[EarlVonTapia]

Hi everyone

A month ago I went on a vacation to the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, Canada. It's regarded as one of the best hikes in the world, both for its challenge, and its beauty. Of course, I brought a camera with me, but it was only a crappy point and shoot. The batteries ran out halfway through (3 days in), and I was forced to use my cellphone for pictures the rest of the way (the battery on the phone just managed to last until the end 4 days later).

I took nearly 500 pictures, and all of the epic shots I thought I took, were actually crap, both from the camera and my phone. I was crushed.

So when I got back, I immediately started researching for a fancy schmancy DSLR, so my next adventure would be properly documented through awesome photos. Not really knowing where to begin, I looked at all of the "big" brands offerings. Not satisfied, I cast a wider net.

My intention for this camera was to accompany me on my various outdoor adventures (hiking, snowshoeing, bicycle touring), so I wanted a camera that could take a beating and wouldn't die in the Pacific northWET coast weather. A few Google searches for a camera like that, and I ended up stumbling across the Pentax K30. It had all the latest tech, the reviews I read were all good, and it came in blue! My favorite color. What sold me was that a local camera store had it on sale that week, $750 for the blue kit with the basic 18-55. So less than a week after I got back from my trip, I was the proud owner of a new DSLR!

To make the most of my purchase I've been doing a lot of reading and researching about modern digital photography. In researching different lenses, I came across the amazing Pentax Forums lens database, which led me to this forum.

So that's my story. Here I am! I'm really getting into this photography stuff now. I read about photography and take pictures every day. I've already bought a couple of cheap but good used lenses through the local Craigslist (researched through the lens database, of course) - the F 35-105mm F4-5.6, and the F 100-300mm F4.5-5.6, just so I can practice and play around a bit more. I have no illusions about becoming a pro photographer, but all the reading I've been doing has revealed to me this technical and artistic side to modern photography that I never really knew about, and it really appeals to me.

It looks like the Pentax community is relatively small (compared to the big brand communities), but extremely active and knowledgeable. I'm looking forward to reading, learning, and contributing to the forums!

Haha, I know that intro threads are usually kind of short and sweet, but I'm still kind of riding a wave of enthusiasm, so why hold back.

Cheers to you all.

Earl

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[eaglem]

Welcome to the forum Earl, good to have you on board.

[OrangeKx]

Nice. That's my next camera (love the blue version). This Forum should serve you well.