Originally posted by Flyingmariner You make a very good point Mike.
I suffered a severe and permanent injury to my right thumb and wrist. I also support the camera and lens like you mention.
I have only average size/thin hands and fingers and after experimenting with all 3 grips decided on the biggest/deepest one.
I absolutely love the KP. So much so that I have just ordered a 2nd one at a fantastic price during the Black Friday discount period. I have never owned 2 identical cameras before.
I will use one almost exclusively with the battery grip attached and the other without the grip for with my smaller prime lenses.
By the way when you purchase the battery grip you can use the bigger battery as used with the K-5/K-3 etc.
I have also owned both the KS-2 and K-70 and find the KP much better balanced and user friendly for my needs at least.
Kind regards,
Wayne.
Hi Wayne,
Yes, no doubt this is the best holding method. But one must learn to be careful to keep fingers back when using smaller lenses having focus collars that turn during AF!
I share your feelings regarding the KP. I would not be at all surprised if I wind up owning a 2nd body! The first time I did that was eons ago when, after shooting for 6 years with a manual-only Vivitar 35mm film outfit (manual-only was the only game in town when bought), I was wowed by the new Pentax ME Super being so small, so well-made, so beautiful, and having aperture-priority AE! So I bought 2 bodies and some lenses. Controls were very efficient and user friendly, and the VF was fabulous. After another 6 years, I acquired a Super Program. Next, my first AF model, the SF-1n, and gave away my ME Supers. I subsequently bought a number of Pentax 35mm AF film bodies, and did not get into digital until its quality began to satisfy me, around 2006. Since then I've acquired numerous Pentax DSLRs. I did buy 2 K-5 bodies, the original and the K-5IIs, both new at around 1/2 price after being discontinued, so I could skip the K-3 and still have pro-quality with and without an AA filter. I still use the K-5 IIs when I may need to often make quick adjustments using its full on-body control set.
In January, 20016, some months after the arrival of the K-70, I was looking to replace my little lightweight K-r (which I gave away), with a better such, having 2-dials, better VF, articulating screen, etc. and bit on a wonderful deal from B&H- the K-S2 with the tiny 18-50mm kit lens for only $508 USD! it was far less than I'd paid for my K-r alone back in 2011! It's great for a knock-around camera when out & around with friends for general shots, selfies, and the screen also for shooting from overhead, around shoulders, down low, etc.
Even though I can do well enough with only the KP's small grip, even with larger lenses, I am glad to have all three. The larger ones are handier when using larger lenses when just putting the camera in and out of my larger-size belt/shoulder holster, or when momentarily holding the camera down along my side. In the past I have used both the holster and a neck strap, as Sandy suggested, which provides yet more options. If there's a lull of some minutes, I just put the lens cap on and drop the camera into the holster. I also bought the battery grip as well for the reasons you give, and for doing a lot of verticals.
You are right about 2 camera bodies being more efficient for some circumstances. I've done it often with my film bodies at events, where I could instantly change when running out of lens FL, or out of film. I've done it with my K-5's. I can still do it now, having all the bodies I have, but another KP would be better. With its superior performance, especially for low-light indoor use, better AF, better SR, its compactness, and having the controls identical during event shooting, all are beneficial.
I had long considered my ME Supers to have been my most beautiful camera models, that is until now being matched by my silver KP! Its design layout, however, is most visually reminiscent of the retro-looking 35mm film MZ/ZX 5n, but that camera is all plastic, so not in the same construction class of the KP, or ME super. I already had some matching silver lenses, including some FA Limiteds and a silver DA 20-40mm, which I had bought singly through an Amazon seller, new at a great price. There was a temporary price special for the KP by B&H, so it and the lens together wound up at $1,537 USD, and B&H threw in a new DA 50mm f/1.8 free! Black lenses also look fine with it. I have since acquired a silver DA 15mm f/4 LTD at a B&H price special.
I was recently on vacation, biking around with a favorite kit for the circumstances- My DA 20-40 LTD on the KP, the DA 15mm LTD in the holster's front accessory pocket, and the FA 77mm LTD in its pouch in my jacket pocket. The small grip was perfectly fine. What a dream-team!