[MrJed]

Hello, Everyone.

I began taking pictures when I was 13 years old with a Canon AE-1 Program that I purchased at a pawn shop for $150.00. It came with a Canon FD 50 1:1.8 and a 70-210 Quantaray zoom. I never really used the zoom; I put that prime lens on and shot away!

in the early 2000s, I was a poor college student and couldn't afford to pay for college and photography. I left the Canon in its case except for special occasions and kept an eye on the progress of digital. I wasn't convinced that it was going to be better than film, but I knew this: the increasing price of film made it difficult to shoot a lot.

I got married in 2007 and went to seminary. My wife and I set about paying off student loans and she worked while I went to school. We paid off our loans in 2011 and also had our first child, a daughter. I graduated in 2012 and our little girl began walking - and moving too fast for our point and shoot!

This year, we had another child and we certainly couldn't keep up with a toddler and an infant with our point and shoot. We decided to make the move to a digital SLR. Since I had an extensive history with a film SLR, I wanted something that would give me a lot of control over my picture taking and my wife wanted "green mode!"

After a lot of research, I decided on a Pentax. I liked the fact that they are weather-resistant, since we do a lot of camping, hiking, etc. and I do a lot of hunting. I found a K-5 in like-new condition with the 18-55 WR kit lens for about $650.00 and thought that it was a good deal. I was torn between the K-5 and K-5II, but wasn't sure whether the price of the K-5II would come down. I went ahead and bought the K-5 because I thought the deal was incredible. Though the K-5II's improved autofocus sounded tempting, with my experience with manual focusing I didn't think i would miss it if I needed to manual focus in darker light.

I'm looking forward to continuing to learn my camera and equipment, and, like many of you, buying the lenses that we all lust after!

~ Mr Jed

[OrchidJulie]

Welcome! You're in the right place! Join right in, share your images, and no worries, we're all learning new things!

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome, aye it's truly surprising how fast young kids can move when they put a mind to it. But the opposite happens once they get to teenage years.