I took yet another low-budget manual lens out on the streets of Indianapolis for some challenging street photography. While the lens itself performed above and beyond expectations, using a 50mm lens for street photography is a challenge to say the least, regardless of what brand you're using, but take away the auto focus and you've just upped the challenge.

I purchased a generic Pentax K-mount 100-300mm Quantaray lens for my K-70 for $15 on Ebay! Was it worth the hassle of ordering and testing? Check out the video for my comments, and resulting images.

My goal was birding. It's a simple term that describes taking photos of birds. There are a lot of youtube channels devoted to birding, not so much when it comes to the Pentax K-70, and almost nothing when it comes to the Quantaray 100-300mm lens.

So I pulled the trigger, assuming for $15 I had nothing to lose, and bought the lens from an Ebay seller. The lens arrived in great condition, and I was surprised how solid, clean and firm it felt. There was a bit of a jiggle or shaking sounds inside the lens when attached to the camera, but doesn't seem to have any effect on the results of the images.

This video shows not only my unboxing of the Fujifilm X-T3 APS-C sensor digital camera, but also the instructions on how to charge the internal battery (not just the usual external battery) so that the settings can be stored in your new camera.

This may sound simple, but it was something that took me a while to figure out, and required a search on Youtube. It's not an easy-to-find explanation, so I hope this video will shed some light on the process so others don't spend time looking it up as I had to. I assume it's in the manual, but come one, who's reading the manual right away before you start playing with the camera!?

The issue is when you pull the Fuji X-T3 out of the box, you'll need to insert a charged battery (mine came over 3/4 charged) and leave it in the camera for an hour or so before the memory will hold any settings you create setting your camera up. So you really need to make sure you have a charged battery, put it in the camera, then let it sit for at least an hour - THEN you can can start saving your custom settings, date, etc.

I found this out the way - as I'm sure many did - by setting the date and a few other incidentals, only to turn the camera off, then back on to find none of the settings I changed were there. It was back to factory. After doing this over and over a couple times, I checked some online forums and found out that you have to leave the battery in the camera for a while when new, so that the internal battery can charge up in order to hold your settings when the regular battery has been removed. While this makes sense, seems like a sticker warning would be nice for us ignorant folks - since this is not the case with most cameras out there.

Let me know if this video is of help by commenting on the youtube channel under this video. More to come!

How does the Fujifilm EX-F8 on-camera flash work with the Fujifilm X-T1 and Fujifilm 16-50mm lens for portrait work in extreme sunlight? Watch my video and find out! Most portrait photographer will tell you on-camera flash pointed directly at the subject is the worst light you can use. And that's true. However, sometimes that's just going to have to do! It's better than no photos at all, or photos with raccoon eyes' (resulting from harsh shadown in the eye socket due to the sun).

So if you just want to have some fun and take some portraits, and aren't on a top model, high-finance exotic shoot, it's ok to use your convenient little on-camera flash. The Fujifilm EX-F8 comes wiht most X-series models, and is very compact and discreet. Give it a shot, you might like it!

Purchase the flash here if you have lost yours, or it did not come with your camera: Fujifilm EX-F8 Hotshoe Flash (for X-series cameras) - https://amzn.to/3IuODtv

In this video, posted on my Youtube channel, I take my Pentax K70 w/18-135mm kit lens on a rural drive and brave my way through thorns and sticker bushes to grab a photo of a basketball goal on an abandoned, overgrown rural property. The deeper I walked, the stickier things got!

Using the Pentax K70 w/18-135mm kit lens, I was able to get photos of the basketball goal from many different angles, but growth was so dense that I was not able to get a clear shot of the hoop without some form of weeds or undergrowth converging in the photo.

I use manual mode typically when I shoot with the Pentax K70, but it is such an amazing camera, with great features and solid sensor, if you want to just use shutter priority or aperture priority, or even (gasp!) AUTO mode, this camera will deliver what you need. It's like going to be a permanent feature on this channel, and definitely a permanent camera in my arsenal!