Excited with the Pentax magic

StefanMikes · 09-13-2013, 09:52 PM - **1 Like**

Hello everybody!
The time I was first excited with photography were my University years in Commie Poland, early 1980's. Due to limited photographic supplies and little choices of the time, I was taking pictures mostly with a domestic made Start 66S 120-film TLR, with Zenith and Praktica SLR cameras. Yes, I had a darkroom. When Poland joined the free world community, it was, well, too late for me. My disappointment with increasing share of electronics in the cameras reduced my activities to just some casual photography. In 2004 I bought me my first digital camera, a Konica-Minolta and it made me completely stop. I just could not grab the intricacies of the digital photography even if I was trying really hard.

Suddenly, in early 2011 I found a K-5 in a store. "ISO51200?!" Well, low-light photography has always been my main goal. The salesman talked a lot about how water-proof the K-5 was, so, excited, I bought the camera. Then I instantly grabbed how fantastic camera it was, how powerful capabilities it could give me, not only in the low-light situations. I learned how to develop RAW in a few days, then it took me a year to practice and re-develop the skill. Later, I expanded my base with fast lenses, tripod etc. and now I feel I'm completely back in the saddle.

Yes, I had other cameras in my hands to compare. None of them could offer the same as the K-5. What really buys me is the Pentaxian style of lightweight camera and lenses. Now, I can carry the camera wherever I like, is it a concert or a bicycle tour or a long walk without effort. The flexibility of K-5 is just amazing. My favourite subjects are people, concerts, nature and trekking photography.

Now -- thanks to PentaxForums I used to read as a non-member -- I went back into the film camera world. I got me a nice K2 and am so glad two of my lenses fit perfectly the film camera body; the range of 28-135mm is covered and I do not need much more except perhaps something in 200 or 300mm range. I need to point out it was PentaxForums that streamlined my choices of lenses -- I really thank you for the information I could find here.

Mikes

**savoche** · 09-14-2013, 07:32 AM - **1 Like**

Welcome aboard, and thanks for the great introduction! I too find the combination of small size and good quality to be the greatest asset of Pentax cameras and lenses. Makes it perfect for hiking and travelling IMO.

Scott_G · 09-14-2013, 11:13 AM - **1 Like**

Welcome, Stefan. Looking forward to seeing your work.

Jean Poitiers · 09-14-2013, 12:34 PM - **1 Like**

Welcome to PF and bonjour from France ... enjoy the K-5 and please post us an image or two soon ... J

Yos · 09-14-2013, 03:11 PM - **1 Like**

Great intro Mikes, and a warm welcome to the forum!
Hope to see an image or two in the future

StefanMikes · 09-14-2013, 03:54 PM - **4 Likes**

Not sure posting how many pictures makes sense here ;-)

From a bicycle trekking trip, DA 14/2.8 on K-5.

Oslo, Norway. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5.

A castle in Polish Jura. DA14/2.8 on K-5.

An unguarded beach on the Vistula River, Warsaw, Poland. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5.

In the Warsaw Old Town. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5.

The gold of Cuyavia, Poland. DA14/2.8 on K-5.

At a rock festival. DA14/2.8 on K-5.

Low-light photo. DA14/2.8 on K-5.

At a reggae concert. Tam 28-75/2.8.

At a punk-rock club. DA14/2.8.

What about chanterelles in France, Jean Poitiers? ;-) Can you get them easily?
Tam 28-75/2.8

**rayallen** · 09-14-2013, 04:11 PM - **1 Like**

Wow! Great images. You will fit in well here.

Scott_G · 09-14-2013, 06:32 PM - **1 Like**

Very nice landscapes and candids. Love the colors.

**paulh** · 09-14-2013, 06:55 PM - **1 Like**

Great images - esp. like those magical landscapes with the DA14! Welcome to the forums.

StefanMikes · 09-14-2013, 08:23 PM

Thank you a lot! Now, the challenge comes, and it will be the K2 and film photography. I bought the camera driven by the Forum reviews here. My first nice surprise was how easy it was to start shooting with the film camera, and how accurate the exposure measurement was. Honestly, just to set the aperture, focus, compose, shoot. Cannot wait to see what will come from the first rolls
;-)

**OrangeKx** · 09-14-2013, 08:28 PM - **1 Like**

Great story, great pics!!

Reliant K1000 · 09-14-2013, 11:29 PM - **1 Like**

Welcome! You certainly have a good eye for photography.

...and that chanterelles meal looks delicious!

**savoche** · 09-15-2013, 04:35 AM - **1 Like**

Well done, Stefan! I see you visited the royal castle in Oslo, too, with the dome of the National Theatre in the background

StefanMikes · 09-15-2013, 06:32 AM - **2 Likes**

Sure I did savoche

Oslo is full of interesting architecture and as I think it had been photographed millions of times, it is not so easy to find some interesting subject.
Interestingly, Norway is photographically "bluish". The blue is so intensive any color correction easily damages the photo.

The ski-jump tower in Holmenkollen taken in the summertime with a telephoto lens.

Mortensrud as seen over the valley from Nordstrand in Oslo.

Picture postcard from Oslo Centrum. I think everybody must take pictures of that building

7 a.m on 8th of March 2012 at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.

Taken from an airplane with the manual telephoto lens.

**savoche** · 09-15-2013, 08:02 AM - **1 Like**

Well, I think more people take pictures of the Opera house than from it

But the old harbour storage house is difficult not to notice.

I really like the detail from the ski jump. I haven't been up there after they built the new one. Maybe I should

09-13-2013, 09:52 PM - 1 Like	#1
StefanMikes Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Brwinow, Mazovia, Poland Photos: Gallery Posts: 46	Excited with the Pentax magic Hello everybody! The time I was first excited with photography were my University years in Commie Poland, early 1980's. Due to limited photographic supplies and little choices of the time, I was taking pictures mostly with a domestic made Start 66S 120-film TLR, with Zenith and Praktica SLR cameras. Yes, I had a darkroom. When Poland joined the free world community, it was, well, too late for me. My disappointment with increasing share of electronics in the cameras reduced my activities to just some casual photography. In 2004 I bought me my first digital camera, a Konica-Minolta and it made me completely stop. I just could not grab the intricacies of the digital photography even if I was trying really hard. Suddenly, in early 2011 I found a K-5 in a store. "ISO51200?!" Well, low-light photography has always been my main goal. The salesman talked a lot about how water-proof the K-5 was, so, excited, I bought the camera. Then I instantly grabbed how fantastic camera it was, how powerful capabilities it could give me, not only in the low-light situations. I learned how to develop RAW in a few days, then it took me a year to practice and re-develop the skill. Later, I expanded my base with fast lenses, tripod etc. and now I feel I'm completely back in the saddle. Yes, I had other cameras in my hands to compare. None of them could offer the same as the K-5. What really buys me is the Pentaxian style of lightweight camera and lenses. Now, I can carry the camera wherever I like, is it a concert or a bicycle tour or a long walk without effort. The flexibility of K-5 is just amazing. My favourite subjects are people, concerts, nature and trekking photography. Now -- thanks to PentaxForums I used to read as a non-member -- I went back into the film camera world. I got me a nice K2 and am so glad two of my lenses fit perfectly the film camera body; the range of 28-135mm is covered and I do not need much more except perhaps something in 200 or 300mm range. I need to point out it was PentaxForums that streamlined my choices of lenses -- I really thank you for the information I could find here. Mikes

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09-14-2013, 07:32 AM - 1 Like	#2
savoche Master of the obvious Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Lowlands of Norway Posts: 18,311	Welcome aboard, and thanks for the great introduction! I too find the combination of small size and good quality to be the greatest asset of Pentax cameras and lenses. Makes it perfect for hiking and travelling IMO.

09-14-2013, 11:13 AM - 1 Like	#3
Scott_G Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Syracuse, NY Photos: Albums Posts: 87	Welcome, Stefan. Looking forward to seeing your work.

09-14-2013, 12:34 PM - 1 Like	#4
Jean Poitiers Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 18,076	Welcome to PF and bonjour from France ... enjoy the K-5 and please post us an image or two soon ... J

09-14-2013, 03:11 PM - 1 Like	#5
Yos Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Stockholm Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 533	Great intro Mikes, and a warm welcome to the forum! Hope to see an image or two in the future

09-14-2013, 03:54 PM - 4 Likes	#6
StefanMikes Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Brwinow, Mazovia, Poland Photos: Gallery Posts: 46 Original Poster	Not sure posting how many pictures makes sense here ;-) From a bicycle trekking trip, DA 14/2.8 on K-5. Oslo, Norway. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5. A castle in Polish Jura. DA14/2.8 on K-5. An unguarded beach on the Vistula River, Warsaw, Poland. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5. In the Warsaw Old Town. Asahi SMC-K 135/2.5 on K-5. The gold of Cuyavia, Poland. DA14/2.8 on K-5. At a rock festival. DA14/2.8 on K-5. Low-light photo. DA14/2.8 on K-5. At a reggae concert. Tam 28-75/2.8. At a punk-rock club. DA14/2.8. What about chanterelles in France, Jean Poitiers? ;-) Can you get them easily? Tam 28-75/2.8

09-14-2013, 04:11 PM - 1 Like	#7
rayallen Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Forresters Beach, NSW, Australia. Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,014	Wow! Great images. You will fit in well here.

09-14-2013, 06:32 PM - 1 Like	#8
Scott_G Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Syracuse, NY Photos: Albums Posts: 87	Very nice landscapes and candids. Love the colors.

09-14-2013, 06:55 PM - 1 Like	#9
paulh Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 33,273	Great images - esp. like those magical landscapes with the DA14! Welcome to the forums.

09-14-2013, 08:23 PM	#10
StefanMikes Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Brwinow, Mazovia, Poland Photos: Gallery Posts: 46 Original Poster	Thank you a lot! Now, the challenge comes, and it will be the K2 and film photography. I bought the camera driven by the Forum reviews here. My first nice surprise was how easy it was to start shooting with the film camera, and how accurate the exposure measurement was. Honestly, just to set the aperture, focus, compose, shoot. Cannot wait to see what will come from the first rolls ;-)

09-14-2013, 08:28 PM - 1 Like	#11
OrangeKx Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Vancouver, WA Photos: Gallery Posts: 817	Great story, great pics!!

09-14-2013, 11:29 PM - 1 Like	#12
Reliant K1000 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: BC - On the 49th parallel Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 235	Welcome! You certainly have a good eye for photography. ...and that chanterelles meal looks delicious!

09-15-2013, 04:35 AM - 1 Like	#13
savoche Master of the obvious Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Lowlands of Norway Posts: 18,311	Well done, Stefan! I see you visited the royal castle in Oslo, too, with the dome of the National Theatre in the background

09-15-2013, 06:32 AM - 2 Likes	#14
StefanMikes Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Brwinow, Mazovia, Poland Photos: Gallery Posts: 46 Original Poster	Sure I did savoche Oslo is full of interesting architecture and as I think it had been photographed millions of times, it is not so easy to find some interesting subject. Interestingly, Norway is photographically "bluish". The blue is so intensive any color correction easily damages the photo. The ski-jump tower in Holmenkollen taken in the summertime with a telephoto lens. Mortensrud as seen over the valley from Nordstrand in Oslo. Picture postcard from Oslo Centrum. I think everybody must take pictures of that building 7 a.m on 8th of March 2012 at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Taken from an airplane with the manual telephoto lens.

09-15-2013, 08:02 AM - 1 Like	#15
savoche Master of the obvious Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Lowlands of Norway Posts: 18,311	Well, I think more people take pictures of the Opera house than from it But the old harbour storage house is difficult not to notice. I really like the detail from the ski jump. I haven't been up there after they built the new one. Maybe I should