[skydragoness]

Yes the Samsung GX1s is basically the same camera as the Pentax K110D (no shake reduction system) "Panasonic's sister" is Leica.

Panasonic's sister is Leica? I thought Leica is just a lens system? So Panasonic is doing it's own thing I see. That new DSLR they came out with w/ shake reduction is nuts. Arm and a leg too.

[Ole]

Leica, which is a German company, is also very much into cameras. They were established in 1849 and did optics and microscopes at first. In 1924 they decided to produce the world's first 35mm camera, invented by Oscar Barnack.

Their trademark product is some very refined and beautiful range finder cameras. They have had finacial trouble in this digital age and now work closely with Panasonic who uses their lenses, and Leica rebrands some of Panasocic's cameras.

Leica just announced a digital successor to their rangefinder camera, in their usual design and quality and "Made in Germany" again:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/leicam8/

I will retail for $4795! Without lens.

[Arpe]

For all your interest (and hope this isn't too OT) both Leica and Pentax manufacture Surveying equipment too: theodolites and levels. That discipline requires good optics as well so hopefully that side of the business helps keep them afloat. Just remembered Nikon also do surveying gear, don't think Canon do.

[skydragoness]

Ok I finally got to check out the K100 today. I brought my teeny-tiny 16mb SD card from one of my old digi-cameras so I could check them out when I got home:



So I wasn't allowed to touch the settings, the guy set it in 'action' mode so i tried to do some panning of the cars driving by but the shutter speed was too high.

Anyway, I really like the color reproduction but I filled up the card so fast! I don't think the burst rate is fast enough for me and the AF was similar to my 5D, I think it may have had some trouble since I was shooting behind glass? Or maybe because of the card being only 16mb was too tiny of a buffer for the camera to write to. Or is it because of the lens itself?

I like the feel of the camera/ the weight, the lcd controls were abbreviated a tad much, and I really liked the lcd screen itself. (The one on the 5D is awful, can't tell when shots were in focus or not)

Phototramp: if you were wondering I went to Cameras Etc on Main St, Newark.

Um, also no luck w/ Cutler, I called all the #'s you listed and the same thing--disconnected. Super weird.

Anyway, I think I may hold out for the K10D just so I can test it out and I'll make my decision then.

p.s. The salesguy/rep was telling me the new C*non XTi has shake reduction? I looked in my current issue of Pop. Photo and it made no mention of that. He must've just been pulling my leg. :P

[Edvinas]

p.s. The salesguy/rep was telling me the new C*non XTi has shake reduction? I looked in my current issue of Pop. Photo and it made no mention of that. He must've just been pulling my leg. :P

Canon and Nikon are not putting anti-shake into their DSLR bodies. Your salesguy was not telling truth to you. Find another store with more competent salespersonal, they should allow you to change camera settings too, it sounds more than ridiculous when you're are not allowed to do that.

[skydragoness]

^
I totallly agree with you. However, this camera store is the only one in my immediate area that would even let me put a card into the camera. ( I wouldn't even dare bothering w/ the commercial Ritz franchise stores).

The salesguy was also contridicting himself too when I was asking him about what he thought about the Pentax AA batteries, he first said that he thought it was a good thing, but then he backtracked and said Li-ion are so much better. Pffbbt. Pick one dangit.

He mentioned there's another guy that works there that teaches photo classes at the University of DE (same town) and I think maybe it would be best to talk to that fellow instead. Although he might feed me some "Ca**n is teh awesomest evaar!1" crap.

Well I don't want to drive an hour to where Phototramp lives just to get a more unbiased opinion. *sigh*
Too bad the only other photographer friend I have uses an Olympus. (shrug)

All I know is I sure don't like it when a camera store employee doesn't know anything or when they get pissed off just because you want to play w/ the camera before making a real decision. I sure won't buy a camera from them. Funny thing is, I got a Tamron lens from them, so they shouldn't be treating me like a 'non-paying' customer anyway.

[Photo Tramp]

Canon and Nikon are not putting anti-shake into their DSLR bodies. Your salesguy was not telling truth to you. Find another store with more competent salespersonal, they should allow you to change camera settings too, it sounds more than ridiculous when you're are not allowed to do that.

Hi Skydragoness:
Hope the weekend was good to you, I understand at least you had a good time in the (candy store)(LOL) Photo shop. I'm sorry about the phone numbers. I Don't know if the people at cutler here in Lancaster know. (I could be nice and let them know there is a problem with their advertising.) NAH I'm not that nice. Any way I think the problem with your burst shots is the SD card only being 16mb. I'm supprised you got more then 4 shots on the card. You know the burst rate is(I think only 5 shots per second) I don't know if that includes JPEG files or just RAW.

The K10D is 5 per second RAW but in JPEG you can hold the shutter down and fill a 1gb card in a few seconds. :=))) OH and your sales person is a real A**H***. I don't know where they dig these smucks up but they sure don't know squat about their products. C&N have IS in some of their top lenses not in the camera.

Well study hard this week so you can play on the weekend.
Good shooting.
Cheers: David

PS You can come up and visit our cutler shop anytime you want and I would be glad to meet you and introduce you to Jim. (in fact he really doesn't know that much about Pentax. HE shoots N***N what would he know.

---

Last edited by Photo Tramp; 09-18-2006 at 04:46 PM.

[Edvinas]

The K10D is 5 per second RAW but in JPEG you can hold the shutter down and fill a 1gb card in a few seconds. :=)))

Not true. K10D is 3 frames per second and it is no difference if you use RAW or JPEG.
There's 9 RAW images limit however, after those 9 RAW @ 3fps rate images shot-to-shot time should increase because buffer is full and camera needs to wait while there's space to take another shot in RAW. JPEG amount @3fps rate amount is limited only to SD memory card capacity.

[skydragoness]

Hi Skydragoness:
Hope the weekend was good to you, I understand at least you had a good time in the (candy store)(LOL) Photo shop. I'm sorry about the phone numbers. I Don't know if the people at cutler here in Lancaster know. (I could be nice and let them know there is a problem with their advertising.) NAH I'm not that nice. Any way I think the problem with your burst shots is the SD card only being 16mb. I'm supprised you got more then 4 shots on the card. You know the burst rate is(I think only 5 shots per second) I don't know if that includes JPEG files or just RAW.

The K10D is 5 per second RAW but in JPEG you can hold the shutter down and fill a 1gb card in a few seconds. :=))) OH and your sales person is a real A**H***. I don't know where they dig these smucks up but they sure don't know squat about their products. C&N have IS in some of their top lenses not in the camera.

Well study hard this week so you can play on the weekend.
Good shooting.
Cheers: David

PS You can come up and visit our cutler shop anytime you want and I would be glad to meet you and introduce you to Jim. (in fact he really doesn't know that much about Pentax. HE shoots N***N what would he know.

Yeah, not to mention the store smells like subs because of the Subway next door!

The K100's burst rate is 5 jpg's @ best quality, no info on the raw (i'm thinking I saw 3?) Not sure.

[QUOTE=skydragoness;813]Hello everyone

1. What are the best batteries to get? Do you guys use rechargables? If so, do you us NiMh type? No other battery options are there, correct?

2. Since I am new to the DSLR world, Pentax is not a brand I know at all.

When I purchased the K100D, one of my first thoughts was "Wow, it's going to be expensive keeping batteries for this thing." Well, such is not the case. I thought back to the days of my K1000 and MX and the cost of film and did the math. Decision.... Batteries are cheap.

Two CRV-3 Lithium batteries will cost you around $19. Lets say you get 700 no flash, no playback shots. Battery cost will be in the neighborhood of $ .027 per shot.

Now, let's compare that to the price of Film for the same number of shots.

Based of 36 exposures per roll of a good ASA400 or ASA200 Film, it would take 19 rolls of film to get 700 shots. At a cost of $4.99 per roll, that would be around $95 or a cost of $.136 per shot and you still need batteries to power the camera.

Based on all of that, I would heartily recommend buying the CRV-3 Lithium batteries and carrying a spare pair.


To address your concern about Pentax. Pentax/Asahi is one of the oldest and most trusted names in Cameras. It would be hard to count the number of photographers, both pro and hobbyists, who started with a Pentax K1000 Manual camera.

[Edvinas]

1. What are the best batteries to get? Do you guys use rechargables? If so, do you us NiMh type? No other battery options are there, correct?

I use NiMH rechargeables and I keep set of Lithium AA as a backup in my photobag.

[xand]

Two CRV-3 Lithium batteries will cost you around $19. Lets say you get 700 no flash, no playback shots. Battery cost will be in the neighborhood of $ .027 per shot.

Now, let's compare that to the price of Film for the same number of shots.

Based of 36 exposures per roll of a good ASA400 or ASA200 Film, it would take 19 rolls of film to get 700 shots. At a cost of $4.99 per roll, that would be around $95 or a cost of $.136 per shot and you still need batteries to power the camera.

Eh - not a good comparison. With film you must also develop, which is why digital is inherently cheaper. (but note it's not unusual to get film free when you develop).

What's wrong with just using niMH's?

[MPrince]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with niMHs. You just have to have enough charged and ready to go to meet your shooting needs.

nimhs start to discharge after they are removed from the charger, whether being used or not. So while you're using one set, your backups are discharging (albeit not very fast). So when you're ready to put in the backups, they are already partially discharged. If your timing is right, it won't be a major factor. If not, you could find yourself short on batteries.

I have a Sony H1 which takes 2 nimhs. My charger charges two batteries at a time. So I could maintain a good charging schedule most of the time. My k100d takes four batteries. I have about 10 nimh batteries, but currently can only charge 2 batteries at a time.

Right now I have a set of crv3s in my k100 and 8 lithiums ready for backup. At some point in time, I will probably get a charger that charges 4 batteries at a time. Then, I will probably use one set of nimhs, have another set of nimhs as backup, backed up with a set of lithiums.

Eh - not a good comparison. With film you must also develop, which is why digital is inherently cheaper. (but note it's not unusual to get film free when you develop).

What's wrong with just using niMH's?

Well, I think it was a good comparison. You still have "Developing" costs with Digital photos, although not quite as much. And, as far as free film, the Media card serves that purpose.

I've used NIMH rechargeable in the S3000 Fuji I have before I purchased the K100D. NIMH rechargeable do not hold their charge and will leak down. Since I don't use my camera every day, and probably not every week-end, the NIMH will simply leak down their charge and reduce their usefulness. The Lithium CRV-3's are the highest cost batteries, but the deliver the highest yeild in photos. The do not leak down and have s shelf life of at least 10 years. So, you can have a set in your camera and a spare set in your bag and not have to worry about your new set being DOA. With the NIMHs, I had to carry at least four sets at all times, along with a charger if I was on an extended trip. Which meant a much larger gadget bag to tote around. Another positive is, you cannot put them in your camera incorrectly. Which reduces the chance of inadverant damage to your camera.

The Lithium AAs are a good deal as well, but don't have the longevity of the CRV-3s.

[carpents]

Wow, thanks again for the help. I called all those DE locations and I got 'disconnected'.. i guess I dialed them wrong? Very strange, I guess I'll just have to check them out and see. Thanks for the tips.

Hmm, depending on how much I can get for my 5D and the two lenses I will try and go for the K10D.

Phototramp: Do you think the AF not being accurate/fast enough when you were shooting F1 (pretty hard to do I think unless you have those $10k lenses) is because of the lens itself or the camera?

Ok. I think I'm done my pestering. I'll check one out tommorow or Monday if I can.

Thanks again for all your help guys!

Cutler went out of business a few years ago. So did Mid-City Camera. There isn't anything near you (or me) as far as I know. The closest camera store I've found is Cardinal Camera in Lansdale, which isn't very close at all.

Sad, but true.