tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49152765091663219842009-12-29T21:19:21.393ZLife with Pentax DSLRs, film cameras and some great lensesBRUCE ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.ukBlogger250125tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk2tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk1tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk1tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk1tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk6tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk3tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk1tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk2tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk3tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk7tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk2tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk5tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk2tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk0tag: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 ROBBINSbruce.robbins@homecall.co.uk7