a touch of danger and humor

[visualizer]

Winter in Wisconsin offers images that can be unsettling.
I climbed out onto the edge of the ice pack to check out the
the inside of a spout hole.
The farm image was a case of opportunistic juxtaposition.
Most of my work was done with a 17mm lens, a Pentax camera,
and Kodak Tech Pan 35mm film.
John M R

[John R]

My goodness, your images are both menacing and humerous at the same time. An anthropomorphic ice formation threatening to engulf anyone that comes near. And an industrial dinosaur running amok in farm country. Love both images.

Do you use your old Pentax lenses on modern Pentax Dslr's? And if so, do you find them good enough?

JR

[visualizer]

JR
I changed my online posting to John M R
I love your work and don't want to confuse your authorship.
Thank you for your supportive reply.
I am still in the process of digitizing my 15,000
plus frames of black and white film and thousands of
Fuji Velvia 50 ASA colr film shots. I am finally satisfied that I am
getting close to scanning at the actual film grain.
I've used a Pentax K200 for the past years since I
stopped using film, but I am not really happy with the
results. I switched to my 10mm Pentax full frame fish eye
to try to achieve my viewpoint on the landscape,
but the resolution hasn't pass my "weak link" test. I have
been waiting for the Pentax K-1, and will purchase one when I
can afford it. I still have 75 feet of Tech Pan, and a few rolls
of the Fuji Velvia 50 saved for a rainy day. I am partially color
blind by genetics, but when I do work in color I believe
that the colors that I have been taught to see, are a match to the vision
that others can see.

[Rob C]

I really like your second one of the mechanical giraffe and horse, sinking into history like that; great stuff. It's like looking into a personal mirror, in some aspects...

Don't get corrupted.

Rob C

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I love these, John M R!

Don't sweat the equipment. Your images really work!

Maybe there should be a special area on LuLa for color work by those of us who are "color-challenged."

-Eric

[RSL]

Good shooting John. Equipment doesn't matter. What matters is what's in your head.

[MattBurt]

I really like them. The jaws of that ice hole are a little unsettling. Great!

I use some legacy glass on my modern Pentax bodies and it varies by lens but most are pretty good.
For K mount, my A 50/1.7 and A* 300/4 are both nice on crop bodies (like your K200) and even nicer (IMO) on the full frame sensor of the K-1. I used to have a M 135/2.5 but sold it which I now regret. It also renders very nicely on digital and I sold it to raise money for more modern gear. I also have some Letiz and Helios lenses that also work just fine although the charm of the Helios is often found in it's "flaws". The Leitz's are wonderful.

On 645 I have the A 35/3.5, A 45/2.8, A 75/2.8, A 200/4, and a 67 300/4. I think they all hold up very well on the 645D. There are probably better/newer lenses available but these seem to do just fine for me. 

[John R]

Thanks for the information JMR and Matt. My question was not meant to focus on gear per se, or detract from the fine images posted by JMR. I asked because, like JMR, I own a Pentax (K3) and have used some non-digital age lenses, including one Nikon 105 macro with adapter, a 100-300 Pentax zoom electronic (but older), and I find the images rather soft and lacking in contrast. Even against cheap kit zoom lenses. Like JMR, I am considering moving to full frame and maybe even medium format Pentax. I think the value for what you get is unbeatable, especially the weather proofing and sturdy build of the Pentax DSLR cameras. Perhaps I have bad lenses, since so many Pentax users state they have good results with older manual lenses. Anyway, thank for the feedback. Back to the images!

JR

[MattBurt]

Older zooms are usually pretty flawed. There are probably exceptions but all the good performers I listed are primes. I find modern zooms to be much better than older ones but modern primes less so.

[visualizer]

Thank you all for your comments and ideas,
I really never trusted zooms to offer critical
sharpness, There may be new zooms, but I
already have the lenses that I would test first
when I get my full frame DSLR. Most of the
time I would go out into the landscape with
a superwide viewpoint already embedded in
my mind's eye. I found that I could better
visualize and compose an image with this
known viewpoint. I could simply move closer
or farther from my subject until I found the
right dynamics. This became my personal style.
Viewing the world in 110 degrees of coverage
became natural for me.  I did love reviewing
the technical specs on a lens before I would
finally make a decision to buy. Those old Pop
Photo lens tests were great. I will be looking
for a single focal length between 14mm and 18mm
with corner to corner sharpness as the main
feature. If my vintage lenses don't work out.

[BobDavid]

1+

[Otto Phocus]

Awesome shots with a clever composition.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

That ice hole really does look very menacing 

Great shot.

Dave

[sgwrx]

hello fellow wisconsinite!  i love the loch ness monster!