[cats_five]

This is the stuff I wanted to hear!

I'd love to get some primes. I've been really tempted by the DA40 Limited, by a few members' street shots on this fine forum. Any suggestions for some older manual primes?

Are you serious about wanting to save for Uni or not? If you are going to save then buying toys has to stop, for now.

[Ron Kruger]

I recently upgraded from a K20D to a K10D. I don't consider it a downgrade, because the IQ and look of images from the K10D and the CCD sensor are better than from the K20D. (I shoot professionally.) Because you talk about a "walkabout" lens and taking snapshots, this probably wouldn't work for you. Newer models are more tuned to people who want to just point and shoot with a DSLR. But if you will learn about light and take control of your image making, such as shooting at low ISO and developing a good manual focus technique, you can upgrade to a K10D and an older prime lens for a fraction of the cost and produce better pictures than you're getting from your K7.

[GDRoth]

Congrats on being focused on university............go for it..........but don't sell anything either...............what will you put in the bank; 200 or 300 bucks??

You also do not need to buy anything else.

Take the lenses you have and really learn how to shoot with them for 2 years.............it'll probably enhance your photography skills at the same time....

All the best!
Dave

[rawr]

'Saving' money through anything to do with your camera gear won't work. Keep what you have, and simply DON'T BUY ANYTHING ELSE. Stop now. You can't buy/sell/trade your way ahead with camera gear. You will lose money.

Also learn to do your maths on an annualised basis. If you save just $5 a day by not spending money on something, you are $1800 ahead for the year. So downgrade your mobile phone plan, buy one less donut each day, and before you know it you will be thousands of dollars better off per annum.

It also needs to be said that you have great gear. If you aren't taking amazing pictures with it, it's not the fault of the gear.

[Cregar]

Keep your equipment, like most everyone here said... you will be loosing money.

[theunartist]

My only advice would be to do whatever you need to do for your upcoming university years and not do whatever you can to keep your camera equipment...

School, for most, is a once in a lifetime experience, years you will enjoy, new friends you'll meet and never forget. Have a good time with your contemporary's and get an education, it doesn't get any better than this...

When you're all done, smile and do whatever you want, including photo stuff...

[jeztastic]

I think you can't save on the K7, but you can on the lenses.
You have got a lot of cash invested in not a lot in terms of quality.

Get rid of the mediocre zooms, and buy some older manual lenses - you'll have loads of cash left from the zooms if you are careful, and you will end up learning loads more about photography. If you were telling us how much you love the lenses I'd say different, but that's not how you're coming across!

I won't recommend specific lenses - that's up to you. But it's well worth getting auto aperture lenses IMHO, as it simplifies things a lot.

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Last edited by jeztastic; 08-02-2011 at 07:16 AM.

[PentaxMom Felua]

Upgrade! Yourself. Get a nice side job. Many do.

[interested_observer]

Half way through college my draft number came up #62, so rather than the Army, I went down very quickly and joined the Navy Reserve. The short version of the long story, I did electronic countermeasures (radar jamming), but also I was the ship's photographer - well in a way. I had 2 suit cases of Nikon glass and 2 bodies. However, each frame needed to be documented with a ton of information, date, time, position - lat/long, sun angle, course and speed, angle on the bow of the target, bearing and range, target's course and speed - you get the idea. I had also bought myself a Spotmatic II (which I still have), as the Nikon was way too heavy. I wasn't going to use their lenses - hell to pay if something happened to one of them.

After getting out and going back to finish school, I could not afford film, let alone processing, then there are slides, etc. Even after getting my degree, there was other expenses to be paid.

Now, 40 years later - I can do to some degree what I always wanted. The moral of the story here, is to set your priorities. You can't have / do everything all at once. Keep what you have, use it to the extent possible (free film, free processing, free images), and be happy.

[jamarley]

I agree with others - keep the K-7, but sell the grip. Unless you're a pro or shooting for long periods away from an electrical source, a spare charged-up battery in your pocket will suffice.

I have the Sigma 17-70 non HSM version. It's on my K-7 more than any other lens. Daydreaming about something wider doesn't help me take better pictures - only practice accomplishes that goal. So my advice is to step back a bit in your expectations; scale back (a bit) in your equipment and practice, practice, practice.

[excanonfd]

Are you serious about wanting to save for Uni or not? If you are going to save then buying toys has to stop, for now.

Doesn't sound like he's serious at all about saving for the Uni, he comes across as just another optics junkie trying to upgrade his current setup without dipping into his savings, an impossibility.

[InlawBiker]

Just to mirror what others have said, you should focus on your studies. I don't know your finances but there are many students for whom a point n' shoot is a luxury. Your kit in $USD is upwards of $1200. That's a better setup than many of the career-track adults I know.

Ultimately if your focus is on your studies then your camera will become a secondary concern. One of life's biggest lessons is to be happy with what you have rather than worrying about what you don't. I'm very far removed from school but I still struggle with this myself

With such a perspective then a K-x with a kit lens is a mighty nice tool to have. Or keep buying lenses and playing with the K-7 and forget about school. You'll have plenty of nice photos of the time in your life when you made some very poor choices.

Re-reading this post that sounded pretty harsh. But I can't think of a better way to say it. Having the very best camera gear at this time in your life is simply not important.

[RioRico]

Mi dos centavos: Keep the camera. Sell the grip and zooms. Shoot with the kit lens; if you don't have it, get it. Get a part-time job. (I worked my way through college by driving an ambulance.) If you have a TV, sell it. (That's how I made Dean's List.) If you smoke, roll your own. Find a used copy of THE IMPOVERISHED STUDENT'S GUIDE TO EATERY, DRINKERY, AND HOUSEKEEPERY. Eat ramen. Drink tapwater. Concentrate on your studies. And keep shooting.

If you want to get laid, go to college.
If you want an education, go to a library.
--Wm Burroughs

[Spock]

Sell the K7 and grip and buy a K10. That's what I did and I am quite happy with the K10. I don't miss the K7 at all.

And sell the Sigma and Tamron zooms and buy some older Pentax lenses.

[johnmflores]

Sell it all. Take 10% of what you make from the sale and get a decent point and shoot - something with good manual controls like a used Canon G9 or Panasonic LX3. Spend your uni years studying and documenting your time with the point-and-shoot that you always have with you in your rucksack.