The K5 is no more...
One example is the Pentax Spotmatic of 1964, a revelation with its inbuilt CdS light meter. Another might be the ME Super, the pinnacle of the compact automatic cameras of the 1980s.
Does the K-5 achieve this? An interesting thought, and I'm undecided. Is it too soon for any digital camera to be iconic, or not?
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
I am very very glad I bought mine a couple of weeks back. The down side for me was that I initially thought it was just a stop gap camera. I was wrong and I could have been using one for some time.
That then raises the question of just what do you do when Ricoh introduce these new or revised versions of a camera? Buy into it or sit tight and await the next model which is what I did, going from a K5 to the K3.
This may sound odd but I consider my K5 IIs to be in the same category as my *istD and K10D in that they are keepers as far as I'm concerned.
Classics in their own right.
Best regards
This may sound odd but I consider my K5 IIs to be in the same category as my *istD and K10D in that they are keepers as far as I'm concerned.
Classics in their own right.
Best regards
Agreed, was the K100d the first to have in body sensor stabilisation? That's a pretty significant step forward.
But I think there's more to it than that.
Pentax have produced some lovely DSLRS following on from their fine SLRs which we have been privileged to own and use. A pleasure denied to the majority of photographers, for various reasons.
In many ways the choice of a digital camera is much more important than a film camera because you're stuck with the built-in recording medium. The resulting pictures are much more distinctive than a camera using, say, Fuji slide film, where, given accurate metering and shutter timing, only the lens can influence the frame.
I never had an *ist, but wouldn't part with my K100D Super, K10 or K5. Hopefully, between them, they'll see me out.
(I shouldn't mind a K5iis, though...)
Andrew
"These places mean something and it's the job of a photographer to figure-out what the hell it is."
Robert Adams
"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you are seeing. But, you have to SEE."
Ernst Hass
My website: http://www.ephotozine.com/user/bwlchmawr-199050 http://s927.photobucket.com/home/ADC3440/index
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78898196@N05
To the lay person of course they are all black lumps the same shape. Ask the wives of most on here who get to change models without them noticing.
I think wives might be more perceptive than that, they will pick up the frisson of excitement and know quite well what's going on.....
I shall hang on to my K5ii for now. It suits me, and I can't really justify the K3. Maybe the next model though .
I know the K5 is a great camera, but, as someone else points out, this doesn't per se make it iconic.
There are some iconic designs out there that have not necessarily been great cameras or which were not necessarily groundbreaking in some way.
Interesting the parallels that can be seen with the K7 and the K5 and designs from other manufacturers where an otherwise solid design has not had the sensor or other technology that allowed it to perform to its utmost, but which was a good design all the same.
In the film world I only had ME Super experience. But would also label this a classic.
Stuart..
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1973 posts
13 years
Manchester
Stuart..