Thanks Steve - good report. stan
On Jun 16, 2007, at 6:58 PM, Steve Desjardins wrote: > Yeah, I've had conflicts with final exams the last few years and this > year I was in India. How are they running the contest now? Last > time I > entered a slide! > > A few words about India. We were in Mysore for six weeks for (A > religion prof, 25 students and me) for two courses on 1) Religion and > Culture (the religion guy) and 2) Health and Well Being (me). In > addition to a number of day trips, we took a week long trip to > Northern > Karnataka to look at archeological sites, especially Hampi. I had my > DS, the DA 40 and the FA 20-35. In truth, 90% of my shots were > with the > 20-35. It always seemed to be the right lens and I like the way it > renders "life". At the sites, I was just trying to keep track of 25 > students (Not too hard. They're good kids) and not to screw up too > badly taking pictures of these magnificent subjects. Hampi is the > modern village built on the ruins of the ancient city of Vijayanagara. > It's a whole city of stone ruins that goes on for miles. I've never > seen anything that extensive (like Pompeii, I'm told) so it was > "postcard" time with the DS. Of course, the Indian women wear those > brightly colored saris and that just adds these random splashes of > color. The biggest problem was the carved interiors. Sometimes I > just > had to use the flash, and it just washed out a lot of the contrast for > the carvings. I suddenly had a real desire for more flash control. > > The real subjects are, of course, the people. It's a very different > culture so I just wanted to shoot everything. OTOH, I'm one of those > people who is a bit reluctant to just take pictures of people like > they > were animals in a zoo. The good part is that I quickly discovered > that > this was not a problem. There were very, very few other white people > around (and yes, I mean white, not western) so we always stuck > out. As > a matter of fact, virtually all of the other tourists were Indians and > they wanted pictures of US in front of things, and most were happy > to be > in my pictures. Especially children. As I'm sure many of you know, > one > of the great advantages of digital cameras is that you can show the > picture to the kids, and they just love that. I just wore that camera > proud and indicated I wanted a shot. They (children and adults) > took a > minute to compose themselves and smile and that was that. Please > remember that we were in southern India and not really in any of > the big > urban centers, despite the fact the Mysore is 1.1 million. Maybe > you'd > get smacked in Delhi taking this approach. > > We traveled a great deal by bus and through the rural areas, farms, > and > small villages. I didn't even consider reading. DS on full > manual, the > lens set to infinity, and manual exposure with a 1000+ shutter speed > gives a near instant shutter release and (mostly) blur free pictures. > Never seemed off more than half a stop at iso 400. Again, the best > lens > was the 20-35, especially given the DOF at high Tv. Lots of thatched > houses, oxen pulling plows, people working the fields, etc. One in > particular, though, I still think about. A little girl was sitting on > the front step of her home and the bus was slowing down for something. > She was so cute I took a shot before she noticed us. When she saw the > bus she smiled and ran toward us (as did most of the kids since we > were > a rare site). She spread her arms, and I suddenly noticed her > right arm > was withered. I smiled back and waved. I saw many sights like that, > but for some reason that one sticks. It's amazing what you miss when > you're worried about composition. So, I'll eventually post some > others > that may be better pictures, but to me none more memorable: > > http://home.wlu.edu/~desjardins/ > > Anyway, the DS performed like a champ, and I'm pretty happy with the > results. I am somewhat amused that my first reaction when I got > back was > to look at the K10D, but someone here said they were going to keep > their > DS with the DA 40 as a snapshot camera. That was my thought exactly. > > Sorry for going on like this, but no one here was really interested in > hearing about my adventure from the photographic perspective. They > just > want to look at pictures. > > Steven Desjardins > Department of Chemistry > Washington and Lee University > Lexington, VA 24450 > (540) 458-8873 > FAX: (540) 458-8878 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>>> "Bob Sullivan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 6/15/2007 8:26 PM >>> > Steve, > Missed you at GFM this year. > 1... > Anti shake makes my pictures lots better. > More pixels is a difference as well. > 2... > Haven't got a grip and I don't miss it. Camera is plenty big without > it. > 3... > Have 2 different 3rd party batteries. Work fine! > 4... > 18-55mm zoom is fine for walking around. Quality is ok. > 5... > Buy one, you'll like it! > 6... > Without a new flash, I use the DS for flash pictures. > Regards, Bob S. > > On 6/15/07, Steve Desjardins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Hey folks, >> >> I*m thinking of buying a K10D. (I have a DS now.) I have eagerly >> read many PDML threads on this transition, including the now famous > *I >> regret upgrading* or whatever it was called and the new *Canon is >> better than Pentax" . I still have a few questions: >> >> 1. What was (were) the one (or two) feature(s) of the K10D that made >> the whole upgrade worthwhile? >> >> 2. I*m not planning on buying the grip since the camera is already >> pretty big. I do like the small size of the DS, but have used > bigger >> cameras (like the 645 and the MZ-S with a grip) so the size thing is > not >> a deal breaker. Any comments on not using the grip? >> >> 3. I notice there*s a third party battery offered by B&H. Is it > any >> good? It*s certainly a lot cheaper. >> >> 4. Is the 18-55 f3.5-whatever lens any good? In some kits it*s >> almost free. >> >> 5. Any other "you gotta buy this too" advice? >> >> Thanks. Think of this as another excuse to open old wounds <vbg> >> >> >> Steven Desjardins >> Department of Chemistry >> Washington and Lee University >> Lexington, VA 24450 >> (540) 458-8873 >> FAX: (540) 458-8878 >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > !SIG:46732ea037171260112493! > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
