Penning Photography Daily

I was feeling a bit nostalgic, and grabbed my first DSLR, the mighty Pentax K10D, to take with me this morning.

I usually use it as a backup or a 2nd lens camera – with a telephoto on it if I have my wide lens on the K20D. It had, of late, been just a backup, and not needed. It was time to give it some practice and use to keep it in good condition.

I had a nice telephoto prime on it, the Ashai Takumar 135mm f2.5, which has wonderful properties, but the sky was calling to me as I got nearer to work. It was one of those times, where, if I had a place and time to stop immediately, I would have. The sun was at just the right point in the sky to give a really interesting glow to that river of puffy white clouds. Alas, I had to get into work, so I didn’t stop. As soon as I parked, I was grabbing the Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye, and putting it on the K10D.

Since I bought the Sigma 10-20mm lens, I’ve relegated the Zenitar to storage. Too bad too, as it’s a nice lens with good color and contrast. It’s of Russian manufacture. On a 35mm camera, it would be a fisheye with a 180 degree field of view. On an cropped-frame sensor such as the Pentax K10D, it has some of the curve, but not the whole fisheye effect.

I stopped down the aperture to f22, to make that sky pop, pointed it at the sun, and let it grab the light with just one quick snap. Then I was off to work. I barely looked at the frame on the back of the camera. I trusted the lens and camera to get what it could. I’d have to be satisfied with just one.

It felt good to work with the Zenitar again. I love the wacky, distorted view it gives, and the confidence I have in the results.

Something old and something new. The lens and the sky.

I smile, just looking at it. It’s not the spectacular scene I had witnessed just a few minutes before, but it reminds me of it. That’s enough.