Got it at LAST!

Well, Folks, I am about to be drummed out of the Brentwood Photographic Club as this 'Old Film Bloke' has got a DIGITAL Pentax K10D!
I will never live it down once they find out! I got the 'call' from Jessops Chelmsford after waiting over three weeks and collected it yesterday, handed over £220 Jessops vouchers + over £500 on plastic. I had to get a memory card so I thought a 1GB would be OK and they sold me a Jessops one, £29 odd. I nearly fainted at the sight of the thickness of the camera instruction book and when I opened the instruction book for the disc thingy it was all in FRENCH ! I haven't got a 'card reader' yet as wife wants a Fuji she saw at Focus and they take something called a XD card and the Pentax takes an SD card so I need a reader evidently which takes BOTH! Well, I'll let you all know when I have plucked up the courage to charge up the battery, and USE it !

Welcome to the digital age!

Hama do a cheap USB card reader that will read any current memory card, but there are plenty of others out there.

Congrats Peter

A useful site for multi-function card readers and excellent priced SD,CF,xD cards is www.picstop.co.uk

Matt

Well done Peter

Welcome to the digital age and ever growing wish list for software, cards, lenses etc... and a pc that will support it all

For card readers under £10 try
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?qfind=usb+card+reader
for a 52 in 1 for £8.99 should never need another card reader again (are there really that number of different cards )

Although largely in 'dumd down' english, you will get more out of the camera if you read the manual, you have a serious piece of technology there!

You should be able to just 'plug' you camera into the PC via a USB Cable (the camera should have come with this), you only need a card reader if you want to transfer your shots whilst using anther card in the camera or to save on battery power.

Thanks for all the tips: I did see in the camera book that in the Pentax Photo Browser it tells you how to plug the camera into the computer but of course if Windows Me Edition doesn't work with the disc I can't read all about it ! I have taken about a dozen frames so far. I found out how to change the jpeg from 10 to 6 and am running it at 6 while experimenting. My Metz 45CL3 flash WORKS from the hot shoe and I set the aperture on flash to f5.6 and the camera to same and it was correctly exposed! I tried a screw Pentax 150mm Super-Takumar f4 using the screw-K adapter outside in the street. I set the ASA to 200, set mode to 'M', set 1/250th at f8 as per Weston Master v reading and pressed the shutter and low and behold as if by magic a coloured PICTURE appeared all correctly exposed ! I shall use it on manual with screw lenses like my SV Pentax and my Weston Meter.

Good idea, Peter.

Have you tried towing your car with a horse? Much easier than learning how to drive.

G

PS: You probably won't believe this, but your new camera actually contains a very accurate built-in spot-meter.

Horses for courses....

...which apparently gives mixed results with non-A lenses, so if it works for Peter, I see no reason why he shouldn't use a method he's familiar with.

Dan

Indeed, I myself am contemplating picking up a second hand handheld meter for this very reason

I remain unconvinced that the K10D does not meter manual lenses properly. I have yet to hear of a competent Pentax user who finds that there is a significant problem, and my own (limited) tests don't suggest that there is one. This seems to me like another storm in a DP teacup.

I also question the wisdom of buying a highly modern camera and using it with lenses from a completely different era. Why make life difficult? I'm not in favour of self-flagellation.

G

I've come around to a similar point of view - no matter how good K and M lenses are (and they are very good indeed) it is much easier and more efficient to use A series and later lenses.

I reserve earlier lenses for use on the cameras that they were made for.

Just as an aside to this thread, does anyone think their A lenses will last as long as their M lenses. I am keeping a reasonable set of M lenses just because I don't quite trust the plastic fantastic A lenses, particularly the little metal clip in the aperture ring.

Pretty much so far, apart from one SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 (one of the early batch) where the aperture mechanism fell apart. I remember opening the lens up to try and fix it and finding all those interesting and unfathomable bits of metal and springs all over the carpet. This is why I always suggest professional repairs....

There has been no difference in reliability apart from that one glitch. To balance that, the only lenses with sticky diaphragm mechanisms have been M lenses.

John

That's my experience on both A and M series lenses.

I suspect there are a few A series lenses with botched DIY repairs. I have had one which jammed and would not move off f8.

The only Pentax lens I have had with a sticky diaphragm is a 35mm f2.8, which has some well known issues, but is a nice lens.