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Pentax, that old company.

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gtmerideth

Guest
Between Sean Reid's review and a price I couldn't refuse, I acquired a K10D.
Nice small camera.

So along came the K20D and I wanted to see if the claims for a sensor with more space between elements producing less noise and 50% more pixels, were in fact with merit.

The glass offerings of the Pentax line varies from the norm, putting it politely.
But two benefits exist. The Zeiss ZK lenses and the opportunity to use the legacy glass which includes literally millions of lenses. Also, as a kicker, there have been several users who have discovered that Nikon lenses fit the K mount without an adapter. Won't lock so it's a little dicey. And with very little modification to the K mount, one can succesfully mount Contax/Yashica glass and still retain all normal functions for Pentax glass.

So, I trotted out and purchased a ZK 50/1.4 and am waiting for the 100/2 macro and the 28/2 new "Hollywood" to be in stock. And the files are very nice.

Last week I shot an orchid display and sale in low light conditions at 1600 and I have attached an example. The files are pretty clean and certainly acceptable. I understand that 1600 and 25,000 are different. The K20 is considerably less in cost.

Interested to hear others plus and minus comments.
g.
 

nostatic

New member
I'm very happy with my K20d (see other thread). The 50-135* lens is very sharp with high contrast, and the FA77ltd is absolutely sublime. I've looked at the Zeiss macros, and you can still find the occasional Voigtlander 125 APO around. Older MF Pentax glass is still cheap and good. But I'm waiting for the 35ltd macro to show up. Spoiled by AF and quickshift.

The camera has its quirks, but I find the UI and ergos to be better than any Canikon. AF isn't as good, but high iso is totally acceptable for my uses.
 
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gtmerideth

Guest
Just received the ZK 28/2 shot at iso 100. CA needs some attention.
g.
 
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gtmerideth

Guest
Here you are LCT. The file loses a small amount of it's accutance. My posting technique is most probably responsible.
g.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Hey g. I noticed your reference to your "posting technique". I can recommend Jack's Actions to prep a file for posting. If you use PS, it's a great tool and a good way to help support the site.

Tim
 
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gtmerideth

Guest
LCT, I've been trapped in a hospital for a week plus but I'll catch up.
g.

Tim, thanks so much. I will work it out.
g.
 
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Joel.Gottlieb

Guest
Joined the Pentax K20D crowd because I was smitten by the special image quality of the Pentax 31mm ltd. An exciting lens to use. Love it already. Joel

1:1 crop
f/5.6 1/2500 ISO 400 K20D no pp
 
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Joel.Gottlieb

Guest
bokeh example Pentax 31mm
hand held, high contrast light, severe crop, tweaked highlight recovery
ISO 400 f/3.2 1/125
 
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