopping I discovered Cameta had a deal on Amazon for a BG2 battery grip + extra no-name battery for $139.95. This meant if I bought the grip I’d get the battery essentially for free. So I took the plunge. Here’s what I discovered:

Pros:

• Vastly improves ergonomics, balance and stability of the camera.
• Extra battery equals more shots between charges.
• Ability to designate grip battery as the primary battery so it depletes first- leaving the in-camera battery as a back-up.
• Redundant controls for vertical shooting.
• Solid OEM build quality (weather sealed, too).
• Does not require removal of in-camera battery and battery door like some grips do.
• Nifty storage slots for extra SD card and Pentax IR remote.
• Makes camera look more “significant”.

Cons:

• Added weight (11oz).
• Added bulk (may not fit in many bags).
• Redundant controls are not placed identically to camera controls and do not function as well.
• Tripod screw mount takes a few seconds to engage/disengage.
• Vertical grip not as substantial as regular grip.
• No AA battery option.

Conclusion:

Having used the grip for three days of walking around the Las Vegas Convention Center and a couple of days worth of my normal routine I can safely say that this is the best accessory I have purchased for my camera. Surprisingly, it’s not because of the extra battery life. The main advantage of the battery grip for me is the dramatic improvement in the ergonomics and handling of the camera. If you own a Pentax DSLR you owe it to yourself to pick one of these up (the K200D uses the BG3 grip). The improvements it makes are easily worth the $130. I actually believe that this is one of the only accessories that I have tried that can actually help improve the quality of your photographs by making the camera a more natural extension of your hand. If you have another brand of camera I can only assume that their battery grips will provide a similar improvement in the handling of your camera (though some are a bit more fussy to work with).

On to the pictures and details…

Review:

Fresh out of the box the BG2 impresses with its build quality. It is a direct match to the finishes of the K10/20D (including the molded rubber insert). The plastic shell is thick and the whole assembly feels quite solid. Like all accessory battery grips, the BG2 attaches to the bottom of the camera via the tripod mount socket. Pentax thoughtfully includes an accessory socket on the bottom of their cameras for the battery grip so one doesn’t have to remove the battery and battery door as is common on most other DSLRs. They even include a place to store the rubber cover so you don’t have to track it down later (large red arrow). This means that the grip can be quickly and easily installed and removed as desired. The grip is kept located on the bottom of the camera body by three stainless steel posts (arrows 1, 2 & 3). Nikon uses one tiny plastic peg on their D300 grip.

Detail of the rubber cover holder.

The BG2’s battery tray is released using a similar flip-up-and-twist lever as the battery door on the bottom of the camera and slides out completely from the grip housing. It has a thick rubber gasket to seal against moisture and dust. A standard D-LI50 battery fits into the tray (1) and there is a space for an extra SD card (2) and Pentax’s optional IR remote control (3). Very thoughtful design. Unfortunately, there appears to be no AA battery tray option for the BG2.

Mounted on the camera, the BG2 very nicely matches the design of the K10/20D. It’s not nearly as bulky and blocky looking as some others I have seen (Canon 5D for example) and as such, doesn’t look so much like an add-on. The bottom is solid plastic with a center-mounted metal tripod socket. Some kind of rubber pad/coating on the bottom would be a nice touch as I’m sure the plastic will start showing wear pretty quickly. A rubber pad would also be nice for long exposure shots when the camera is braced against a wall or other surface. As you can see here, the camera will stand upright on the battery grip with the kit lens. I’m sure that a larger, heavier lens like Pentax’s 16-50 f/2.8 DA* would likely result in tip-over.

Pentax gives you the ability to select which battery the camera will use first. I’m not sure what “Auto” mode does but I selected the grip battery as the primary battery (despite what this photo shows). This means that I will not have to remove the grip to recharge the camera battery very often. This also ensures that the camera battery is fresh in case I decide to ditch the grip for some stealthy street shooting or something.

The BG2 (bottom) replicates most of the K10D’s (top) shooting controls for vertical shooting. While the controls on the front pretty much match the location of the camera’s controls, the ones on the back (exposure comp, AE-L, e-dial) have been rearranged. This will require a bit of remapping of your muscle memory for using the vertical shooting controls. The on/off switch on the grip only turns the grip’s controls on and off (not the camera). I found this feature nice as I was constantly bumping the shutter release on the grip while holding the camera (even though it is recessed). The rear e-dial does not protrude as much as the camera’s and does not have the same fluid action which made it somewhat difficult to manipulate.

I also found the BG2’s vertical grip to be considerably shallower than the camera’s horizontal grip. It does feature a nice rubber insert and a lip for your fingers to grip but never felt as secure in my hand as I would have liked. Another oddity is that the eyepiece is offset towards the bottom left of the camera when using the vertical grip. I often find myself having to hunt around for the viewfinder when shooting with the vertical grip. Personally, I just leave the grip turned off and continue to use the camera’s controls in the hand-over-the-top style while shooting vertical shots.

Now for the good stuff. Notice how my pinkie finger is clinging for life on the bottom of the K10D w/o the battery grip (top)? With the grip there’s now a very nicely contoured pocket for my little finger to help hold onto and control the camera (bottom).

More significantly, notice how the heel of my hand is just hanging out in space in the top photo while in the bottom photo the grip fills the void. Without the grip the camera is supported by my fingers and thumb. With the grip the camera is now cradled in my entire hand with my palm taking the weight instead of my fingers. This provides significantly improved control of the camera as well as far greater comfort while holding the camera for long periods of time. While walking a trade show I like to carry the camera in my hand rather than wear it on a strap around my neck or shoulder. Without the grip the tips of my fingers become quite sore after and hour or so. With the grip I was able to go all day with no discomfort. In my opinion, the improvement in ergonomics alone justifies the purchase price of the BG2.

Buy one today. You’ll be glad you did!

UPDATE: After using the BG2 for a few more weeks I have started using the vertical grip for taking portrait shots more and more. I think it just took a little getting used to. Doing so I noticed a small problem the other day. The rear e-dail on the grip stopped working. I removed the grip and discovered one of the spring loaded contact pins on the grip was stuck down…

I suspect this was due to me being a bit hasty while installing the grip a some time. After popping it loose I found that it was bent slightly so I gently bent it back straight. All is well again. Careful with those pins!

PMA 2009 is in the books. All in all it was a pretty lack-luster show for us enthusiasts. Following are a few more product findings, some observations and my conclusions about the show in general. Be sure to check out my Day 1 and Day 2 reports if you haven’t already.

Click through for the rest of my Day 3 report or click here for my complete PMA report.

Seahorse’s waterproof hard-sided equipment cases have all the features of the bigger brands at less than half the price. If and when I need one of these this will be the brand I’ll buy.

Hoya’s new HD filters promise to redifne the filter paradigm. I picked up a 77mm sample for testing. Unfortunately, I don’t presently have a lens with a 77mm element. I hear Pentax’s 16-50 f/2.8 DA* does…

Liquid Image’s scuba mask digital camera may look pretty retarded but it’s actually a one of the more clever ideas at the show. As a former certified scuba diver I can safely say that, unless underwater photography is your profession, a dedicated cost-effective solution like this makes a lot of sense. (Have you priced underwater DSLR housings lately?) The hands-free design is quite ingenious for sport divers as it eleimnates the usual fumbling with underwater cases. I get the idea behind the mask-mounted lights, but if it were me I’d pass on them and just carry an old fashioned hand-held dive light for those deep water shots.

Note to Tamrac: hire a design firm. Your bags are u-g-l-y!

“So you won’t look like a tourist.” I’m told that this OP/TECH neoprene camera cover is easy-on/easy-off. This looks to me like some kind of combination ED and S&M/bondage product.

(no comment)

Ladies, why confine your scrapbooking to dusty old books destined for life on a bookshelf? Why not carry your photos with you proudly displayed for everyone to see? Actually, now that I think of it, Braggables might be on to something. Louis Vuitton has got nothing on my girls.

Dust-Aid got a lot of attention for their new clear plastic film mirror box/sensor covers. I agree with them that their product could be an ideal solution for pros heading out on safari, but am skeptical about amateurs dropping $20 a pop for something this fragile.

A better $20 solution from Dust-Aid is their Dust-Aid Classic product. It features a special silicone pad that simply lifts dust off the sensor. This seems like such a better idea than just blowing dust around inside the mirror box where it’s likely to just end up back on the sensor.

By the way, Sigma has been sealing their mirror boxes for a while now. Why doesn’t anyone else do this?

Speaking of Sigma. Check out their 200-500 f/2.8 EX APO DG lens they had hiding around the side of their booth.

According to Sigma: “For the convenience of the photographer, focusing distances and focal lengths can be viewed on the lens’ built-in LCD panel.” That’s nice. Unfortunately, the $34,000 price tag does not include the stand needed to support this beast- you know, for the convenience of the photographer and all…

This bothers me somehow.

What exactly is it that Panasonic thinks we will be doing with their cameras?

I found it somewhat ironic that focus and zoom rings on Samsung’s versions of the Pentax lenses are a closer design match to Pentax’s old lenses than their new ones (old on the right, new in the middle and on the left):

In Conclusion:

The digital camera industry has reached a critical development point. Today’s cameras have made wonderful photography accessible to the masses. However, all the bells and whistles modern cameras now feature are making it harder for novice photographers to actually learn photography. It used to be that entry-level photographers would start off their learning experience with a fully manual 35mm SLR and then step up to more feature rich products as they developed their photographic skill and better understood how to make the most of the extra features. Today’s entry-level DSLRs have basically all the same features as the most advanced professional models. The problem is that, in an effort to make the entry-level cameras more approachable, even some of the most basic shooting settings are buried in a menu system and overridden by automatic settings. What has been lost is that critical connection between the photographer, the camera and the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed & ISO).

The result is that there are more and more people running around taking pictures with fancy cameras who have no idea why their pictures turn out the way they do. The problem is that they often quickly become frustrated when they realize there’s no creative preset for every type of picture they want to take. I have yet to see a “bokeh” preset for example. The solution that the camera industry seems to provide is new cameras with even more features. What I would like to see is the camera manufacturers use technology to build a camera with only the features that actually help people take better pictures while becoming better photographers. As an experienced product designer this is what I would do if given the chance:

• Put the aperture control ring back at the base of the lens but make it a “by wire” system that keeps the aperture open to maintain a bright viewfinder for composing the shot while providing feedback in the viewfinder. “A” setting provides automatic control.
• Dedicate a thumbwheel to shutter speed and index it so that it has dedicated and marked shutter speed stops like manual film cameras do. Again, provide digital feedback in the viewfinder and include an “A” setting.
• Dedicate a second dial to ISO control with similar feedback and an “A” setting. ISO range from 100 up to a usable 32,000 as seen on the the latest high end DSLRs.
• Include a front control dial dedicated to exposure compensation. Allow changes to steps and direction via the menu.
• Loose multi-point AF and just make the center focus point work damn well all the time.
• No built-in flash. Hot shoe mount only.
• Use the space saved by deleting the flash to make the viewfinder bigger, brighter and have 100% coverage.
• Dedicated on/off switch around the the shutter release button- not hidden on the back of the camera.
• In-body sensor shift image stabilization with auto-override for stabilized lenses.
• Simple multi-position switches for auto-focus and metering modes.
• Dedicated image review buttons (play, delete, zoom, info, navigation, etc.)
• Simplified menu structure- don’t waste space on things that don’t help take pictures like “slideshow” and “creative effects.”
• Include a dedicated B&W shooting mode (even for RAW). There’s something about knowing you’re shooting in B&W that causes you to look at composition differently.
• Maybe even make it a dedicated RAW format camera- sort of like shooting film you’re going to process yourself.
• Move the top-mounted LCD screen to a dedicated screen on the back (like Canon did on the original Digital Rebel) and don’t clutter up a whole 3″ LCD with graphics and too much information.
• Make it super responsive (menus, start-up, review, shutter lag, etc.) and fast (5+ frames per second).
• Wrap the whole thing in a mid-sized rugged metal weather sealed chassis.
• Include modular different sized rubber grip inserts to allow a custom fit to all hand sizes. Or perhaps you can go without a grip if you prefer.
• Price it all under $500 and bundle it with a 50mm f/1.8 (or faster) equivalent lens while making it compatible with all full frame and APS-C sized lenses offered by the manufacturer.

The interesting thing is that most of these features are already being done or have been done on one camera or another. Maybe if one of the big brands decides to follow my advice we’ll have something a bit more interesting to talk about next year. Something that reconnects the photographer with the camera and the whole photographic experience. Perhaps if I can find some free time I’ll mock-up a 3D CAD model to explore my ideas…

dpreview.com just posted their comprehensive review of Pentax’s latest entry-level DSLR, the K2000 (or K-m). Being a Pentax K10D owner I was excited to see the K2000 hit the market to go head to head with the entry-level Nikons and Canons. Unfortunately, it seems Pentax has taken a similar path as Canon did with their original Digital Rebel (EOS 300D). By simplifying the camera to appeal to novices, they have created a starter DSLR that most users will quickly outgrow.

While I understand this tactic from a business perspective (when users outgrow the K2000 they will theoretically upgrade to a K200D or K20D), it frustrates me as a photographer that Pentax would hamstring the K2000 in the ways they have (read the review to see what I’m talking about). Seeing as how one can pick up a K200D kit for less than $500 these days, I’d have a lot of difficulty recomending the K2000 to anyone. But that’s just me. Be sure to click over to the dpreview.com review and decide for yourself.

There are few things more beautiful than a good sunset or sunrise photograph. However, if you’ve ever tried to do it you know it can be frustrating. How many times have you seen a beautiful sunset like the one above only to have your photo turn out something like this?

There are a couple of easy things you can do to get great sunset photos. First, turn off your flash. The only thing the flash is good for during a sunset is to add fill to illuminate a foreground subject. Unfortunately, getting the right mix of fill flash and background exposure can be very tricky:

Not a very inspiring photo (though after the number of rum punches I had I didn’t care). For now, let’s just turn the flash off and focus on capturing a brilliant sunset photo.

Next, set your white balance to auto. You can also try daylight but I have always found the auto setting gives the best mix of deep blues, pinks, reds and oranges.

I like to shoot sunsets with a wide angle lens to get as much of the sky in the picture as possible. This ensures a full mix of colors from the darkest indigo blues overhead to the brightest pinks and oranges at the horizon. Usually I leave only a strip of ground/foreground across the bottom to anchor the photo- letting the sky dominate the scene for maximum impact.

The main challenge with sunset photos is getting around the camera’s matrix metering’s natural tendency to balance exposure across the frame. The camera doesn’t know what’s going on and tries to balance the dark foreground with the bright background. The washed out example at the top is what you get when you just point-n-click. To get a decent sunset exposure you either need to dial in some negative exposure compensation (usually -2/3EV to -1EV). An easier method is to just aim the camera at an unobstructed portion of the sky, focus, lock exposure, recompose, and shoot. I typically use a little of both.

For the best sunset photos I typically like to wait for the sun to be fully below the horizon. That beautiful glowing orange ball of the sun absolutely wrecks exposure on a camera and typically results in pretty disappointing shots. Also, some cloud texture in the sky helps provide a good mix of colors. Be sure to look behind you as many times clouds away from the setting sun pick up some awesome colors. Finally, some good foreground silhouettes can help add additional visual interest (especially helpful if the sky itself is not as dramatic as it could be).

A medium aperture like f/8-f/10 is best to ensure the best detail and sharpness across the frame and eliminate vignetting typical at larger apertures when shooting at a wide zoom setting. Since I generally like to wait for the sun to drop fully, there’s typically not very much ambient light. This means I either need to be shooting on a tripod at a low ISO and slow shutter speed or bump the ISO up to prevent camera shake. These samples were all shot hand-held at ISO 200-400 and f/8 and f/10 at around 1/4 second. The combination of the K10D’s in-body IS and the wide focal length meant it only took a few tries to get sharp shots (wider zoom angles can be hand held at slower shutter speeds than longer ones).

Typically a properly shot sunset photo doesn’t require much post-processing. Since I shoot everything in RAW I have to tweak sharpness and saturation on all my photos in Lightroom. I can also play around with the white balance a bit to get the best pop from my images- though the as-shot (Auto) setting worked best for these images. Often I find the fluorescent WB preset works well for sunsets for some reason.

While a DSLR gives the most control over all of these settings, I have gotten wonderful sunset photos with a pocket camera by simply turning off the flash and using the focus, recompose and shoot method. Here is a collection of some of my other sunset photos on Flickr.

The most difficult part about getting good sunset shots is being at the right place at the right time with your camera. I hope this helps you get that great shot the next time that happens!

There are a number of resources out there for creating your own electronic remote shutter release for Pentax DSLRs with a 2.5mm remote port. I don’t use a remote very often as the 2 second self timer seems to work fine for 99% of my photos under 30 seconds. However, longer bulb exposures require a remote. So, I picked up a generic cellphone headset at the dollar store and wired it up to a toggle switch I had laying around. (It seems this design also works for Canon Digital Rebel cameras with 2.5mm remote ports.)

There are 3 wires inside one of these cables: white, red & black. (Four conductor versions will not work with a Pentax so make sure the 2.5mm plug has 2 silver bands and not 4). All I did was cut the cord, strip back the outer jacket to expose the 3 conductors then plugged it in to the remote port on the camera and shorted the red and white wires to the black one to figure out which controlled what function on the camera. In this case the white wire triggered the shutter and the red caused the camera to auto focus. I connected the white wire to one side of the toggle switch with a small acorn nut and the black to the other side. I drilled a couple of holes in an old pill bottle to make a housing for the assembly.

superior ergonomics of the pill bottle housing

In standard shooting mode flipping the switch to the “on” position releases the shutter. You have to return the switch to the “off” position to review the shot and take another (ie: the shutter only fires when the switch is in the “on” position). For bulb exposures you simply flip the switch to “on” to open the shutter then flip it back to “off” to close it. A momentary switch would facilitate non-bulb shutter releases but I found the toggle switch to be perfectly workable as long as you remember to turn it off after the shot. There’s no auto focus function with this set up but that’s not typically a concern for the long exposure shots I take as I usually manually focus anyway. You can add a momentary switch to the focus wire if that’s important to you. Also, you could wire in both a toggle switch and a momentary switch to the shutter release to make non-bulb shots more convenient.

1 minute bulb exposure using DIY remote release switch

Typically I have seen these DIY releases installed in an old film canister. Seeing as how I haven’t shot film in about 10 years I didn’t have one handy and figured the pill bottle was a good substitute. All was good with the use of my $1 release during my first outing until I was stopped and questioned by a policeman while shooting long exposures in downtown Auburn, AL. Seems he was less concerned with my skulking around in shadows taking pictures and just wanted to know what was in the pill bottle :D

UPDATE:

Shot the family Christmas card photo today and needed a little more reach than the original 12″ cord provided. 50′ of old speaker wire from the garage and a couple of extra wire nuts and voila!

DIY Pentax cable release with 50' cord.

It seems that many Flickrites out there are struggling to get good bokeh shots. The good news is that shooting bokeh is one of the easiest photographic techniques to learn. Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest to master. Here I will attempt to get you started with the basics. You’ll have to do the mastery part on your own :-)

Bokeh (pronounced: “boke-aay” or “boke-uh”- I prefer the latter) is the out of focus or blurry areas of a photograph. Wikipedia has a much more detailed description of the definition of bokeh that’s worth a read. On Flickr I find most people use the term to specifically describe out of focus highlights in a photo. For the purposes of this how-to we’ll focus (pun intended) on out of focus highlight bokeh.

The photo above made the Front Page of Flickr’s Explore last week. I wish I could say that this was a difficult and challenging shot that called upon all of my skills as a photographer. The truth is this was one of the easiest shots I took that night. These small aperture long exposure shots were a lot more difficult to get right:

The secret to shooting bokeh lies in its definition: out of focus highlights. You need three things to shoot bokeh: pin point highlights, a large aperture and a short focal distance. When I say pin point highlights I mean small light sources. Trying to shoot a large area of light like a window or fluorescent light does not typically produce the type of bokeh “balls” that we are looking for here. Small lights like Christmas twinkle lights are an obvious source, but any light source that is far enough away will become infinitely small and can produce bokeh. I find street and car lights in the distance at night make wonderful bokeh.

Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7 SMC

Next, we need a large aperture. For the novice, the aperture is the opening in the lens that controls the amount of light that makes it through the lens and shutter to the film/sensor. The smaller the f number (or f-stop) the larger the opening. This is usually expressed as f/5.6, f/4, f/2.8, f/1.4, etc. Read more about aperture here.  Typically the larger the aperture the larger the bokeh. Fast lenses below f/2.8 like my 20 year old manual focus Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7 SMC are ideal for shooting bokeh (and is the lens I use for most of my bokeh shots on Fickr).

That is not to say that one can not get great bokeh using lenses with a smaller maximum aperture like the typical kit lenses sold with most entry level DSLRs. The trick is to make sure you are using the largest aperture possible (smallest f number). To do this I recommend switching your camera into Aperture Priority mode (typically labeled “A” or “Av” on the program mode dial) and dialing in the smallest f number possible. With most kit lenses this will be f/3.5. Here is another Explore bokeh photo of mine shot with my kit lens at f/3.5:

The other reason that you want the largest possible aperture your lens is capable of is to ensure that your bokeh is round and not faceted. You see, most lenses use 5-7 straight aperture blades to create the variable opening in the lens. Bokeh takes on the shape and size of the lens opening so smaller apertures will produce smaller, faceted and generally less pleasing bokeh. There are exceptions to this rule as most high end lenses use curved aperture blades that keep the aperture opening round at all f stops. However, if you’re shooting with a $1,500 Canon L series lens I trust you already know how to shoot bokeh ;-)

Aperture openings on a 6 bladed lens (mouse over for setting):

Bokeh shots at different aperture settings with this lens (mouse over for setting):

The last component to getting good bokeh shots is the focus distance used. I have found that the shorter the focus distance to the foreground subject, the better the background bokeh I will get. The idea is to get as much distance between the subject and the bokeh producing highlights. Also, the closer you are focused to the camera the shorter the depth of field (DOF) will be. This ensures those lights way off in the background will be nice and blurred out.

The focal length of the lens is also a consideration. Depth of field is basically a function of focal length, distance to subject and aperture. At a given aperture and distance longer focal lengths result in shorter DOF. A short DOF is what we need to effectively blur the background highlights to produce bokeh. Getting close to the foreground subject and zooming to the longest setting on your lens will likely put you where you need to be to capture killer bokeh.

Here we have an example of close focus on the foreground subject coupled with a wide open aperture and longer focal length to create bokeh from small lights in the background:

When I took this shot I was at the minimum focus distance for my 50mm 1.7 lens (about 18-20″). The white (gold colored here) twinkle lights were on another Christmas tree approximately 8-10′ behind the light bulb and branch I focused on. The other smaller colored bokeh highlights were from other lights on the same tree that I focused on.

TUTORIAL:

Now that I’ve rambled on ad nauseam about all the intricate details of capturing bokeh, let’s get on to the part where you actually go do it!

For DSLR users (point ‘n shooters will have to wait for another tutorial):

1. Set your camera to Aperture Priority mode (A or Av on the program dial).
2. Select the smallest possible aperture (f) number for your lens (should be ≤f/4).
3. Switch your camera to manual focus and manually adjust the focus to the closest setting.
4. Zoom your lens to somewhere around 50mm.
5. Find some nice points of light at a distance of 10′ or greater from the camera (your Christmas tree is the perfect subject this time of year).
6. Fire away!

If you get a shutter speed that’s too slow (ie: less than 1/30 second), try bumping the ISO up to 400 or more. If you do the Christmas tree thing what you should get is something like this:

Depending on how dark the background is (darker usually = better) you might have to dial in some exposure compensation to get your bokeh to really pop. This image looks like it came out fine without any, but I often have to dial in +2/3 to +1 EV for my 50mm 1.7 on my Pentax K10D.

Next, try putting a subject of some sort in front of the camera at the minimum focus distance (or there about) with the bokeh highlights in the background. It’ll take a little playing around with subject matter and lighting (both foreground and background) but in no time you should be shooting bokeh like a pro! For more examples, be sure to check out my bokehliscious set on Flickr.

Please let me know in comments if this is helpful to you and/or if you have any questions or suggestions. Also, feel free to post links of your bokeh attempts for everyone to enjoy. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy bokeh-ing!

UPDATE: This is my single most popular post on my blog. Please let me know what else you would like for me to share about bokeh!