Been around here for a while, mostly following informational threads. Hope this is the right forum for my history discussion.
A little background first. I started out in 1986 with a Ricoh KR30sp body and a Sigma 35-70mm zoom which was recommended by the Wolf Camera salesman. Within about 6 months I added a Sigma 70-210mm and a Sigma 28mm macro a short while later and stuck with that setup for quite a while. In the mid to late 90s, the film advance lever stopped working and so I took it back to Wolf Camera who had to send it off to Japan for repair. Said it would take over 4 months to get it back. Since I couldn't be without it that long I bought a new Pentax ZX-M body to hold me over until the KR30sp returned. (Still have both film bodies today) I never had any formal photography training and have been pretty much self taught, and what a slow learning curve it's been. I got some good film shots over the years, but never felt like I was more than an amateur.
Around 2000 I stopped shooting film and started using point and shoots, DSLRs were way out of my price range. In 2006 I stumbled on an article about Pentax introducing the K100D which had shake reduction and would use my old K-mount lenses. The price point seemed about right so I bought the kit with the 18-55mm so now I had four lenses. My old film days came right back to me and I started taking more photos. I love going to airshows and my first big event was "The Gathering of Mustangs and Legends" at Rickenbacker Field, Columbus, OH in September 2007. I drove up there from Georgia and stayed for the full 4 day event. It was one of the first times the Air Force allowed the F-22 Raptor to show what it could do. I saw one in 2005 and all it did was take off, circle the air base and land. So this was a real treat! I had about 10 months with the K100D and was still learning it. I used my Sigma 70-210mm and got some pretty good shots.
I stuck with that body for the next 7 years. During that time my wife and I started volunteering with a local Christmas Tree festival and I was taking photos of kids and adults with Santa. I uploaded my photos to Facebook and a website for folks to download for just a donation to the festival. We had no restrictions on folks taking their own photos. In 2012/13 I started noticing people walking up beside me with their Nikon and Canon cameras and firing off 5 or 6 photos in the amount of time it took my K100D to autofocus for one picture. They also were not using a flash which I had to use. It dawned on me that these DSLRs were mere computers and as such were subject to Moore's Law, every 18 months the technology would either double in performance or be reduced in size by half or some combination of both. I figured if Nikon and Canon were advancing then Pentax should be as well. Needing to stay in the $400 price point, I found the K-500 in early 2014 with a kit lens for about $420. I snapped it up. The improvement in the technology over the K100D blew me away. I added a few more auto focus lenses to my collection and continued on. The higher ISO ability in the K-500 and the vastly improved digital noise reduction at the higher ISO levels were incredible. I went on a trip in November 2015 to Barbados and had a blast with the K-500.
Fast forward to early May 2016 and I start noticing what starts out as a minor issue but quickly turns south. Keep in mind I had not yet discovered the PentaxForums website and had no idea what was happening. My first few pictures I would take after turning on the camera were black. But after two or three shots everything was fine. By mid June the camera was toast. I was way out of warranty but called Pentax to see if this could be repaired. Looking back now I am a bit disappointed in the service I got, as the rep never mentioned anything about the aperture block failure, but this is what it was. He recommended a service center that was in Maryland I think. I went to their website and put in my vitals and the cost to repair was going to be just under $170. But would take 8 weeks. I sent it right off. I would need my camera before it was returned to me for a relative's wedding I was to be attending and I decided I would step up a little from the K-500 (that I was genuinely pleased with) and learned that the K-70 was about to be released. I found the camera at Adorama on Amazon, but it was not yet in stock. I watched it daily and as soon as it was available I bought it body only. I was probably one of the first to get one. Three days before we were due to leave for the wedding in early August, my K-500 arrived back from repair. That's fine, two bodies are better than one, right?
In only three years the improvements in the K-70 over the K-500 were pretty incredible. Then I found the Pentax Forums website and started my lurking. I learned about the aperture block failure issue as well as M42 screw mount lenses. I like prime lenses and thought that M42 would be the least expensive way to collect a range of primes. So I started. I got a K-mount to M42 Pentax made adapter and put it on the K-500. One of my first was the SMC Takumar f1.8/55mm. It was cheap and the one I found on eBay was in excellent condition. Then I bought the most expensive M42 lens I have yet acquired, the Russian made Jupiter-9 f2/85mm. It came from the Ukraine and took six weeks to get here. It actually made it to NYC within 5 days and the rest of the time bounced around the east coast of the US in the Post Office until I got my local postmaster to follow it into Atlanta and put a stop on the bouncing to have it directed here. it finally arrived. I love those 15 aperture blades! While waiting on the Jupiter-9 to arrive, I found a Helios M44-2 f2/58mm locally and acquired it. Another very interesting lens. It has a square aperture. My only issue with these lenses was focusing. I remembered from my Ricoh film camera the 45 degree split screen focusing that made focusing a snap. Here on Pentax Forums I learned about replacing the focusing screen on the DSLR. Once again on eBay I found an inexpensive Chinese made split screen focusing screen. I ordered it and it took a while to get here but as soon as it did I replaced the screen in the K-500 and haven't had an issue since.
In addition to what's listed above I now have either Super-Takumar or SMC Takumar versions of the following primes, f3.5/24mm, f3.5/35mm (found in a box of stuff I bought from a guy on Craigslist), f2/35mm (won on an auction from an estate sale way under the going price at $74 w/shipping), f2.8/105mm, f2.8/120mm, f2.5/135mm (got this for $65 with some stuff from Japan, was listed as having fungus. Have since gotten it cleaned for $70 and it is in mint condition), f4/150mm and f4/200mm. Along the way I also acquired a Bushnell f2.8/135 and f6.3/400mm which both take excellent photos. I also have some other off-brand M42 lenses that taught me to stick to the Takumars for the quality. In addition to the Takumars I also now have a Pentax-A f1.4/50mm and a Sears f2.8/135mm which is more like a Pentax-M lens. As for auto focus lenses about a year ago I bought a new Sigma f3.5-6.3/18-300 DC Macro and last fall got the Sigma f2.8-4/17-70mm DC Macro. Those Sigma DC Macro lenses are excellent lenses. Auto focus is so smooth, instant and silent. The clarity of my shots with these lenses is awesome! See below for a few recent photos I took at Gibbs Gardens in North Georgia with the Sigma 18-300 at full zoom and both the K-70 and K-S2. The first two are with the K-70 and the last three are with the K-S2. Cool dragonfly.
My wife has always been a trooper whenever I go out shooting and she is with me. She has exhibited incredible patience with me. When we were in Barbados, she picked up my K-500 and shot a bunch of photos whenever I was using my Panasonic Camcorder and found she really enjoyed it. Since just before Barbados I joined a local photo club and between there and Pentax Forums my level of knowledge has really climbed. I understand a lot more than ever before and feel more comfortable than I ever have. So now that I have two bodies, she will take whatever camera I am not using and start taking pictures. (Even if it is the K-500 with manual focus lenses mounted!) She does prefer the K-70.
So last year for Mother's Day I found an awesome deal on a brand new K-S1 kit. It's the one that is white with pink trim, real girly, just like she likes things. Perfect. Now she has her own camera, but it is setup so differently than my other three Pentax DSLRs that I have trouble helping her with it. She still loves it and takes it whenever we go out shooting together. Back in March I found on Roberts Camera's eBay store they had a bunch of Pentax bodies they were selling that turned out to be camera store shelf models. They were discounting them as they could not be sold as new, but were being sold as 99% of new. K-1's for $1450. K-3ii's for around $500 give or take, K-50's for around $250 and K-S2's for just under $400. They also had them all listed as or best offer. I made an offer on two K-S2's at $325 each and they countered at $349 each. I bought them. As soon as they arrived I took a photo with each and uploaded them here to the shutter counter app. One camera's shutter count was 8 and the other was 175. They were both gray bodies. I gotta tell you, there is no comparison between the controls on the K-S1 and the K-S2. My wife has two camera bodies and I now have three. I bought a split screen focusing screen for my K-S2 thinking I will start using it for my primes, but I have not replaced it yet and still reach for the K-500 when I want to use my prime lenses.
I have found that the K-S2 has different aperture and shutter speed values than my K-500 and my K-70. For instance where the K-70 and K-500 allow you to set 1/125, 1/90, and 1/60 in that order and the K-S2 offers up 1/125, 1/100, 1/80 and then 1/60.
Well, my fingers are now sore from all this typing and I hope I haven't given up too much info for one post.
Originally posted by LensBeginner 
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