Happy Belated Lunar New Year (plus some 100mm f2.8 WR test shots)!

Belated because I guess DPReview had to give me a stern slap on the wrist because I poked fun of their terrible white balance and color on some of their recent Sony images (i.e. the portrait of the lens engineer in particular). Few days in and I get to read how a pro prefers Hasselblad for easy no PP skin tones and colors. I guess when I make fun of poor white balance and color its definitely trolling, but when someone else talks about superior no-fuss colors straight out of the camera, its an editorial piece.

Anyhow I also have been testing my 100mm f2.8 WR a bit. I wanted to see if it could do double-duty for some telephoto event needs -

My daughter takes swim classes at some indoor 24 hr gym with terrible lighting which I consider a litmus test of sorts. Artificial color cast mixed in with a little natural sunlight from windows, etc.

6D + 200mm f2.8

This is one of the better shots I have taken with the Canon.

I wanted to evaluate if I could do similarly with the K-50 and 100mm f2.8 (obviously at a light gathering disadvantage and some reach).

I didn't get any real 'keeper' shots with the K-50 but mostly because I didn't spend time shooting like I did with the Canon before and only took a handful of test shots near the end of her class to assess some AF capability with a screw-drive Macro lens as well as low-light performance in pretty poor lighting conditions. What I realize is the Canon shot is from a better vantage point as it faces the windows while with Pentax I am shooting against the windows (which is why you see highlights on the back of the cap). Framing is tighter not only because of 150mm (equiv) vs 200mm but I was just shooting from a closer position with the Canon shot. Also slightly faster shutter speed on the Canon. Pentax has lower ISO shots in exif but only because the shots are pulled 4+ stops in post. My end thoughts are, if I shoot at 1/250, shoot in a similar position as I did with Canon which is facing sunlit windows, I can probably get shots that are close enough for this litmus test. At 100% crop they might not hold up perfectly but after everything is said and done with some PP, it doesn't matter enough to me. The K-50 with the 100mm f2.8 WR mounted fits in this small bag, and offers awesome macro capability as well as effective image stabilization compared to the unstabilized Canon 200mm -

http://www.amazon.com/Xit-XTCC1-Small-Digital-Camera/dp/B00B4LFAAO

Here are some other 100mm f2.8 WR test shots I took -

Completely backlist, shadows pulled in post

a macro test shot...I had no idea there was a zerg of aphids until I viewed it on my computer...it kinda gives me the creeps, I'm not really big on capturing bugs.

Anyhow I am still a gearhead as my camera exif history in Lightroom doesn't lie.  There has been plenty of neat releases lately, but interestingly enough, it seems as if Pentax still holds a niche in having APS-C sensor IBIS + small lenses.  The Sony A6300 for example still has no IBIS, and the lenses I would want for it are pretty massive and would be pretty silly ergonomically (i.e. the Sony 90mm f2.8 is massive compared to the Pentax 100mm f2.8 WR).  And I still think Sony white balance and skin tones is like me trying to do PP on my Pentax or Canon indoor pool shots except I have to do that PP for broad daylight or flash shots for Sony.