How I arrived at my IIs

It all started with a Fuji s3500 really. Then I upgraded to a very nice s9500, wish I still had that one. I took the 9500 to Malta where it did all I asked, I loved the dual memory cards on it, save raw to one and jpeg to 'tuther un. A feature I think all decent cameras should have. When I got home the thing broke on me( a trend that's stuck I'm afraid). One of the dials just stopped working, as I was one of the 1st to upgrade to the 9500 I was one of the 1st to suffer this failure. I got it back after around 3 months. EBay got that one. The money from that went to Jessops for a DL2, my 1st DSLR. That ended up having one of the dirtiest sensors known to man! One day while shooting the flash just stopped working! That one took months to get fixed, with Jessops messing me about so much I vowed that they would never get another penny off me. Eventually pentax replaced it with a new one. But this time the K10 was due in the shops any day. I'd got lots of overtime done so I was flush but I just couldn't find any stock, then after a drunken night I woke up to my inbox confirming that I had ordered 3 from various sites!! I shit it!! But during the course of the day 2 of the orders got cancelled, out of stock! Amazon was the last one, calumet rang me to confirm they had one on its way to me I still have her, I'll never let her go. My son's have their eye on her and they'll take possession of her soon I have no doubt. The K10, to my mind, is a classic an icon. Its build is fantastic. Being an engineer and CNC programmer I like to think I have a good eye for quality and the 10 ticks all the right box's. I think its got around 30k on the shutter now and has never let me down, ever. A little fogging behind the screen after a real heavy downpour and she froze once for a second before returning back to normal.
Fast forward to this year.
I'm out of work for the 2nd time since leaving school a year early to go to work on the roofing, slating church roofs. The 1st time off was after a bike accident that broke my neck. I digress. I had just sold a bike to free up some cash and the wife said I should but a new body as "Its gunna be a while till the money is there again" A K5 was out of reach so a 2nd hand K7 with 12k clicks from SRS was on its way to me. It was a revelation!! After years of being behind the K10's shutter the sound of the K7 was amazing! The image quality on the other hand, well you know how it is, noisy! Now that developed a problem, the e-dial problem. SRS did what they do and it was fixed in no time. But, the next time it was out in less than perfect weather it fogged up, it was so full of condensation it had its own weather system in there. Back it went and after a couple of weeks pentax sent me a brand new K7 with around 50 on the shutter! Result! And after getting used to the noise I was again a very pentaxian.
The new K5s where announced and I liked the IIs instantly, pentax had again brought a game changer to the table.
The reason I was out of work was resolved.
So the wife again pushed me into getting a new body. After a little deliberating a placed my order and as is the way with SRS, the next day she was here Again I was a very happy pentaxian )
The quality of the images blew me away! The way it handles noise is fantastic (from reading what you lads thinks about the K5 I'm sure I'd of been equally blown away by that) Again the whole package is 2nd to non. As I did with the 10, I bought a pentax grip for her, and a 70 ltd to make the most of that sensor. And my goodness its a thing of beauty the fabled 3d effect is real! I bought a 540 flash off a new forum member to go with it. As I do a lot of indoor events I thought a decent flash would be helpful, it is but its not essential ;O) Now I've a feeling this one is going to be sent back as its froze on me 3 times, the last time I had to pull the battery to get it back. But I'm in no rush to be parted from it, maybe a firmware update will fettle things, we'll see.
Well there ya go, just thought I'd share my story with you all ;o)

VIVA PENTAXIA

Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

I hope you have a great time with your IIs, I'm itching to get my hands on one, but might have to wair for a K-5 failure to justify it. Hopefully a IIs will come my way for a short while so I can complete the answers to the questions raised in my review of the II. I've already shot a really, really tough shot on the II that is just crying out to induce moire. A comparison with the IIs would show something interesting hopefully.

I know someone who has already shot several hundred shots with the IIs and not aq sign of a moire problem, but apparently superb sharpness and detail. Looking forward to seeing what you think as you get to use it, and perhaps some examples?

If you'd like me help out in anyway John just ask Mate.

I've tried to get it to show moiré and so far I've only had one instance, but I think pixel peeping at over 400% doesn't really count does it My next test for it is some macro work to see what detail it can really resolve.

One thing I have noticed is the SR. To me it seems even better, hand holding at what seems like very low shutter speeds compared to the other 2. I read somewhere that this could be down to the AA filter missing. Making the whole sensor area lighter thus making SR more responsive and effective? Makes sense to me.

Why not drop me a PM and let me know whereabouts in Lancashire you are?

Very nice story......

.....but I think the wife might have been talking about something else!

Hahahaha nice one

Just like new cars I love the smell of new cameras!

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A good read, Daz. Thanks for posting it.

VIVA PENTAXIA

I like that. Well done on your journey! And great for Pentax to always jump in to resolve things.

Example of my perceived SR improvement, this was shot at 1/8 F5.6 iso80.

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Thought the same ..... it's the camera she won't let me have!

Half a second handheld with the 70 ltd.