Imaging Resource Publisher Dave Etchells and Senior Editor Shawn Barnett sat down at CES 2011 with John Carlson, Pentax Imaging Company's Senior Manager of Sales and Marketing to talk about the state of Pentax, and discuss a few items they felt would be of interest to Pentaxians. Here's the link to the full interview.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1294684183.html

Steve Huff, who previously reviewed the K-7, posted his thoughts on the K-5 today. His introduction reads "So here it is 2011 and I have been shooting with the lovely Pentax K5 for a few weeks now. I have not been able to get out every day with it but on the days I have been able to, I have really enjoyed shooting this camera. The Pentax K5 is essentially an upgrade to the Pentax K7 which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED."

Click on the link below to read his full review of the K-5, as well as what he has to say about the FA 43 f/1.9 Limited Lens.

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/01/10/the-pentax-k5-digital-camera-review/

I left CES Saturday, spent a day at home in CA, then flew back to CO early this morning - temperature 8 degrees. Should have stayed at my home office :)

I had to run out to our market late this afternoon. When I see subject matter like this, I wish I had my K-5 with me all the time.

Two snapshots that I took as I was leaving Las Vegas.

Today is Elvis' birthday.

The other photo is of The Fontainebleau Las Vegas - an incomplete $2.9 billion, 3,889-room, 68-story hotel/condo-hotel/casino development. It's hard to see, but the banners on the chain link fencing in the foreground claims "10,000 New Jobs for Nevada". This project was stopped in November 2008.

As I run from one meeting to another here at CES, I always pass by this statue just outside the Hilton lobby. I liked this visual, so quickly snapped it and then converted it to B&W with Camera+ app.

I'm sitting at John Wayne airport in OC waiting for my flight to Las Vegas, and decided to take advantage of the Posterous app for iPhone to upload some images.

Here are a few casual portraits I took with the new DA 35mm f/2.4 lens over the weekend.

The photo of our three grand-boys has them showing off their new wetsuits we gave them for Christmas.

All photos shot with K-5 at IS0 800 at f/5.6 except for the MacBook promo shot which was 1600. I used the built-in flash for all photos except for the Mac image which was available light.

I processed the jpeg's with Camera+ app on my iPhone to add the borders.

I've recently posted sample photos shot with the new smc DA 35mm f/2.4 AL lens. I'll contnue to shoot with this lens in different conditions, but I think it's likely that over the next year this lens will develop a reputation as a very good optical value in a compact and light weight design - perfect for someone that wants a quallity walk-around prime lens at a good price point. As I've become more knowledgeable of the performance of this lens, I realized it would be interesting to see how it compares to its other 30-something siblings - the DA 35mm Macro and my favorite FA 31mm Limited.

Below are two sets of comparison photos that I shot over the past weekend. Our weather didn't cooperate, so I had to fit these tests in between rain showers coming off the Pacific Ocean. I used a tripod to keep the camera in the same exact position and just switched out lenses to produce these images. All photos were shot with a K-5 at ISO 400 at f/5.6.

While a thorough test of similar focal length lenses should include comparisons at different apertures, I didn't have the time to do this. By shooting at f/5.6 for all three lenses, I simply wanted to see how the color rendering, contrast, and sharpness of this new lens (at a commonly used aperture) compares to the highly regarded DA 35mm Macro and FA 31mm Limited.

If interested, check out these Lifeguard Stand and Canyon comparisons, and let me know what you see.

I just came across a post on dpreview by Amy (username: DRabbit) who shared a video she produced of the recent Hoilday blizzard that hit greater New York. She shot this video with her K-x and the 40mm f/2.8 Limited lens. Her comments read "I went out when the blizzard started, before it got way too bad to be outside. I live on Long Island and we ended up with about 20 inches of snow in my area... it was a pretty wild storm. Video is a new adventure for me."

If this first video is any indication of Amy's creative skills, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of her work. Her image processing (color-grading) is so nice considering the subject matter, and pairing her video with the song "Men of Snow" by Ingrid Michaelson is perfect. Click on embedded link below and enjoy!  

Here's link to Amy's website to check out more of her work: http://www.dangrabbit.com/photography/

 

I've always liked that our Starbuck's paid a local artist to paint the trash dumspter enclosure. It's also a nice visual touch whenever you drive into the parking lot.

iPhone photo processed with Camera+ app.