[Val]

Hi all - this is my first post and hope I do it all OK. I have for many many years been in and out of the forum gaining knowledge for my interest in photography - figured it was time to join. I have been interested in Pentax since young (in my 60s now) - my father introduced me to photography with his pride and joy - an original Pentax Ashai Spotmatic (which I still have) and since then I have also owned Spotmatic until I decided digital photography looked pretty great. Bought a 2nd hand *ist DS and some lenses and have been enjoying it all.....have now just upgraded to K20d and have entered another learning curve...but still loving it. I will as I go along try and get a couple more lenses but what I have at present is still great. I live in South Australia in an area where I am 10 minutes drive from the Aussie Bush and about 7 minutes walk to the beach. I really do have the best of both worlds close to me. With the K20d I have surprising developed a love of taking nature photos, bees, birds etc etc. Anyway this is my hello to all in the forum - great being part of it all........Val

[patrick9]

Welcome. Glad to have you join us

[wolfiegirl]

Welcome Val! I just came back from a road trip to Adelaide this weekend. You probably already know all about this already, but a fellow Pentaxian pointed me to the direction of Camera House in chinatown - if you're ever feeling the LBA itch. I walked into there and loved seeing all these Pentax options laid out for me to get my little paws on. I ended up just window shopping but there were some good bargains there (if your budget per lens exceeds $50 a pop - which mine doesn't really)

[Val]

Thank you Patrick9 - nice to be here.

[Val]

Hi Wolfiegirl - yes - I do know the Camera House in Chinatown - used to be a regular visitor there when I was still working with film. Haven't been there for quite some time now - do most of my shopping on Ebay. Have managed to get some real bargains with lenses - heaps cheaper than in town. It used to be really cheap but as the same for many things - prices have gone up. I think to people have become more aware of lenses etc and that's why I chose to shop elsewhere. Like yourself - I don't always just have the cash to buy what I think I might like. I do hope you had a lovely time in Adelaide - I came over here for a 'look' in 1976 and moved here within weeks - I love the laid-back feeling of the place. Thanks for your welcome....

[wolfiegirl]

Hi Val,

Yeah, the prices in Camera House were slightly higher than ebay. But having said that, they weren't that much higher than some stuff I see on the marketplace here. They had a 90mm Tammy macro with extension tube there on Monday going for under $200 (!!!)

I can't imagine how much I would have had to spend if I'd gone with a place like camera house to supplement my camera kit. thank god for ebay, the marketplace, and local classifieds, that's all i have to say!

We had a great time in Adelaide - went to see the Foo Fighters (yes, I know they played in Sydney, and no, don't ask why we went to Adelaide anyway... lol)

[tim60]

Val, nice to see someone else from here. I was the one who told Wolfiegirl of the shop. More seriously, I come to really like the aesthetic of the m42 lenses recently, and collected a few. If you still have the lenses you had with the Spotmatic, use them. One of the good design philosophy things about Pentax is the backwards compatibiltiy - they have made the new bodies to provide full functionality of most of the legacy kit - and extra, such as shake reduction on the legacy lenses. I also liked the way my camera (K100DS) can use a wide variety of supermarket available batteries - reduces the risk of loss of energisation. (Also, they are the same cells I use in the flash and other things I travel with.)
Photography is about pictures, not buying stuff. Enjoy it.

[Val]

Hi Tim60 - nice to hear from someone in SA - yes I still do have a couple of lenses left from the spotmatic - 3 actually - and there is no doubt about the quality of the early lenses - they really are good. Unfortunately the K20d doesn't have the batteries like my *istDS did - used to carry around 2 sets of Sanyo Eneloop batteries and never once got let down. Was lucky enough to get a spare battery when I bought K20d so keep it charged - get a lot of photos with one battery which is great as a day's shooting can finish up being 100-200 photos. Still hoping to buy one more telephoto lens for wildlife etc - get there one day............

[sam-joseph]

Welcome Val, from not-so-sunny Newcastle.

Regards

[Mychael]

Greetings Val.

[Ash]

Good to have you here mate.
Enjoy the forum, and all it has to offer.
Look forward to seeing what your end of Oz looks like through your lenses.

[Val]

Thanks for the welcome Sam-Joseph - it sounds like Summer has hidden itself away - here in SA it is cloudy and cold and the wind has a real bite to it. Waiting for the sun to come out so I can go out to play!!! Camera is waiting.............cheers

[Val]

Greetings to you to Mychael - it's nice to be part of the forum.

[Val]

Hi Ash - thanks for the welcome. I haven't done heaps with the K20d as yet - taken some nice macro shots but waiting to have a day out either in the hills or our coastline.....maybe if I am lucky and get a day to myself......could do both. I don't have expensive lenses yet but figure what I have will suffice until I am really used to the camera and feel I am not getting the most out of the photography. In my 60s and on a pension so spending on lenses is a rare treat!!! I'll get there no doubt. Maybe soon I will be game enough to post a couple of photos....don't know yet if I am good enough :>)

[xuan.s.duranleau]

Hello and Welcome !