tuxcomputers's blog/

My photography over the last few months has been in a bit of a slump. This is despite getting a beautiful new dSLR, a Pentax K10D.

I was not really happy with the 18-55mm kit lens, it didn't have enough reach sio I went to a second hand shop and bought a 35-200mm zoom lens. It's an ok lens but it is really slow, only f3.5 or so. It is also a manual focus which is a real pain when you are zoomed in.

I then hit upon an idea of buying a prime lens. Since 50mm was a really common focal length I decided that i should look into what was available and how much they were.

Well the new 50mm auto everything was WAY out of my price range so I looked into buying an older type lens. After some research I found that the Pentax-A f1.7 would be ideal, you could get the body to set the aperture, they had great optics and they were realtively cheap.

I tried several times to buy one on ebay but I kept being outbid, my wife had me on a strict budget of what i could 'waste' on buying camera stuff. Sick of not winning I bid on the Pentax-A f2.0, it's not as fast and the optics are not as good but it was good enough.

I should have waited because not long after I bought the lens there was an annual Photography Fair that is well attended by camera nuts from all over Brisbane and surrounding areas. At the fair I checked every single table for Pentax gear. A few bits here and there until the last table, the guy was selling 3 camera bodies with 3 lenses attached for $100.

2 of the lenses were the Pentax-A f.17's!!!! The other was a Pentax-M f2.0. The M series lens is totally manual, you set the aperture on the lens and then to meter you have to hit a green button on the camera. The camera stops down the aperture and takes a reading, anything changes and you have to meter again... or guess. That is a real show stopper in the type of photography I like taking.

I checked all of the lenses and they were all clean and clear so I bought the lot. Wifey was not happy until I explained that I could sell one of 1.7's, keep the other and sell everything else, including the lens I just bought off ebay. I have just listed all six items on ebay and hope to sell them all.

I have the 50mm 1.7 attached to the K10D all the time now, it is sharp and fast. Going back to the kit lens is a step backwards despite the 50mm being at LEAST 19 years old. It is bright and just a joy to use. I have never liked taking portaits of people, I call them 'grinning idiot' photos but with this lens being perfect for taking portaits I think I will start to give it ago.

If you use a Pentax, live in Australia and want a great lens then I suggest you jump on ebay and do a search for the items 'hazza96' has for sale. You will not regret buying the f1.7, if it gets to expensive then get the f2.0, it's still a great lens, just not quite as good as the 1.7.

... made my list of "You fuckers can suck my cock before I will even look in your direction", right beside insurance companies.

We have been looking to rent a new house because the current one is too small. We have found several and contacted the agency's.

They want us to fill out an application form before they will even let us inside to have a look!!! These arse wipe fuckers want the the last 4 payslips and some want our next of kin!!!! What the fuck for? Is the roof going to collapse during the 10 minutes we have a look at the rooms? Next thing they will want a urine sample and a DNA profile before you can look at the photos of the outside.

Pricks, they can all go to hell and be raped up the arse with a cock made of bard wire before I will give them the time of day.

... from buying 3 cameras with lenses, keeping one, selling the other 2 as well as a lens I bought previously and the three camera bodies. I bought the three as a package for $100.

So the sums go like this:

1. Bought from ebay: 1 Pentax-A f2.0 lens = $62
2. Bought from camera fair: 3 x lenses + 3 x camera bodies $100

(2 x Pentax-A f1.7, Pentax-M f2.0, 2 x Pentax Super-A bodies, Pentax Program-A body)

Total: $162

Sold on ebay

1. Pentax-M f2.0 = $25
2. Pentax-A f2.0, (the one I just bought off ebay) = $51
3. Pentax-A f1.7 = $72
4. Program-A body = $10
5. Super-A body = $23.50
6. Super-A body = $23.50

Sub-Total: $205
Minus the ebay fees: $17.38
Total: $187.62

Profit: $25.62

It was not just the small change I made from this exercise that is exciting, it's the fact that I got to keep one of the fantastic Pentax-A f1.7 lenses and 25 bucks.

I am excited that I did so well.

When I write a blog entry and it goes longer than the edit window can display that window keeps expanding and contracting.

I know that the Ipernity team are very clever and have written code make it so that the box only takes up so much room and then gets bigger when and if you need it but I am using Firefox 2.0.0.13 on the latest release of Ubuntu Linux and it is really distracting.

People are used to a static sized window and have developed techniques to deal with that. The window jumping all over the place makes me a little sick after a while. I have to write up my entry in a text editor first and then paste it into Ipernity.

Is anybody having the same problem? What OS are you using? Windows Linux? Which browser? IE or Firefox or something else?

EDIT Thursday 19th June 2008

It's back doing the same thing, please make it stop.

The good news

My wife and I looked at a house to rent on Tuesday (17th June) afternoon and loved it.

The lounge room by itself is as big as the current lounge/dining room. The dining room is open space right off the kitchen and it is big enough to fit our 8 seat table that is currently in the garage.

There is a little nook that the computers will fit in quite nicely. The fourth bedroom will have the spare TV and the Nintendo Wii setup so that we can watch movies and the kids play games.

There is a decent back yard with a shed that we can put our mower in and lock. The garage has a remote and doesn't have a door to the house, so when I leave it open, like I do, people can't get into the house. It opens to the covered area out the back so even if it is raining we don't get wet.

We decided to put an application in on the Wednesday morning, we heard back from the real estate that we were approved just after lunch. We get the keys Monday (23rd) and move in the Friday (27th).

The bad news

A dear friend of ours, Casey, has cancer, he found out just before Christmas last year. He has been undergoing Chemo treatment but yesterday he went into hospital, his organs are shutting down and he is only expected to last 1-2 days.

His kids have come to say good bye from as far away as Perth. Every time the phone rings we are thinking, is this it? We got a call from friend that knows him this afternoon, my wife saw who was calling on her mobile, got tears in her eyes and couldn't answer it.

It looks like we will be attending a funeral while we are either packing or unpacking. I am just glad that I am home on holidays because Casey is a great bloke and a good friend, my wife has known him since the start of high school, he is the father of a school friend of hers. His daughter moved away but we kept in contact and are good friends.

There are heap of us that all gather every year on boxing day, one year it was very hot and Casey was stirring Chris, like normal, so she got a bucket of ice and tipped it over his head. He just sat there took another sip of his beer and said 'Ah that's better, I'm cooler now'.

She is going to be devastated and we will all miss his VERY loud laughter. The first thing anyone that knows him would say is that he laughs very loud and often... he will be sorely missed.