Greetings from a returning Pentaxian!
Hi All,
I'm a new member and thought I'd introduce myself...
I've been in love with photography all my life, but the "honeymoon" passion has returned for the first time in decades - I just purchased a K200D and *ist DL! Both are pre-owned but in like new condition, with actual shutter count below 500 on each!
I started with Pentax when I purchased a brand new K1000 in 1976 - took me two months to save up for it at the time (summer job in high school). My grandfather was a wedding photographer back in the '40s, and he taught me my way around the darkroom a couple of years prior, so I hit the ground running by developing my own film & prints. I loved (and still have) that K1000! Well, that was the first honeymoon, and lasted until I graduated high school in '79.
Photography took a back seat for a while as I built my career, got married, moved around the country, and generally got caught up with other things in life. I experimented a lot with Polaroids in the 80's, briefly played with a couple of Canons in the '90s (T50 & T90), then went through a series of the early digital P&S models. When DSLRs reached 6MP, I bought into the Nikon system, but never rediscovered the passion I remembered having with the K1000.
My wife and I are avid thrift shop frequenters - not so much for the bargains, but for the thrill of the unknown. You never know what you'll find! Anyway, I always look at the camera gear in these places, and over the years have picked up quite a few K-mount & M42 lenses - mostly in the $5 - $10 range. A few weeks ago, on impulse, I dug out my old K1000, picked up a few rolls of Tri-X (didn't realize Kodak still made it), and started playing with those old lenses. The passion came back! I developed the film with a 20-year-old package of Microdol-X (what memories!), scanned the resulting negatives into Photoshop and was simply blown away by the image quality!
I immediately searched the 'net to see if I could find Pentax lens adapters for my Nikon DSLRs and discovered that it's not possible to fit K lenses on Nikon bodies (other way around is no problem). I did buy an M42 adapter that sort of worked, but none of the screw-mount lenses would focus to infinity. Bummer. That's when the light bulb went off - why not just buy a cheap Pentax DSLR? That's when I got the *ist DL - it came last week, and I have been in love ever since.
My original plan was to supplement the Nikon gear with my new *ist, but after seeing the images from those lenses (both analog & digital), and feeling the "rightness" of a Pentax body again, I'm going to sell all my Nikon gear and switch permanently. I'll also be shooting the occasional roll of B&W film through the K1000 and an ME Super I found locally in mint condition for $4.99. Who knows what's next! My K200D arrived today - I was going to go straight to the K20D, but with no PMA news this year, I think I'll wait until summer to see what Pentax has planned. In the meantime, I plan to have a great 2nd honeymoon!
-OregonJim
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