A rather abstract road trip with the K10D

[Stevenson Gawen]

@Wes Hall inspired me to post these (so I can blame it all on him if nobody likes 'em )
This wasn't really a special trip (just from near Cooma down to Bega via a more scenic route, then home again later) but I brought along my Pentax K10d with a manual SMC 50mm f1.7 on it and (mostly on the way home) snapped away at all kinds of subjects while on the move... when I wasn't doing anything else. It would have been nice to get a few in town, but I didn't for whatever reason.

I shot in raw and processed (in a contrasty style) in darktable.

 

[Wes Hall]

I feel safe I won't be chastised for getting you to post these .

I think that K10D has paired well with the SMC 50, there's such a richness to the colour and clarity. I think shooting from the vehicle on journeys is a wonder form of story telling, even in the mundane - I'd be interested to hear of any well regarded series or photographers who've done works like this.

 

[Ralph Turner]

I think Wes has hit the nail on the head regarding the look to these pics. It’s remarkable what can be achieved taking a second look at the mundane, as you’ve amply demonstrated, Stevenson. That little 50mil is a cracking lens (and seems to be held in high regard). I recently acquired one of the older ‘m’ versions and I’m looking forward to seeing how well it performs (on what is a first for me, a roll of Ilford Ortho 80). Anyway, great stuff

 

[Wes Hall]

I think Wes has hit the nail on the head regarding the look to these pics. It’s remarkable what can be achieved taking a second look at the mundane, as you’ve amply demonstrated, Stevenson. That little 50mil is a cracking lens (and seems to be held in high regard). I recently acquired one of the older ‘m’ versions and I’m looking forward to seeing how well it performs (on what is a first for me, a roll of Ilford Ortho 80). Anyway, great stuff

Roll on seeing these posted Ralph.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Cheers, Wes

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Thanks everyone! Glad you like them.

form of story telling

It is it's own distinct form, isn't it?

That little 50mil is a cracking lens (and seems to be held in high regard). I recently acquired one of the older ‘m’ versions

I was thinking mine might be an 'm' too... so I had a look.

It is indeed an 'M' of some sort! This copy came to me with fungus in it. I know I was saying yesterday I haven't had any issues with fungus - but I was only thinking of fungus developing in my ownership.

I took it all to pieces (the first time I'd done that) and cleaned all the elements. There's still some light staining where the fungus was, and a few bits of dust that got in during reassembly, but neither seems to have much impact on performance, which is excellent. (Edit: for the record I didn't take it 'all' to pieces - left the helicoid intact as it was and is nice and smooth. But did take all the glass out.)

 

[Ralph Turner]

Good stuff! Indeed, a little discolouration of the coatings doesn’t seem to cause any issues in practice - your images are testament to that. I’ve an old folder with a coated Steinheil Cassar that came to me with fungus in the lens. Once cleaned, there were traces of a different colour where the threads had been, but when held up to the light, the lens looked fine (other than some light markings from inappropriate cleaning prior to my ownership). It shows no sign of any issues associated with the gremlins.

 

[Julian Tanase]

Great use of film, and of a good lens. I enjoyed the first one most, it gives a feeling of the road ahead.

Colours are great, and it looks like the camera is delivering really good. What film was this?

Thank you for showing this!

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Great use of film, and of a good lens. I enjoyed the first one most, it gives a feeling of the road ahead.

Colours are great, and it looks like the camera is delivering really good. What film was this?

Thank you for showing this!

Thanks Julian! No film.... only 10 000 000 of those 2006 vintage CCD pixels.

Very glad you like these - I had mixed feelings about the set.

 

[Ivar Dahl-Larsen]

I feel safe I won't be chastised for getting you to post these .

I think that K10D has paired well with the SMC 50, there's such a richness to the colour and clarity. I think shooting from the vehicle on journeys is a wonder form of story telling, even in the mundane - I'd be interested to hear of any well regarded series or photographers who've done works like this.

I second that. It is nice to see a 50mm on a crop sensor camera behaving in good hands. I'm about to fetch my 50mm and I hope my hands shall give me no disapointments.

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

I'm about to fetch my 50mm

Looking forward to the results.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

@Stevenson Gawen I really enjoyed your trip documentary here. Having had the occasion to frequent your photos before, I know this is not your usual style, but trust me, the shots you posted here and the rich in-post-production/ex-post, well measured and balanced, editing you did is super effective. I don't know what a "Hugo high five" means, but I would had given that to you instead of a thumb up if I only knew the meaning of it (what the hell is a "Hugo high five"? who is Hugo? a devil red rabbit who got very high 5 times in a row? Who knows, frankly).

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Thanks @Gianluca Drago ! Yes, it was a bit of a departure from the 'usual' stuff for me. Glad they work!

The Hugo High Five... Ah... I'm not very well up on it's origin. There's a mention here: https://realphotographersforum.com/threads/hugo-high-fives.2432/#post-194700
Invented by @Hamish Gill, the founder of this forum and the 35mmc.com blog, I think it could be seen as a fine example of British eccentricity and ingenuity.
It essentially functions as a 'super like', or 'love', over and above the normal thumbs up.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

Thanks @Gianluca Drago ! Yes, it was a bit of a departure from the 'usual' stuff for me. Glad they work!

The Hugo High Five... Ah... I'm not very well up on it's origin. There's a mention here: https://realphotographersforum.com/threads/hugo-high-fives.2432/#post-194700
Invented by @Hamish Gill, the founder of this forum and the 35mmc.com blog, I think it could be seen as a fine example of British eccentricity and ingenuity.
It essentially functions as a 'super like', or 'love', over and above the normal thumbs up.

Thanks for the explanations. Now I gave you a Hugo!

 

[Pete Askew]

Ah yes, Hugo. The only reason there is a Like and a HHF is we couldn't work out how to turn of the Like! A nice bit of forum history / legacy.

How did I miss this set before? It is great and I love this sort of thing. @Rob MacKillop has done a couple of 'journey' type threads too.

I keep meaning to do a fantasy one: maybe 2024 is the year for that!

 

[Stevenson Gawen]

Thanks @Pete Askew! I didn't know you were planning to have just Hugo... as you say, a nice bit of history.

Glad you like the set. I still have mixed feelings about it, but there's something quite nice about "just snapping" without trying to give any justification for taking the shot...

I do like the way the K10d renders colours. As you know, I enjoy post processing, and to some extent, in theory, one can get pretty much any camera to look like another, especially if one starts making custom ICC profiles and so on (I have dabbled with this) but in practice I find there's fairly big differences in at least the ease of getting a certain look.

The K10D produces particularly rich yet (to me) not excessive colours with nothing more than a little push in contrast - preferably sigmoid contrast in darktable which has a very nice way of handling highlight rolloff.