[Tri-X 400]

Hello everybody,


first post, I'm hoping I'm doing this right...

Nowadays I mainly use a Ricoh GRiii which I absolutely adore but every now and then I need a camera for portrait or people. Then I use a Canon 550D with my old analog Pentax lenses, but I'm thinking about buying a used Pentax DSLR so I don't have to mess with the adapter ring all the time.


Since I'm using it only every now and then I want to keep the price tag below 100 bucks which here in Germany means everything from the early models up to the K-r model would fit the description.


Are there models you would recommend or models I should steer away from?

Again I will almost only use it for portraits with wide open aperture so I care about nice skin tones and all around nice color rendition. Don't need video or other fancy features and I will use manual focus most of the time. Also noise is acceptable but should be somewhat pleasant up to 1600 (highly subjective I know!)

Any help is much appreciated!

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Last edited by pschlute; 03-05-2023 at 07:30 AM.

[tryphon4]

Do NOT buy a K-7, it is awful at 800 ISO and up (I never use mine since I got a K-3).
A K-5 would be fine.

[normhead]

The K-5 was the first camera that we bought two of for the wife and myself. The IQ advantage over what came before was noticeable in almost every frame. I was shooting a K20D. Now my wife has a K-5ii, and it also was a visible improvement. My wife still shoots with her K-5ii. Its images hold up next to my K-1 the vast majority of the time. It's not KAF4, but if you are buying it for old glass, It should be perfect.

The noise reduction in the K-5 is light years ahead of the cameras that came before it.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

For less than a 100€ K10d or Samsung GX-10 (Samsung's version of the K10d!). Do not think you can get a K-5 for that money. Contrary to what tryphon4 states The K-7 will do the job, but is a camera that needs good light. But to be honest, I think you should stick with your Canon-adapted Penax lenses unless you are prepared to invest a littlle bit more money.

[Tri-X 400]

AfterPentax Mark you are absolutely right, I made a mistake in my post, but I don't know how to edit it.

Everything up to a K-r will be in that price range, a K5 will indeed set me back much more!

[pschlute]

I made a mistake in my post, but I don't know how to edit it.

Fear not Sir, I have edited it for you.

[tonyzoc]

For under $100 you can find a K10d or a K2000/Km. I've had both and the K10d is a nice camera I still have and use. Its a 10Mp CCD sensor, and is very well built. Its not a high ISO camera though, I wouldn't shoot it above ISO 400. Your other option is the pick up a lens for the Canon. You might find a Tamron 28-75/2.8 in the $150 range or an 18-200 below $100.

[othar]

Assuming your Pentax lenses have an aperture ring: you could buy a K30 or K50 with aperture block failure. It can only be used in M mode, but it would get you the same sensor as the K-5.

[Tri-X 400]

Thank you pschlute for editing my post, that's very kind and thanks to everybody for all the answers, that's awesome...

Now othar and normhead posts have led me to a question about compability. I have from my old film days a lot of Pentax SMC, SMC-M, SMC-A lenses and these are all compatible with modern Pentax DSLRs right? So I could use them in manual mode like I do with my 550d but without the adapter ring or am I missing something?

[Wheatfield]

If you will be doing studio work in controlled light, the K7 is one of the nicest cameras I've used for studio photography. As mentioned above, ISO 800 and above is noisy (I didn't like taking mine past ISO 400 for that reason, but if you can keep the ISO at base, it has the nicest flesh tone rendering of any Pentax DSLR I have used to date and it handles beautifully.
If you go for a K5, make sure it is a later model, the early ones were plagued with problems and if you get a bad one, it's a disaster masquerading as a camera.

[Wheatfield]

Thank you pschlute for editing my post, that's very kind and thanks to everybody for all the answers, that's awesome...

Now othar and normhead posts have led me to a question about compability. I have from my old film days a lot of Pentax SMC, SMC-M, SMC-A lenses and these are all compatible with modern Pentax DSLRs right? So I could use them in manual mode like I do with my 550d but without the adapter ring or am I missing something?

Your older K mount lenses will work just fine, though there are caveats to be aware of. Your A lenses will give full functionality as long as the aperture ring is in the A position. You will need to set the focal length of the lens in use when using shake reduction. The camera will prompt you.
For your older non A series lenses, you will need to set the camera to shoot with no lens (it's in the menu someplace, I don't quite recall where), and you will need to become familiar with the green button metering routine because the camera is missing the part that allows it to do open aperture metering. No Pentax DSLR can open aperture meter with pre A series lenses.
Also, be aware of the Kr (Ricoh K bayonet mount) they have a pin on the mount that fouls the AF key, which makes the lens difficult (impossible sometimes) to remove from the camera once mounted.

[Tri-X 400]

Thank you Wheatfield, lots of useful information here!

So I'm starting to see a bit of a trend which is either stick to the 550d or spend a little bit more on a higher end Pentax DSLR like a K5 or K7. But I don't want to wrap this up by any means and I would love to hear more suggestions or from experiences other users have made!

[pschlute]

I would love to hear more suggestions or from experiences other users have made!

For your portrait work , do you use flash ?

That obviously negates the need for high ISO and will give you more (cheaper) options.

[EssJayEff]

Just for grins, I went to KEH and looked to see what the offer for $100. The only match is a 6.1 MP K110D for $92. A K-5 is $196—and that's at the very low-end "Bargain" condition rating. So yes, you'll need to up your budget.

[Wheatfield]

Just for grins, I went to KEH and looked to see what the offer for $100. The only match is a 6.1 MP K110D for $92. A K-5 is $196—and that's at the very low-end "Bargain" condition rating. So yes, you'll need to up your budget.

Below is an image off an istD. It did well for me, though it was pretty slow to write files and had a slow buffer, even for the day, and like all cameras from that era, high ISO was not very good. The 6mp sensors are very capable of giving nice results, and if the OP is using a recent version of Photoshop, the files can be successfully enhanced (that's the Adobe term) up to 24mp if a larger file is required. The biggest problem now with cameras of that era will be finding memory cards that will play in the same sandbox as the camera.

The OP has been a little vague about what sort of portraiture he is doing, so I am speaking to studio photography specifically where tonal rendering is more important than other features and lighting is more important than anything. I really liked, and still like, the skin tone rendering of the earlier cameras. With the K5, Pentax seemed to go a bit more mainstream, and some of the niceness that they had with skin tones was lost.
At the studio, we had Nikon, Canon and Pentax cameras in use, and we all found the Pentax files were easier to edit and gave nicer results. We considered the K5 to be the great equalizer, as suddenly the Canon and Nikon files looked just as good as the Pentax ones.
The later cameras are very good, but to me, the earlier cameras were better at reproducing nice skin tones, and this opinion was shared by the other photographers I worked with.

One thing new portraitists get too hung up on is cameras and lenses when they should be paying attention to lighting equipment if they are working in a studio. Battery powered speedlights on inexpensive umbrellas and stands are OK for living room studios, but they won't stand up to day to day use. OTOH, dedicated studio lights and stands can be expensive and as I am now finding, are on the large size for the living room studio, which is what I am shooting in these days.