[AlfredDaniels]

Hi guys,
I am Alfred Daniels from The Netherlands. I am a Pentax enthousiastic amateur photographer.
I started 6 years ago with a Pentax K5 when I started to travel regularly in Africa.
I needed a -not to expensive- camera with good weathersealing that was able to focus easily with older big glass as I could not afford the modern big teles at the time.
So I bought a Noflexar T 400 instead. Then a 50-135 and a 12-24 both secondhand.
The next years I bought a K5 11s for its lack of alliasing filter and I bought a Samyang 35mm and a Samyang 85mm for better night-vision.
I also bought a 60-250 lens. That lens broke down after two years: its zoommechanism sagged and could only be repaired for 750 Euro !!!
Instead I bought a FA*300mm 4.5.
I passed on the introduction of the K-3 and also on the K-1 that was introduced this year.
Instead, I started to look a few month ago for a used 645D until I found one with a small set of good quality but not too expensive lenses: A*35, DFA55, FA 75, FA 150 and A*300 f/4
Again it is the wonderfull focusconfirmation of the Penaxes that made the deal for me.
I have not travelled with the 645D yet. just tested out around my house.
Some earlier pictures can be found on Flickr.com/AlfredDaniels.
I hope to learn a lot more from you,
Alfred

[BigMackCam]

Hello Alfred - welcome to the forums, great to have you with us and to learn a bit about your Pentax background

Congratulations on the 645D - an awesome camera. I've only used one once, at a shop where I buy quite a bit of equipment, but I was knocked out by the detailed images it produced.

Re the 60-250, I bought one recently to use with my K-3 and K-3II... I absolutely love the lens, but I do hope I don't have the same trouble you did with the zoom mechanism!!

[Unregistered User 8]

I am a Pentax enthousiastic amateur photographer.

Hi Alfred. Welcome to the Pentax forums. You have a good history with Pentax. Looking forward to it continuing, and seeing some of your photographs on the forums.

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome to the forum, looking forward to seeing some of your African imagery.

[AlfredDaniels]

Hi guys, thank you for your words of welcome. Yes, BigMackcam I was also very pleased with the picturequality of the 60-250. Its range is also very usefull and its weight is acceptable for travelling even. So I used the lens a lot, actually too much, because I nearly forgot about the superb quality of the 50-135.
Then looking back at my pictures of wildlife I discovered that I very often used the 60-250 at its maximum telereach. That might also have caused the extented zoom to sag, though I still think it is a design-mistake and Pentax should have taken its responsibility in this. Anyway I replaced the 60-250 for a FA*300 4.5 wich has excellent picturequality and is very fast focussing, but it easily hunts and that is quite annoying. Any remedy for that?
About the 645D I can only say that I very much regret that I did not have the means to buy one before. The lenses that can be used on the 645D system are much cheaper than the PK mount lenses so the whole package comes into reach of amateurs. The newprice of the camera has dropped to 4000 incl. the DFA55mm 2.8 and since the introduction of the 645Z the 645D is occasionally offered secondhand. There is another lens however that I bought last year secondhand and that I consider a powerfull reason to hold on to the PK mount now: the 31mm 1.8 It is incredibly expensive. But now that I have one I wish I would have sold my other lenses only to get hold of this lens. its astounding: as good as the imagequality of the 645D and sometimes better, f.i. with water its renders more beautifull than a polarizing filter on another lens would.
attached: the first two pictures are with the k-511s and FA31mm 1.8 the third is with the 645D DFA55mm 2.8
if you have experience with the other legendary limited primes: 43mm and 77mm please inform me? F.i would the 77mm replace the excellent Samyang 85mm 1.4? Would I use the 43mm if can also use the 31mm?

[AlfredDaniels]

I attached one more image with the 645D. I used the A*300mm f/4. However there was a windforce 6 and 7 and I had great difficulty to hold the camera steady on that harbour entrance. I used one of my (small) aluminum tripods and the result is that I now ordered a wooden Berlebach with only a simple leveling head instead of a ballhead. I think this might be sufficient for nearly all landscape photography. The wooden frame of te Berlebach dampens vibrations faster than any other material and I think this is neccessary because the 645D has no vibrationreduction build in. The windy circumstances in taking this picture with a manual focussing 300 tele could not have been worse, but I had luck that the strong light allowed a relatively high shutterspeed.

---------- Post added 07-26-16 at 05:43 AM ----------

sorry I attached the wrong picture. I intended to post this one.