[Vinfer]

LOL for me all coffee is bad, yes my camera is doing fine, the only thing is I have the memory card door that doesnt open by itself when I turn the handle, got to use my finger and my battery grip On and Off button is now more rough to turn



Don't we love Pentax, being soooo weatherproof and coffee proof, muddy proof and now sand sea proof

I mainly use my K20 in marine areas.
It is in contact with splashes of salt water and sand. I think the saltiness is the worst and deadly enemy of all electronic equipment (especially in long time), more dangerous than mud and coffee (if the K20 resists well in marine areas, it will resist in any circumstance). When i finish photographing work, "wash" the equipment under a gentle jet of water.
In over a year, never had any problems.

[Canada_Rockies]

LOL for me all coffee is bad, yes my camera is doing fine, the only thing is I have the memory card door that doesnt open by itself when I turn the handle, got to use my finger and my battery grip On and Off button is now more rough to turn

Your memory card door probably still has some contamination on it, or in the recess where the hinge is. Try a dampened swab (Q-Tip) to wipe everything you can reach without getting any water into the card slot. I suspect the same thing with the grip power switch.

Don't we love Pentax, being soooo weatherproof and coffee proof, muddy proof and now sand sea proof

Ain't that the truth! Even my KX survived a whale tail splash at the aquarium in Victoria, BC. I wiped down and cleaned everything immediately to the great amusement of my family.

[Albert Siegel]

Albert Siegel from this forum, sold his Pentax and went with the D80. But has now sold the Nikon and returned to Pentax.

Ahh.. the D80... That was a nice camera. I bought that just to give Nikon a try before I invested much money into the system.

What happened was I had way too many issues with Pentax USA service at the time with long delays and faulty repair work. I am working press and I do not have time for these issues, so I sold all my Pentax gear and bought into Canon.

I HATED the Canon gear. Cameras were fine even if I did not care much for the layout. The lenses were not at all what I expected. I was very unhappy with the quality of the optics. The 24-70 2.8L and the 70-200 2.8L IS were no better than my my Pentax kit lenses when it came to IQ in my opinion. Both were quite soft wide open and on the 200mm end was quite poor. The ultra wide was fine though even if a bit soft on the corners. Flash system was great! In the end, I was just unhappy with not being able to have the optical quality I expected and not too fond of the camera layout.

I then bought a Nikon D80 with a few lenses just to give them a try. I was not unhappy. I was just not impressed and really liked the direction Pentax was going with their DA* lenses. By this time the Pro Program had been started and I decided to give Pentax another shot.

I bought a few bodies, flashes and all the DA* lenses (at the time) along with the 12-24, fisheye, and a few primes. I signed up with the PRO program and have made good use of with with two lenses that game me issues after just three months. All was taken care of quickly and I am very happy with the people in the Pentax pro program.

Have I thought of moving to another system? Yes I have. In the end I always stick with Pentax. Why?

I love the DA line of lenses. I have no need for full-frame and the designed for digital lenses fill my needs quite well. I have a lighter system and cover a range of 10-300mm (15-450mm in 35) in a kit much smaller and lighter than full frame with results just as good. Pentax optics are hard to beat.

What have I invested in Pentax?
multiple bodies (K20)
multiple flashes (540)
10-17 fisheye
12-24 / 4
18-250
16-50 / 2.8 DA*
50-135 / 2.8 DA*
28 PC-Shift
35 / 2
50 / 1.7
50 / 1.4
100 / DFA Macro
200 / 2.8 DA*
300 / 4 DA*

I've sold some of my lenses I did not use much like the FA and DA limiteds.

The main reason I invested this much into Pentax is because I trust my work to Pentax equipment and quality. Now I have the service to back me up.

Is Pentax perfect? Not by a mile! I know the limitations of their AF and other issues. Can I deal with them? Yes! I know how to use a camera. I do not like spray and pray when I photograph. I work within the limits of my equipment. It does make for a challenge at times, but I am fine with that as I feel it forces me to think more and thus I get a better image.

I can understand the frustration with the limits of the equipment, but really.... you can either learn to deal with them and accept them for what they are or go out and buy a multi-thousand dollar camera and find something you don't like about that. No system is perfect. Don't worry about equipment much. As long as the optics are good and you can take photos with it you are fine. Put that energy into creating photos with what you have. You will be far more happy in the end when you see it in print.

[res3567]

I can understand the frustration with the limits of the equipment, but really.... you can either learn to deal with them and accept them for what they or go out and buy a multi-thousand dollar camera and find something you don't like about that. No system is perfect. Don't worry about equipment much. As long as the optics are good and you can take photos with it you are fine. Put that energy into creating photos with what you have. You will be far more happy in the end when you see it in print.

I could not jave said it better myself, sir.

I salute you!

With your lens lineup, you are hurting my ability to curb my LBA

But thats what happens when you invest into a DSLR system that has GREAT lenses, old and new!

[Jonson PL]

Ahh.. the D80... That was a nice camera. I bought that just to give Nikon a try before I invested much money into the system.

What happened was I had way too many issues with Pentax USA service at the time with long delays and faulty repair work. I am working press and I do not have time for these issues, so I sold all my Pentax gear and bought into Canon.

I HATED the Canon gear. Cameras were fine even if I did not care much for the layout. The lenses were not at all what I expected. I was very unhappy with the quality of the optics. The 24-70 2.8L and the 70-200 2.8L IS were no better than my my Pentax kit lenses when it came to IQ in my opinion. Both were quite soft wide open and on the 200mm end was quite poor. The ultra wide was fine though even if a bit soft on the corners. Flash system was great! In the end, I was just unhappy with not being able to have the optical quality I expected and not too fond of the camera layout.

I then bought a Nikon D80 with a few lenses just to give them a try. I was not unhappy. I was just not impressed and really liked the direction Pentax was going with their DA* lenses. By this time the Pro Program had been started and I decided to give Pentax another shot.

I bought a few bodies, flashes and all the DA* lenses (at the time) along with the 12-24, fisheye, and a few primes. I signed up with the PRO program and have made good use of with with two lenses that game me issues after just three months. All was taken care of quickly and I am very happy with the people in the Pentax pro program.

Have I thought of moving to another system? Yes I have. In the end I always stick with Pentax. Why?

I love the DA line of lenses. I have no need for full-frame and the designed for digital lenses fill my needs quite well. I have a lighter system and cover a range of 10-300mm (15-450mm in 35) in a kit much smaller and lighter than full frame with results just as good. Pentax optics are hard to beat.

What have I invested in Pentax?
multiple bodies (K20)
multiple flashes (540)
10-17 fisheye
12-24 / 4
18-250
16-50 / 2.8 DA*
50-135 / 2.8 DA*
28 PC-Shift
35 / 2
50 / 1.7
50 / 1.4
100 / DFA Macro
200 / 2.8 DA*
300 / 4 DA*

I've sold some of my lenses I did not use much like the FA and DA limiteds.

The main reason I invested this much into Pentax is because I trust my work to Pentax equipment and quality. Now I have the service to back me up.

Is Pentax perfect? Not by a mile! I know the limitations of their AF and other issues. Can I deal with them? Yes! I know how to use a camera. I do not like spray and pray when I photograph. I work within the limits of my equipment. It does make for a challenge at times, but I am fine with that as I feel it forces me to think more and thus I get a better image.

I can understand the frustration with the limits of the equipment, but really.... you can either learn to deal with them and accept them for what they are or go out and buy a multi-thousand dollar camera and find something you don't like about that. No system is perfect. Don't worry about equipment much. As long as the optics are good and you can take photos with it you are fine. Put that energy into creating photos with what you have. You will be far more happy in the end when you see it in print.

Hi Albert, thanks for getting back and providing your view on things.
Good to hear that you found something that keep you satisfied. Sometimes we have to go full circle to find out what works for us.

[pingflood]

I HATED the Canon gear. Cameras were fine even if I did not care much for the layout. The lenses were not at all what I expected. I was very unhappy with the quality of the optics. The 24-70 2.8L and the 70-200 2.8L IS were no better than my my Pentax kit lenses when it came to IQ in my opinion. Both were quite soft wide open and on the 200mm end was quite poor. The ultra wide was fine though even if a bit soft on the corners. Flash system was great! In the end, I was just unhappy with not being able to have the optical quality I expected and not too fond of the camera layout.

That's pretty funny -- I love the good Canon glass but think the flash system really isn't very good. Have to say I'm surprised to hear you say your 24-70 and 70-200 were soft; they are the "bread and butter" lenses of most pros and pretty much all copies I've seen and used were tack sharp wide open. But there are poor copies of every lens out there, no doubt.

[Lowell Goudge]

GRRRRR someone I know spilled some coffee on my K20D
If you guys would know how i felt and how I still feel!!!!!!
Now I got button that are harder to move and some that are more stickier and the button on and off on the battery grip is really hard to move and when I move to live view on the battery grip the button sticks there.

PLEASE KEEP ALL LIQUIDS AWAY FROM YOUR CAMERA!!!!!

I hope you can recover your functionality, it might be possible if you flush the surfaces carefully with distilled water, but there is always a risk of making it worse.

on the lighter side, what has that done to the performance of the shake reduction, or was it de-caf

[beaumont]

If someone spilt coffee on my camera, I would forgive them and go buy a K7.

[Albert Siegel]

That's pretty funny -- I love the good Canon glass but think the flash system really isn't very good. Have to say I'm surprised to hear you say your 24-70 and 70-200 were soft; they are the "bread and butter" lenses of most pros and pretty much all copies I've seen and used were tack sharp wide open. But there are poor copies of every lens out there, no doubt.

The 70-200 2.8 IS is known for being soft wide open and on the long end. The 24-70 is better, but not by much. I have heard of others who have sharp copies, but I was unable to get one.

The majority of pros I know and know of who use these lenses as their "bread and butter" are photojournalist. They do not need top quality and thus why they tend to prefer the 8mp and 10mp Canon 1D series. A newspaper image only needs to be turned in with a resolution of 300ppi at 6 inches... I think this is less than 3mp.

Most pros not in journalism will either work with medium format or primes on 35 full-frame. I imagine most wedding photographers who practice a photojournalistic style will use these zooms though.

As a photojournalist, I am fine with the use of zooms for the majority of my work. I do other types of photography as well and thus why I have a few primes for the higher quality stuff I do. What surprised me was the IQ from the DA* zooms. Part of the reason I was able to sell many of my primes was the IQ from the DA* zooms is so very close to what I could get from my primes that I felt confident enough to sell off most of my primes and use my DA* zooms for my other work.

I took a look at your site. Nice work.

[pingflood]

The 70-200 2.8 IS is known for being soft wide open and on the long end. The 24-70 is better, but not by much. I have heard of others who have sharp copies, but I was unable to get one.

The majority of pros I know and know of who use these lenses as their "bread and butter" are photojournalist. They do not need top quality and thus why they tend to prefer the 8mp and 10mp Canon 1D series. A newspaper image only needs to be turned in with a resolution of 300ppi at 6 inches... I think this is less than 3mp.

Most pros not in journalism will either work with medium format or primes on 35 full-frame. I imagine most wedding photographers who practice a photojournalistic style will use these zooms though.

As a photojournalist, I am fine with the use of zooms for the majority of my work. I do other types of photography as well and thus why I have a few primes for the higher quality stuff I do. What surprised me was the IQ from the DA* zooms. Part of the reason I was able to sell many of my primes was the IQ from the DA* zooms is so very close to what I could get from my primes that I felt confident enough to sell off most of my primes and use my DA* zooms for my other work.

I took a look at your site. Nice work.

Thanks for your comments; you clearly have a fair bit of experience with all the gear. I do agree completely that primes are king, even as good as modern zooms have gotten. They can pry my fixed 400 from my cold, dead hands, even though it sometimes keeps me from getting shots when things are too close, and it doesn't have IS.. ah well.

Also, thanks for the compliments; I haven't updated the damn thing in ages. This one has a few more up-to-date shots: http://www.beyondthematrix.com/official/street/