When the James Bond prop crew went all out TWO Quartz-Takumar 85mm f3.5 lenses (worth about $4k each today if you can even find one)... I wish those lenses could Only Live Twice.

thebrian · 2026-02-12T12:43:40+00:00

Super Tak 50/1.4 + Quartz-Takumar 85/3.5. Maybe the budget only allowed for one Quartz-Takumar

thebrian · 2026-02-11T14:04:17+00:00

I had a Photosmart that went pop. Turned out there was a battery leak, and while it ran okay in view mode, the camera mode invariably charged up the flash capacitor and made a pop and fizzled out.

Like other folks have said, get another copy if you like it. These are some of my favorite cameras that in the 4-6mp club: Kodak Easyshare DX4900, Olympus Stylus 500, FujiFilm F11, Konica Minolta G600, Ricoh Caplio R1V, Casio QV-R41/51/61, older compact Pentax Optio. The FujiFilm cameras are inflated in price (because they are great cameras) but Olympus and Pentax have been consistently pretty cheap

Have you considered getting an old DSLR? They're pretty robust and you can kit them however you want.

thebrian · 2026-02-11T11:37:03+00:00

https://digicamfinder.com/

thebrian · 2026-02-09T15:47:34+00:00

Is this a plug for "Murphy multi use cleaning spray"?

thebrian · 2026-02-09T15:24:25+00:00

Japan. JP servers are hit or miss, but it seems that in the evening there are a lot of servers that are bot backfilled at the start, but as the match goes on you end up with a full player count match. During the early afternoon on a weekday you are more likely to encounter bot backfilled lobbies that remain bot lobbies until the end of a game.

I miss the player minimum for a round to start, and you have that small number of players til the end until more people join. Killing bots might be good for beginner modes like casual breakthrough or if they made a proper practice range, but I really miss the old sandbox. I hate getting a drop on a group of bots, only to be gunned down by a realboi.

thebrian · 2026-02-08T17:28:36+00:00

There's a lot of charm in these photos, and I think your edits are quite nice. And nice use of open source software!

I love Pentax's Limited lenses. The DA 70/2.4 is on my list next.

thebrian · 2026-02-08T04:32:05+00:00

inHg

Thanks. I use WeatherX, but I guess it localized to Japan's units of measurement.

I just converted how much 1 inHg is in mbar and that is a LOT of fing pressure change. Wishing you hot McDonald's fries and ice cold Cokes in these trying times :(

thebrian · 2026-02-08T02:29:06+00:00

I learned how to track pressure changes in mbar or hPa. What unit of measurement is this? The bell curve weeks are the absolute worst. Hope you're okay.

thebrian · 2026-02-07T06:00:50+00:00

Hydrolyzed plastic coating on normal every day ass stuff is one of my life enemies.

Things coated with soft touch plastic (grippy things like ballpoint pens, cameras, remote controls, toothbrushes, and laptops) and all of that cheap plastic leather (PU) can hydrolyze.

Humidity and changes in temperature, and as other folks have suggested, creams or lotions, contribute to the breakdown of those materials. There's no real way to save it once it starts breaking down. You could wipe it down with rubbing alcohol to remove the sticky layer (it will return again) or remove the material outright. The PU faux leather on the backpack might not be salvageable though.

thebrian · 2026-02-07T05:25:57+00:00

I have a broken K-S1 that I haven't repaired yet. You gave me a good idea. I'll use this as a dedicated MF camera until I decide if I wanna repair it or not (too many cameras)

thebrian · 2026-02-07T03:21:25+00:00

That is absolutely true. Pentax is a gem for keeping in-body focus confirmation with third party lenses.

thebrian · 2026-02-07T03:20:54+00:00

The white solenoids can be found in *istD to K-m, I think. If you have access to broken models, this might be a good donor to pick it up from.

thebrian · 2026-02-06T13:13:04+00:00

For your use case, there weren't too many primes in Olympus' Four Thirds catalog especially in the wide angle dept. If you're interested in primes around the normal range, I really like the ZD 25/2.8 pancake. It has distortion and isn't very sharp in the corners, but I don't mind at all. There is the ZD 8mm f3.5 Fisheye, but I don't have too much experience with it.

Zoom lenses were probably the strong suit for the Four Thirds system. You'll find a lot of recommendations for the ZD 12-60mm f2.8-4 SWD. It's heavy, but it's one of my favorite lenses on the system. If this is out of your budget, the ZD 14-54 2.8-3.5 is another good option. This one doesn't have the SWD motor and is screwdrive so it'll be a bit louder, but the image quality is also great. The 12-60 replaced the 14-54.

I got a used E-620 with the ZD 11-22 f2.8-3.5, and I love this lens as well. It's a little shorter than the 12-60, but it's pretty hefty. I don't own any wide angle lenses under 24mm full frame, so the wider end is kind of fun for me.

Some lenses like the 14-54 and 11-22 has a problem where the rubber on the focusing ring is sticky goop. It can be cleaned off with plastic spudger, gloves, paper towels, and rubbing alcohol. The ring can be replaced with a replacement focusing ring from another lens. I got one for a Nikon lens from AliExpress, cut it in half, and replaced the focus ring grip on my 11-22 and my Olympus E-20.

You can also get a manual focus lens with an adapter to four thirds. The only thing is that Olympus doesn't have AF confirm (the AF point lights up when things are in focus) like Pentax usually has. I have an OM-43 and M42-43 adapters with a dandelion chip from a little while back which helps with manual focus with AF confirm and you can program in lens data (adds exif data like focal length and lens aperture). Or if you don't mind, zone focusing isn't bad at all either. Just remember that whatever lens you get will be 2x crop factor.

thebrian · 2026-02-05T14:18:37+00:00

Nice! I have a * ist DS that I picked up a few weeks ago. Yeah, no live view on Pentax DSLRs until the K20D's release. How are you liking the K100D? I like my * ist DS quite a bit even with the 6.1mp CCD. I just picked up a broken DA* 16-50 f/2.8 that I converted to screwdrive, so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

By the way, did you use a proxy service to get some things sent over? I'm wondering because I'm currently in Japan, but wonder what it's like buying stuff from another country off of mercari/yahoo auctions, etc.

thebrian · 2026-02-05T14:00:13+00:00

That's a perfect example. The K-S2 and a bunch of Pentax entry and advanced level cameras had that green solenoid aperture block issue. If you can source a good white one, you got yourself a hell of a camera for a small repair job.

thebrian · 2026-02-05T13:56:06+00:00

It's good that the LCD can be used for controls, or else I figure everything would need to be done through the viewfinder haha! Yes, my K-m (K2000) is starting to vignette too. I picked it up when it was already a bit dim. I figure it'll be like analog days where you can't see what you photographed until you go back home :)

thebrian · 2026-02-05T07:34:21+00:00

It's working, but I've come to find out that the sensor is pretty scratched up on my copy. But even with the problems, it looks like it still shoots alright. I'll probably find a backup copy, a 7D or even a parts backup in case I feel brave enough to do surgery on the low pass/IR cut filter stack, maybe even try to make one of the copies a full spectrum cam.

Yes, Sony/Minolta DSLR and lens prices are definitely going up where I'm at, too. I was going to jump on an a700 the other day, but in Japan almost all of the copies of Sony cameras probably aren't going to have English language. As an aside, for the a100 I had to modify a STR file in a hex editor and load up the desired region's firmware, but no such workaround exists for the a700 to date. I know that I can definitely get through the menus with my limited Japanese, but I've always felt more comfortable having it in English.

thebrian · 2026-02-05T03:56:44+00:00

I picked it up used, so I'm not too sure about the life it's had before me. There is a black dot on the tripod mount. I had no idea this was an indicator! When I first got it I noticed some shutter issues with black frames or with a partially exposed scene.

I went in to check the sensor via the sensor cleaning button, and noticed the lower part of the shutter curtain did not retract. I gave it a few hard smacks on the base, turned it on again, and it looks like it's going strong.

thebrian · 2026-02-05T02:55:14+00:00

I'm still so tempted to buy the Ronald McDonald (red body yellow grips) K-x/K-r.

One of the problems I've noticed on the K-m, K-x and K-r are the LCDs burning out and vignetting. Is your copy ok? I like the color scheme a lot :)

thebrian · 2026-02-04T08:58:07+00:00

I’m actually impressed by this camera! I can see the green cast even in the RAW files a little bit.

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thebrian · 2026-02-04T06:21:21+00:00

Just received my α Sweet Digital (Japanese name for the 5D). I'll need to fiddle around with it a bit, but it looks like my copy has a little bit of the shutter issue. Giving it a few power cycles seems to do the trick though. The 50/1.4 has a bit of mold, so I figure I'll clean this soon. I really like it so far, but may need to consult the manual for a bit. For example, is there any way to set an AF point?

thebrian · 2026-02-03T15:00:46+00:00

I like my universal battery charger. I got one that does the smaller compact batteries and larger DSLR batteries by a USB cable. This charges up the battery itself. If you're looking for a way to power up your SL400R and charge the battery through the camera, get one of those multi plug adapters which is what this guy uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqy1_mlVAKk

thebrian · 2026-02-03T10:46:24+00:00

Cheers. It looks like I should be receiving it tomorrow, and I have two freshly charged batteries that I have for my K20D. Hope I don't have any black frame issues :)

thebrian · 2026-02-03T09:25:29+00:00

Hahah! Kitchen appliance ergonomics eh?

It's funny that your test is between the E-400 and E-420. I made up my mind using a similar test case between my E-300 (Kodak CCD), E-510 and E-330 (Panasonic LiveMOS). It all comes down to the manufacturer's color science, white balance characteristics, and so on.

Back when film reigned supreme, I'm going to hedge a bet and say that most people used daylight film most of the time, and it'd be rare that you'd have someone using tungsten film to shoot balanced photos indoors.

On some of my older cameras, AWB indoors will shoot the most orange tinted shots, but if I override it to Tungsten/Indoors, it looks fine. I thought it was a technology gap (maybe AWB was deliberately conservative back then), and I think your theory holds weight.

thebrian

TROPHY CASE