A New York gallery has colorized Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, one of the seminal works for black & white photography. Lots of photographers are outraged.

I’m not.

The colorized version only proves the power of black & white photography. Without the connection to Adams’ masterpiece you’d never give it a second glance. It’s boring. The white crosses in the foreground that Adams worked a decade to print the way he wanted create dynamic tension in black & white. The crosses are lost in muddy brown fields in the colourized replica. So is colourizing Moonrise a crime against art? Photography? Do you care? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Elsewhere in this week’s newsletter, Senior Member Angus_M89 is very happy with his SMC Pentax-F* 300mm F4.5 ED [IF]; Site Supporter rdenney gets a workout with his Takumar/Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 500mm F4.5; and Pentaxian newmikey has a bit of fun with the K-1 Mark II and the Irix 11mm/f4.0.

If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please take a moment to join the almost 1,600 Pentaxians who have subscribed to our free curated compendium of the hundreds of great images and post shared each week in our Pentax community. Please let us know your thoughts here in the comments and on our Pentax Forums, and have a perfect Pentaxian week!

Threads of the Week:

A bit of fun with the K-1 Mark II and the Irix 11mm/f4.0

May 31, 2026 • Pentax K-1 & K-1 II • 10 replies • 482 views

newmikey said — PEF conversion: Darktable
Post-pocessing: Digikam
Thumbnailing: ImageMagick
Web album: Piwigo Read more »

Pentax Film shooter move to digital Pentax

May 30, 2026 • Welcomes and Introductions • 11 replies • 250 views

Spruce Booth said — Hi everyone, My name’s Matthew and I’m from Brisbane, Australia. I’ve been a digital Fujifilm shooter for the last 10 years, mainly focusing on portraits. For my film work, my go to is Pentax, including a few 35mm SLRs and a Pentax 6x7. Read more »

An “Asahi Optical Company” digital camera with zone focusing, the Pentax EI-100

May 30, 2026 • Pentax Compact Cameras • 4 replies • 480 views

kyomoto said — A 2001 point and shoot I found for sale very cheap, the Pentax EI-100. Its very thick, bulky, and kind of heavy for what it is. It feels like an APS camera had digital bits put inside of it. Read more »

Pentaxian User Reviews

Pentax Lenses

SMC Pentax-F* 300mm F4.5 ED [IF]

Reviewed by Senior Member Angus_M89

Review Date: June 1, 2026 Recommended | Price: $100.00 | Rating: 9

Pros: Size, IQ, servicing / cleaning Cons:
Sharpness: 9 Bokeh: 9 Autofocus: 9 Handling: 10 Value: 10 Camera Used: K-1, MZ-S

Check the disassembly thread I made for mine. Picked it up for $140AUD as most elements were covered in fungus. About an hour or so after I got it I had gotten every element clean except the first one which I still haven’t figure out the right way to remove it. For $140AUD, I won’t complain.
My first reaction is how pleasantly small this lens is for 300mm. I have the M* version and it reminds me very much of the philosophy for performance with size. The hood un-screwing and screwing is great. I wish more lenses had that. The tripod leg looks and feels good on it when shooting.
AF is very smooth and fast on DSLR and SLR.
Bokeh is very nice. I like that I can see a curvature in the viewfinder for out of focus background objects when taking images. Image quality is very much star quality. I have the FA 100-300mm which I actually found quite sharp and pleasant. The F* just pushes past this and gives better colours / rendering with everything.
I would have loved a bit more speed for bokeh and low light photography but really this isn’t an issue with the lens. F/4.5 is enough and stopping down to f/8 is as usual great for sharpening and clarity. Since owning it for about a month I have used it for a school indoor choir performance, general nature photos. I am very happy with this lens and would have paid much more for it. I am looking forward to an aerial show in September to see how it handles tracking planes, fast focus and shooting.
I was debating getting the F 1.7AF converter but decided in favour of the rear converter-A 2X-S due to the reviews of each. I will update the review when I have dabbled with it at 600mm.
Photo below is on the MZ-S, hand held, Ultramax pushed +1 to 800, f/4.5, 1/250. Developed in CineStill CS41, scanned on Epson V550.

Takumar/Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 500mm F4.5

Reviewed by Site Supporter rdenney

Review Date: June 3, 2026 Recommended | Rating: 5

Pros: Inexpensive Cons: Dated design and very heavy
Sharpness: 5 Aberrations: 5 Bokeh: 4 Handling: 2 Value: 9 Camera Used: Canon 5D with M42 Adapter

This lens is able to produce reasonably good photographs under the following conditions:

• STOUT tripod

• Gimbal mount

• Stopped down to about f/8 or f/11

• A couple of native bearers to help you carry it

• Prints smaller than 8x10 (or web display)

• For astro work, bright subjects only.

Wide open, this lens will present chromatic aberration, both lateral and longitudinal, severe enough to demonstrate that the wide aperture is there to help one focus, not for actually making photos.
But it’s cheap and cheerful for those who spend time in the gym, and when used carefully can produce usable results. This photo was made at 1/350 and f/11, mounted on Bogen’s beefiest legs with a heavy gimbal mount. The lens was mounted on a Canon 5D (Mark I) using an M42-EF adapter, and I was panning the subject. My keeper rate with this lens for subjects like this is about 25%, but much better for static subjects. I doubt this lens was ever used by sports photographers, even in 1969.

I did experiment with making it a visual telescope by adapting an eyepiece to it, but it's utterly unusable at maximum aperture because of the severe lateral color. For astrophotography, one needs a subject that is quite bright (like the Moon photos shown in these reviews) to allow the aperture needed to control the aberrations. I see dimmer (galaxy) subjects up in these reviews, but frankly in 2025 or later I would recommend spending only a little more for something like an Svbony 4" ED achromat refracting telescope. With the focal reducer used for astrophotography, the focal length of that telescope is 560mm at f/5.6, and it will perform vastly better as a telescope for any astronomical application than will this old Takumar.
Rick "expectations appropriately controlled" Denney

Comment of the Week:

Senior Member Kingman on What Legendary Pentax lens should get the TTArtisan Treatment? Finals! May 28 Poll: Well, I own #1 SMC 28mm f2.0 Hollywood and #2 SMC A*200mm f4.0 Macro. So I don't need a remake. I also have the SMC 15mm f3.5 another supposed "Hollywood" lens. If they remake the A*200mm f4.0 Macro, they better make a more ergonomic clamp on lens mount. The original tripod lens mount knobs will hit and scratch the K-1 pentaprism housing.

After using the A*200 Macro on my Sony a7rV, I was not as impressed with its image resolution results compared to the Sony FE90mm f2.8 Macro OSS. I would have thought the Pentax A*200mm f4.0 would out perform the Sony FE90mm f2.8 Macro. The Pentax A*200mm was a definite second place under the Sony FE90mm f2.8 Macro, with the Pentax DFA 100mm f2.8 Macro a distant third place in just balls out resolution. A 61MP sensor really starts to show the ultimate resolution performance of lenses. If there were to ever me a Pentax K-1 iii with a higher pixel density sensor, they'd have to careful about the glass that is in current production at Pentax. With the current 36MP on the K-1, I could see a new Pentax DSLR with 44 or 50 MP but not much more using existing Pentax DFA and FA glass.

Is Colorizing Moonrise a crime against photography?

The Best of Pentax Forums June 4 Poll

A New York gallery has colorized Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, one of the seminal works for black & white photography. Lots of photographers are outraged.

I’m not.

The colorized version only proves the power of black & white photography. Black and white photography has a unique way of revealing the essence of the objects being photographed, of freezing and distilling the decisive moment. Consider one of the most famous news photos ever taken: Joe Rosenthal’s photo of the flag raising during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima has been made into monuments, stamps and all sorts of memorabilia.

Did you know a colour movie was shot of the event? No one does. The colour movie is a few seconds of some guys wrestling a pole. The black & white image allows the viewer to pause and examine the strain and fear of the soldiers in a way that moving color film cannot capture.

Take a look at the colourized Moonrise. Without the connection to Adams’ masterpiece you’d never give it a second glance. It’s boring. The white crosses in the foreground that Adams worked a decade to print the way he wanted create dynamic tension in black & white. The crosses are lost in muddy brown fields in the colourized replica. So is colourizing Moonrise a crime against art? Photography? Do you care? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
This poll closes June 10

And here’s a YouTube video I did on this controversy:

And here are the results of last week’s poll:

Weekly Photo Challenges

Project 52-14-22: Circles, until 6-7 (Sunday)
Back to "Working with Shapes." A photo challenge centered on the theme of "circles" is an excellent way to train your photographic eye to spot shapes, symmetries, and geometry in everyday life. Circles can be found everywhere—you just have to look closely. I'm looking forward to seeing many old and new participants in Project 52 and to see your round things from around the world. Take your best shot, but most of all, have fun!

And here’s the entry from Loyal Site Supporter PurpleMyth: In the kitchen.
Chainmail for cleaning cast iron pans. K70, 17-70 sigma, iso 200, 1/100s, f4.5. 6/3/26 10:30am

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Pentaxian Profile - Terry Miesle

Insect field study

By PF Staff in Pentaxian Profiles on Aug 29, 2015

Editorial note: in today's Pentaxian Profile, we follow the story of Terry Miesle, a Pentaxian who uses his Pentax gear to shoot macros and document wildlife.

PentaxForum Front page stories May 28-June 3:

Announcing “Pets or other Animals” - Our June 2026 Photo Contest

Win prizes in our official monthly photo contests

By PF Staff in Photo Contests on Jun 2, 2026

We’re herewith announcing our monthly photo contest for June. The theme for this month is Pets or other Animals. For the month of June the theme is “Pets or other Animals”. Good luck! First prize is a $50 gift card to B&H Photo, second prize is a one year forum account upgrade, and third prize is a box of photo paper form Red River.

The official contest rules are found here. Click here to submit a photo for the contest.

And then there were 4. We had 18 lenses last week in Round 2 of our little tournament; only 4 attracted votes in the double digits: SMC Pentax 28mm F2 “Hollywood;” SMC Pentax-A* 200mm F4 Macro ED; SMC Pentax-M 35mm F1.4; and the SMC Pentax 20mm F1.4. Frankly, I’d buy any and all of th…

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One of my fav things about Pentax Forums is that I still learn stuff about Pentax here despite shooting Pentaxes since 1979. Last week I mentioned a unicorn, the almost mythical SMC Pentax 20mm F1.4, of which only seven prototypes were ever made.

Turns out there was another unicorn. …

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I have a 7artisans 50mm F0.95. It’s a Leica Noctilux knockoff that marries modern CAD/CAM manufacturing techniques with half-century old classic designs like the Noctilux that were prohibitively expensive back in the day. For example aspherical elements that used to require painstaking hand…

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The Pentax K-3 III Monochrome is an amazing camera. It’s also a complicated machine. I’ve daily driven one since it first came out. But Site Supporter Fenwoodian says in his review of the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome I really wanted to love this camera; but it’s the most complex and complicated camera I’ve ever owned (I …

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Digital photographers trade JPEG film emulation recipes like contestants in a chili cookoff. Pentax being Pentax, the company has taken its own path rather than following old film emulsions. So while there are some common ones like the K-3 III’s Reversal Film and Monochrome Custom Image modes, the interesting on…

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I’ve been using Photoshop since its early days on Fat Macs; newspapers were early adapters of digital darkrooms. And for years I’ve tweaked every single RAW file in Photoshop before using it; it was a reflex. These days I still keep my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome set to RAW+JPEG, but after a lot of tweaking of t…

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I’ve just picked up an SMC PENTAX DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fish-Eye for my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. Interestingly, while the 10mm end of things is suitably fishy, I find myself using it at 17mm quite a bit. It’s not really fishy, but it’s quite funky, what with the rectilinear distortion.

Maybe funky old lenses…

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We have new hope for another Pentax dSLR after an interview with Kazunobu Saiki the head of the camera division at Pentax and Ricoh. It sure sounds like a new Pentax dSLR is on the way! But no hints as to whether it would be full frame or APS-C.

Do you care? Are you ride or die with full frame? APS-C? Or are you ride or die w…

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I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Diane Arbus’ Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, NYC. On the one hand, it’s a great photo that captures the intense emotions of childhood and the war like nature of boys. On the other hand, that didn’t happen. Arbus’ contact sheet shows she followed the boy around the p…

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I’ve long been a fan of the great portraitists: Richard Avendon’s In the American West; Edward Weston’s nudes; Annie Leibovitz’s magazine covers; and most especially Diane Arbus’ work.

But I like Weston’s peppers even better than his nudes. And when I’m out seriously shooting I almost never point my camer…

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Do you love your digicam? Do you have everything set ‘just so?’ Does it just fit your eye? Then should you buy a backup? You can argue that a new camera is better than your old broken model. Is that what you want? You can argue that the image quality of the K-3 III Colour is better – or worse, depending …

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Site supporter markduq walks us through the creation of this award-winning photo with his Pentax K-1 Mark II and an HD Pentax-D FA 150 - 450mm F4.5-5.6 lens.

Elsewhere this week, JoelA let’s us know a sandstorm is coming; Loyal Site Supporter Henrico reviews the Sigma EX DG APO 500mm F4.5; and gatorguy shares a c…

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There’s always a lot of talk here on the Forums about when Pentax cameras will be upgraded. Perhaps a better question is has digicam technology plateaued?

There was a time early in the digital camera age when each new model was a revelation. Hasn’t that time passed? The Pentax K-3 III is an amazing camera — I own the Monochrome…

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We all know the stereotype-all Pentaxians are grumpy men between the ages of 82 and a half and 87, yelling Hey you kids! GET THAT MOOSE OFF MY LAWN OR I’LL POKE YOU WITH MY PENTAX POINTED STICK!!!

Is this true? Or are more generations represented here on the Forums? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know!

Elsewhere this week, …

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There’s a bit of a stereotype that the average Pentaxian was born in 1897 and alternates between yelling Hey you kids! Get off my lawn! And yelling Pentax is DOOOOOMED!!! So I found interesting Loyal Site Supporter Sebrof’s suggestion that we look at forum demographics. Adam is looking into whether we can pull demographics…

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Last week’s Are You A Pure Pentaxian poll showed a significant portion of Pentaxians shoot Pentax lenses on third-party cameras. I’m in that camp. There are two systems in regular rotation for me: Pentax K-3 III Monochrome and its little lens: the SMC Pentax-M 20mm F4, the HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE…

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Are you a Pure Pentaxian? Do you only shoot Pentax cameras with Pentax lenses. Or do you use third party lenses on your Pentax cameras? Maybe you use your Pentax lenses on your third party cameras!

Or do you — gasp! — sometimes shoot third party lenses on third party cameras and just leave your Pentax gear at home? Vote in this w…

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It’s fashionable lately to say that mirrorless cameras have completely replaced Single Lens Reflex models with optical viewfinders just as thoroughly as SLRs replaced rangefinders almost a century ago. And yet you can still buy rangefinders today; new models continue to ship for both digital and film photographers. That’s because T…

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Do you have a lucky lens, an optic you always reach for when a shot is important? Seems like every fisherman has a lucky lure. Interestingly, research shows that it’s not that fishermen believe in their lure because it’s lucky; it’s lucky because they believe in it! They fish it harder, and longer, and never give up on it.

I …

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