Spring in Colorado?

The calendar says end of March, but mother nature in Colorado thinks we still need a little snow. Photo shot with K10D and 21mm "pancake" lens at ISO 200; f/8.0 with +0.5 exposure comp.

DA* 50-135mm Family Portraits

Here are some more test shots using the DA* 50-135mm lens with the K10D. All photos were shot in RAW mode at ISO 200 at f/5.6. Other than converting to JPEG with PhotoLab (SilkyPix), no post-processing was applied to any of the images.

Bygone Era

With the widespread development of Los Cabos, land prices on the Sea of Cortez have skyrocketed. Condos, resorts and multi-million dollar homes are replacing what used to be an area typified by beach bungalows, cabanas and small, casual hotels right on the beach. One example of the Cabo lifestyle that will be no more is the RV campsite that sits right on the beach in the Costa Azul section of San Jose del Cabo. Started in the late 70's, the campsite was popular with folks who came down to Cabo for the winter months. Others decided to stay in Cabo and set-up their homes at the campsite. The property was recently sold, and the last campsite renters are tearing down their make-shift homes to make way for the construction of a new luxury resort.

Note: All photos shot with K10D and 50-135mm lens. Focal lengths vary from 75, 100, 115, 120 and 135mm. ISO: 200. Aperture: f/8.0. Lighting was partly diffused by large fog bank that came in off the Sea of Cortez.

DA* 50-135mm Test Photos

While on vacation in Mexico, I've had a chance to test a pre-production "sample" of the new DA* 50-135mm lens. I've posted a few photos to give you a sense of how the lens is likely to perform when production samples become available. All images shot with with K10D in RAW mode at both ISO 200 and 400. Exposure mode was AV with EV compensation as needed. All photos posted here are uncropped and converted with SilkyPix using the "dayight" or "cloudy" setting.

Cabo Surf Hotel

Since taking photos has always been such an integral part of my vacations, I thought I'd share a few snapshots of the great little hotel we're staying at in Mexico. The Cabo Surf Hotel is located on Playa Acapulquito (Costa Azul) just outside of San Jose del Cabo. It's a small hotel with about 24 rooms that is located right on one of the areas best surfing breaks.

The hotel has great food with a dining room that's perched right over the beach and offers spectacular views of the Sea of Cortez. You can see the city of San Jose del Cabo to your left and the very exclusive resort, Palmila, to your right. Except for kids of all ages that are taking surfing lessons, the 300 yard long beach is protected at both ends by cliffs, which are only passable at low tide. The ambience here is extremely relaxed and the hotel staff is very friendly and accomodating. The hotel has become very popular for small, destination wedding parties, and I've included two photos at the end of this post so you get a sense of how these weddings look. All photos, except the two wedding shots, taken with the K10D and the 21mm "pancake" lens. Exposure in AV mode with EV compensation as needed.

This is our third time staying at Cabo Surf Hotel, and I can highly recommend it to anyone wanting a small, private and relaxing vacation if you're planing to a trip to Cabo San Lucas.

"YOU'RE A PENTAXIAN" branding campaign

For those that did not attend PMA, I thought I'd share some details of our new "YOU'RE A PENTAXIAN" branding campaign (for the U.S. market) which we unveiled at the show. As we developed this campaign after a great deal of research, observations and discussions with current Pentax photographers, I'd love to hear your reactions to the direction we're taking.

PMA SHOW PROMOTIONS
To kick-off this campaign at the show, we covered the front of the Renaissance Hotel (adjacent to main entrance of convention center) with a 60x150 ft banner featuring the core "You're A Pentaxian" message; we wrapped the shuttle buses with another Pentaxian dialogue; we supplied a "shake-reduction" theme coffee-sleeves to all the concession stands and Starbucks inside the convention center; and gave away Pentaxian t-shirts at our booth.
PRINT ADS
We also introduced several new print ads which ran in the trade show daily magazines Photo Industry Reporter and PMA Guide. Since we introduced the campaign at PMA, some of the copy has specific references to Las Vegas. This copy will be modified once we start running national ads in the May issue of several photo magazines. We wanted to use the first ads to "speak to" our fellow and future Pentaxians and therefore we've purposely used only the white type over the red wall. However, we'll start to include imagery in the next release of this campaign.
Campaign elements
Although it's too early to show you, we'll also be extending the campaign to web advertising, web videos, new content on pentax slr, newspaper ads, etc.
Note about these images
The jpegs I posted here are obviously very low resolution, so it might be hard to read the type. You should be able to see a larger file by double-clicking on any image.