Pentax K-5 II

[Hoges]

Very happy chappy! on a recent trip to the UK, was able to pick up a Pentax K-5 II with the std 18-55 WR lens. 70GBP cashback plus VAT refund (20% :eek:) made it worthwhile. This my 3rd Pentax... started in 1979 with a MX, bought an Optio 750Z (7MP) in 2005. The lenses I had for the MX work beautifully with the K-5 albeit they are x1.5 the focal length of the 35mm format...but no matter. Still coming to terms with it ... !
what stunned me however was the top quality of some of the shots I got with the 8 MP camera on my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone... I'd always shied away from smart phones...but now...;)
I'll find a couple to "show"...
cheers

[p38arover]

Good stuff!

I have:

Pentax film
Z-10
SF7
SFx (bought in '89)
(my Spotmatic bought in '68 was stolen a few years ago)

Pentax Digital
*istD
K100D
K-7
K-5
Q

Don't ask about lenses or other brands of digital cameras.

[p38arover]

So we can expect to see you over at Pentax Forums - K-5, K-30, K-01, 645D - The Largest Pentax Camera Forum, News, and Review Site (http://www.pentaxforums.com/) ?

[clubagreenie]

I still love my Spotmatic, especially with Ilford B&W media.

[Disco_owner]

Great choice , I have K-5 and a K-5 IIs.

Pentax DSLR cameras are great value for money.

I have an 18-135 WR lens and up until a few weeks ago it was my Most used lens for seascape / Landscape photos until one of the Lens Elements became de-centred , it very uncommon but it has happened. now being repaired.

[Hoges]

So we can expect to see you over at Pentax Forums - K-5, K-30, K-01, 645D - The Largest Pentax Camera Forum, News, and Review Site (http://www.pentaxforums.com/) ?

You will now! Amazing! they're as one-eyed about Pentax as AULRO is about LR!! (cos they're squinting through the viewfinder I suppose:angel::wasntme:)
cheers & thanks
A.

[p38arover]

You will now! Amazing! they're as one-eyed about Pentax as AULRO is about LR!! (cos they're squinting through the viewfinder I suppose:angel::wasntme:)


Well, they know they are better - Canikon is the equivalent of Land Cruiser/Patrol and Pentax = Land Rover...:twisted:

[Disco_owner]

You will now! Amazing! they're as one-eyed about Pentax as AULRO is about LR!! (cos they're squinting through the viewfinder I suppose:angel::wasntme:)
cheers & thanks
A.


Funny you mentioned Squinting through the Tiny View Finder of the K5 , That is one thing I find most Annoying about the K5. but I absolutely love the ergonomics and Button Placements on the camera , may be because I have shot with pentax and No other DSLR camera , The VF on K5 is a Bit like the Handbrake on a Defender , it's there and it annoys you but you Live with it .:twisted:

[vnx205]

Well, they know they are better - Canikon is the equivalent of Land Cruiser/Patrol and Pentax = Land Rover...:twisted:

I am beginning to think that comparison is remarkably accurate. :)

I have often thought I should invest in a DSLR, but until reading this thread I had not done any serious research. I still own the Pentax ME Super that I bought in the very early 1980s and last used it about four years ago, so I often wondered how good the new Pentax cameras are. However, it seems that all most people talk about are Canon and Nikon.

I very much like the look of the K-30 and the more I read about it, the more your comparison with a Land Rover seems appropriate. Pentax, like Land Rover have in the past been associated with innovation and it seems that is still the case.

Just about every review I have been able to find is full of praise for the K-30, with the biggest criticism related to the video performance and the lack of a HDMI output for use with videos. That seems to me to be a bit like criticising a Defender because it doesn't perform as well on the highway as some other 4WDs. I didn't buy my Defender for its highway performance and I don't plan to buy a DSLR for its video capabilities.

All DSLRs are improving, but it appears that Pentax are continuing to lead the way in the same way as Land Rover. They might not be as popular as some of the other brands, but like the Defender, they seem to have the features I want and they seem to do the important things better than some of the opposition.

The K-30 might not have all the features of the K-5, but it has the features I want and there are some areas where the K-30 has been improved over the K-5.

The best price I have been able to find so far is $549 with the Pentax 18-55 WR lens. I know a lot of people rubbish kit lenses, but maybe I can use some of my lenses from the ME Super if I really want to get a better result.

EDIT
I notice some reviews say that the shutter sound and the auto focus are noisy. After 23 years driving a Series III and 7 years in a Defender, I doubt that I will notice that. :D

[p38arover]

The K-30 has been discontinued.

Pentax K-30 Discontinued: A Tribute - Pentax News - PentaxForums.com (http://www.pentaxforums.com/news/pentax-k-30-discontinued.html)

Try a K-50

[p38arover]

See Pentax K-50 Review - Introduction - PentaxForums.com (http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-k-50-review/introduction.html'src=notice)

[vnx205]

The K-30 has been discontinued.

Pentax K-30 Discontinued: A Tribute - Pentax News - PentaxForums.com (http://www.pentaxforums.com/news/pentax-k-30-discontinued.html)

Try a K-50

That is why the K-30 is now available at such a good price. The K-50 apparently costs less than the K-30 did when it was released, but the K-30 has dropped a lot since it was discontinued.

There don't seem to me to be enough improvements in the K-50 to justify the difference in cost; about $350 more.

The K-500 is just slightly dearer than the K-30, but doesn't have the weather resistance of the K-30 and K-50 and is missing one or two other features that sound useful.

[Bushie]

Your Pentax lenses will operate with a new DSLR albeit with some reduced functionality, autofocus probably being the main one.

Martyn

[p38arover]

maybe I can use some of my lenses from the ME Super if I really want to get a better result.


See How to use/meter Manual & M42 Lenses on all Pentax DSLRs (K-5, K-r, K-x, K-7...) - PentaxForums.com (http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-lens-articles/110657-how-use-meter-manual-m42-lenses-all-pentax-dslrs-k-5-k-r-k-x-k-7-a.html?)

[vnx205]

Thanks for that. I've bookmarked the article. One of the reasons I have put off buying a DSLR is that I was too lazy to do the research to learn whether my existing Pentax lenses could be used with the new camera. I knew some things wouldn't work or would need a work-around, but I think I could cope with doing things as described in that link.

I would have felt bad about having good lenses sitting around not being used, so I didn't want to follow the herd and buy a Canon or Nikon. It seems that some of the new Pentax cameras are much better than most people realise. (Just like Land Rovers. :D )

[p38arover]

Pentax K-mount A lenses work perfectly and easily with Pentax DSLRs. Just set the lens aperture ring to A and let the camera control the aperture. Manual focus, of course.

I have a couple of M42 lenses from my Spotmatic days that, with the K-mount adapter I bought in 1989, work brilliantly. The auto-focus lenses I bought with my Pentax SFx in '89 work perfectly with the DSLRs.

A few weeks back, I picked up a Pentax Z-10 film camera, Pentax F 35-105mm Macro, Sigma 70-300mm Macro, Achiever 630AF flash, three camera bags (including one Crumpler) and accessories for $40

[p38arover]

Pentax Australia web store is offering 10% off for Spring

CELEBRATE SPRING 10% OFF AT PENTAX AUSTRALIA WEB STORE! (http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=cd5ae63206382fd74401b57fe&id=59d05ebc61&e=e23d55833d)

[p38arover]

You could ask Khos (Disco_owner) if he is still selling his K-5. I was going to buy it when he got the K-5IIS but he went Nepal with it and I bought one while he was away.

[Disco_owner]

I was looking at selling my K-5 prior to my trip to kathmandu but decided to take it along as a backup body and then sell it after I got back from the Trek ,but by this time Ron had picked up a realy great deal on a K5 II and a Kit lens from memory ?

However I can't bring myself to selling the K-5 Body anymore , specially to a Fellow Aulro Forum member , it's pretty badly battererd and Bruised , the built in flash Won't pop up , Guide rails are salwater corroded now and it needs an urgent service and clean , but camera functions are still fine.:eek:

Allan I Highly recommend the k-30 & Da18-135 kit Lens , K-30 uses the Prime-M processing engine as apposed to the Prime II ,it proceses images faster than my K-5 or K-5 IIs. read / Write to the card is quicker. I also had a play around with one and in Liveview AF is superfast , I had he FA 31 Limited lens on it when I tested it.:twisted:

[vnx205]

Thanks to the information and reassurance from Ron, Khos and Martyn, I have bought the DSLR equivalent of a Land Rover, ie one that is in many ways a better product, but is ignored or dismissed by the majority.

As I mentioned earlier, I had my heart set on a Pentax K-30. However I finished up with a K-500. http://www.pentaxforums.com/reviews/pentax-k-500-review/introduction.html

I had hoped that the K-30 would be available at heavily discounted prices since it was discontinued, but finding it at a good price in an Australian outlet with the WR lens wasn't easy. That started me thinking that if my lens wasn't weather resistant, what was the point of a weather resistant body. I hadn't found a problem in the last 50 years using non WR cameras, so I figured I could manage with a non WR camera now.

So on Thursday, I ordered a K-500 from a Western Australian outlet and it arrived this morning (Monday). I would have saved less than $50 buying it from overseas and when I read reviews of those outlets, a typical score was 289 Excellent, 40 Good, 17 Fair and 29 Terrible. Almost always the "terrible" scores were given because of warranty issues or customer service. So I decided that the peace of mind of buying from an Australian outlet was worth a few extra dollars.

So far I have established that it works (thanks to the information in the article Ron provided) with my 33 year old 50mm 1.4 lens from my ME Super and with my 28mm lens and a Tamron 28-200. Because I had those lenses available, I decided that keeping the price down by getting the camera just with the 18-55 lens made sense.

A few shots taken inside in poor light don't show an obvious difference between the 50mm prime and the 18-55mm kit lens. Maybe there might be a more discernible difference with shots taken in better light with lower ISO settings.

Now I need it to stop raining so that I can take a few photos. The rain isn't a problem because of the non WR body and lens, but because the light is just so dismal. :p

[vnx205]

Experienced users of DSLRs will no doubt be singularly unimpressed and might as well stop reading now. :D

However, like a kid with a new toy, I am enjoying discovering how far camera equipment has progressed since I bought my last camera in about 1980.

I have been delighted to discover that I can still use all the lenses that used to fit my Pentax ME Super.

This, for example was taken with my 50mm f1.4m lens, obviously with manual focus.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Before some sharp eyed photographer complains that it isn't perfectly sharp, I should point out that it was a hand held shot taken at 1/3 sec. I couldn't have done that with my film camera.

An even better illustration of the fact that Pentax's anti shake feature works is this one.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/camera-corner/65732d1379418287-pentax-k-5-ii-bears.jpg

At that resolution it looks reasonably sharp, but it does have significant blur when viewed full size.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/camera-corner/65733d1379418302-pentax-k-5-ii-bear.jpg

That might not look especially sharp, but since it was a hand held shot taken at 1 second, I am convinced that the system works. I know what a 1 second hand held shot would have looked like with my old SLR.

I even tried some improvised macro just holding my old 28mm lens back to front in front of my 50mm lens to see if I thought it was worth spending about $5 on a connecting ring.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/camera-corner/65734d1379418324-pentax-k-5-ii-wheel.jpg


The pronounced vignette makes me think that maybe just a reversing ring might be more useful. I seem to have lost the one I had for the ME Super.

BTW, I do own a tripod, but I wanted to test the limits of the anti shake, especially with my old 1980's prime lenses.

[dullbird]

Ok I will ask!


where is the photo that you take the time to describe ???

[Hoges]

:Rolling::wasntme:

[vnx205]

Ok I will ask!


where is the photo that you take the time to describe ???

Four photos actually. :) I can see them on my computer.

I don't seem to be able to put all the thumbnails back in my original, so I have added them here.

You will have to use your imagination to work out where the photos would have fitted in the original post. :D

Don't forget, these are not meant to be remarkable photos. They are just intended to illustrate why I am impressed with the shake reduction on the Pentax and because I am just as excited as any kid with a new toy would be. :D

EDIT
They may be visible in the earlier post now. I changed the format of the link.