Returning to the Scene

Hi everybody, been browsing the forum and now decided to join you guys.

Just turned 64 and coming up to retiring next July and have decided to get back in to photography. Previously owned a Contax 139, Zeiss 50mm 1.7, Tamron 70-210mm and Sunagor 15-35mm ( I think). Sold them due to cost of film processing limiting number of shots I could happily take and bought a Canon A95 digital compact ( top of the range at the time!.

I have been scanning the web, reading magazines and looking at forums and it is suprising how easy it is to get back up to speed with a look at Top 10 Best etc.

Have narrowed the choice down but, like all things technical, a little knowledge is dangerous and expectations and desire creep up quickly.

Suffice it to say I have brought myself down to Earth and no longer chase specs , as in Hi Fi.....Only Professionals and posers need the D3s and Eos 1Ds.

I had narrowed my choice down to the D500 the 50D but then came across a magazine review giving the Pentax K7 the edge over the 50D. I have always been one to avoid being a "sheep" if possible and the idea of a respected, and shall I say select Brand appealed to me.
The spec "floats my boat" and am tempted to go for this combination K7 + 18-55 and 20-200 WR Lenses

http://www.binoculars-uk.co.uk/acatalog/Pentax_K-7.html

Anyone wish to comment ?

Howard

Howard,

Welcome to the forum.

I'm sure you would be more than happy with the K7 and zoom lenses, my only comment would be to give Chris at SRS Microsystems (see official shop partner to the right of this page) a ring to check current prices and if possible buy from him - the level of service that he supplies is better than you will find with most other retailers and he offers free delivery if you mention that you are a forum member.

Welcome to the forum Howard

I'm very happy with my K-7, it's a great camera.
I'll second what Haydn suggested. You will get keen pricing and service second to none from Chris at SRS

Welcome!..........you could always go for the K20D.....A WONDERFUL PIECE OF KIT!.........Ken.

I think you've made a good choice. You should get a good price if you buy the pair together. And although it wasn't the reason I chose Pentax, I do like being a little different. The K7 is a camera you can fall in love with!

Kit for £1149 with free delivery for forum members.

Thanks for coments guys always nice to get confirmation.What are chances of a price drop in near future ?

Howard

read thread about TrustedReviews latest..Im drooling even more now LoL

Howard

And it's water resistant... so drool away

Welcome to the forum. My brother-in-law bought a 50D to compliment his 20D. He had it a couple of days and sent it back for a full refund because the image quality was not as good as his 20D. He now has a 40D and is very pleased with it.

K20D is my choice. I'd probably like the few improvements offered by the K-7, but I don't need them.

You could have 2 X K20D's for the price of one K-7.

Welcome to the forum, Pentax and the K7. I love mine more every time I pick it up, I purchased the 18 - 55mm WR lens and have to say it is a nice light easy to use lens which would slip into the pocket on a stormy days walk and leave me confident that neither body nor lens will come to any harm.

One little caution. If you intend to buy more lenses later on, many Pentax ones are at absurd prices nowadays compared with other makers.

I have all the lenses I need but if I were buying into a system now, I'd probably choose another system for that reason alone.

No offence, anyone, purely my personal and honest advice.

There have been recent repositionings of the new Pentax prices, so you may find things are no longer as bad as people first thought.

There are plenty of well priced Pentax lenses out there, so any buyer should really research that for themselves.

Just out of interest, I've bought 4 lenses from SRS in the last few months, before the price hikes.

Bought now, they would have cost me £746 more than I paid for them. In fact, I wouldn't have bought them at those prices.

Life must be getting difficult for the dealers, though.

I concur. Ten minutes browsing on the B&H site should be sufficient. Be sure when comparing with Nikon and Canon you compare with image stabilized lens since all your lenses on the Pentax will be stabilized.

A few years ago I was recently retired and wanted a DSLR. I got the Pentax IstD and certainly don't regret it. Over the next three years I acquired my lenses and moved to a K10D. I tend to not be the first one on my block with a new model. I prefer waiting for prices to drop and for the pros and cons to be well known.

Get a camera and have fun.

I've done much the same thing Lemmy and bought the 12-24mm, 60-250mm and the Bigma, not worked out how much I would have to pay now but it would be well over £3000 so I feel comfortable that if and when they have to be sold they should fetch more or less what I paid for them.