Day at work with the Pentax

[maleek]

I know it's not like me to start treads. But here it goes.

As a owner of the Pentax K100D and a free-lance journalist I often get to do both photography and writing, in which the latter is really why I got involved in journalism in the first place. As my interest in photography grew, at last I got myself a DSLR. And my photography for the magazines I (now not so often) work for, increased in quality as I practised.

Well, today was the first day I took my K100D to work. To take pictures for a reportage about the city public library for a local paper. It worked like a charm. And even with the kit-lens I got the kind of Bokeh that I intended. This confirms my belief that Pentax has one of the better kit-lenses on the market, much better then Canon's counterpart, and that the K100D is indeed "good for the field" when you have time to set up the WB properly and/or use RAW.

Well, this is not something big for most of you. But for me it is very positive. It means I no longer need to borrow the paper's Rebel XTI:s, at least when I freelance and have time for PP myself.

[SuperJared]

Before my K10D I had the Nikon D50 with 18-55 kit lens. I was highly impressed with the quality of that lens for a long time and wondered if the Pentax kit lens would be as good. Fortunately the Pentax 18-55 is superior! Fast focusing, sharp photos -- the only con in comparing to the Nikon is the noise, though that doesn't bother me.

I love this lens!

[Arpe]

Good on ya maleek. I swear one day I'll try a RAW shot too!

[FotoPete]

The Nikon and Canon kits are nasty. The front element is glued onto the focus module and rotates. The focus 'grip' is thin. The Pentax kit is very nice and even has distance markings.

Haha the other day, I was snapping pics at a board meeting along with some school paper photographers. His D50 died in the middle. Just died and wouldn't turn on. No Error ###...it just wouldn't turn on. Diagnosis at the repair was a "condesation" problem. I think it was him trying to mount my Vivitar S1 28-90. It wouldn't fit and then when he remounted his DX 18-70, his camera wouldn't turn on. (Cuz i was using his Nikkor-S 50/1.4 (non-ai) on my Samsung earlier, he was intrigued about Nikon F - Pentax K mount crossovers*.)

*Check out Sean C.'s (carpents) pbase gallery. He has a section devoted to his nikon lenses and how they actually fit on the K-Mount. I think its restricted to Non-AI lenses only.

[Alvin]

Funny how some reviews totally slam the kit lenses, and yet when you look at pictures when you really use the lens, the whole truth unfolds. So the adage still applies - You'll never know until you try.

[maleek]

Yes. I think it's a matter of elitism to some degree, they "have" to write it down. Because of course there are better lenses out there. But sometimes I feel like they forget that many people are on a limited budget, and that they need to judge the kit lens on it's own terms. Is it good compared to other kit-lenses? Well, the pentax sure is.

[maleek]

One of the photos taken in the series. I think this turned out quite well, there is life to the scene. I think there is a glimpse of dynamic in the interaction between me and the librarians, and amongst the three women themselves.