[yourefree]

Well almost, my camera is on route via fedex from Beach Camera. Free 7-9 day shipping ended up being 3-4 days from order date, very impressive. I have been reading through this and other forums and i don't see much information on the following. As a new owner I am looking for good sites for used pentax lenses, ebay seemed to only have a few, does anyone have any other used lens sites.

Secondly is power. I have Nimh batteries already but i have read about the eneloop batteries and the rechargeable CRV3. I have read conflicting info on the CRV3 due to voltage issues but others who do use them, any recommendations for brand - Lenmar seem to be decent price on Amazon.

I considered the Sony A100, Canon's before deciding on the Pentax, it is my first Dslr although i used to use a Pentax in the 80's as I developed my interest in photography. My current P&S is a Casio 5.0 which is nice and portable but very poor indoors where I take most family shots.

I havent bought any other accessories yet, i would like a nice zoom lens and a wide angle option, but i will be looking for used for those.

Great forum.

[-spam-]

A place you might be interested in for used lenses is keh.com

The site is a bit of a pain to use sometimes. But there is usually a heap of good stuff on there.

[rfortson]

Ebay has plenty of lenses, and shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=889257&u=523490&m=66875&urllink=keh.com has plenty. You won't have any problems spending your lens budget. If you have some camera shows in your area, check them out. There should be some Pentax mount lens there behind all the Canon and Nikon lenses. Prices should be down because everyone else at the show will be buying those same Canon and Nikon lenses and ignoring the Pentax mounts.

From what I've read, the eneloop NiMH batteries seem to hold their charge longer in storage. I don't have a problem with my regular NiMH's since I pretty much take them out of the charger and shoot right away. I get ~600 shots on my 2400mAh batteries. When I travel, I use disposable CRV3's. In fact, I'm still using them from my Thanksgiving trip and have probably put close to 1000 shots on them. They're still showing full, but I hear they drop off quickly when they run out. Still, I think they'll last a bit longer.

Search here for a thread about rechargeable CRV3's. They're not recommended and at least one person has posted about some problems/damage they caused with his camera. To me, it's not worth the risk, especially when I get the performance I do with the recommended batteries.

As for zooms, the Pentax DA50-200 gets high marks for the image quality and the price. There's still a $50 rebate until January 9. That zoom coupled with the kit lens gives you a nice, light setup with a good range.

The other option is one of the superzooms. I have a Tamron 28-300, but it's discontinued. There's an 18-200 out now. The image quality isn't quite as good if you look at full scale images. But viewing on the web or printing less than 8x10, you probably won't notice the difference. The plus is convenience. It's a nice, one-lens travel package.

One last thing. Check the firmware version. I think Pentax is up to version 1.02. 1.01 gave compatibility with 4GB SD cards. I don't know what the newest version does. Upgrade if you choose to use the larger cards. I find that 1GB and 2GB cards work fine for me. If you shoot raw, each file is just over 10mb, so you'll get just under 100 shots per GB of storage.

Congratulations on the purchase! Have fun and post pictures!

[vievetrick]

Welcome and good luck finding some glass. You can always try as mention ebay, KEH and B&H. Those are the main places I look when trying to find things. Don't expect to find them cheap . But you should be able to get some. You caould also post here in the buy/sell/ trade section and indicate what you are looking for and roughly houw much you want to spend.

Good luck and welcome

[trog100]

"The image quality isn't quite as good if you look at full scale images."

i have no real problem with my tamron 18 x 200 pixel peeping full size images.. the suggestion they are poor thru out their entire range isnt true..

these kinda lenses have their sweet spots and their weak spots.. mine around the wider end takes better sharper pictures than the kit lens.. around its mid range 50mm to 100mm) its very prime like.. it suffers a little at its longest end from fringes but is not that bad..

what they do do is cheat with closer up things.. u dont get the true 200mm focal length.. i team mine up with a sigma 70 x 300..

when one starts to fall off the other takes over.. all in all the 18 x 200 is a very usefull lens.. work around its weak spots and enjoy its versatility..

trog

ps.. the bottom line here is all lenses are a trade off.. but if i was limitted to just one lens without the slightest doubt it would be the tamron 18 x 200..

[SpecialK]

As for zooms, the Pentax DA50-200 gets high marks for the image quality and the price. There's still a $50 rebate until January 9. That zoom coupled with the kit lens gives you a nice, light setup with a good range.

And my favorite, the 10-17mm is $100 off (down to $350 or so). Though it is fisheye at 10mm (which I like) it's rectangular at 17mm (which I like, too :-)

[NaClH2O]

One place for used lenses not mentioned yet is Adorama, mostly known for new stuff but they do get used lenses in from time to time. Do you have any old lenses from the pentax you mentioned in your post? They will fit your new camera. Even if they are screwmount lenses, you can get an adapter for them. Congratulations on your new purchase and have fun shooting!

NaCl(hope to see some of your shots soon)H2O

[RiceHigh]

Check for Rechargeable CR-V3 which is voltage regulated, as stated in the design specs of the batteries and by the manufacturer.

Do also to use a voltmeter to measure the output voltage after the first full charge (for a much longer time). AFAIK, all RCR-V3s which marked voltage regulated* to 3.0 to 3.4V can be used safely in any Pentax DSLRs. For your reference, energizer AA Lithiums have new voltage of 3.4 to 3.5V for two cells.

Forget about NiMH, which will lose its charge in a few days. And you will get noticeable slower AF. The battery indicator and warning will show you unreliable info as the NiMH is often around the border line limit of the total voltage required by the camera.

What I can confirm is that RCR-V3 perform without any difference of any kind to one-use CR-V3 batteries, except for still shorter battery life (mine is a 1100mAh one, but it is still double the life of my Sanyo NiMH 2500 mAh, which still have the above 3 problems I mentioned).

I guess the battery life of my RCR-V3 is about half of a set of Sanyo/Pana CR-V3s.

I have used all types of batteries of AA Li, AA NiMh, AA NiCd, CR-V3, RCR-V3s in all my *ist D, DS and K100D, so I'm pretty sure that the RCR-V3 is the best choice here (whilst CR-V3 can be used as backup or for long vacation when charging is not convenient).

[trog100]

the only thing that would make me not use the tons of AA metal hydride batteries i have kicking about is the "faster auto focus speed" i keep reading about.. it all strikes me as a bit odd..

AA batteries have always come in two voltages either 1.5 or just over 1.2 for rechargeables.. i have always assumed that electronic gadgets to run on rechargable batteries are voltage regulated down to the lower level..

are we saying a pentax camera isnt voltage regulated.. to me the electronics must be.. if there is any auto focus speed increase it must be the focus motor getting more voltage and shifting the lens mechanism faster and to do that it cant be voltage regulated..

the k10 is obviousely designed to run off the normal 3.4 to 3.7 volts a rechargeable lithium cell puts out..there will be two cells in series putting out about 7.4 volts.. the k10 will use two lithium cells the k100 four AAs which it seems can be anything from 1.2.. 1.5 or 3.4/7 per (fake) twin cell lithium.. a pair of (twin AA shaped) rechargeable lithiums running in series (7.4 volts) and regulated down to the same voltage (six) as four normal none rechargeable AAs seems to be okay..

the bottom line here being what the hell voltage is the K100 designed to run off.. the sensible norm would be regulated down to five volts allowing sensible rechargeable metal hydrides to be used without disadvantage..

is the fact that the k100s focus motor isnt regulated clever design or pure accident.. and is it meant to run off five volts or six. he he

the reason the K10s autofocus speed is better is probably down the fact it runs at 7.4 volts as opposed the the k100s five or six volts depending what batteries are used in it..

trog

[chedoy]

I happen to think that a $600 consumer product can be designed to run on a power supply that varies frpm 5 volts (4 nimh AA's) to 7.6 volts (2 RCRV3's). However, Pentax says no-no, so I believe them. At first I thought it was the over-voltage issue, but now I think it's product safety.

I googled RCRV3's to find out more about the Lithium-Ion cell voltage and finally gave up, although I think it runs 3.6 volt nominal and can go as high as 4 volts. However, I think that the advertised voltage regulation in many cells is more geared to shutting off the cell at some value below 3 volts and at some value above 4 volts. It's mandatory for safety reasons. If lithium-ions get run down too low, they will form internal shorts which can lead to fires. If charged too high, they can also explode. Some brands may also regulate the output voltage to 3.2 volts, but those aren't the $5.99 specials you find on ebay.

Perhaps the Pentax warning is more about inexpensive cells with cheap regulating circuitry that can fail.

In any case, I was surprised at how the lithium-ions can go kaboom and now understand why Sony and other laptop makers recalled so many batteries.

[trog100]

its the chargeing circuitry that stops them going kaboom.. it has to be strictly regulated and is mostly built into the cell pack.. u can buy straight none charge regulated lithiums with nothing built in but they need their own special charger..

the normal output for lithiums is around 3.7 volts per cell.. 7.4 is normal for a pair..

for something designed to run at 6 to 4.8 volts i would think 7.4 is pushing it.. any guinea pigs out there.. he he

does anybody know what the external mains power supply puts out for say a k100 or similar AA powered pentax.. that would be a clue..

i knew they are potential bombs because i have used them in electric power rc model airplanes..

its advised to place the pack in a flame proof metal container before rechargeing.. he he he

they dont explode in a true kaboom kinda way.. they just burst into flames..

trog

[yourefree]

I just opened the packaging and have taken a few test shots. One thing i noticed is a blotchy finish on the body. I had this with an old toshiba P&S. it looks like the mould leaked or something... the finish is not flat, but slightly bumpy? Has anyone else experienced this, is it normal. I might call beach camera to see what they say. Could this be a reject body case and hence Beach are able to sell for less than other stores. I can try and take a picture with another camera if people would like to see what I mean.

[jfrejo]

That is the finish on the body and is intentional.
John

[Brian Wahl]

I just ordered a k100d w/kit lens from beach last night as well. They've got a great price on it, plus the rebate makes it even better. I tried finding a used deal, but the price for a used camera isn't much less than new on these.

Glad to hear the shipping is faster than the 7-9 business day time quoted.

For batteries, I've got some Energizer e2 2500mAh AA's with a few chargers. I've used these in other devices and have been very happy with them. We'll see how they do in the camera. You can get a 15 minute charger for them (~$35) , which makes them pretty convenient.

[superfuzzy]

Ricehigh is simply wrong. High quality NiMH (nickel metal hydride) are the way to go.

I am getting great results with Rayovac 2500mAh and a high quality charger -- Maha MH-c204F. I get 100+ photos per charge, but I'm not sure exactly the maximum because I have not yet run out of power prior to recharging. There are even better chargers on the market, but the c204F - charges two x two batteries. Better chargers handle individual batteries - handy if you have a cell with a short. The chargers are small so easy to take them with you on trips, and friendly to the environment.

Also, I've had problems with at least one set of Energizer niMH 2500's, and I've heard this is common. One of the cells has a short so it rapidly looses the charge. To get around the problem use the batteries right away - from the charger.

I also got my k100d from beach. It is a great camera and good luck!

Forget about NiMH, which will lose its charge in a few days. And you will get noticeable slower AF. The battery indicator and warning will show you unreliable info as the NiMH is often around the border line limit of the total voltage required by the camera.