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Forum: Repairs and Warranty Service
04-10-2023, 11:10 AM
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I have no doubt that I will get reprimanded for placing this post in the wrong place.... it never fails..... but, I'll take a chance and just go for it.
If any of you have a Pentax K-30 or K-50 with the dreaded aperture solenoid issue and need to get it repaired, here is a very good repair service that I highly recommend. I have sent five or six of them to this gentleman and all have came back like new, and his work is guaranteed. So, I thought I'd mention his name and address if any of you might have need of his service.
His name is: Mark Kainu, 3400 Hideaway Lane, Yachats, Oregon 97498 Phone: 209-753-8553
He charges $125 which includes return shipping. His work is fully guaranteed and he has a remarkably fast turn-around time.
Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, but I'll keep trying.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
11-19-2022, 03:08 PM
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More fun facts:
I made about $400,000 with the camera that failed, and I bought it used for $350 with 3,400 clicks on it; pretty good return!
The last photo it ever took was as good as the first photo it ever took.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-31-2022, 09:17 AM
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I am a curmudgeon. I will be 82 yo on Friday coming. I own and use a K3 I bought used when I slipped on the ice and smashed my K10D's top plate. I went digital with the K10D when developing film ended up being Walmart (135 Km West) or mail.
Out camping and fooling around I will take snaps with the iPhone. Why not? It's the 2022 baby Brownie. Sometimes the picnic gear is more important to carry than the photo gear. On hikes I take the K3 + DA* 16-50 with genuine Pentax hand strap in Grandma mode. I may or may not take a backpack with more stuff in it. May 15-18 I met my daughter and her husband near Radium Hot Springs for a lovely weekend of walking and soaking. The DA*16-50 was accompanied by a backpack with swim trunks and towel for the 3 Km walk to the hot springs.
The gear isn't the point for me, it's what I capture.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
05-31-2022, 10:01 AM
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What's the issue. If someone doesn't like modern gear and the way it's developing, let them pick a camera they are comfortable with its' abilities - no one forces anyone to use the 'latest and greatest'. On the other hand, if that someone is really worried that a 5 year old with the 'latest and greatest' will create better images than them - then shame on them, they chose the level the were willing to work to !
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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
02-21-2022, 09:49 PM
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I just bought a K-3 that was made in 2014 off a guy on Craigslist. I used the first pic i took on it to do a shutter count. Grand total of 9017...
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Forum: General Photography
04-29-2022, 04:55 PM
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Very many "perfect" shots are not capable of being captured by any camera, digital or film. The dynamic range we see with our eyes/brain has not yet been replicated by the recording medium of an emulsion or a sensor. Even if it did, it would not necessarily produce the image that the creator wants to convey.
There is a reason the photographic greats of the last century spent hours in the darkroom, dodging and burning (or had someone else do it for them). The digital "darkroom" is just an extension of the same idea.
Photography is an art. I take my camera out to create images, not to use it as some form of portable photocopier.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-26-2020, 03:08 PM
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Welcome to PF. You will love the K-70 and be amazed at how capable it is.
You've had lots of good advice already, so I'll just add some comments from my own experience. (Nature photography is my main area of interest too.)
My hiking kit varies. For one lens, it's either the DA 18-135 or 55-300 PLM, depending on what I expect to come across. My two-lens kit was generally 55-300 with either the DA 12-24 or DA 18-135. Nowadays I mostly take the DA 15 Limited, DA 20-40 Limited and DA 55-300 - high quality, compact and light weight. Sometimes it's just the 20-40 and 55-300 (both WR), but the 15 is so pocketable and such a joy to use that it's hard to leave behind even if I don't use it so often. But the trade-off here is more lens-changes. For simplicity, I would suggest the 55-300 PLM with either the 16-85 (if within budget) or the 18-135.
Like others here, I would often add a macro to the kit (FA 50 f2.8 or DFA 100 f2.8 WR) or take it in place of one of the others. They are crazy sharp, great not only for true macro but also flowers, leaves, fungi, butterflies if reasonably close, any detail of interest and f2.8 is handy for subject separation. I also find a macro lens to be a great base for stitching images together, like this.
(Stitched with Microsoft Image Composite Editor, which is free and easy to use - Microsoft Image Composite Editor) A tripod is best for this, but if you are careful you can do it with handheld images.
If it's a big animal, the 55-300 PLM would be OK for 30-60 feet.
But for small to medium birds and animals, I'd echo the point Norm and others have made: beyond 30 feet, with a 300mm lens the subject is often going to be too small in the frame to give more than a record of what you saw.
I used to have one of these (non-DG version). Mine was fun but not very sharp at the long end. (And a beast to carry, even though it is lighter than other 500mm lenses.) However others seem to have got better results with it. See the reviews here:
Sigma 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database
Sigma 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database
For wildlife at a distance, you do really need upwards of 400mm and your existing lens is as good a place to start as any. It will be a different experience on the K-70 than on the *ist - e.g. far better autofocus, better burst speed, far better low light/high ISO performance, to mention just a few things. There are very few 500mm autofocus options in Pentax and anything else is going to be heavier and more expensive, so give this a serious try.
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
07-05-2020, 01:25 PM
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Maybe the pandemic will continue to diminish sales, or maybe not. My art materials supplier has had a bumper Covid as more people turn to isolated hobbies. Perhaps camera suppliers will benefit, after all wondering around with a camera in the landscape is safer than many city pursuits, especially DSLR, which are mainly purchased by older folk who feel more at risk. You can see similar patterns in sales of camper vans which have soared, bikes & camping gear too.
(As an example, my wife and I bought two fantastic lightweight, hiking chairs to sling on the bottom of our sacks so we could change the pattern of our walks and not end up in a pub/town. Since we bought them at the start of this crisis they have doubled in price. Guess others are thinking the same. You can find them at TREKOLOGY YIZI GO Portable Camping Chair - Compact Ultralight Folding Backpacking Chairs, Small Collapsible Foldable Packable Lightweight Backpack Chair in a Bag for Outdoor, Camp, Picnic, Hiking: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors if you are interested.)
I think we have to start looking at all futures with a different mindset. Maybe camera equipment will do OK?????
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Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals
07-05-2020, 01:25 PM
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Between "no money," "no travel," "no weddings," and "no big gatherings," it's not surprising that people aren't buying expensive cameras with the money they don't have to take the pictures they won't take.
But it's not dooms day for cameras.
Some day, travel will return. Some day, weddings will happen. Some day, cameras of existing photographers will get old and break. Some day, people will realize that their personal finances are going to be OK (even if others are poorer after the pandemic).
Some day, camera sales will go back up.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-07-2018, 07:41 PM
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I got back into photography in September, 2017, with the purchase of a Pentax K-70, and have been slowly adding lenses to put together a suitable kit. The biggest problem I faced was finding an affordable high-speed telephoto for night sports such as American football and soccer.
The fields that I shoot on aren't too brightly lit, so even though the K-70 gives great image quality at ISO 6400, I still needed a lens with a maximum aperture of at least f/2.8 and a focal length of under 135mm. (My primary sports lens back in the film era was a 135mm, but some test shots last fall with my 135mm f/3.5 showed me that, on an APS-C camera, 135mm is a little too long for me when working on the sidelines.)
Unfortunately, Pentax has nothing suitable. The two Limiteds (70mm f/2.4 & 77mm f/1.8) are just too expensive, as are the older out-of-production fast autofocus lenses (when you can find a used one for sale), and the upcoming D FA* 85mm f/1.4 is at least a year away... and almost certain to be way outside of my price range.
This left the Rokinon (Samyang) 85mm f/1.4: a lens with great image quality, solid construction, automatic aperture (in Pentax K mount), an amazingly low price... and manual focusing.
Many current photographers seem to believe that you can't shoot fast action with a manual focus lens on a digital camera, but I thought that was just nonsense. So I purchased the Rokinon, and tried it out recently at the local college's spring football game.
The lens was everything that I hoped for: it's a beautiful lens with great image quality, and it's as fine a manual-focusing lens as I have ever used. I got a good number of usable shots; granted, I would have gotten more with an autofocus lens... but the challenge of shooting in manual focus, and the sheer joy of using that Rokinon, more than makes up for it. And, as I get more experience in using that lens, my success rate will go up.
My K-70 was standard stock – no special focusing screen – although I did add the Pentax OME53 Eyecup Magnifier, an accessory I would recommend to anyone who doesn't wear glasses (with glasses you probably can't see the entire focusing screen with the OME53).
The technical specs for the two attached photos, shot in the early evening with plenty of light still available, are:
Pentax K-70, Rokinon 85mm f/1.4
ISO 400 | 1/500 sec, f/4
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-10-2017, 08:54 AM
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If you are a hobbyist, you can talk about "brand loyalty". The day you start making money from your photography 'loyalty' needs to be tossed out the window. Go with whatever system generates, for you, the most income in the easiest fashion.
If you are worrying that the AF on your camera is not sufficient to shoot a wedding may I politely suggest that you know little about shooting weddings. The gear, IMHO, is nearly irrelevant, you can easily shoot a wedding using all manual focus. The real skill requirement is the experience to plan ahead and be in the right place at the right time with the right lens on. Lighting and preparation are far more important that whatever camera you are carrying.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
04-03-2017, 10:58 AM
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I Ended up buying a Sigma 170-500 APO (Non DG) off of shop good will for a what seemed like a pretty good price! I am very excited for it and can't wait to get my hands on it to see what it can do!
Ok now to take my meds to assuage my LBA as I am out of money and the Wife is starting to take a seriously hard look at all the "stuff" I have in my photography cabinet.... Must resist urge to buy more!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-30-2017, 07:34 AM
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Yes, I would love a K-02 FF. Here's my wishlist, in order of importance:
- Articulated (flippy) LCD screen
- Eye level electronic viewfinder (rotatable like the Panasonic GX-7 / GX-8 would be great)
- Classic camera styling (much as I liked the K-01, it was too fashion-forward to be taken seriously.)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-30-2017, 09:23 AM
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I am pretty happy with the K-01. Perhaps they make a K-02 aps someday.
What I want is a firmware update for the K-01 but they have stoped supporting it.
---------- Post added 30th Mar 2017 at 19:30 ----------
why not? it is very nice as a milc too. it is silly when they say that the K-01 is very big to be a milc. in fact it is much smaller than dslrs. only it is not petite like a compact camera but that's for better because petite cameras don't stand well in the hand.
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