Prague, day 2

On the next day there was a wedding. The CEO of the company where I work was getting married. Of course there was a wedding photographer on site who kindly asked not to get in his way.

Then all the guests had the tour around the town.

Eventhough by the end of November most of the leaves have fallen, some still were there, naturally to be photographed.



Even in cloudy day Vltava is still very beautiful.



With a bit of contrast and clarity boost in post processing ;-) one can get a postcard like photograph.



The view of old castles through the late autumn trees is quite remarkable for the person who lives in ever green Middle East.



And then we had the feast of wedding celebration for which the newlyweds prepared their special dance.



P.S. All shots except last one were made with Pentax SMC DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens. The last shot was made with Pentax SMC F 50/1.7.

Prague, day 1

I am just back from a long weekend in Prague. What a wonderful time we had, what a wonderful place Prague is.

It greeted us with chilly yet dry weather and a lot of beauty.



Prague is always good looking, such as at early twilight.



The people that you meet on the streets of Prague are very friendly but some of them (think - tourists) are very busy going about their (leisurly) business.



And of course beer is mandatory.



P.S. All shots were made with Pentax SMC DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens which is an excellent lens.

Curious ergonomics or ergonomical curiosity

A friend of mine gave me his Nikon D80 to take few pictures the other day. Here is what I observed:

1. To change an aperture from the body I had to rotate the front wheel. On my K10D it is the rear wheel.

2. To delete a picture I had to press the "delete" button twice. On my K10D it is rather different and significantly more deliberate - you cannot delete a picture just because.

3. In review mode (yes, I chimp) rotating the rear wheel advances me to the next picture. On my K10D it will zoom in the currently shown one.

No, I am not saying that Nikon D80 has bad ergonomics or that my Pentax K10D is not good. In fact, I am passing no judgment here.

It is just that are so curiously different.

My new toy (lens)

Once upon a time I decided I needed a prime lens wider than SMCP FA 31/1.8 AL Limited that I have. I have some zoom lenses that are wider, but no prime. A long process of consideration and measuring my mileage ;-) ended up with decision to buy SMCP DA 21/3.2 AL Limited lens. And so it arrived today.

It is positively tiny with very odd hood. For now I decided to put the hood aside. I have an alternative solution thanks to the common for Pentax filter thread - 49 mm. Few test shots showed that this lens is very sharp. Also the quick shift focus meachanism is a charm. I wonder what kept Pentax from introducing it a long long long time ago.

Here is one of the shots that although does not fit as a test shot but still is quite pleasing. I used a polar filter this time.

Shuffling through the old stuff

It turns out that one of my favorite past times is to browse through my photo archives looking for interesting photos. Very often I would have not paid attention to a photo that later one appealed to me. Here is an example.



This shot has been taken 2.5 years ago and at the time I did not think of it too much... Now I have reconsidered...