My Pentax Journey

I started photography with a Pentax KM a bit over 30 years ago, this seemed ever so slightly different from the K1000 which seemed to be ubiquitous, but I don't recall what the difference was (just checked on wikipedia: seems it was the self-timer and depth of field preview). I got the hand me downs from my father, eventually an MX and a few lenses. I'm eternally grateful for having had to learn with a fully manual camera, I took pictures of rock climbing and sailing which took up most of my spare time. Cameras and salt water didn't mix well in those days so they were often off for repair, fortunately we had an excellent repairer just up the road. During and after university I had a succession of pocketable film compact cameras, my photos now aiding my slightly receding memory of those great times. I developed more of a love of photographing people rather than objects (ie sailing boats). I even splashed out on a couple of PK telephotos, a 200mm f2.5 and 300mm f4 (frustrated nature/sports photographer), but I didn't have the patience for manual focus. For the next few years my cameras sat away neglected in a cupboard, although I was able to borrow a Z1 and a couple of AF lenses for a trip to Australia. All that time I was a member of the Pentax Club, so I really enjoyed reading the magazine, only defaulting my membership by accident when a credit card changed (oops).

My first digital compact arrived in 2005, but I feel glad that I cottoned on to the idea of having every film scanned a while before then. Things started to look up in around 2003 when on a whim I picked up a second hand MZ5, it felt so decadent to have a camera which was automatic, auto wind and auto focus. I was adamant to have our wedding (in 2005) photos on film, and still feel vindicated as the results have such a great texture compared to others' digital wedding photos from that time, even from expensive Canons and Nikons. I remember saying to the photographer "don't be in a hurry to go digital" and I hope that was the case. It soon became apparent that whilst convenient, I wanted more than a digital compact could deliver, so I picked up a 2nd hand Pentax *istD in 2006. I still have it, I never got to grips with raw, and I still find the *istD has a tendency to underexpose. Handles wonderfully though. My utter despair in finding that my collection of pre-A lenses needed that extra green button step was tempered by a later relief that they worked at all, but in truth I never used them much, despite their superior optical quality. I pootled along with a compact camera in my pocket, the SLRs (film or digital) only coming out on very special occasions, typically weddings. I bought a Fuji F550 and that opened my eyes to the idea of picking up a high dynamic range without needing a tripod: it's still the camera I carry in my pocket. So in late 2012 I was feeling stuck in a corner with an old but adequate Pentax DSLR, and pining for something that would give some image stabilisation and metering a tad more accurate. I seriously toyed with the idea of a mirrorless camera but couldn't find anything that looked like it would suit me, the closest being the OM-D but that was serious money, even before the lenses, flash etc. Thank heaven I didn't go that way. I made up my mind to sell some of my lenses to build up some money just in case I could find what I wanted, when suddenly I happened on what seemed like an offer too good to be true, the K30 discounted effectively by around £150. That was just too good to be true so I simultaneously listed the 200mm and 300mm K lenses on eBay (not thinking that Pentax User was an alternative direct outlet) and a 100mm f2.8 macro (eventually sold to a forum member). The plan was to leave it at that for a while but my standard 18-55 was feeling a bit limited so, as I'd raised a good war chest from lens sales, I couldn't resist adding an 18-135 zoom. So that's where I am now, my photography time is limited, but I fully plan to make the best of it, and even play with some of the manual primes I still have left. I'm still not entirely happy with the look of my digital photos but I feel confident this is no longer an equipment issue, rather it's a post-processing issue. Recently I dug out my remaining 100mm FA macro as a portrait lens and am really pleased with the results.

So that's me really. I look forward to continuing my journey and learning!

Many thanks for sharing, it's a photographic journey that I'm sure will have a resonance with many people.

Like you, I learnt with from a fully manual camera, the K1000, and like you I don't shoot in RAW, but unlike you I have no intention of PP as I consider it to be cheating (and that view upsets and annoys a lot of people on here, as they probably don't know what "manual" means).

I crop occasionally but I never change the colour as seen by the camera or "paint out" unwanted items in the picture! They do not understand that if they don't want it in, change your viewpoint or live with it!

Hello and Welcome to the forum from Sheffield.

I don't tend to do very much PP to my RAW files at all, normally my shots only get a crop, and a tweak to the levels.

I wouldn't want to labour the point, I'm definitely not into tweaking or "airbrushing", but I sometimes still find myself pining for the "film look" if there is such a thing. The problem is that I'm not really clear in my mind what this is, it's definitely wrapped up in the sharpness of digital pics, the grain characteristics of film, and digital printing - some prints are just instantly recognisable as "digital" (I have some particular wedding photos and studio portraits in mind), even if they've been taken on supposedly high-end cameras (apologies if this has been discussed before - I haven't searched the archives).
cheers
Mike

Hello and welcome