Greetings from the Antipodes!

MoiVous · 09-23-2008, 09:31 PM

Hi Folks,

I just joined this forum after recently purchasing a K200D.

I've been a Canon film SLR user for 3 decades but was stuck in the Canon FD lens time warp - you can't use those old (but brilliant) lenses with the new dSLR kit out there!

After my youngest daughter broke my old P&S Canon A75 I decided to go back to my passion for SLR photography. You can't get the control or creativity with P&S in my opinion, and the LCD screens are useless in outdoor situations as well.

So with the vision of a new dSLR I started hunting. This forum helped a lot, with user experiences influencing me. I'd looked at the other dSLRs from Nikon, Canon and Olympus, but after handling all of them in the local camera shops for a good time each, the K200D got under my skin.

So lo and behold, I'm back to my first hobby!

I look forward to seeing opinions and images on this great site.

Thanks for your help.

Chris ;-)

lithos · 09-23-2008, 10:17 PM

The Antipodes? You're in England?

Welcome to the board, mate. With Pentax, you use all the lenses from about the last 50 years...

MoiVous · 09-24-2008, 12:18 AM

No - not in England! My English friends often refer to me as the Antipodean - hence the subject title.

Anyhow, thanks for the welcome. And yes, one of the reasons I went with Pentax was the number of lenses out there.
Interestingly, when I first bought my old Canon SLR it was a toss up between that and a Pentax, but at the time the research I'd done suggested the Canon glass was the way to go.
C'est la vie!

Chris ;-)

dosdan · 09-25-2008, 05:47 PM

Hello Chris. What lens(es) do you have for the K200D? What FL & aperture did you find most useful in your Canon film days? If you want to get the same equiv. FL on a DSLR you would need to divide your old favourite FL by 2/3 to match the difference in size between the Pentax's DSLR CCD sensor and 35mm film. So the equiv. on a DSLR, of a 75mm FL lens used with film, would be 50mm.

Dan.

MoiVous · 09-25-2008, 09:34 PM

Hi Dan,

I only got the kit lens with K200D - the DA 18-55mm AL II. It looks like a nice lens so far.

As for my old Canon - I used two lenses almost exclusively - my 24mm f2.8 and my 35-105mm f3.5 (with a seriously large hunk of glass on the front!) That covered most of my needs with kids portraits and landscape stuff. Going on your information, I need a 35mm lens to get back my old landscape lens.

I also have a set of extension tubes as well that I used with the original 50mm f1.8 - and that covered the "macro" images quite well. Is there a third party tube manufacturer you'd suggest?

Sad thing is my autobellows and 200mm f4 hardly got used, despite all my best intentions.

I'm not sure how the 18mm end of the new lens will go - but it will get a serious work out this weekend.

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated.

Cheers

Chris

dosdan · 09-26-2008, 12:18 AM

Chris, 18mm on the kit lens would have the same FOV as 28mm on a film camera. A 16mm lens on a DSLR would have the same FOV as a 24mm on film.
35mm (DSLR) = 52mm (film).

I've got a SMC Pentax-F 35-105/F4-5.6 which is a bit slow, but it wasn't very expensive 2nd hand. I find though I don't use this lens much as the FL range is mostly covered by other lenses I have.

I also bought the Mk. II kit lens after buying my K100D Super which came with a dreary Sigma kit lens with a similar FL & aperture range. The Mk. II is a good quality lens for the price.

At the Toowoomba 2008 Carnival of Flowers last weekend I mainly used a SMC Pentax-M 28/F2.8 & SMC Pentax-M 50/F1.7. When I wanted to get some single shots of flowers which I could not get physically close to, I used a Pentax-A 70-200/F4. Being a non-SMC lens, I have to boost the contrast a bit more in post processing.

I haven't got any extension tubes yet so I can't comment.

If you are looking for the best bang-for-the-buck and you don't mind using MF, try Pentax-A, Pentax-M or Pentax "K" (pre-M K-mount).

If you're fond of golden oldies, try some M42 lenses like the Super Takumar 50/F1.4.

I think the green button on the K200 can be used the same way I use the AE-L button on the K100D Super with non-AE (M42, K, M) lenses: set the camera to Manual mode, physically set the aperture and then press this button to have the camera temporarily stop down, determine the correct shutter speed and it sets it.

The auto-everything lenses in order of increasing recentness & current price are: F, FA, DA (generally physically smaller than, and usually not suitable for full-frame (film) use).

Dan.

MoiVous · 09-28-2008, 06:32 PM

Hi Dan,

Thanks again. I misunderstood your focal length calculation, but went back to the user manual and worked it out.

I think your correct about the Pentax 35-105mm - that range won't enhance things that much. I'm interested in your experience with the 18-55mm Mk II kit lens.
I had a reasonable play with it over the weekend and was quite impressed with it. Tried some portrait, landscape and macro photography - all very good. The wide angle is quite acceptable, and the 55mm is ok for simple portraits. Loved the ability in macro with fill flash to drop the EV of the flash and not overexpose. The camera was fast and easy to handle as well - what I've been missing in the P&S world! And it felt like solid and well balance in my hands - a proper camera!

I'm going to hunt down some extension tubes and a couple of decent primes. Thanks for the advice on prices/history - it will come in handy when I start hunting down more glass.

Unfortunately, Adelaide is not well endowed with second hand lenses these days - most of the camera stores in the city are P&S heaven and have forgotten the second hand market. There used to be 4 stores in the CBD alone with good gear - now we're down to 1.

MF is not a problem - that's where I came from. Although the K200D has very fast and pretty accurate AF from my experience so far!

The beauty of this camera is its flexibility - the green button, the e-dial and the ok button can be tweaked to the way you like them (within some limits of course).

Since I shoot more in Program/AV/TV/M mode than the pre-sets I found that the e-dial could be tweaked to switch to AV or TV when in P mode - great stuff! Then use the green button to go back. So many tweaks! The K200D has the stop down on the Off/On button - thats programmable as well - stop down or digital preview. It will take some time to learn all these options, but I can see huge potential.

Many thanks for your advice!

Wombat · 10-09-2008, 09:19 PM

G'day from Kangaroo Island,
Good to see another Croweater on the forum. You're right about the paucity of camera shops who deal with 2nd hand lenses. I've found Camera House in the East End Market is about the best, though they don't have much. Eden Photographics used to have stacks of stuff, but I haven't tried them in recent years. I believe they've moved out to Glenelg somewhere. You might also try trawling around the Cash Converters stores. You can pick up complete film SLRs for under $100 and you might just strike it lucky with a usable lens.

Welcome to the forum, mate.

Dark_Mist · 10-09-2008, 09:30 PM

G'day Chris.

There are 2 shops in the CBD that carry second hand gear and another 5 mins out. I'm guessing you know about PhotoCo in the central market, but pop into Twin City Cameras on Grenfell Street and have a look. They have a range of quality used gear and are the best place in SA to look if you are after new Pentax stuff, talk to Tom and you will get what you need.

You can also try L & P Photographic in Kent Town. They are just around the corner from the Kent Town Hotel. They have a range of used equipment too. They are also good for things like reflectors that a lot of the turnover based stores don't carry.

Cheers
Col

MoiVous · 10-12-2008, 06:50 PM

Thanks Wombat and Col - much appreciated feedback and hints.

I knew about PhotoCo - used to get my Canon film glass from them years ago. But they had very limited Pentax kit when I was there last week (we go to the Central Market every couple of weeks).

Twin City might be the go though - just up the street from where I work....

I saw the Eden Photographics listing in the yellow pages - might have to go down there. I remember going in to the old Kent Town store years ago and hunting down filters, lenses etc. They had loads of kit....shame.

UPDATE: Went down to Glenelg today - no Eden Photographics - seems the shop closed up about November last year!

Saw an ad in the yellow pages for a second hand shop in Unley that had photo gear. Might be worth a look.

I'll report back if I find anything else.

Thanks again!

Cheers

09-23-2008, 09:31 PM	#1
MoiVous Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 677	Greetings from the Antipodes! Hi Folks, I just joined this forum after recently purchasing a K200D. I've been a Canon film SLR user for 3 decades but was stuck in the Canon FD lens time warp - you can't use those old (but brilliant) lenses with the new dSLR kit out there! After my youngest daughter broke my old P&S Canon A75 I decided to go back to my passion for SLR photography. You can't get the control or creativity with P&S in my opinion, and the LCD screens are useless in outdoor situations as well. So with the vision of a new dSLR I started hunting. This forum helped a lot, with user experiences influencing me. I'd looked at the other dSLRs from Nikon, Canon and Olympus, but after handling all of them in the local camera shops for a good time each, the K200D got under my skin. So lo and behold, I'm back to my first hobby! I look forward to seeing opinions and images on this great site. Thanks for your help. Chris ;-)

09-26-2008, 12:18 AM	#6
dosdan Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Brisbane, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,741	Chris, 18mm on the kit lens would have the same FOV as 28mm on a film camera. A 16mm lens on a DSLR would have the same FOV as a 24mm on film. 35mm (DSLR) = 52mm (film). I've got a SMC Pentax-F 35-105/F4-5.6 which is a bit slow, but it wasn't very expensive 2nd hand. I find though I don't use this lens much as the FL range is mostly covered by other lenses I have. I also bought the Mk. II kit lens after buying my K100D Super which came with a dreary Sigma kit lens with a similar FL & aperture range. The Mk. II is a good quality lens for the price. At the Toowoomba 2008 Carnival of Flowers last weekend I mainly used a SMC Pentax-M 28/F2.8 & SMC Pentax-M 50/F1.7. When I wanted to get some single shots of flowers which I could not get physically close to, I used a Pentax-A 70-200/F4. Being a non-SMC lens, I have to boost the contrast a bit more in post processing. I haven't got any extension tubes yet so I can't comment. If you are looking for the best bang-for-the-buck and you don't mind using MF, try Pentax-A, Pentax-M or Pentax "K" (pre-M K-mount). If you're fond of golden oldies, try some M42 lenses like the Super Takumar 50/F1.4. I think the green button on the K200 can be used the same way I use the AE-L button on the K100D Super with non-AE (M42, K, M) lenses: set the camera to Manual mode, physically set the aperture and then press this button to have the camera temporarily stop down, determine the correct shutter speed and it sets it. The auto-everything lenses in order of increasing recentness & current price are: F, FA, DA (generally physically smaller than, and usually not suitable for full-frame (film) use). Dan. Last edited by dosdan; 09-26-2008 at 12:26 AM.

10-09-2008, 09:30 PM	#9
Dark_Mist Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Adelaide Photos: Albums Posts: 102	places for lenses G'day Chris. There are 2 shops in the CBD that carry second hand gear and another 5 mins out. I'm guessing you know about PhotoCo in the central market, but pop into Twin City Cameras on Grenfell Street and have a look. They have a range of quality used gear and are the best place in SA to look if you are after new Pentax stuff, talk to Tom and you will get what you need. You can also try L & P Photographic in Kent Town. They are just around the corner from the Kent Town Hotel. They have a range of used equipment too. They are also good for things like reflectors that a lot of the turnover based stores don't carry. Cheers Col

10-12-2008, 06:50 PM	#10
MoiVous Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 677 Original Poster	Thanks Wombat and Col - much appreciated feedback and hints. I knew about PhotoCo - used to get my Canon film glass from them years ago. But they had very limited Pentax kit when I was there last week (we go to the Central Market every couple of weeks). Twin City might be the go though - just up the street from where I work.... I saw the Eden Photographics listing in the yellow pages - might have to go down there. I remember going in to the old Kent Town store years ago and hunting down filters, lenses etc. They had loads of kit....shame. UPDATE: Went down to Glenelg today - no Eden Photographics - seems the shop closed up about November last year! Saw an ad in the yellow pages for a second hand shop in Unley that had photo gear. Might be worth a look. I'll report back if I find anything else. Thanks again! Cheers Last edited by MoiVous; 10-19-2008 at 02:39 AM. Reason: Updated information on Edne photographics

09-23-2008, 10:17 PM	#2
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	The Antipodes? You're in England? Welcome to the board, mate. With Pentax, you use all the lenses from about the last 50 years...

09-24-2008, 12:18 AM	#3
MoiVous Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 677 Original Poster	No - not in England! My English friends often refer to me as the Antipodean - hence the subject title. Anyhow, thanks for the welcome. And yes, one of the reasons I went with Pentax was the number of lenses out there. Interestingly, when I first bought my old Canon SLR it was a toss up between that and a Pentax, but at the time the research I'd done suggested the Canon glass was the way to go. C'est la vie! Chris ;-)

09-25-2008, 05:47 PM	#4
dosdan Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Brisbane, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,741	Hello Chris. What lens(es) do you have for the K200D? What FL & aperture did you find most useful in your Canon film days? If you want to get the same equiv. FL on a DSLR you would need to divide your old favourite FL by 2/3 to match the difference in size between the Pentax's DSLR CCD sensor and 35mm film. So the equiv. on a DSLR, of a 75mm FL lens used with film, would be 50mm. Dan.

09-25-2008, 09:34 PM	#5
MoiVous Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 677 Original Poster	Hi Dan, I only got the kit lens with K200D - the DA 18-55mm AL II. It looks like a nice lens so far. As for my old Canon - I used two lenses almost exclusively - my 24mm f2.8 and my 35-105mm f3.5 (with a seriously large hunk of glass on the front!) That covered most of my needs with kids portraits and landscape stuff. Going on your information, I need a 35mm lens to get back my old landscape lens. I also have a set of extension tubes as well that I used with the original 50mm f1.8 - and that covered the "macro" images quite well. Is there a third party tube manufacturer you'd suggest? Sad thing is my autobellows and 200mm f4 hardly got used, despite all my best intentions. I'm not sure how the 18mm end of the new lens will go - but it will get a serious work out this weekend. Thanks for the advice - much appreciated. Cheers Chris

09-28-2008, 06:32 PM	#7
MoiVous Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 677 Original Poster	Hi Dan, Thanks again. I misunderstood your focal length calculation, but went back to the user manual and worked it out. I think your correct about the Pentax 35-105mm - that range won't enhance things that much. I'm interested in your experience with the 18-55mm Mk II kit lens. I had a reasonable play with it over the weekend and was quite impressed with it. Tried some portrait, landscape and macro photography - all very good. The wide angle is quite acceptable, and the 55mm is ok for simple portraits. Loved the ability in macro with fill flash to drop the EV of the flash and not overexpose. The camera was fast and easy to handle as well - what I've been missing in the P&S world! And it felt like solid and well balance in my hands - a proper camera! I'm going to hunt down some extension tubes and a couple of decent primes. Thanks for the advice on prices/history - it will come in handy when I start hunting down more glass. Unfortunately, Adelaide is not well endowed with second hand lenses these days - most of the camera stores in the city are P&S heaven and have forgotten the second hand market. There used to be 4 stores in the CBD alone with good gear - now we're down to 1. MF is not a problem - that's where I came from. Although the K200D has very fast and pretty accurate AF from my experience so far! The beauty of this camera is its flexibility - the green button, the e-dial and the ok button can be tweaked to the way you like them (within some limits of course). Since I shoot more in Program/AV/TV/M mode than the pre-sets I found that the e-dial could be tweaked to switch to AV or TV when in P mode - great stuff! Then use the green button to go back. So many tweaks! The K200D has the stop down on the Off/On button - thats programmable as well - stop down or digital preview. It will take some time to learn all these options, but I can see huge potential. Many thanks for your advice!

10-09-2008, 09:19 PM	#8
Wombat Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: South Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 901	G'day from Kangaroo Island, Good to see another Croweater on the forum. You're right about the paucity of camera shops who deal with 2nd hand lenses. I've found Camera House in the East End Market is about the best, though they don't have much. Eden Photographics used to have stacks of stuff, but I haven't tried them in recent years. I believe they've moved out to Glenelg somewhere. You might also try trawling around the Cash Converters stores. You can pick up complete film SLRs for under $100 and you might just strike it lucky with a usable lens. Welcome to the forum, mate.

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