K20D and K200D Premiere Day - 8th March 2008

I want to play but can't really make it down to London tomorrow. I guess I'll have to wait until I can afford the *200 and *300 lenses to play with them

I share the same sentiment as Tyr, I also think its high time SRS opened a branch in Leeds or even relocated, in fact the little market town of Morley just outside would be perfect

Cheaper rates, clean air and REAL Yorkshire Pudding

On a more serious note it will be some time before I venture towards buying another DSLR, I need to save up for some of the new lenses first.

Don't tempt me! Being a born and bred Leeds chap I could be tempted!

Chris

I can't get there until about half 2 so make sure no-one breaks the 35 before I have a chance to play!

If you want to open a small Leeds branch I know of a photography enthusiast who'd love to work there (I spend half my time trying to sell technology to friends and family)...



Morley is quite a nice place but but I'm not too sure how much custom a camera shop there would get. Leeds centre is better for business but not anywhere near as pleasant as Morley.

Anyway, had no idea you were originally from up north, why move down to London? I'm not fond because it is so busy and crowded.


By the way impotentspider, were you aware that there is a specialist Samsung camera shop in York?

Chris – Good to see you earlier, many thanks for the chat and the opportunity to handle the new kit. Out of all the new toys on offer it was the DA* 200mm & 50-135mm that impressed me the most…

Good also to bump into Unlocker and ReubenO (enjoy the new toy!!!)…

Hope the open day was a success and you managed to shift plenty of stock.

Sincere apologies that you were unable to persuade me to part with any cash – I was feeling so incredibly self-righteous on the way home and I think SWMBO was genuinely surprised when all I returned with was some brochures.

Many thanks for arranging it with the chaps from Pentax-UK – much appreciated!

Will

Can't have missed you and Reuben by much, Unlocker was still there when I arrived.

Didn't buy anything either, but came away with a Pentax pen, Pentax Mouse, Pentax Mug, Pentax mousemat and a Pentax Notepad. And tried just about everything I could lay my hands on lens-wise, but just remembered I didn't trip the K20D shutter to see how quiet it was. Oh well, perhaps my local Pentax 'Pro' dealer, Cameraworld, will actually have some Pentax in stock at some time.

Thanks Chris for arranging it all, and hope you've done well out of it. I'm about to process the pics I took to see what I'm going to be spending my money on next...

Dan

P.S. What's Reuben bought? :

And all I got was a bloody mug!

Although I couldn't stay long, was definatley worth travelling down for and putting some faces to names!

Cheers guys, should do it more often!

I was a bit cheeky. But if you don't ask, you don't get!

Dan

On the contrary, I didn't ask and I got a mousepad, a mug, a pen, a mouse AND a cup of tea oh and a Danish, and a cookie. Alas it seems all the lenses in my kit bag now are still the same ones I walked in with, didn't manage to switch the 50-200 for a 50-135

I was there a little later on than you guys though.

The 200 F2.8 impressed me mightily, but I feel my wallet wont stand that kind of outlay in the near future. Very tempted by the 55-300 though, the very rudimentary "point them at the same tree out the door" approach I was adopting suggests that it's better than my 80-320 and eminently useable at 300mm.

The new Pentax neck straps are a must have item as far as I'm concerned though, Dad and I will both be taking one of those as soon as they come in!

Thanks Chris and staff, was nice to meet you all and put faces to the names.

What is special about the new neck straps :

It is good to hear that everyone had a good day.

I wish Chris could be persuaded to keep heading south

I missed a trick there, didn't realise there were freebies to be had! Still, I got to handle the DA35 and that was good enough for me...

Unfortunately I've discovered the mouse and mousemat are incompatible. Optical mouse and black mat with pics on don't work. Oh well, mouse on envelope works fine.

Tried the 35mm macro too, but not my thing I have to say. Did a good job with a bar code though, so no complaints with it.

Just had a look through the shots I took. The 200mm is excellent. The 300mm is excellent too, but could have done with popping it on a tripod, what with the overcast weather. Took 10 quick shots of the ducks on the pond outside, 6 were acceptably sharp, which is much better than I get with my Tamron MF lens. The ones taken on AF-C were best. Will post a couple later on.

Dan

they are extra padded and slightly springy, easily the most comfortable camera strap I've ever tried. I've always thought the one which comes with the K10D is ok as far as default straps go, but the new ones are something else.

It was good to meet Will & Unlocker. Shame I missed everybody else who came down.

My main objective was to check out the new 300, which I fancied as a replacement for my venerable old M*300. However, I was most impressed by the 200 - what a great lens it seems to be!

Also tried the 55-300, which was pretty good at the long end - much better than the 50-200 is at 200.

Looks like myself and Will missed out on all the freebies though

To compound things, Chris twisted my arm to buy a "Pre-owned" 16-50 and I was in a lot of trouble when I got home, after promising not to buy anything

Here's a (full size) shot of the new 35mm which I took with the 16-50.

http://www.bulsara.com/K20D/IMGP0190.jpg

This was taken on a pre-production K10D (note the 0.00 firmware version ), but look how good the white balance looks in the mixed (& dark) shop lighting...

Anyway, thanks to Chris for laying all this on!

Cheers,
R