Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 was a busy year for me. Writing e-books for the Pentax DSLRs, travelling and blogging.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

 Hi Photographer friends,



The year 2014 was a busy year for us. It was our second year travelling across the U.S. with our RV. We started the year in Donna, Texas, travelled east all the way to Florida, and then North all the way to Maryland and all the interesting places in between.

We started our way back to California at the end of July and ended up in the Temecula Valley, in an RV Resort. Mid-December, we decided that we had enough of RVing. It’s one thing to travel, but being stationary with the “Snow Birds” is not our cup-of-tea. We found a house in Big Bear Lake, where believe it is going to be the perfect combination of outdoor activities, beautiful scenery and cultural interaction.

I will concentrate more on my photography here and will certainly continue using Pentax as my preferred photographic equipment.

Thank you for allowing me in your cyber world and I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

The following images are some of the places visited in 2014, in no particular order.

Donna Texas
Victoria Palms RV Resort, Texas
Mexico
Padre Islands, Texas
New Orleans
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Breaux Bridge Swamp, Louisiana
St Augustine and Jacksonville, Florida


Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Dutch Country
Bandera, Texas
San Diego, California
RV Resort in the Temecula Valley, California
Big Bear Lake, our new home.

Big Bear Lake is like an Island at 8,000 ft elevation, in the middle of Los Angeles. Where else and you go to the beach in the morning, Ski in the afternoon and eat at a five star restaurant at night...all within about an hour drive, and almost all year round? I think we found our niche.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque





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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

 Hi Photographer friends,

Merry Christmas Everybody.


Did Santa bring you a new Pentax Camera? 
I can help.



Sunday, December 21, 2014

My Pentax K-3 is the best DSLR I have ever owned, but without memory cards, it can't do much. That's when my iPhone came to the rescue.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 

Hi Photographer friends,

After about eight inches of snow overnight last week, I headed up to Big Bear Lake. We are moving there in the next few weeks, but I wanted to go see how it looked with a blanket of snow. On my way up, I realized that I had left my SDHC memory cards at home. The K-3 is a wonderful camera but it does need memory cards.

The scenery was spectacular and I decided  to use the cheap camera within the iPhone 5s, instead of driving back fifty miles. I am surprised at the results I  obtained. I can only imagine what it would have looked like with the K-3.

Oh well! I'm pretty sure we will get more snow and I will do an essay on Big Bear Lake soon. For now, I am still amazed of the iPhone results. These images are direct from the iPhone, without any post process. I just emailed them to myself and posted them.






Thank you for reading.

Yvon Bourque

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If you need an easy-to-understand e-book for your Pentax DSLR, please check our e-books store. 

TCSTV's Best and Worst Cameras of 2014



Email: brqyvn@gmail.comHi Photographer friends,

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

From wandering in an RV for two years to a more permanent place...Big Bear Lake, California.

Email: brqyvn@gmail.com 

 Hi Photographer friends,



We've been wandering across the Country for the last two years. It was a lot of fun, but now, we needed to settle down some. We looked at several locations, from Vegas to  Bend Oregon, East Coast to West Coast, Desert to Ocean, and honestly we like all those places. Where could we settle down and be close to the ocean, the mountains, the desert, the forest, the big City, the small town? There's no such place...so I thought.

We re-discovered Big Bear Lake in California. The lake is located at around 7,000 ft elevation. It is a small town, but from there you can be in almost any climate within an hour. Los Angeles is west of it, Palm Springs is to the East, beaches are to the south and the desert is to the north, all reachable within about an hour, give or take. Where else can you swim nearby in the morning, ski in the afternoon and dine at a fine five star restaurant at night?

Big Bear is a touristic area with so much to do. In the winter, there are several ski resorts. Of course there is skiing, snow boarding, tubing, cross country skiing, hiking, snow shoeing, off roar tours, or just relaxing in front of the fireplace at one of the many world class resort in the area.

Summer is even more fun. Fishing, boating, biking, hiking, sailing, horse back riding, four wheeling, swimming, Kayaking, camping, etc. 

The most appealing reason for me is Photography. The scenery is breathtaking, the wildlife abundant and the opportunities endless. Me and my Pentax equipment will live happily there. Don't think for one minute that my involvement in photography will diminish. On the contrary, I will bring my photography to new levels. I might start a studio  or offer workshops. I will certainly continue writing e-books. The future is exciting.

From this home...
to this home


From this view...
to this view.



We will be in the house for Christmas, and I think we might just have a white Christmas.

Although we would love to be near our combined children and grandchildren, they are virtually in all four corners of the Country. Maybe this fantastic location will bring them to us.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

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If you need an easy-to-understand e-book for your Pentax DSLR, please check our e-books store. 



Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Timing is everything. Important facts about Pentax you should know. Read this blog then share it with your Canikon friends. :)

Visitors to this page also like "Recommended Reading" on the right column. Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

Hi Pentaxian friends.

Timing is everything. So many of you, including myself, do wish that Pentax would have produced a Full Frame DSLR. Did you know that the first Full Frame DSLR was actually designed by Pentax, but the wrong timing and other factors prevented them to release what would have been the first Full Frame, 6 megapixels DSLR, in 2001.


Here is a press release issued on February 10, 2001:

DENVER, Colorado (February 10, 2001) . . . PENTAX Corporation will preview a new digital autofocus SLR camera (The MZ-D)) at the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) Show held in Orlando, February 11-14, 2001. The addition of this advanced digital SLR camera complements one of the most extensive photographic lines of any manufacturer in the industry including 35mm, APS, medium format and digital for various levels of photographers.


The MZ-S was the last 35mm camera that Pentax produced. I loved the design. Actually it wasn't their last 35mm, the *ist was, but the MZ-s was the last flagship model..

Created along the same developmental concept lines as the new PENTAX MZ-S professional 35mm autofocus SLR camera, this high-end digital SLR will feature a 35mm-film-sized, six megapixel CCD image sensor as well as a DSP and other digital processing components. This package was jointly developed with Philips Electronics in order to realize high-grade image quality, top-level performance and compact dimensions simultaneously. Offering compatibility with the existing PENTAX KAF2 lens mount, it will also accept PENTAX 645-system and 67-system interchangeable lenses (when used with an adapter). This high-performance digital autofocus SLR camera will be ideal for advanced amateurs and professionals who demand top quality images and SLR maneuverability.


The camera will be compatible with four new accessories introduced for the new MZ-S 35mm SLR camera including: 1.) BG-10 Battery Grip, 2.) CS-105 & CS-130 Cable Switches, 3.) TS-110 Release Timer Switch, and the 4.) AF360FGZ Dedicated Flash Unit. The final product specifications, pricing and marketing dates will be announced at a later time.

This DSLR still appeals to me today. I think the design is incredibly beautiful. Who's to say that Pentax couldn't reuse this design with a new / current Full Frame CMOS sensor!
 
The  LCD screen is small in today's standards, but look at the top panel of the camera...pure beauty. Remember that this was in 2001, that's ancient in digital technology, and yet Pentax was at the forefront of Full Frame DSLR.
So why wasn't it ever mass produced?

Well, as it turned out, the Phillips sensor fail to deliver. Actually, Contax were to introduced a new DSLR as well, based on this same sensor, but the failure to deliver from Phillips actually drove Contax to extinction. Aren't you glad that Pentax was strong to hang in there? If that sensor would have succeeded in producing great images, Pentax would have been ahead of Nikon and Canon. It took them a while to get back on their digital feet, but now with the 645D, the K-5 and the K-r, Pentax is definitely in the game.


The picture above was Pentax first design of a mirrorless digital camera...way ahead of everyone else. The year...1997. It was going to use Pentax "K" mount.  It was never released, but it seems like the idea was a good one, look at all the mirror-less cameras out on the market today.

This was a sample of a camera Pentax designed years ago (1997, yet never released): a K-mount digital CCD camera with with no mirror assembly, just live preview on the LCD.

I am fascinated by the 'Pentax Design Studio'concept model of this ultra-compact Digital K-SLR from 1997
******************************
Note: At the time Pentax were going to introduce the new MZ-D Full Frame - 6 megapixels,  Nikon's flagship model was the D1, with only an APS-C sensor @ 2.7 megapixels.  Canon had the EOS-1D with a Panasonic 1.3x APS-C sensor @ 4 megapixels. Nobody else had a Full Frame in the works. Technically speaking, and timing wise, if the Phillips sensor would have delivered, Pentax would have had the best DSLR way at the beginning of the DSLR revolution. But it isn't over yet, and with the current line of DSLRs, I am confident that Pentax will be at the top in the near future. Hang in there, the Pentax world is about to change the game. Never, never, but never give up!

Thanks for reading.

Yvon Bourque


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If you need an easy-to-understand e-book for your Pentax DSLR, please check our e-books store. 

Monday, December 8, 2014

Surprise someone for Christmas with an e-book for their Pentax DSLR emailed directly to them with your salutation.


 Hi Photographer friends,

Want to surprise someone for Christmas with an e-book for their Pentax DSLR?

As it was suggested by one of our customers, we can attach the e-book file to an email sent to whomever you chose for that special occasion, Christmas, anniversary, birthday, etc.

You can send us your salutation, and we will include it in the email.

We need your name, the recipient’s name and email address, the date and local time at which you want us to email the e-book.

We can also just send a generic salutation; To: and From:

We have e-books for the following Pentax DSLRs.

Pentax K-3
Pentax K-5, K-5 II and K-5 IIs
Pentax K-7
Pentax K-50 and K-500
Pentax K-30
Pentax K-x and K-r
Pentax K20D
Pentax K10D
Pentax K100D

Click to transfer to our e-book store:
You can also click on the image below.