Wife's birthday which dslr/mirrorless? Pentax or not?

FreeSpirit9 · 03-12-2015, 06:02 PM

I gave my wife the option of a diamond ring or a K5 with 18-135. I pointed out the virtues and joy she would get from the camera and also expressed the joy she would get from wearing a diamond ring. Then I pointed out that the diamond in the ring would not have a HUGE diamond at that price point.

She chose the K5. Subsequently I bought her a Sigma 50 1.4 DG HSM. She hasn't looked back (too much), she loves her 50 1.4. We have an amazing collection of landscape and wildlife shots and photos of our baby daughter that my wife has taken. She loves her camera and we share a love of photography.

jimr-pdx · 03-12-2015, 09:49 PM

I found a white NX300 deal (Samsung mirrorless) for $310 with OIS kit lens for my wife (and LR4 for me!). It's small, talented & gets great reviews - and can use Pentax lenses with a $15 adapter so it's a great 2nd camera. The nx500 will arrive any day so prices should fall more on the 300.. maybe. AF with video, and it comes directly off the sensor so it's quick in good light.

r-p · 03-15-2015, 07:18 AM

Some excellent info, food for thought and specific camera ideas!

Thanks a million!

To answer a few questions: yes she wants a dslr, we handled the Nikon 3200 (iirc) 2 weeks back in Dubai, but she put it down immediately saying it didn't feel/grip nicely. They were on sale but strangely they were not cheaper than in NL (we have 21% more sales tax than Dubai...).
This week she said a digital video camera is probably needed more. And possibly we can buy the K200d from my mother in law as she mostly uses a newer ~16MP compact lately. (We borrow it on holidays already and I always drag the 50 1.4 and often the 600mm mirror with me then

)
As for Video: we had a JVC GR-DVM70u, brilliant little video camera we used for almost a decade before it failed (with a 4MB (!!!) memory card for photo's

).
Replaced it with a Samsung cheapo DV tape camera which is barely the same quality as the 10 year older JVC... (at only 15% of the price though...).

Will do some research on the mentioned models and see if I can find some deals on them!!! (e.g. the NX300 is 350€ from one vendor and 500+€ from all others (prices always incl. tax) so shopping around is crucial... The A58+lens is 375€, so both good contenders price wise. The X-a1+lens is 400€, so not virtually nothing carpents

but still within budget)

Thanks again, you guys/girls have been extremely helpful!

r-p · 03-17-2015, 08:12 AM

She definitely wants a video camera more.

Found the NX300 for 249euro (through cashback from Samsung, at current exchange <270$ including all tax and shipping!), and had to decide as stock is dwindling fast... So I called her and gave her some info about it not being a DSLR and thus not having a viewfinder, and she responded by saying: then I'd rather go for a video camera. I told her this would do just fine as a video camera, but she'd rather not have a half-half thing but a dedicated camera.

Back to the drawingboard...

03-15-2015, 07:18 AM	#18
r-p New Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 10 Original Poster	Some excellent info, food for thought and specific camera ideas! Thanks a million! To answer a few questions: yes she wants a dslr, we handled the Nikon 3200 (iirc) 2 weeks back in Dubai, but she put it down immediately saying it didn't feel/grip nicely. They were on sale but strangely they were not cheaper than in NL (we have 21% more sales tax than Dubai...). This week she said a digital video camera is probably needed more. And possibly we can buy the K200d from my mother in law as she mostly uses a newer ~16MP compact lately. (We borrow it on holidays already and I always drag the 50 1.4 and often the 600mm mirror with me then ) As for Video: we had a JVC GR-DVM70u, brilliant little video camera we used for almost a decade before it failed (with a 4MB (!!!) memory card for photo's ). Replaced it with a Samsung cheapo DV tape camera which is barely the same quality as the 10 year older JVC... (at only 15% of the price though...). Will do some research on the mentioned models and see if I can find some deals on them!!! (e.g. the NX300 is 350€ from one vendor and 500+€ from all others (prices always incl. tax) so shopping around is crucial... The A58+lens is 375€, so both good contenders price wise. The X-a1+lens is 400€, so not virtually nothing carpents but still within budget) Thanks again, you guys/girls have been extremely helpful! Last edited by r-p; 03-15-2015 at 07:53 AM.

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03-12-2015, 06:02 PM	#16
FreeSpirit9 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Queensland, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 557	I gave my wife the option of a diamond ring or a K5 with 18-135. I pointed out the virtues and joy she would get from the camera and also expressed the joy she would get from wearing a diamond ring. Then I pointed out that the diamond in the ring would not have a HUGE diamond at that price point. She chose the K5. Subsequently I bought her a Sigma 50 1.4 DG HSM. She hasn't looked back (too much), she loves her 50 1.4. We have an amazing collection of landscape and wildlife shots and photos of our baby daughter that my wife has taken. She loves her camera and we share a love of photography.

03-12-2015, 09:49 PM	#17
jimr-pdx Pentaxian Join Date: May 2010 Location: now 1 hour north of PDX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,897	I found a white NX300 deal (Samsung mirrorless) for $310 with OIS kit lens for my wife (and LR4 for me!). It's small, talented & gets great reviews - and can use Pentax lenses with a $15 adapter so it's a great 2nd camera. The nx500 will arrive any day so prices should fall more on the 300.. maybe. AF with video, and it comes directly off the sensor so it's quick in good light.

03-17-2015, 08:12 AM	#19
r-p New Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 10 Original Poster	She definitely wants a video camera more. Found the NX300 for 249euro (through cashback from Samsung, at current exchange <270$ including all tax and shipping!), and had to decide as stock is dwindling fast... So I called her and gave her some info about it not being a DSLR and thus not having a viewfinder, and she responded by saying: then I'd rather go for a video camera. I told her this would do just fine as a video camera, but she'd rather not have a half-half thing but a dedicated camera. Back to the drawingboard...