[rainbowrising]

Happy New Year to everyone. And thank you for being so helpful. All the very best for 2012.

[Docrwm]

Happy 2012 to All!

[RoxnDox]

Happy New Year to everyone!

This was how I celebrated this morning - took a dive into our local harbor and poked around looking for intersting critters and bottles and "stuff" (and found some of all the above). Had a minor issue with my suit seals, so I didn't take my new camera down on its inaugural subsurface voyage... Here is me, from my brother's camera:



Jim

[lxdude]

Peace and happiness to all!

[Tord]

Consider this the official thread

Best wishes in the new year, and thanks for all your support for the site in 2011! We look forward to continue bringing you exciting features and content in the years to come

In case you missed it:
2011: the year in review at PentaxForums.com & Pentax

Been an intensive Pentax year for me, alas with no new Pentax cameras bought (correection: got one free, gratis, and for nothing, as an exchange for my first K-5), but two compacts - one for bad weather/low light (Olympus XZ-1, with an UW housing: Excellent combination, but they had forgotten a button/wheel for +/- EVs on the housing) and one for nice weather, & mainly video (Sony DSC-HX9V). The latter being my first Sony camera, ever.

A few lenses were added during the year, including a FA31 near Christmas (so together with the wife's lenses, we now have a nice set of primes: DA15, DA21, FA31, DA40, FA43, FA50, FA77 & SP 90 (Tamron's macro). The wife also bought the DA55-300, and I a Sigma 150-500, for me, and a Tamron 15-50 for her ;-)!

But the revolution was the arrival of two Sony NEX-5N, together with a few lenses: E 16, E 18-55, E 18-200, and the Zeiss 24. The kit lens (E 18-55) is not on par with Pentax DA18-55, in any way, but light and and contains the 'SR' as a Pentaxian would say. These NEXes are small wonders, with a few too few buttons (so some things are tricky to set up correctly), but otherwise amazing: pro quality video, a slightly better sensor (an updated version of the K-5's), an outstanding EVF (electronic vew finder - same as in the NEX-7 - very hard to obtain, due to the floodings in Bangkok last year - I made a search world-wide and found one!), touch-sensitive OLED display (brighter than most). Picture-wise it beats the K-5 if there are lots of highlights (for instance, much less trouble photgraphing white birds, like swans).

What has Sonys with Pentax to do, you might ask. A lot! As a combination made in heaven is the FA lenses, and the Tammy 90 (and my old Pentax 400), plus a K Mount to E Mount adapter! Now I have a light backup to the K-5, that can get even more out of the lenses, if the light is enough, and/or you have a sturdy tripod, as you eshew the 'SR' with this combination (Sony's variant is called OSS). I got my adapter from Amazon, but there are others on the market that make it possible to use the classic DA lenses as well, as the adapter have a ring with which you can adjust the aperature - not in any exact way, but it works (The excellent Novoflex adapters are one brand that does this, I'm told - very expensive). As there is no electric contact between the camera and the lens, the whole operation is manual, and the EXIF info is of little use - the Sony simply guess what's going on: "E Mount, T Mount, or no lens" is one of the more common comments, sometimes it claims I'm using an Arax Tilt and Shift lens - weird!

The Sony NEX-5N uses yet another menu system, and one with more than a few quirks, like not allowing basic things to be set, if the camera is in a mode that can't use that function (with our beloved K-5s it is so much simpler). OSS, Sony's in-lens optical stabilisation system, is very effective, but only available with some of the Sony-branded E Mount lenses, like the kit lens, and the massive E18-200 (which was designed with the Sony pro NEX video cameras in mind). You can attach Sony's Alfa lenses to the NEX range, if you have the right adapter - one of which even have the new Alfa range's more sofisticated AF system, with see-through mirror, extra processor, and the works (Expensive!!!). But these lenses have no SR/OSS (remember that the Alpha camera range use a system similar to Pentax K's), so again you're back to basics.

The results with NEX-5N and the FA Limited lenses are amazing, as long as you're steady and there is enough light for fast shutter operation. The sensor is not as trimmed for speed as the K-5's - more like the Nikon D7000 (which uses exactly the same as the K-5).

Let's hope that this year will see a NEX-like FF Pentax, with SR! I'd buy it instantly!

A Happy New Year to all!

[Jasvox]

Happy New Year 2012 to all Pentaxians in World from Wilson in Singapore, smallest country in world.

Happy new year to you too!

Singapore isn't the smallest country in the world though...not even close!

Jason

[Jean Mario]

Happy New Year !!! Bonne année !!