Yes, I now have the Pentax K5!

ashwinrao1 said:

Hi all,

To those of you who don't know me, I wanted to introduce myself. It's Ashwin, a proud new owner of the Pentax K5!

I arrived at Pentax, due to what I perceived to be the benefits of robust build, high sensor quality, and diminuitive size (compared to other SLR's). In fact, I just traded in my entire Canon set up (Bye bye, huge 1D III and monster L lenses) in order to make the move to Pentax, initially with some hesitation but eventually with conviction enough to do the deed. Well, it's done, and the K5 is in my possession.

I generally inhabit the Leica forums, given that I own the M9, but I am excited by the size, build, IQ, and lenses available to your Pentax shooters. With the money raised from the 1D III sale and L lens sale, I was able to get the K5 with extra battery, and the 21 DA, 31 FA, 40 DA, 77 FA, and 200 DA primes (can you tell, I am a prime guy?...must be my Leica roots..LOL)....

Excited to share images here with you soon, as I rack up something worth posting!

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Congratulations Aswin
That's some setup you have!
I can't wait to see the results.
all the best

Wow, that's great Ashwin. Can't wait to see your pics, no pressure LOL! Love your Leica India photos.

Congratulations on the purchase. You will surely enjoy the primes, as that is the route i have choosen myself. It may sound stupid, but they are just a joy to handle.
Joe

Ashwin, Hope you enjoy the K5 as much as I am. Also went from Canon, but haven't sold my gear yet.

Congratulations Ashwin. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get from that setup and how it works for you.
Good Luck.
Adam

Congratulations on the move. I have just about convinced myself to try again now that the FF issue has been fixed. (It's in my order basket waiting for me to press OK). I would also be using this either in conjunction with or as a replacement for my Canon gear.

Jim

****Correction - just went to buy it and Adorama and B&H are both out of stock.

Thanks for the warm reception, everyone.

Jim, I sort of wonder whether the firmware fix has pushed a bunch of people over the edge towards buying the camera. I briefly tested the camera with FW 1.01 (what came with the camera), and definitely saw front focus with indoor lighting/tungsten settings....with the 1.03 FW, that issue completely resolved. By the way, I had read about your illness, and glad that you are making a fast recovery.

I got my K5 from B&H, along with the lenses....hopefully one can find its way to you soon. The camera is an exciting addition for me, and I look forward to sharing images soon. Those FA primes are very nice, from what I can tell....

Ok - K5's seem to be back in stock and mine is on order with an 18-135. I'll order more lenses after I am sure I am happy with the firmware fix.

Jim

ashwinrao1 said:

I generally inhabit the Leica forums, given that I own the M9, but I am excited by the size, build, IQ, and lenses available to your Pentax shooters. With the money raised from the 1D III sale and L lens sale, I was able to get the K5 with extra battery, and the 21 DA, 31 FA, 40 DA, 77 FA, and 200 DA primes (can you tell, I am a prime guy?...must be my Leica roots..LOL)....

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Hi Ashwin! I think you've chosen Pentax for all the right reasons. That's a great collection of primes you're starting off with. I think you would also enjoy having the DFA100WR Macro - great build and IQ.

Ashwin, a very warm and sincere congrats for acquiring a new toy!!

May you enjoy it in good health for a very loooonnnnggg time.

btw, mind-boggling journey to India.:salute:




p.s I shall await your impressions of the K5/lens combo!!

Thanks, Rayyan! Great to see you here. We've missed you over at the Leica forum recently. Thanks for the kind words regarding the india trip.

The K5 is a winner in my book, so far. Dynamic range is quite impressive. I have been thrilled to date, but it's only been 1 week into ownership of it...

Hey Ashwin! Thanks for the invite to join GetDPI! Hopefully, I'll be adding a K5 to my ever growing list of cameras too! I just got a buyer for my E620. And having already donated the E510 and soon the EP2 to my dad, I won't feel as guilty by getting the K5!

Won't be getting as many Ltd's as you though! Now remind me, do you have 0.95 Noct or no? I need to go visit you in Seattle to play with all the gear you have!

Congrats... I started looking at the K5 today for a weather proof travel camera with "professional" results. If I buy it I will probably get rid of the NEX-5 and G1 maybe...

Ashwin, I just went down this same path and sold off most of my m4/3 stuff. Went for almost the same setup as you: 10-20, 17-50, 31, 77, and 200. Not sure if I'll keep the two zooms though. It'll depend on size and performance.

Have you shot much with the FA lenses yet? Are they really as "magical" as some say they are? I'm wondering if the size advantage of the DA lenses and quick focus switch make them more practical when considering the high ISO performance of the K5.

Looking forward to your shots!

Mark, Congrats on getting the K5. I am excited for you. I have forgone any zooms for the moment...not a big fan, and the idea behind my switch to the K5 was to keep things simple and small.

So far, here's what I have done:

1. Started with the 21 DA, 31 FA, 40 DA, 77 FA, and 200 DA lenses
2. Added a 50 mm f/1.4 SMC-M manual focus lens'
3. Added a 100 mm f/4 SMC-M macro lens
4. Bought a set of photodiox extension tubes to bring the macro to 1.0 x mag or higher
5. Switched out the focusing screen for a Katzeye focusing screen for better manual focus (highly recommend this)
6. Have a 135 mm f/2.5 K mount lens on the way....

Hoping to get a 15 mm DA lens....stop there. It all fits within a Domke shoulder bag, amazingly, and can be morphed into a nice Manual focus/AF kit, with flexibility (can be small, light way, vintage, high speed, and with AF options in the more-modern optics)

I am quite taken by the 50 mm f/1.4 smc-m, as well as the 31 and 77 FA lenses. The 40 mm f/2.8 is lovely as well, and the K5's high ISO can do wonders for slower lenses....

Welcome to the club...

Ashwin, how is the Katseye screen with AF lenses? Not sure about how it all works. I'm not fully sold on the zoom either, but I want to give it a try since my trip to Ethiopia made me really want a simple fast zoom kit for times on the go in rugged terrain. I want to see how large and heavy the lens is as well as it's optical qualities first before I decide.

I'm also going to be trying out the 15 this week, and see how it compares with the sigma 10-20. Though I prefer the wider sigma, the DA15 is just so compact. Might just go for both if they perform well.

Watch out for extreme sample variations on the 15. I personally went through three.
The one i have now is acceptable.

Ashwin,

On both K20D and K-7 the Katzeye screen would interfere with the camera's metering. Specially the "bright" version.

Do some tests with your kit, and make sure you understand the small changes the screen may introduce in the camera's metering workflow.

I like the M-100/4 macro lens, and the M-50/1.4 is also fantastic lens. Also, the K-135/2.5 is legendary. Is that the version you're getting?

IMO, the the A*-85/1.4 and the A*200/4 macro (I have this one) are the best of the best in a Pentax K-mount.

ecsh said:

Watch out for extreme sample variations on the 15. I personally went through three.
The one i have now is acceptable.

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What are the variations I should look for?