Pentax Announces K-01 “Pretty Ugly” Mirrorless Camera

by Jaxon S on February 2, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants, Pentax

Ugly? This was and still is the word used by some commentators to describe the new Pentax camera, the K-01. I won’t say it’s ugly though. Neither do I want to say it’s pretty. It’s Pentax. It’s just that. First thing first, it’s a K-mount camera, meaning all existing K-mount lenses are compatible with it. Which is a good thing, because users are not forced to buy into a new system altogether.

Pentax K-01 Black

Also announced together with the K-01 is a super thin lens — thinner than the thinnest Pancake — which is also compatible with all Pentax modern DSLRs. The hotshoe on the K-01 is also compatible with all Pentax flashguns, or designed-for-Pentax third party flashes, such as the Metz Mecablitz, I presume.

Slim... smc PENTAX-DA 40mm F2.8 XS Lens

Here are the key features of the K-01: Priced at US$749 (body only) or US$899 with the thin kit, durable machined aluminum frame in black, white, or yellow exterior; compatible all PENTAX K-mount lenses spanning decades, 16 megapixel APS-C sized CMOS image sensor with multiple aspect ratios, 3-inch LCD with 920,000 dots, full HD 1080p video capture at 30 FPS with h.264 compression (60 FPS at 720p), sensor-shift PENTAX Shake and Dust Reduction system which is compatible with every mounted PENTAX lens, 6 FPS burst mode, ISO 100-25600, focus peaking mode for fast and accurate manual focusing for critical focus applications. It also the first mirrorless to provide a native support of DSLR lenses.

Here are the things I hope to see but didn’t: an EVF, a full frame sensor, a tilt-swivel LCD screen, weather-sealing.

With the new Prime M processor, the K-01 sensor is said to be able to top the image quality of Pentax K-5, arguably one of the best-performing APS-C cameras, even in today’s standard.

Pentax K-01 Silver

Here are some words of the K-01 designer Marc Newson:

A hands-on preview of the K-01:

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Finance Your Photography Fixation

by Jaxon S on February 1, 2012

in Make Money From Photos, Misellaneous Articles

Finance Your Photography Fixation
By Cathy Neame

Millions of people across the world enjoy taking photographs as a hobby, but many don’t realise that there are ways to make some money with your photos, to help pay for all the expensive equipment, software, and photograph developing costs. You don’t have to be a professional photographer to make money from your photos, but it is certainly not a good idea to quit you day job if you don’t have a job offer within the photography industry.

Pondering

Many people work as freelance photographers while still keeping their day job, and this should be the way for everyone to start if they are unsure they can make enough money to support themselves. The internet has also opened up a whole new area for amateur photographers to make some money from their hobby.

Taking photos for a living is many people dream job, but unfortunately only a small fraction of the people with this dream ever realise it. The right advice and preparation can go a long way when taking the plunge into actually selling photographs or offering a photography service. Read on to see exactly how you can make money to help finance your photography hobby, and even create a supplement income for yourself.

Stock photography

Snapshooting: buildings at a capital city in Borneo

Making money from your stock photos can be a great way to start making money from your photography hobby. But be warned, the competition is high within stock photography, so your photos have to be of exceptional quality. Traditionally you would have to approach agencies to see if they wanted to but your images, but the introduction of microstock has made it easy for anyone to submit their photos for sale. Go to websites like iStockphoto, Shutterstock, and Fotolia, and just start uploading your stock images and people can buy them.

Unfortunately this business model means you only earn a small amount for each purchase, but if your photo is bought many times your earning will go up. The trick with microstock photography is to upload as any images as you can, hundreds or even thousands, and then the earnings become substantial. Also think about what type of images people want to buy, especially within the advertising industry, because your image won’t sell unless it is of a specific use to somebody.

Photographing events

Photographing events like weddings can be a great way to make some extra money from your hobby, but you need to be confident you can capture images that are of impeccable quality. Professional equipment is needed, and preparation is essential. You may need to hire extra equipment, spend time preparing images for print, take out insurance for your camera, and be able to set up shots properly.

A couple of trees... taken with a camera phone

It’s worth asking family and friends if you can photograph their wedding first, just to get a feel for it, before you begin booking clients. This also gives you a chance to build a portfolio for prospective customers to look at, and without one it’s very unlikely you’ll get any business. Once you are confident enough go straight ahead and advertise your services in the local paper or on the internet. You can take on photography work on the weekends while keeping your day job and the security if gives you.

Magazines and postcard companies

If scenic and nature photography is your passion, a great way to make a little extra money from the photographs you take is to offer them to postcard companies and magazines. You can also try greeting card companies, although don’t expect too much interest from them. They will not pay through the roof, but there is certainly money to be made if your photographs are of a high enough quality. When approaching magazines, make sure the photos you show them are exactly the type of thing they publish, or your hard work will be wasted.

No two sunsets are the same?

Newspapers and news agencies

If you are in the right place at the right time, take a photo and send it to your local newspaper as soon as you can. It could be a celebrity appearance in your town, a building on fire, a traffic accident, or a rare animal. Whatever it is, get a good picture of it and approach newspaper and news agencies with your image. The trick here is to act fast, because news gets old fast and unless you’re the first to approach the news outlet they could but another image or just move on to more current stories.
—

As a freelancer, Cathy Neame spends too much time in the car and not enough time on her sectional sofa. Blogging gives her the chance to do what she loves (or at least write about it) from home.

* Photos and captions by Jaxon S

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Great iPhone App For Plant Macro Photography

by Jaxon S on January 31, 2012

in Photography Plugins and Software

Camera phones are fast replacing ordinary compact cameras and that is a fact. A smart phone like the iPhone can do nearly all what a normal compact camera can do, including macro photography, and much more. Much, much more, and that too is a fact.

For instance, have you ever had problems identifying a species of tree you have shot with your camera so that you can provide a name for it?

Unless if you are a botanist photographer, chances are, you just take the photograph of a plant and show how it was shot without being able to provide its name. Sure, flowers like rose, tulip and the likes are easily identifiable but there are many more you just couldn’t.

Heads up! Now you can caption your photograph with the name to the plant you have taken a photograph of, provided if you shot it with an iPhone or iPad, thanks to an app called Leafsnap.

Here’s how it works: take the picture of a tree leaf. The app uses image recognition technology and immediately searches from the growing database amassed by the Smithsonian Institution.

Moments after a photo is taken, the app will come up with a possible name for the species, and display high resolution photographs for comparison as well as other information on the tree species including its flower, bark and so on. Cool? you bet.

But there is a catch: the species database are for trees in the United States only. So if you are taking photographs of leaves of some trees in Borneo, like the one below, you may not be able to get the answer.

By the way, do you see Australia on this leave?

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Digital Lomo Harinezumi Camera

by Jaxon S on January 28, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants, Toy Camera

I’ve been toying — (pun, if there is one, is accidental) — with the idea buying a toy camera for sometime, something like a lomo camera but the thought of buying films, developing them and printing them or investing in a scanner to scan the negative — which will be an expansive affair — have put off the plan.

A digital lomo camera, therefore, would be an ideal solution. So when the Pentax Q came along, I thought that that would be the lomo camera I was looking for. Yes it is, but no, it lacks the randomness of a lomo camera.

Until I came across with what seems to be a true digital lomo camera, by the name of Digital Harinezumi, released by Superheadz. Here’s a photo of the toy a person holding the camera, which is sold at Photojojo for US$185 not inclusive of shipping.

Buy the The Zumi Triple Plus at the Photojojo Store!

Here’s a dreamy macro shot with the camera. It can shoot in macro mode at 3cm, close enough for general macro shooting.

The 3-megapixel CMOS sensor camera — (hmmm… 3MP? but it’s a toy camera, right?) — shoots 640 x 480 video, has a lens of 4.5mm F2.8 and shoots either ISO 100 or ISO 800. The Zumi Triple Plus sold by Photojojo has 10 colour modes.

Buy the The Zumi Triple Plus at the Photojojo Store!

Digital Harinezumi review can be found at JPG magazine. There is an active Harinezumi community over at Flickr. Here’s a video sample of the tiny thing:

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New La Sardina Special Edition Lomo Camera

by Jaxon S on January 27, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants

Lomography International has introduced two new versions of the La Sardina lomo camera series — the special “Reptilia” edition for the you-know-what-occasion on Feb 14. The Orinoco Ochre is the one in bright orange while the one in blue is called Sapphire Serpent. The reptile motif can be seen from the pattern on the sardine’s “skin.”

Check the new editions at lomography.com. Alternatively, you can check all the other La Sardinaeditions over at Amazon.

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Man, I Want This Minox!

by Jaxon S on January 27, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants

Sometimes you just want to buy something because of how it looks. The Minox Gold Plated mini rangfinder-style camera is one such item. It “only” has 5.1 megapixel and is of no rival to other compact cameras in terms of functionality — it has no HD video, for instance — but with this kind of classic magnetism, it makes all these other camera functions something of a “besides-the-point” matter.

Collector's item... Minox DCC 5.1MP

The Minox Gold Plated is priced at US$299.95 over at BH Photovideo. But there is also the black and silver version (below) at US$179.

Minox silver and black edition

Key features: German technology, 5.1MP CMOS Sensor, 9mm F/2.0 Lens (43mm Equivalent), QVGA (320 x 240) Video, 128MB Internal Memory, accepts SD card up to 16GB and Operates on 1 Li-Ion Battery. Here is a gallery of Minox DCC 5.1 sample images.

2-inch LCD

The Minox is also available on Amazon.

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What Was Your First Digital Camera?

by Jaxon S on January 13, 2012

in Photography Odds and Ends

My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica FD90, a 1.3 “interpolated” megapixel square brick that takes a floppy disk as a storage. I bought it at Akihabara in Tokyo in 2003. At that time, my knowledge about photography was virtually zero (not that I know very much today, just a little wiser, perhaps), but yeah, it served my purpose then.

Borneo Sea Gypsy huts. Taken with the Mavica. Too bad I no longer have the photo in its original resolution.

Today I was rummaging into the storeroom and stumbled upon it — too bad the battery no longer recharge. But I can still make it work by hooking it to the electric socket at home. Will try and see if I can find a 1.4MB, 3.5-inch floppy disk, and a computer which has a floppy disk drive. If I can have these, I would love to put the camera to pace again after eight years (and grown a bit wiser).

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Camera-Car Analogy

by Jaxon S on January 12, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants

We often hear the car analogy is being used to describe a camera — you know, things like the Leica M9 being a Bentley or a Hummer and so on — but I have never come across a camera being used to describe a car.

Not that it’s important. Just thinking. So, what then is the camera equivalent of a Range Rover Evoque? A Fujifilm X-Pro1?

Range Rover Evoque... Image credit: Land Rover UK

Fujifilm X-Pro1... Image Credit: Fujifilm

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Canon G1 X, Fujifilm X-Pro1, Neck-to-neck In Popularity

by Jaxon S on January 12, 2012

in Camera Raves and Rants

The new Canon G1 X and Fujifilm X-Pro1 (notice the Xs and the 1s?) are neck-to-neck in popularity, at least going by the number of clicks on dpreview website. Yesterday, they were tied at 11.4 per cent and remained tied most of the time today at 12.7 per cent, occupying the top two spots of dpreview’s popularity table, with the G1 X emerging top on ‘alphabetical advantage!’

A snapshot of dpreview's table as of January 12
(January 11 in the US)

This comes just days after the announcement of the two cameras, which cannot be said to be of the same league. The G1 X is cheaper, at US$800, but promises DSLR-quality images while the X-Pro1, with interchangeable lens, promises versatility, resolution as well as image quality.

It will be interesting to see which one of these two losing the steam first!

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Camera Lover Pack — Best Nokia N8 Photo App?

by Jaxon S on January 12, 2012

in Photography Plugins and Software

I’ve written about how I liked the Molome photo effect app for Nokia N8 Symbian smart phones which allows users to apply vintage effect on their photos. Then, enter the “Camera Lover Pack” — a new app for Nokia smart phones touted by its creator to be having “the most complete and supreme camera app ever seen.”

Not sure how it compared with other apps, especially those for iPhones, but yes indeed it has tonnes of features including “panorama, retro and artistic filters, burst capturing, blending, funny effects and much more.”

The two pictures here were taken with this app, which is available at Nokia’s Ovi Store. I’m still exploring it and may post a full review.

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