London 360-Degree Panorama (Super High Resolution)

See: http://btlondon2012.co.uk/pano.html

Amazing! :-o You can also measurbate the picture(s) endlessly if you like! ;-)


Last Related: 

Tokyo Gigapixels 360 Degrees!

Tokyo Gigapixels 360 Degrees!

http://tokyogigapixel.com.s3-website-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/

Amazing quality and details! Flash player 10 or above is required. Btw, can the Ricoh Pentax dumb bell be compared?! ;-D (Of course NOT!)

Unleash the Local Language Menu of a Locked K-01 Version

http://forum.pentaxfans.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=135078
(in Traditional Chinese)

For those special versions that sold in particular countries/regions, e.g. in Japan, the K-01 has only Japanese and English selectable as the user menu language. Someone in Taiwan has discovered that the local language menu can actually be unlocked and unleashed simply via the Debug mode.

What to do is to enter the Debug mode by using the PK Tether. After that, the local language option will appear. Just select it and leave the Debug mode. That's it! You have a local version of the K-01 body after that, then! Is that great enough? Yes, it really is!

If this trick really works, just don't feel hesitate to buy a Pentax camera in Japan where it could be cheap enough for some discounted models. Good luck next time when you travel there!

Btw, if you try this and succeed, please tell us and confirm it here! :-)

DA35/2.8 Macro Limited Special Version

(Above: The Special Version Vs the Standard Version Side-by-Side; Click to Enlarge.)

Full Story: http://history.hatenablog.com/touch/entry/20101107/1289135202
(in Japanese, Google English Translation Here.)

Well, sometimes small and compact lenses are not welcomed and the design had to be changed! :-o ;->

My Practical Review on the DA18-135

As we all know, this lens received rather poor rating and adverse comments at the PhotoZone and then the official early samples posted by Ned Bunnell did look bad either.

But then stupid fanboys of Pentax like me are actually irrational ;->, I went bought this lens regardless of the poor reputation of this lens all over the Internet! :-o

This time, I am going to write a practical review on the lens, with more real-life photos of mine shown, for what this lens can deliver, on a K-5. You will see how "poor" this lens could be!~

First of all, still some comments of mine in words. As you can see from the above modelling photo, this lens is really compact and lightweight. It has an internal focusing mechanism such that the length of the lens will not change during focusing. And of course, the front element will not rotate.

I am much impressed with the build quality of this lens, which is the best amongst all DA Pentax standard zoom lenses that I have ever used, I would say. Even the bundled lens hood is better built than most of other Pentax', with matted lining inside and the rugged texture outside which contributes to a solid feeling. At the beginning, maybe owing to the weather sealing, when the lens was first opened brand new out of the box, it is very tight to zoom. But then after the first few days of use, the friction and resistance became just right provided that it is not zoomed too fast and too quickly otherwise higher resistance can still be found.

Speaking of the DC motor and its AF performance on K-5, it is fast, moderately accurate and silent although it is not completely silent and some very small sound can still be heard in really silent environments (ditto for the new Canon STM, which I also have). Under the Live View mode and with this DC lens, the LV CDAF is obviously faster than with other conventional type Pentax AF lenses.

Now, let's come to the IQ part, this lens is quite sharp in the image centre throughout the whole zoom range and from wide-opened, here are some various samples (Click to download in Large size, EXIF preserved):-


(18mm, f/3.5)


(18mm, f/5.6)


(18mm, f/6.7)


(21mm, f/4)


(21mm, f/8)


(28mm, f/4)


(36mm, f/4.5)


(36mm, f/6.7)


(36mm, f/8)


(40mm, f/7.1)


(53mm, f/6.3)


(100 mm, f/5.6)



(135mm, f/5.6)

It can be noted that the extreme corner softness is only existent at the widest side at 18mm. From 21mm and onwards, the effect is considerably eliminated and is not that noticeable. Distortion is significantly decreased, too.

In general, images produced are with good colours and contrast. Resolution is high throughout the frame except at the extreme focal ends, i.e., 18mm and 135mm. I do note that my lens' optics are perfectly centred by judging from the vignetting pattern, nevertheless. Maybe I am just lucky enough.

The flare resistance is superb. Look at this:-



The bokeh of this lens is not bad, look at these two (and also some of the above samples with a blurred background):-



Round bokeh of highlights can be seen.



Btw, why to use Live View with a DSLR? (I can see many DSLR beginners have been doing this!) Why not just use a K-01 if so?! :-o

There is one minor problem of this lens (or maybe the Pentax DSLR system in general), it is that it has a slight underexposure tendency, a +0.3/0.5 exposure compensation would usually cure it.

Besides, the Pentax SR system for tele-lens is proven to be ineffective, once again. I have got quite some blurred photos when shot at 135mm, just because the lens speed is slow but SR didn't help:-



All in all, I am quite satisfied with my copy of the DA18-135. It seems that my lens has far better performance than what is shown in the various measurbation tests and I do believe that it is a lens that performs well in real world but not so for measurbations. This maybe owing to the inconsistency quality control (or lenses are actually classified into different quality classes and batches - mine was purchased separately). The other possibility is that the optical design of this lens is not optimised for close range objects, where a test chart is placed and shot.

At the end of the day, this travelling zoom will not give you stellar optic quality which primes could give which is well expected, After all, let's see if my "favourable" review this time could retrieve the confidence of some potential buyers of this lens and maybe also for Pentax the brand as well! ;-D


Related:-

Interview with the Optical Engineer/Designer of the DA 18-135 Lens

Pack a Gun to Protect Camera Gear from Airline Theft or Loss!? (in USA Only)

See:-

http://lifehacker.com/5448014/pack-a-gun-to-protect-valuables-from-airline-theft-or-loss

Sometimes, I do find that some US laws are funny. I just wonder why firearms could be transported legally so easily after all?! Yes, owning guns are human rights in the States, but how about the living rights for those innocent people who have been killed from year to year just because of this stupid policy? >:-(

I am Back!

You may notice that I have not updated my Blog for a whole week. You may think that there is no more special news on the Pentax side, which is somehow true but then more because I've been just way too busy in the last week for a business trip at France, for both business matters and some sight-seeing also afterwards. Actually, I am still at Paris de Gualle right now waiting for a late mid-night flight back to Hong Kong. It is just too boring for the time being but would see if I'd have the mood to select some photos taken in the trip for posting later. So, please come back! :-)

Besides, I noticed that now Google had mirrored my Blog site at each larger country in the world for better traffic management and share the loading of their servers. For example, here at France the URL is ricehigh.blogspot.fr instead of ricehigh.blogspot.com as before. The original site domain is now simply used for forwarding in other countries other than the US, where most readers of mine are based.

Budapest, Capital City of Hungary

Had a short trip to Budapest, the Capital of Hungary, for only 3 days during Christmas and would like to share some of the photos taken in the trip.

Budapest is actually comprised of two parts: At the Western side of the Danube River, it's the Buda, where contains more historic buildings and is the older downtown. At the opposite/Eastern side of the River, it's the Pest, the commercial and political centre and it's the downtown with newer facilities (of course there are also many historic buildings at the Pest).

Places visited, in roughly the same order I went there, including Váci utca(street), Danube River, Chain Bridge, Fisherman's Bastion, Matyas Church, Royal Castle/Palace, Hungarian Parliament Building, Great Market Hall, St Stephen's Basilica, Hero Square and Szechenyi Thermal Bath. Some of the historic sites and buildings are really old enough, e.g., for over five hundred years.

Supposingly, Budapest should be quite nice a place to visit for sight-seeing and picture-taking. But however, the weather in Winter times are usually cloudy and misty, and with some random light rains, too. And at around zero degree throughout the day, it is somehow cold. Things could get worse with the winds, which is not rare. Still, I think it is yet a nice place to visit and maybe in Summers it will be better. Goods and services are not too expensive and people are in general quite nice. Foods are somehow delicious. As for the spoken language for communications, most of the younger people could understand and speak English acceptably and at hotels and major shopping venues and restaurants etc., there should be little problems..

Camera gear used was my K-r with a DA 16-45 lens put on it, for most of the times. In rare occasions, I changed my lens to a DA 70 Limited but actually it was not essentially required, particularly for the type of scenery shooting and for those record-purpose shots.

After all, below is the full album. Or, you'd better first view the Slideshow Here.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v313/RiceHigh/Gallery/Budapest/

Enjoy! (And please just don't blame me for the crappy snapshots of mine! ;->)

P.S. I did take some random videos with my K-r on the trip, but I've been just too lazy to put it neither up to my YouTube nor Photobucket accounts!~

Take Google Maps Offline and Use

Seasonal holidays have come near and quite some people start to travel. Nowadays, Google maps is a very convenient online tool for checking locations and planning routes but however, they are designed to be used online! But usually when we are travelling overseas, we do not want to use mobile internet access outdoor of which the charge can be very expensive (or simply do not have it btw).

So, can we view the Google map offline? Here is a very useful article for the tips as a quick guide. See:-

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-download-google-maps-for-offline-use/

Note that the software tool that is recommended, the "Google Map Buddy", is now unavailable for download from the original webpage of the software author. But however, it still can be found on the Internet by doing a quick search, which is yet not too difficult to find, I believe.

And, some additional tips and remarks of mine about the displayed language(s) of the maps when using and downloading Google maps:-

1. The Google map languages are the ones that are set to be official at particular place and country by the government. For example, the default map language when you go to Hong Kong's maps are offered in both Traditional Chinese and English. By default, when an internet user read the Hong Kong Google maps, it displays Chinese, e.g.:-

http://maps.google.com.hk/

In fact, the user will see no difference even when he/she first searched at http://maps.google.com/ and then eventually go to the Hong Kong region..

But unfortunately, if you do not read Chinese (as a foreigner, for most cases) but planned to go there, a map in Chinese would be helpless! :-o So, the standard method recommended by Google is to first switch the language at the front page to English, provided that it is just one of the "offered" official languages. The language selection can be found at the left-side bar. Alternatively, we can simply type in an command in the URL like this, directly:-

http://maps.google.com.hk/?&hl=en

Then the page interface will be switched to English and most importantly, the maps will now also have the English language and text overlaid on it, in addition to the original local language.

So, the "magic" is just the "?hl=en" characters that follow.

2. With the same trick and actually the issue of a specific command, now the Google Map Buddy can also be instructed to select the language when it downloads the maps!

This is the Toolbar display which the user should select before any map can be downloaded (after clicking the "Create Map Image" button and type in the file name):-



Note in the above that the content of the original default command line of hl=[HL] is now changed to hl=[EN] and that "Source URL" checkbox should be re-selected afterwards. That's it!

Enjoy! Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday! :-D

My NEX Sample Photos Gallery (36 Original Images Available)

Here are 36 samples (exactly one roll of "longer" 135 film :-)), at the following gallery:-

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v313/RiceHigh/NEX/My_Samples/?start=all

Click on any of the thumbnails in the above gallery will open a large default view of each picture, in 4,000 pixels in width, with all EXIF data preserved.

If you want to measurbate further and in full depth, you can still download the original pictures under the "download"->"high res image" menu item per picture page, where you can get the original, full-size and un-retouched images. Do note that all images were produced directly out of the camera at full resolution in finest Jpeg.

Whilst a full review of my NEX would follow, you can first judge on the image quality (noise, resolution/image details, etc.), lens quality (sharpness/resolution/contrast/bokeh etc.), colour response and accuracy, skin tone rendition, white balance reliability, moire and level of anti-aliasing, focusing accuracy, metering/exposure accuracy, dynamic range, flash usability and so on..

All in all, I found that my NEX is actually a very good camera, it has high image quality and favourable/accurate colour response (after proper setting of the colour/brightness profile: I use "Landscape" with Contrast and Sharpness both at -1 (Saturation yet kept at Zero)) and in general high accuracy and acceptable system performance that I require. I have never been able to be so relaxed with such minimal burden for travelling but yet with maximum portability and such higher level of image quality and usability at low light that I can get since I went digital (DSLR). Really Nice~

Last but not least, just mind that all photos of mine are copyright and all rights are reserved.


Read Also:-


NEX-5/3 First Practical Impressions and Quick Review

My Ten Reasons to Buy the NEX-3 Over the NEX-5! :-o

Sony NEX-5 VS Pentax K-x ISO/IQ Shootout (Dual Scenes)


My 550D Samples Gallery and Full Review

My K-x Full Review and Samples

My K-m Full Review and Samples


Summary Matrix for Equipment Tests and Reviews