[Sergey K]

Hello everybody,

My name is Sergey, I live in St.Petersburg. I've been playing with my K100D and quietly reading this forum for almost 6 years now, so I finally decided to show up myself

K100D was my first DSLR ever and I've enjoyed it for a long time shooting family, vacation trips and so on. But since my kid is doing Wushu (it's a kind of Chinese martial arts) and taking part in different competition, recently I've been thinking of changing my camera to be able shooting sport in low ligth indoor conditions. I am quite limited in a budget and I don't wanted to pay a lot but still to make a step beyond with a new camera, at least in shooting speed, high ISO and burst mode. So I've been looking for new K50 or used K30, regularly checking Ebay and local auctions for a nice offer. But last Friday I got a message from a local auction that some company is offering a K5 + 18-55 WR kit in "New, open box" condition for $560... and I just picked up the phone and made a deal

No need to say I am more than happy with what I've got. Maybe it was more of emotional decision and I should have been thinking about the "modern" equipment instead, but anyway... Now testing my lenses on a new body and thinking of some fast telephoto prime for sport shooting.

OK, I think it's too much for an introducing post. Everybody, have a nice day ahead and see you in forum threads!

[Aksel]

Privet Sergei! Welcome to the forum!

That was in 2011, when I was last time in St. Petersburg. There are a lot of beautiful places to take pictures. But not only - as well as the daily lives of many contrasts...

[rbefly]

Hello Sergey, welcome to the Forum!
I think you made a good choice with the K-5; although it gives up a few recent upgrades to the K-50 and K-30, it's still a very capable camera and my limited 'Sport/Action' use of it for local, fast-moving events (like kayaking and skateboard park-shooting) have had good results.
For indoor shooting, you might consider the DA 35mm and 50mm, auto-focus is a great help there and the fast apertures help, too.
I also use a smc A 135mm f/2.8 (manual focus-auto aperture) for tight head shots and longer range, and can recommend that lens. The M-series (fully manual, green button) 100mm f/2.8 is a fine lens, beautiful bokeh, colors and rendering. Another fine short tele is the M-series 135mm f/3.5, a bargain, too!
Overall, for indoor and low-light, my 'keeper' rate is higher with modern auto-focus lenses, even inexpensive ones like the DA primes. Perhaps my age and reflexes aren't up to the task, but fast A/F primes really do seem to work better than most zooms, and faster than M/F primes under these conditions.
jmo,
Ron .

[Sergey K]

Privet Aksel! I am glad you liked the city I live and you have some good memories about your visit. I agree, this city is constantly teasing you for going out and taking photos

Hello Ron, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience! I'm going to start "updating" my lens collection with "plastic fantastic" DA 35mm (as a walkaround lens and indoor shooting). For "Sport/Action" I use my Sigma zoom at 90-100mm most of time, so based on that I'm leaning towards
FA 100mm f/2.8 macro "a heavy block of a lens". I've read that focus limiter plays a good role for focusing speed and I think 2.8 would be okay for indoor. I have no doubts about DA 35mm, still need to dig more about FA 100mm though.

[Dariusz]

I would love to visit "Leningrad" one day! I'm looking forward to your photographs of "Venice of North", as they sometimes call St. Petersburg, through Pentax lenses

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome, great intro, enjoy your time here.

[PJ1]

Welcome to the Forums. Sounds like you got a great deal on the K-5. Looking forward to seeing your pics.