Life in the Digital Age

This is my first post this year with the K-7. This is a masterfully well made camera and demonstrates that Pentax, when they try, are every bit the company of Canon and Nikon. That said, Pentax won't actually get to play with the big boys until they release a full-frame DSLR. Know who will be buying that when it comes out (or within a year, depending on how long I have to save for it)? Yes. Me. Pentax needs to release a full-frame DSLR so I don't have to buy a Nikon one.

Anyway, I got off on a tangent. The K-7 is great and it works well with old M42 lenses. That's one thing Pentax, I think, does better than Canon: Their sensors work better with old glass than I understand Canon's do. My understanding could be wrong, though, since I've never shot a Canon DSLR. Maybe I should borrow the Canon DSLR at work for a week.

Anyway, finally, here are some photos. The Travenar challenge was to take five photos: building, street scene, portrait, landscape, and closeup. With the K-7, I caught all five, though the landscape was awful and should never be viewed. The following nine photos turned out decently well. If you want to pixel peep, you may, but the Travenar does not have great lines-per-pixel rendering abilities and you'll be disappointed. You may be happier to just enjoy the photos as shown. :D


And yes, I know the sensor needs cleaning. I've since done that. That said, I started the day by hopping off BART to grab a quick shot of this Bank of America building. Don't get me wrong, Bank of America and I have a very adversarial relationship, but the vantage of this shot is great. This time, I got on BART before the doors shut. So, that was nice.

Oh a quick note, for this shoot I forgot my notebook. You're welcome to look at each photo's EXIF data if you want to know the shutter speed, but I neglected to record the aperture.


At lunch I hopped on Muni for a quick ride and ended up at AT&T Stadium. I do like the Willie Mays statue a great deal. So this was my backup portrait in case I couldn't get one which was better. I managed, to, though, in the next photos.


This seagull thought it could scare me. The only thing that scares me about birds is when they get a taste for human and start eating people. Don't believe ti can happen? Just you wait. I'll prove it!


Here's a different bird flying away to circle around and come in for a kill shot. Oh yes. These things happen.


Why are birds terrifying? Because of scenes like this. No one leaves a jacket and bag full of groceries behind. Whoever was feeding the birds clearly failed to bring enough seed and, as retribution, the birds ate them. Photographic evidence! Man-eating birds! It's just like Hitchcock predicted. And this qualified as my street scene shot.


While beating a hasty retreat lest the scene also include a digital camera and half-eaten cargo pants, I stopped to grab a closeup shot. This is a decoration on a fence post. All the marina's fence posts have these. It works.


This is a yacht club near the marina. That means I'm not allowed. I once pronounced it "ya-CH-it" and was forever banned from all yacht clubs, events, and am not allowed to wear sailor garb. Those yachting guys are seriously well organized.


After leaving the marina, I headed back for Muni. Having taken now a full three-hour lunch (but only clocking out for one, cha-ching!), I decided to return to work and write some e-mails. But I decided to grab one more closeup on the way and see how this lens renders saturated colors. Result: decently.


After work I hopped off the BART train again to end the day the same way I began it: a long shot of this building. However, the day did not end exactly as it began because this time I didn't get on the train before the doors shut. At least that BART stop has a bathroom.