Originally posted by normhead I guess you hadn't heard of Astro-tracer and the Rokinon 14 2.8. Some people buy Pentax for astro. I guess others sell Pentax's to get it. It's a strange world.
I have a star tracker.
I only learned of the Pentacon today because of trying to sell some gear and this particular camera store in Burlington, Ontario has the coolest stock of old cameras I've ever seen, I couldn't walk away from such an interesting looking camera.
They had a gorgeous film Hasselblad too, looked like an older 500 series - but it was much more than I could justify putting on the credit card.
I never heard of a Rokinon, sorry.
My wife couldn't use her Pentax, it was too heavy for her, she has a withered right arm.
I'm a long time Olympus user, going back 30 years now. I have no desire to jump ship especially since I already have spent $$$$ on lenses.
My wife, not an avid photographer at all, decided to jump on the Olympus bandwagon because of the size and weight of the camera. She was highly motivated and impressed by my photos of the Milky Way and night stars I took when we went up north this past summer to an isolated lodge. She saw it unfold and she couldn't believe it was possible to take such photos when her eyes couldn't see what the camera saw on time exposure.
So despite the Pentax being a properly capable machine she wanted something similar to my camera in order to pursue the interest and be able to lift and hold the camera for day photography - despite her bad arm.
Her arm became bad a dozen years ago, along with so much of her health and neurological condition, from a particularly wicked car crash, it gave her life changing injuries. I'm her husband and these days her fulltime caregiver these last 12 years. I'm using photography and astronomy as a form of occupational neurlogical therapy to help her in her mental and physical coordiation as well as to help her practice her reading, organizing and planning mental skills.
If the K5 was a lighter camera then we would have kept it for her. It was a fully competent performer with no complaints but the weight. Oh well.