Perpetual Change LXVII

 After a tough few months of imaging the Nikon Z/dx way, I'm letting it go* and re-energizing the Pentax kit! The Viltrox 40/2.5 fx lens will stick around in case a z6 is in my future, but dx lenses and body will depart. Until other financial movements occur, I'm an apc-C, dSLR guy again. ☺

I picked up great deals on a 55-300plm and a wi-fi card, so the k-s1 can do many Z50-comparable things despite its unreplaced solenoid. That fix would fully empower my 18-50mm and the Limited primes, so surgery is still worth doing. Some day, soon..

* in defense of Nikon dx 

It should be noted that several factors led to the Z50's departure. I was not in a position to learn the z50 feature set well enough before a lifetime travel opportunity (RT#M syndrome), I don't know Nikon gear well enough to know the typical layout or nomenclature, and I fell ill the first night and remained ill for the entire trip. As a result I captured many great images, missed on more than usual, and failed to the self-timer to make an image of all 3 of us travelers. 

Given my better grounding in Pentax, even the ..unique K-s1 will do things that I better recognize - even while sick! It will also stabilize all my primes unlike the Z50, and give me more crop ratios to play with. Bummer about the video specs.. but that is still a very small part of my activity.

Some Assembly Required

 The new kit is coming together, lenses from both older and new kits. Several old kits contributed to filling in the blanks:

• Pentax primes lenses are available in many focal lengths from 28 to 200mm, but the four shown here are likely to see the most use.
• Several T-mount teleprimes have been resting in the closet, and have seen time with many caneras over time. The Hanimex 400 and Quantaray reflex 300 are oldies but goodies! My Sakar 500/8 mirror lens isn't worth the trouble though.
• The Z-native set is now* complete with the 16-50,  50-250 and 17/23/40mm primes.

I had contemplated a couple of other primes at the wide end, or perhaps the 12-28pz ..but the budget stopped at a used 16-50mm. That will do just fine - for now.

 

It's weird that the Z50 video skills are so much better than the slightly newer Z5; apparently its smaller size means faster offloading, so higher video specs are available. Most reviewers note the Z6 Z7 and Z50 use backside-illuminated sensors, and the Z5 apparently does not. 

Editorial - 

Nikon is rather vague about the camera sensors in its bodies - and to nobody's surprise, no owners have volunteered to crack open their cameras to find out! The only two BSI 'dx' bodies that clearly make the claim use 26-Mpx sensor (IMX571, and new IMX695 BSI stacked design); the older 20.9 sensor is no longer current, but clearly Nikon has some in hand for its z50ii. Thom Hogan says the IMX321  (special to Nikon) is the D500/D7500 sensor: to those who seek clarity, none shall pass. Thom chose not to list a sensor designation for his z50/z30 specs page. The z50 sensor claims to be .1mm wider than the D7500.. a quibble/rounding error, or a conspiracy beyond comprehension?

The D7500 Dxo score of 86 is essentially the same "IMX321n" as the D500 score of 85, and the Z-dx models seem to have one similar with pdaf capabilities. One speculator says the wiring to the sensor strongly implies BSI. 

So the answer is informed speculation. 

*Update 7/13: the elder 7artisans 10/2.8 af is selling for $100, now that the mark² is available. A mark¹ will be arriving soon! The primes as shown are showing in blue as 35mm equivalent, and make for A nice fl stair-step of 15/25/35/60/105 - with 150/205/450/600mm/eq also available. -Nice!-

Strictly academic

 I tested the suitablity of Viltrox' 23mm f1.4 lens for closeup work. One shot at min focus, one with 11mm extension tube, and one (attempt) with 18mm tube. Not really surprising that the longer tube at 23mm caused the lens to block almost all light reaching the fuscia buds, so no additional testing needed! The 11mm tube performed nicely, and the Meike set passed all data along.

For a bonus, I put on the Pentax smc-M135 f3.5, both alone and with the two tubes. The minimum focus dropped from 5' to just over 3' with the shorter tube, the 18mm focused several inches closer. And to close, I pulled out the A100 f4 and shot a 1:2 closeup for comparison.

I shall post them here soon!

Winner lose, loser win

Lyric from Steve Winwood, Go 

For reasons that I accept as reasonable, a Z50 is coming soon - and the eM1 and a lens or three are leaving.

• Pros: larger sensor, smaller camera, tilt screen, USB battery recharge, Nikon menus like my former Z6, 'solitude' picture control
• Cons: no IStab inside, shorter battery life, usbμ port, plus a few Oly/OM features which I like yet never used!

Its 'starter kit' is TTArtisan 17mm + Viltrox (23, 40mm) primes, and the VRs 16-50 and 50-250mm. For now the Pentax 70+100+135 will fill the small-tele slot.

The camera comes with 3 batteries and a charger, so power won't be a big issue. 

I briefly considered a Z30, but its only view is via its flip screen; that outweighs the usbC power port for me. I rarely make use of a flip screen, but will use the tilt design frequently!

Note that the eM1² departure does not kill the μ43 kit! The gf9 and Lumix 14-140, plus a few nice primes, will carry on.

If the kit were to expand soon, I'd expect either the Nikkor 12-28 or Viltrox 14/4 to be next.

Button reset!

 I've tried a few changes to my button settings, and made a mess of things. My big screen wouldn't display anything no matter how many times I pressed the evf|screen swap button.. which I had set to Raw image shooting. Autofocus was acting up as well; apparently I had pushed a button that was now set to AF limiter! 

Oops..

So I sat outside and reprogrammed the buttons back to default, and then tried a few changes or relocations. Some suited me well enough to keep, despite them now being mislabeled on the body!

• Back-button focus is now lower-front-button AF. I like that position a lot better, but the upper front button did not show AF as an option - so that upper-front is now for custom WB. No AF on shutter.
• The labeled AF:AE lock button is now my Video on:off. My videos always ended poorly as the button is poorly located for my finger. This solves the issue nicely!
• The left-right buttons on the 4way pad now control the 14-43ez power zoom. Nice!
• I reset the screen button to its usual function, and use F1 for multifunction options.  
• I'm still thinking about F2 and red button possibilities, for now. The lever is for iso/wb while I think about it also. 
• I did reverse the control panel dials, as I was constantly spinning away from the setting I wanted to change!

One of the problems I got into with buttons is that some options show no feedback* in the viewfinder! Maybe something lights up & tells me when Raw or AF limiter are set, but I don't recognize the lights? 

Clearly it's time to read the manual again!!   🤯

 * none that I recognize, at least!

a small adjustment

 I've traded in the Oly 17 and Sigma 60 (both f:2.8) for a Pentax 40 Limited. That makes the μ43 native primes = 10- 17* -30 and PK adapted = 40-50macro-70-85-135. 

The k•S1 will love having the 40+70mm Limited lenses, but that means it's time to make the aperture-block problem go away!

* The Yongnuo 17:1.7 is staying

End times

 I've decided that my web time is wildly unproductive. 

I have kept at granitix and g² for a decade & more (don't make me look!), documenting camera gear i shall never see again and receiving maybe three comments. To say I have a following online is an insult to followings as only my shadow follows me anywhere. 

I have documented a dozen years of weather in the yard, and who would consider that valuable? True records are interesting, but daily stats are tedious.

I say this after a weekend of router problems (self induced), when I reset the router to factory specs and detached tv tablets phones and weather station from the world and each other. The station now works but ive lost the w.underground password. I'm also in a decent place with camera gear, but very little of it is cutting edge or interesting to the masses. Olympus/OM Systems and Pentax are doing well enough, but I am unable to use them in exciting times.

My faceplant account is riddled with ads, polarizing topics and cute animal pics. Friends seldom post to me and I need to stop seeking them after theee scrolls. 

And so I shall:

• cease and desist posting here, and attend to my Visions blog which has been neglected for quite some time.
• keep some records for weather but only post huge events.. somewhere. Probably just at longviewers.one for now. 
• I will get to digitizing my slides and negatives and miniDV backpack and other trips. Many old jpegs have corrupted badly over the years and need help.
• RELAX and let the WorldWide Weird exist with less participation by me 😳