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07-23-2008, 05:47 PM   #1
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Pentax forever

I am Howard.
Living in the city of Sarpsborg, south east Norway.
My first Camera was Agfa Gevaert Pocket Cam at the age of 6.
At the age of appox. 12 I got my first SLR, a Pentax SP500 equipped with a Asahi 50 mm/f2.0 and an 135mm Takumar.
I have been in love ever since.
Some years later I got my first ME, MV, MG and later on the ME super, the anniversary model.
I still have the ME super in black equipped with 50/1.4 and the LX with the 45-125 and the 80-200, without a scratch carefully laid to rest in my Sacar WAGMT steel case.
I just sold the istDS with the 16-45 and the 50-200, including my AF160 and AF400T flash.
Now my new baby has arrived: The K20D with the 18-250 zoom.
I do need some advice for a new flash, as my AF280T is sadly out of date, and a fisheye-something :-)

Howard

07-23-2008, 06:05 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forums Howard. nice new camera and lens. So for an ultra wide lens you have 2 12-24mm choices, Sigma and Pentax. both very good lenses. Then there is the 10-20mm Sigma that most owners love and it seems to do a fine job. Also there is the Pentax 10-17mm which is the only fisheye of these listed.

You can continue to use the AF280 flash in manual mode and if you have a flash meter it makes that much easier. But with some practice, it works well. I have both the AF360FGZ and AF540FGZ. They are very similar and work well. The P-TTL system is not quite as accurate as the old TTL setup but with a little compensation, it does well. The main difference between the 2 flashes is the price and that the 360 has no swivel and less power.

Goto the home page of this site and look for the lens review pages there for some good info
07-23-2008, 06:24 PM   #3
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Thanks Peter!

If there is no real fisheye except the 10-17, I guess that will be my choice. Im not into the unoriginal lenses, but if Pentax has the only real fisheye ...and nobody has nothing really negative to say against the 10-17, Im happy.

I have on the other hand read many negative revues on the 540 flash, so my hope was that the smaller one was a better build. Besides, the 540 is hilariously expencive in Norway. I have toyed with the idea of buying from the US, but there bbeiong so many returns I am afraid I will have to wait for ever if mine should lock the zoom og get stuck to the camera.

The AF400T and the 280T worked perfect with my old LX, not to bad with my istDS (in fact, that was why I traded my istDL in for the DS)

The K20D obviously do not communicate at all with the TTL-function on the 280T I have left, so my hope was that the build of the540 was improving or there was some new model on the way.

If anyone has any experience with the Metz 48 or the Sigma 530 on the K20D I would like to know.
07-23-2008, 06:38 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Howard Quote
Thanks Peter!

If there is no real fisheye except the 10-17, I guess that will be my choice. Im not into the unoriginal lenses, but if Pentax has the only real fisheye ...and nobody has nothing really negative to say against the 10-17, Im happy.

I have on the other hand read many negative revues on the 540 flash, so my hope was that the smaller one was a better build. Besides, the 540 is hilariously expencive in Norway. I have toyed with the idea of buying from the US, but there bbeiong so many returns I am afraid I will have to wait for ever if mine should lock the zoom og get stuck to the camera.

The AF400T and the 280T worked perfect with my old LX, not to bad with my istDS (in fact, that was why I traded my istDL in for the DS)

The K20D obviously do not communicate at all with the TTL-function on the 280T I have left, so my hope was that the build of the540 was improving or there was some new model on the way.

If anyone has any experience with the Metz 48 or the Sigma 530 on the K20D I would like to know.
You can use the 280T in auto mode using the sensor on the flash itself. You cannot use it wirelessly, but with the appropriate wiring it will work just fine.

I am stuck with the AF500FTZ which has no regular auto mode, and cannot use it on my camera except in manual mode. This stinks.

07-23-2008, 08:19 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Howard Quote
If there is no real fisheye except the 10-17, I guess that will be my choice. Im not into the unoriginal lenses, but if Pentax has the only real fisheye ...and nobody has nothing really negative to say against the 10-17, Im happy.
I have one, and as many reviews state it suffers from severe purple fringing. It's not a problem per-se but just something to be aware of.
I love mine and would happily buy it again in a heartbeat.

Last edited by cpopham; 09-12-2008 at 12:29 AM.
07-23-2008, 11:53 PM   #6
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Fun with DA10-17:




You can of course also look for used copies of the F17-28 fisheye-zoom (but it would not really be fisheye with a 1.5 crop) or the A15/3.5 or A16/2.8 fisheyes or the old K 15 and 17 mm fisheyes (if you don't mind some manual focusing, again you loose much of the fisheye effect with the digital cropping). Not many alternatives. But do you really need alternatives? The DA10-17 is not flawless, but it is like saying that a Sport car has little space for luggage and kids. What it does is so extreme that it cannot fulfill all normal criteria for a good lens, but it is awfully fun to use and does what it does very well.
07-25-2008, 05:51 AM   #7
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For me the 10-17 would be a toy for fun, so if its extreme thats ok with. What surprices me though is that the 240Z does work (I presume TTL-wice) with 20D as the 280T and 500Z does not.

As I have 280T my best option must be one of the two prior mentioned unoriginal flashes. Thouble is I do want the 540 original, but I have read all kinds of stories where the zoom is stuck on the flash and even that the flash tends to get stuck on the hotshoe on the camera body.

My initial plan was to buy it from B+H in New York, or have a friend buy it for me when shes in the US (shes a fligt attendant) or order it from some US mail order service. Thus is that the 540 falsh is half price compared with local prices here.

Then again, I cant dare that if this device has a tendency to fail severely.

07-25-2008, 08:26 AM   #8
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The sticking problem with the 540 is easily solved by removing the pin that jams into the hot shoe. There are a number of threads in the forum with instructions for this. The other problem appears to be that p-ttl has exposure problems, so check out those threads as well before putting out the money.
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