tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49152765091663219842011-11-28T01:01:15.585ZLife with Pentax DSLRs, film cameras and some great lensesBRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-688475544320708112011-11-12T19:47:00.001Z2011-11-12T20:10:46.935Z

 Rolleiflex SL66E, 40mm Distagon, Adox CHS 100 THE ONLINE DARKROOM I was a film photographer before moving to digital but now I've come home. My digital gear, including my Pentax K10D outfit, has been locked away in a cupboard and I've been shooting nothing but film for a couple of months. And I'm loving it. I had fun with my digital flirtation but I think it's over for good now. I'm

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-28834916361043175092010-01-03T20:35:00.000Z2010-01-03T20:35:34.258Z

In case you weren't aware, I have two photography blogs on the go. This one, devoted to the K10D, and the other in honour of the Nikon D700, the camera I had before I bought the Pentax. It isn't the best arrangement so I've brought the two together into one new blog, Photography Matters. I'll still be writing about Nikon and Pentax stuff but I'll be able to widen my approach rather than being

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-78330447339621355472010-01-01T22:44:00.004Z2010-01-01T22:47:01.749Z

I drew the short straw this year and had to work on New Year's Day. Driving into work this morning made me feel like Charlton Heston in the Omega Man - there was hardly a car on the road. If you want to know what a busy newsroom looks like on New Year's Day, then take a look at the adjacent pic. There was someone on the newsdesk, a sports guy was doing his stuff and I was in covering the news

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-85911281287870626492009-12-28T19:35:00.033Z2009-12-28T19:48:20.676Z

Now that Christmas has passed, snowmen get to take it a little easier as they wait for the thaw. This one seems to have decided that there was even time for a cigarette - and why not? It's not like they have lungs. I grabbed this shot on the K10D and 21mm DA when we were out shopping. One of the great things about the DA is how closely it focuses - down to a fraction under eight inches. It was

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-2121603722367630692009-12-24T13:05:00.002Z2009-12-24T13:23:11.401Z

As a reporter, I work out of two offices: one that is modern and open-plan and another in the town that's old-fashioned and is for those occasions when we have to file a story quickly from the court or committee meetings. Guess which I prefer (hint: it's not the modern one)?A while back I was in town with an Olympus Mju and snapped this pic as the sun was shining through the blinds. I thought it

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-12118897749444856332009-10-16T14:28:00.004+01:002009-10-16T14:45:19.192+01:00

Having spoken yesterday about perhaps placing my K10D and 21mm DA on permanent car duty, I was glad I had the combo in the boot yesterday for a pretty spectacular sunset. I was on my way back to work halfway through my shift when I saw what was developing. The priority was to give myself a clear view of the sky so I drove up to the top of the Dundee Law ("law", in this case, meaning "hill").It's

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-23371211172085962702009-10-15T20:25:00.008+01:002009-10-15T21:11:20.692+01:00

I've been giving the K10D an airing again and enjoying the freedom from weight and bulk that comes with sliding the 21mm DA onto it. If you've followed this blog for a while, you'll maybe remember that I have a big compatibility problem with the camera and this lens. I have to go into debug mode and dial in something like +175 to get the combination to focus properly. If I do that, it means the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-60712240676425289982009-10-14T14:37:00.001+01:002009-10-14T14:37:43.742+01:00

I'm going to break one of my own rules here and post something political. It's something I've tried to steer away from because I'm aware that many people read blogs as an escape from everyday things and don't necessarily want to be reminded of the world's troubles. Sometimes, though, the issues at stake are just too large.The one I'm concerned about is the European Union. I believe it's an

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-75584920052688592372009-09-01T00:44:00.034+01:002009-09-02T00:02:29.425+01:00

                                             The Trossachs is a Scottish national park that was made famous by Sir Walter Scott and proved a magnet for thousands of Victorians who went in search of the novelist's romaticism. It's an area of lochs and mountains in central Scotland, often shrouded in mists and no stranger to rain. As it happens, one of the towns in The Trossachs, Callander, is

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-4494631389416712542009-08-11T12:40:00.005+01:002009-08-11T15:42:16.324+01:00

A funny thing has happened. Since buying a Nikon D700 I've hardly used my K10D but I've been giving the old and stupidly-named *ist DL that I picked up off Ebay for not a lot an occasional outing. The reason for this is that tests have shown that the K10D and the 21mm DA I have are not a good pairing. I may have mentioned it in an earlier post but the K10D does not focus at all well with the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-63516487791714711912009-04-09T15:23:00.005+01:002009-04-09T16:20:54.105+01:00

Incredibly, this blog has now been running for more than two years. During that time I've written 250 posts and posted hundreds of photographs, almost all taken with Pentax equipment.When I started it, I didn't really have anything in mind other than to jot down a few thoughts and let people know what I thought of the K10D, my purchase of which was the catalyst for the whole thing.As you'll all

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-5233691961520738652009-02-06T15:10:00.002Z2009-02-06T15:12:41.580Z

I've already written a couple of posts about feathering different parts of an image and then applying localised levels adjustments as a way of adding a bit of sparkle and bringing out the colour. I've enjoyed using that approach lately on fairly monochromatic-looking files to see what colours I can tease out. It somehow seems more striking when there are some vivid hues in what should be a dismal

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-80446489004958143862009-02-05T10:10:00.003Z2009-02-05T10:42:27.970Z

.Never mind the Duke of Edinburgh or the Earl of Sandwich, how can you compete with the King of Dude? That was how I first read the wording on this carte de visite that was in with the glass plates and negatives I mentioned in my last post. It turns out, however, that His Highness Akbaloddowla was the Ex-King of Oude. Bummer!I did a wee Google search to see if there was any information about

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-18556323329516195162009-02-04T14:50:00.002Z2009-02-04T14:54:19.498Z

.A few years ago I bought a job lot of old glass plates at a local flea market. They were exposed properly but they all appeared to be out of focus so I put them in a box in the garage to sort out at a later date.Yesterday, I was trying to clear some space in the garage and came across the plates. Only a couple were worth keeping but there were some negatives that I hadn't noticed the first time

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-35024700947005147892009-01-30T14:30:00.000Z2009-01-30T14:39:05.217Z

.Earlier this month, I wrote a post asking if many blog readers would be willing to buy prints of some of the photographs I display here. The response wasn't huge but I'm very grateful to all those who took the time to let me know their views.It seems that I might have a small market for my work if it was presented well in a dedicated gallery with an easy payment method. To that end, I registered

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-30745560735143920552009-01-29T14:27:00.001Z2009-01-29T14:49:40.767Z

After capturing some lovely colours in the ruined cottage along the coast from where I live, I thought there might be some mileage in looking for similar shots in old, run-down buildings. The two pictures above were taken at an old mill that I pass several times each week.There isn't too much left of it now and it doesn't look very exciting from the outside but with a little Photoshop tweaking,

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-30958258015390442062009-01-28T09:00:00.000Z2009-01-28T09:00:01.105Z

.Apologies for those of you who know this already (it was published in 2007!) but it's something I've just stumbled across. This website has a list of statements about Ken along the lines of those that circulate about Chuck Norris. Here's a flavour:Ken Rockwell doesn't adjust his DOF, he changes space-time.Ken Rockwell doesn't wait for the light when he shoots a landscape - the light waits for

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-30209625648669924202009-01-26T15:10:00.000Z2009-01-26T15:10:00.193Z

. For most of the past year, I've been processing my photographs and publishing the blog from a Toshiba laptop. I got one after my Dell desktop machine (carpet top machine really as it was too big to sit on top of my desk) began to die a slow death and was cannibalised for parts by one of my sons.The laptop has some real advantages, a main one being the opportunity to process photographs whilst

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-70370141572564630142009-01-22T10:55:00.001Z2009-01-22T10:57:33.660Z

.Fine Art is a term that's long bothered me. It seems almost pejorative in that, if what you're doing doesn't qualify, then you must be doing "rough art". When I look at a lot of so-called fine art, I often feel completely underwhelmed.Much of this type of photography is technically accomplished but creatively lacking. Many practitioners are also large format photographers who are so immersed in

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-46529605825766810362009-01-19T10:00:00.001Z2009-01-19T15:42:10.813Z

.I've written quite a lot in this blog about Arbroath, a small fishing town just along the coast from my home in Carnoustie. It's showing some signs of picking up, especially around the revamped harbour/marina area, but remains in most areas quite down at heel.Since it's just a ten minute drive away, however, I often find myself heading there when I have a bit of spare time for photography and I

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-87549410053120475572009-01-16T12:39:00.005Z2009-01-19T15:49:18.488Z

.I've been meaning to post something about my other blogs for a while and here I am finally getting round to it. They're listed on the "blog roll" to the right which is ordered according to the time of the various blog posts.Paris Travelogue is similar to the Paris website I set up a while back and posted about here. I had all sorts of technical problems with that website and it was much easier

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-13113106809156520872009-01-15T14:00:00.005Z2009-01-19T15:50:52.713Z

.If you've been paying close attention lately (and shame on you if you haven't!), you'll have seen that I've posted a couple of pics taken with the *ist DL that were from a folder that had managed to hide itself away on my hard drive. I'm quite glad I found it because here's another pic from that day that I like a lot.It's my son, Finlay, leaping onto some sand dunes but it's the great sky behind

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-24206205057758341112009-01-13T11:29:00.011Z2009-01-19T15:52:01.903Z

.I felt a great deal of sympathy the other day for my cyber pal Yvon Bourque over at Pentax DSLRs. Yvon provides a great FREE service that you can visit every day for information, entertainment and some great pics. He sells his excellent e-book guides to the Pentax K10D and K20D and also makes available, again at no cost, his autofocus adjustment chart. And yet, someone was mean-spirited enough

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-78067661626689644782009-01-12T01:07:00.001Z2009-01-19T15:52:47.104Z

.Photographers everywhere should be grateful for those eccentric souls who engage in the sort of activities that leave the rest of us scratching our heads. There's a tradition at Broughty Ferry, once a fishing village but now a suburb of Dundee, that involves hardy individuals gathering at the harbour on New Year's Day and jumping into the freezing cold water for a "dook".Of course, this activity

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-16090123734320717202009-01-08T22:12:00.002Z2009-01-19T15:53:21.906Z

.I don't think many people would believe that the colours in the image above are entirely natural in the sense that they're what you would have seen had you poked your head through a window as I did. And yet, they've had little in the way of manipulation to bring them out.They were all there - if a little more subdued - but it was localised levels adjustments and not a boost to the saturation

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-26870949336895836752009-01-06T22:09:00.001Z2009-01-19T15:53:55.045Z

.This photograph has had a lot of work done in post-processing but hopefully that wont show. It was quite a misty day when I took it but that doesn't always reveal itself so I had to do some dodging and burning to enhance the effect.The trees were progressively lightened to create the effect of receding tones, a belt of fog behind them was also brought out a bit and a dark band in the field on

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-36763447839051339402009-01-05T10:06:00.005Z2009-01-19T15:54:22.154Z

.DSLRs are expensive bits of kit and I've never been too keen on taking them to the beach, especially on a windy day. On a trip to Lunan Bay, I thought it best to leave the K10D and D700 at home at give my Ist DL a spin instead. I also left behind my more expensive lenses and made do with an M 35mm f2.8.The wind was fairly whipping up the sand but there wasn't a great contrast between the blown

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-61690289765425321322009-01-02T22:33:00.005Z2009-01-19T15:55:02.925Z

.Some of you may already know about JPG magazine but I suspect a lot of people wont. The sad news is that it has folded, a victim of "extraordinary economic times" to quote the publishers. JPG deserved to succeed because it was a great showcase for photographers and placed the emphasis firmly on the images. And there were many great ones.If you like people photography, street photography and

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-27774644399956777302009-01-01T20:03:00.009Z2009-01-19T15:55:32.256Z

.I've always thought that selecting a camera of the year, etc, was not for me. No matter what model I'd choose, I'd be certain to upset as many people as I pleased. I'm still amazed at the emotional investment many photographers have in their equipment: you can call my K10D or D700 anything you like and it just wont bother me (don't you dare say a word against the OM1, though).Anyway, instead of

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-81573605310627352532008-12-28T22:12:00.002Z2009-01-19T15:56:22.684Z

.I've known for a while now that it's possible to make some adjustments to the K10D to improve the accuracy of its autofocus but I never seemed to have the time to get round to it - until today. And now I wish I hadn't.Having never bothered upgrading the firmware (I couldn't see any advantages that were applicable to the type of photography I do) I'm still using the version that came with the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-4267303792839588872008-12-22T21:36:00.001Z2009-01-19T16:58:36.151Z

.I think it's becoming increasingly clear that image quality for photographs taken in good light is not going to get much better. That view has been reinforced by my experience using the K10D and D700. As I said a in K10D v D700 a couple of posts ago, there isn't much to choose in image quality between the two cameras under normal shooting conditions.OK, you can maybe spot a difference here or

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-28175785076335024692008-12-17T19:47:00.017Z2009-01-19T16:59:06.480Z

. Well, well. Who would have thought that the announcement Pentax was rumoured to be sitting on would involve a snowy, limited edition version of the K2000/KM! Some internet sites had been speculating that Pentax was up to something with the addition of GPS to the K20D seemingly the most likely development - and, who knows, something that might yet transpire.I have to say that my initial reaction

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-79798836475708326992008-12-15T19:15:00.001Z2009-01-19T16:59:48.532Z

.I know it's not fair comparing two cameras from completely different price bands but I thought you might find it interesting nonetheless knowing what I think of the K10D after using the D700 for a short time. The short answer is that the Pentax is still a great camera.In terms of image quality, there isn't a great difference at normal EV levels between files from the D700/28-105 and the K10D

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-91309701094932819002008-12-12T14:22:00.004Z2009-01-19T17:00:14.686Z

.The inimitable Ken Rockwell, famous - or infamous depending on your point of view - for his Nikon and Canon reviews, has now turned his attention to Pentax. He hasn't got round to properly testing any DSLRs that I can see but he has reviewed the ME and the 28mm f2.8 A, 50mm f1.7 M and 100mm f4 M lenses. (If you're not familiar with Ken's site, he likes film and regularly tells people that

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-37306263499943212782008-12-10T19:29:00.005Z2009-01-19T17:00:33.806Z

.I hate it when people with blogs can think of nothing better to post than pics of their pets - but that was before we got Molly! Having known her as a hairy wee thing for almost nine months, it was time for a trim. I was asked if we wanted a "show cut" which makes a bichon frise look like a snowball. I asked the groomer to keep it short and the result was to make Molly look even cuter (as I

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-69392177423689761632008-12-09T09:54:00.005Z2009-01-19T17:03:59.655Z

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnwf2RShNV0This was posted on Ken Rockwell's site today and I'm sure Ken had more of a hand in it than he's letting on...

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-60493732518617412332008-12-08T15:46:00.008Z2009-01-19T17:04:27.094Z

.This building, the one on the left, has an interesting history. It can be found near the village of Newtyle about ten miles from Dundee on Scotland's east coast. For many years it was more or less a ruin until a descendant of one of the previous owners bought it, for just £1 I believe, from the local landowner Sir James Cayzer.He then set about restoring the castle and it now sits proudly not

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-88047305083595008422008-12-05T10:23:00.006Z2009-01-19T17:05:06.973Z

.If Canada, for instance, experiences extremes of weather conditions, then Scotland is at the opposite end of the scale. The weather here is very changeable but the range of conditions tends not to be too great. My main complaint is that we get a lot of "grey" weather where it's just a bit miserable-looking and sometimes damp. Late November and December have been very cold by our standards,

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-90164527677334323292008-11-30T15:13:00.019Z2009-01-19T17:05:33.501Z

.Well, after thinking long and hard about moving to a full frame camera, doing all the usual research, reading reviews and trying the likely contenders in my local camera store, I took the plunge and bought a Nikon D700. In the end, it was a choice between the Nikon and Canon's ageing but still excellent 5D. Newer full frame models such as the Sony A900 and the replacement for the 5D were

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-32544583460041161712008-11-28T00:41:00.004Z2009-01-19T17:06:24.864Z

. Scotland can look a bit grey in the winter so I headed off to Arbroath harbour on Monday with the saturation settings cranked up in search of some colour. Fortunately, I found it in a lovely sunset that made the short, 12-mile round trip worthwhile.The sun sank behind the Signal Tower and the little blocks you can see to the left of the frame are anti-tank defences. Just a few minutes earlier,

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-77735283587056921702008-11-26T10:00:00.011Z2009-01-19T17:06:48.678Z

.As a UK-based photographer, I've become used over the years to seeing rebates on offer in the US for Pentax gear. Now, we Brits are on the receiving end of some largesse as well. Pentax UK are offering up to £100 off certain items - which is pretty generous I think. The full offer is:Digital SLR CashbackK-m Camera and Lens Kit £30 / €36K200D Camera and Lens Kit £50 / €60K20D Camera and Lens Kit

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-41668502997894872092008-11-25T11:01:00.010Z2009-01-19T17:07:23.012Z

.This Victorian structure sits in a small city park in Dundee overlooking the River Tay. It's seldom used for its intended purpose now and is really just a local landmark. Built in 1889, it was in danger of mouldering away to nothing until a restoration project managed to reverse its decline. However, it's starting to suffer the signs of neglect again with paintwork deteriorating and one of the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-82063091150157506482008-11-24T12:18:00.006Z2009-01-19T17:07:49.225Z

.Time has been a little short this week mainly due to the fact that we've started stripping wallpaper from the hall and stairwell. Our house is an old, Victorian one and, like most houses of this age, needs fairly regular maintenance to stop it falling apart. In my view the phrase "fairly regular maintenance" is tantamount to swearing and should be banned but I can only fit so much

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-70749932296978581662008-11-19T09:49:00.003Z2009-01-19T17:08:30.492Z

.What a surprise I got today when I entered Pentax photography - as two words, not a single string - in Google and found that this blog was top of the first page of results! I could hardly believe it. I wondered if it was just because the blog has the same two words in its title and maybe Google was looking at them as a pair and not individually so I entered Pentax and photography and was number

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-32930543800468256932008-11-17T19:26:00.036Z2008-11-19T16:06:56.496Z

. .Software company DxO Labs, the outfit behind DxO Optics Pro, have launched a website that compares camera sensors - and it makes interesting reading. Using their proprietary DxO Analyzer system, they've compared the qualities and characteristics of a whole range of camera sensors. Not only can you search through the site looking at the noise, tonal range, dynamic range and colour sensitivity

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-52325784871921713442008-11-17T16:14:00.005Z2008-11-19T16:08:19.174Z

.Normally it wouldn't be considered too incongruous for a mausoleum to be situated in a cemetery. But there are mausoleums and mausoleums. This one is in a cemetery in Arbroath and is so huge that it's completely out of proportion to everything else.This isn't one of those graveyards such as they have in Paris where there are lots of tombs, etc, on a large scale. Most of the other gravestones are

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-4662598771163564172008-11-16T11:40:00.005Z2008-11-19T16:09:01.297Z

.I've toyed with the idea of buying the SMC FA 50mm f1.4 in the past to make up for the fact that I don't have a really fast lens. Some good things have been written about it with some people suggesting that it's a bit special. However, I've been reading the DPReview test of the fifty and, while it seems to be a very good lens once stopped down a little, it doesn't seem to be anything to write

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-90762950603025098142008-11-15T22:03:00.014Z2008-11-19T16:09:48.296Z

.Our little bichon Molly has been acting a bit strange lately. She seems to be having a phantom pregnancy and her hormones are all over the place. She's been clawing at the carpet, hiding soft toys, etc, and whining a lot so we decided to take her to the beach to give her a good run. We had a trip along to Auchmithie, a wee village that once had a thriving fishing fleet.It's situated at the top

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-91465021596678817642008-11-13T23:47:00.004Z2008-11-19T16:10:26.011Z

.Basic freedoms are easily taken for granted in the West. Only a modicum of good taste stops me from saying what I think about lots of things in a blog. In Burma, they have a different kind of restraint.The country's military dictatorship has just jailed a blogger who posted a cartoon about their great leader, Than Shwe, for 20 years. That's not a misprint or a typo. The guy, 28-year-old Nay

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-29943390503410590872008-11-13T11:26:00.006Z2008-11-19T16:10:49.644Z

.It's a drawback of buying into one of the smaller camera makers that every now and again someone predicts that the company is about to go belly up. The latest doomsayer is Thom Hogan who says in his predictions for next year, "Pentax and Olympus seem particularly vulnerable to me as long term DSLR players at this point." Thom, who's a Nikon man, admits that he writes his annual predictions to be

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-23747426226993614082008-11-12T22:00:00.007Z2008-11-19T16:11:24.097Z

.Normally I work in my newspaper's main office in Dundee which is quite sleek, modern and high-tech - a fairly typical 21st century newspaper office, in fact. This week, I've been working at one of our district offices in Forfar, a market town in the county of Angus about 15 miles north of the city. In comparison with the Dundee office, it's something of a culture shock.There are seven district

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-43153598095654175952008-11-10T19:12:00.003Z2008-11-19T16:12:11.971Z

.The reason I ask is that I've been checking out Google Insights for Search which charts the volume of searches for a word or string of words over time. I happened to input "digital photography" to see how it was fairing and, guess what, it's doing a good impression of a wounded bird dropping out of the sky.You can compare searches back to January, 2004, and it makes interesting viewing. Insights

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-4668288145148014412008-11-08T14:36:00.004Z2008-11-19T16:12:36.946Z

.I promised to give you an idea of how I'm doing with the microstock libraries, so here it is. I started uploading stuff to six libraries - Yay, Dreamstime, Istock, Fotolia, BigStockPhoto and 123 RF - in May and June. Yay was a start-up that has struggled to get off the ground and seems to have hardly any customers so it's really just the five libraries I'm talking about here.So far, I've sold

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-42140208415393087632008-11-06T21:03:00.013Z2008-11-19T16:13:49.130Z

.I have to confess to having paid scant attention to the K20D after I read that it's high ISO performance wasn't any better than the K10D's and possibly not as good. That kind of coloured me against it, whether for right or wrong. However, one thing that does interest me is the ability to fine tune the autofocus for a range of lenses.Now and again, OK a bit more often than that, I find that my DA

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-3038379132878620092008-11-05T15:58:00.004Z2008-11-19T16:15:17.773Z

. I've been meaning to post this pic for a couple of weeks but never got around to it. It was taken when I was on a shopping trip for a pair of shoes. I hate shopping (unless it's for cameras...) so I parked as close to Marks and Spencer as I could so that I could do a quick hit and run thing.As I was heading out of the car park, I saw this scene and took a moment to work out what was happening.

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-34974894620170391392008-11-05T09:32:00.007Z2008-11-19T16:15:39.983Z

.Congratulations to Obama. Let's hope he's all he's cracked up to be. My gut reaction, from the other side of the pond, is that US voters made the right decision but I have to confess to not following the election as closely as I would have had to in order to make an informed choice.But maybe Obama, presumably with a greater understanding of persecuted minorities, will spare a thought for street

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-22168300753929271862008-11-03T12:13:00.006Z2008-11-19T16:16:04.878Z

.This is Molly, our eight-month-old bichon frise. I wrote this post about her not long after she'd joined our household. Cath takes her to a puppy/dog training class on Monday nights and was asked last week to bring in a photograph for the annual calendar featuring all the mutts who are trying to learn to behave properly. As usual, I'd put it off until the last moment so I had to do something

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-1831675696420472982008-10-30T22:01:00.013Z2008-11-19T16:16:54.831Z

.Not everyone appreciates that noise doesn't occur uniformly. Since it's appearance depends on its relationship with the signal (the "signal to noise ratio") it follows that you more often see it when there isn't so much light (signal) around. That's why it's possible to shoot at 1,600 ISO with the K10D under certain circumstances and get OK results.For instance, if you crank the ISO up because

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-8740490700034000882008-10-29T22:25:00.006Z2008-11-19T16:17:16.245Z

Gordon Lewis, the subject of a previous post, was wondering what would happen to this blog if I jumped ship to Nikon. Can't see a big problem, personally...P.S. I pinched the D700 pic above from Ken Rockwell's great site which I see he has just given a Halloween makeover. Ken's got lots of Scottish blood in him so I'm sure he wont mind.For the latest Pentax Photography post, click here.

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-38709959146223577262008-10-29T15:28:00.008Z2008-11-19T16:17:35.699Z

.Still pondering the imponderables of full frame versus smaller sensors, I was trying to explain to a friend yesterday the improvement in image quality I'd get by switching from the K10D to the Nikon D700. In film days, the next jump in quality from 35mm was medium format and the boost to image quality was considerable. Even an old twin lens reflex such as a Minolta Autocord or one of the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-42827378292973758472008-10-28T20:58:00.006Z2008-11-19T16:18:07.364Z

.You can't keep a good blog down. There must be some great photography ones out there that I haven't heard of yet but it's funny how word gets round and eventually they come to the surface. I'm never the first to discover them but I usually find out in the end. I've been reading Shutterfinger for a while now and thought it was about time I mentioned it in case some of you haven't stumbled across

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-30408984440784458592008-10-27T14:06:00.008Z2008-11-19T16:18:38.387Z

.There's a wee fishing village about 30 minutes up the coast from me called Johnshaven. I'm not sure whether it was named after a little haven for boats or for a man with an aversion to facial hair. Either way, it's a quaint enough spot and I stopped off there a couple of weeks ago on the way back from Stonehaven - yes, you've guessed it, another wee fishing village further up the coast.It was

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-57171850530008207192008-10-24T11:58:00.018+01:002008-11-19T16:19:00.958Z

.A little while ago I wrote about the fact that I'm thinking of selling off my Pentax digital and 35mm gear and "investing" in a Nikon D700. There are several reasons for this. One is that I believe the full frame camera, which largely corrects CA and vignetting automatically on in-camera jpegs, would save me time in post production for microstock libraries. Another is that I'd expect my

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-85275681212841668362008-10-20T20:25:00.004+01:002008-11-19T16:19:21.262Z

.Hope you don't mind the change in style of the blog too much. I just got fed up looking at the rather drab brown version that I had been using and thought it was time for something else. If the old 80:20 rule applies to blogs, I'm prepared to bet that 80% of you will hate the new look and 20% will like it. Too bad, though: it's my blog ;-)For the latest Pentax Photography post, click here.

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-61203301515642666572008-10-19T11:25:00.023+01:002008-11-19T16:19:42.088Z

.Up until about four years ago my forays into the countryside tended to concentrate in one particular area. I was born in the west side of Dundee and moved out to live in countryside a few miles further west when I was 27. Throughout that whole time, I very seldom drove into countryside to the east of city. Now, I live in Carnoustie about ten miles east of Dundee and have become a lot more

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-78013586793594240412008-10-15T19:32:00.016+01:002008-11-19T16:20:06.995Z

.The Pentax blogging community continues to grow. One of the latest to join the brotherhood is Frank from Portugal who got in touch the other day to let me know of his endeavours and well worth a read they are too. It was while looking through Frank's site that I came across an interesting-sounding link entitled Adapting Leica/Zeiss lenses to Pentax cameras. Of course, what could I do but check

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-3992795988287398062008-10-12T18:41:00.022+01:002008-11-19T16:20:38.426Z

. The "isolated" object set against a white background might be something of a cliche now in the microstock world but such images are still selling by the bucket load. A plain background not only shows off the subject rather well but it's also easy for designers to drop text around it or excise the object altogether for pasting onto another background. Knowing this and producing the isolated

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-19765266816564674452008-10-06T20:43:00.009+01:002008-11-19T16:20:59.562Z

. When I started this blog, I was almost exclusively a black and white photographer. I'd been shooting nothing but black and white film for years and then had a spell doing much the same with my Minolta A2. I thought I'd continue in similar vein with the K10D but gradually colour took over. This wasn't a bad thing and was more down to the sheer versatility of digital than any conscious decision.

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-26347166767889789552008-10-06T10:45:00.004+01:002008-11-19T16:21:15.176Z

If so, would you like to help me out? I have a couple of gift certificates totalling around $31. They can only be used on Amazon.com and I'm in the UK. I don't want to buy something and end up paying through the nose for shipping (and possibly VAT on top). I was hoping that someone who is due to get something from Amazon.com might consider swapping my gift certificates for a PayPal payment to the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-39960532220467744852008-10-03T10:33:00.004+01:002008-11-19T16:21:43.051Z

The only thing better than great bit of software is a great bit of free software. Instant Jpeg from Raw comes from the people at Imagenomic who do the noise reduction software. It's a simple but very effective way of extracting the jpegs that are contained within every raw file without having to open them in ACR or Lightroom.Once loaded, all you have to do is right-click on the folder you have

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-22972700362645724172008-10-02T11:39:00.007+01:002008-11-19T16:22:09.597Z

.I've been wondering how receptive microstock libraries might be to the types of images I get when I use the moody preset in Lightroom and the answer turns out to be "not very". I sometimes see photographs in the libraries and can't figure out how they managed to get past the selection process as they're not what you'd typically call stock shots. I uploaded the pics above in a small batch to

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-22473649582698902002008-09-27T23:08:00.018+01:002008-11-19T16:23:30.768Z

If I were ever able to exert any sort of influence over camera designers I'd ask them to make them simpler and better. By simpler I mean that they should drastically cut out all the gimmicky modes and concentrate of just the basics. Everybody's needs are different but mine would be limited to manual, aperture priority and programme exposure modes. Five years ago I wouldn't have wanted anything to

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-61554230471039362622008-09-24T20:08:00.024+01:002008-11-19T16:24:01.866Z

.Dundee harbour on Scotland's east coast was once a whaling port and shipbuilding centre of international renown. It's mentioned as such in a Sherlock Holmes adventure (The Five Orange Pips, I think). Now, it's still a working harbour but on a much-reduced scale. City Quay, a development that started off targeting retailers and, after basically failing, began to woo commercial interests with a

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-10982407131894918902008-09-24T00:05:00.019+01:002008-11-19T16:24:52.143Z

. Last month I wrote a post about the "presets" that are available in Lightroom that allow you to try out a variety of different looks for an image with just one click. One reader, Phule, left a comment to the effect that I shouldn't be satisfied with the presets that come with the software and should look for more.I knew that OnOne Software had a bunch that could be downloaded for free but

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-13781866160215687982008-09-04T23:35:00.023+01:002008-11-19T16:25:20.965Z

. Cath and I decided to go out for a walk this evening, just after dark, to keep up with our hobby of looking in other people's windows to see what their houses are like. I'm only joking here, of course, but sometimes you can't help but look into someone's livingroom when you're passing, can you? Anyway, the real reason was just to get in some much-needed exercise but there was an ulterior motive

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-87807448965889805692008-08-27T22:13:00.007+01:002008-11-19T16:26:27.830Z

.What are the chances of Pentax joining the full frame fold any time soon? I ask because I've been casting glances in the direction of the new Nikon D700 and the Canon 5D, especially since prices have fallen on the 5D. At the moment, it's just a harmless flirtation but who knows? Maybe there's something more meaningful just around the corner.What brings me to the point of photographic adultery

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-14988310474541999652008-08-25T19:31:00.006+01:002008-11-19T16:26:46.477Z

.I took a trip back to Boddin Point the other day. It's only about 15 miles from where I live but is still relatively remote, jutting out into the North Sea. It's a slender strip of land that pokes out from the Angus coastline with a large crumbling lime kiln sitting at the end of it. You can read about it and get a sense of what it's like from the previous post, Angus Coastline.I'd actually gone

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-49927766510898048172008-08-19T20:19:00.011+01:002008-11-19T16:27:12.324Z

.Lightroom is a great way of trying out different effects on an image. I'm talking about the preset options that you get in Lightroom's "develop" mode. There's a big list covering greyscale conversions, tone curves and old processes such as cyanotype and sepia.One of them is "aged photo", something that I've never really paid much attention to in the past. I was mucking about with some pics I

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-32688944676096018892008-08-14T19:28:00.010+01:002008-11-19T16:27:37.745Z

.I bought one of these from a photography club pal a while back but haven't had an opportunity to use it too much. But from the few photographs I've taken, it seems very sharp indeed.It's much bigger than my other Pentax 135mm - the f3.5 version - and that's one of the reasons that it hasn't had a lot of use. It's such a heavy piece of glass that it's not something I'm inclined to carry around in

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-71461882539756979562008-08-11T22:39:00.013+01:002008-11-19T16:28:06.929Z

.A funny thing happened the other day: I realised that I've been missing this blog. Since deciding to have a crack at microstock photography the amount of spare time I have has been very limited. This blog has been the casualty. I've even stopped taking the type of pics that I used to enjoy posting here.In the hurly-burly of living, it's easy to let things drop. There's always an easy excuse if

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-92177705545897823972008-06-04T22:20:00.006+01:002008-11-19T16:28:52.004Z

.She's the latest addition to our household. A bichon frise who is a tiny eating, crapping and peeing machine. At the moment, she's trying to make up her mind whether it's better to do her business in the garden or on the nearest horizontal surface indoors. The nearest surface is proving more popular.Shes 14 weeks old and we're only now able to take her out for a walk in the big, bad world. Molly

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-10145507883871991992008-05-30T22:34:00.005+01:002008-11-19T16:29:18.256Z

.I've re-launched (stop laughing at the back there) my analogue blog. I started it last October and had hoped to post loads of scans of prints made in the darkroom but the whole thing stalled because I didn't - and still don't - have access to a darkroom. I've decided to take a slightly different approach to breathe some new life into the blog.My latest post concerns a new project I'm going to

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-56392611862871252432008-05-21T19:02:00.010+01:002008-11-19T16:29:46.035Z

.What's the best way of doing this? I ask because my sensor is dirtier than Joan Collins in The Stud. It's absolutely "manky" to use a local adjective. There seem to be lots of ways of cleaning the sensor using a variety of kits but I'm not sure which is the best and I haven't got time right now to plough through the internet to find out.I could always just put the camera into Joe at JP Camera

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-34649443017862303302008-05-18T20:37:00.009+01:002008-11-19T16:30:09.164Z

.I'm feeling quite pleased with myself tonight as I've just "cracked" iStock. I don't think it's particularly difficult getting accepted by this microstock agency as long as you're taking the kind of photographs they want to see. That was my problem. Having been turned down twice, I had intended shooting the required three trial pics specifically for iStock but I haven't had the time. But by

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-24080917935179963922008-05-06T19:37:00.011+01:002008-11-19T16:30:35.982Z

.It's been a couple of months since I decided to give microstock photography a go and what an interesting time it's proving to be. Not from a photography point of view, I hasten to add, as I've been so busy processing existing pics that I haven't had time for shooting.I don't have a big ego when it comes to photography (at least I hope not!) but what little I have has been pricked somewhat by two

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-66636836870109844452008-04-16T16:26:00.007+01:002008-11-19T16:31:52.835Z

. I wasn't sure whether to post a lot of the stock photography pics I took in Paris as they're different from the diet you're usually fed on when visiting this blog. But then I've been spending so much of my spare time post-processing and keywording these images that I haven't had time to shoot any new blog photographs - so stock shots it is! Rather than pick out a few, though, I thought it would

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-74375853983279388262008-04-08T10:22:00.016+01:002008-11-19T16:32:43.730Z

.Well, that was Paris. A four day blur that mostly passed in the type of weather we could have got for nothing here in Carnoustie! The trip began with the two of us awake for well over 20 hours - courtesy of a 6.50 a.m. flight from Prestwick to Beauvais - and finished in a similar manner, finally ending at 3.30 a.m. on Friday morning when we crawled into bed. Exhausted wasn't the word. In between

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-30867957243354316892008-03-27T11:07:00.010Z2008-11-19T16:33:29.164Z

. This is quick and dirty test that was done for no other reason than my own curiosity. However, I was quite impressed so I thought I'd share it. The *ist DL, with the 40mm f2.8 attached, was set to ISO 1600 - a sensitivity level that I normally wouldn't think of using on the K10D.The unprocessed shot, taken at f2.8, is at the very top and shows the results straight out of the camera. That's a 6

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-46415616439186849552008-03-26T20:46:00.011Z2008-11-19T16:33:53.570Z

.It's dilemma time again. The time when you're going on holiday, want to cover every eventuality but don't want to lug unnecessary weight around. Cath and I will be travelling very light when we head off to France on Monday. We're only taking hand luggage for a four day trip and have an allowance of 11 kgs each - and that includes my camera outfit. Everything we need has to be capable of being

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-62041635469640111042008-03-26T10:32:00.009Z2008-11-19T16:34:28.197Z

.Everybody knows that the ideal histogram is one where the shadows just touch the left hand side and the highlights brush the right. That's OK for the average scene but sometimes rules are there to be broken. This bench was catching the full glare of a low, late afternoon sun and really threw the undulating design into relief. As usual, I chimped away to make sure that I didn't overexpose any

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-17832445480467725292008-03-21T10:23:00.005Z2008-11-19T16:34:46.154Z

. If you read my previous post, you'll have seen that I've added a *ist DL (I'll call it the DL from now on) to the K10D as a back-up when travelling abroad. I've only had it a couple of days which isn't long enough to do much shooting but I can say from the first couple of dozen frames that it's actually very impressive. It's smaller, lighter and not as well made as the K10D - not surprising

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-43777685890712636632008-03-19T23:06:00.005Z2008-11-19T16:35:09.817Z

There was once a time when people used Ebay to pick up a bargain but now it's looking as if your favourite neighbourhood camera store might be the place to go for affordable gear. In a post "Playing with pancakes" a while back, I complained about the prices that the humble 40mm f2.8 "M" pancake lens was fetching. I've given up looking for that one now as I wasn't prepared to pay the going rate.

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-53697984832950249432008-03-16T23:03:00.003Z2008-11-19T16:35:31.642Z

.We've had a few stormy days down here over the last week or so. This picture was snapped on one such day when the wind was whipping up the waves. I realise this will probably look pretty tame to someone used to the breakers off the Californian coast but everything in my neck of the woods is on a smaller scale!It was taken with the 70mm DA and given the split tone treatment in Lightroom. I

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-37090084472230356392008-03-15T18:33:00.011Z2008-11-19T16:35:52.856Z

.I could really use a bit of advice/help with choosing a flashgun for the K10D. Frankly, for the type of photography I do, I've always seen flashguns as a luxury. That's why I'm using an ancient Vivitar model that is just a basic affair with no TTL, etc. That's been adequate up 'til now, especially with digital as it's easy to check that the flash exposure is bang on.However, we're off to Paris

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-42954708165703984692008-03-14T22:30:00.010Z2008-11-19T16:36:35.128Z

.One of the things I love about night photography is its sheer unpredictability. It's best when there are different light sources in the frame as the mix of colours can be lovely. The night shots I posted earlier were largely made up of a monochromatic light (thanks Jostein for that information!) and, although I liked them, there was really no way of getting rid of the strong orange colour

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-46486540759822533242008-03-13T15:18:00.007Z2008-11-19T16:36:57.935Z

. I don't have any prejudice against zooms and will use them as long as they provide sufficient image quality which most of them do nowadays. However, I've made a decision to try to use my prime lenses more often. That's because I've decided to submit photographs to microstock libraries and, when it comes to having work accepted, every advantage helps.Theoretically, the primes should be sharper

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-26058437346957837472008-03-10T15:31:00.006Z2008-11-19T16:37:50.629Z

. There's a few years between these two photographs. The top one was taken on my Minolta A2 and the bottom on a Mamiya Press 6x9. Apologies for the lack of Pentax input but they are interesting for the reason that the medium format shot is much grainier than that from the A2's tiny sensor.Printed in the darkroom, the 6x9 image is quite fine-grained. Scanned on my flatbed scanner, though, and what

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-63929122850700152052008-03-04T09:37:00.012Z2008-11-19T16:38:10.667Z

. I've been searching through some pics I took in Barcelona a couple of years ago with a view to sending them to a microstock library. I've read the figures that some of the guys with a lot of photographs in a library have been achieving and it looks as if it could be quite worthwhile.Unfortunately for me, I was there when I had my Minolta A2 and not the K10D. A while back, I submitted some A2

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-16198495742105044662008-03-03T10:11:00.017Z2008-11-19T16:39:06.472Z

.I think Pentax have missed a trick by keeping the lowest ISO rating on their two new cameras at 100. It's not so much from a quality point of view as there's virtually no noise at 100 ISO with the K1D and the new models should be even better. However, a lower setting would have turned the K20D into a great street shooting machine - and here's why. I suspect not too many people bother to use the

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4915276509166321984.post-31758440005146785272008-02-27T15:47:00.007Z2008-11-19T16:39:53.889Z

.I've been having a pretty poor time of it lately. I've been off work for the last few days with a sinus infection that developed into a chest infection which co-incided with an abcessed tooth that will require root canal work. As a result, I've been taking it easy at home and getting bored in the process. I decided to sort out some CDs which have been collecting dust in a box under the stairs

BRUCE ROBBINSnoreply@blogger.com4