What have I done?

It must be nearly two years since I changed over to Nikon, I bought a D200 in place of my Pentax IstDs.
It is after this much time I am starting to wonder if this was the wrong thing to do. I love simplicity above all else. I still have a Pentax film SLR, its a M10 or K10 or something??? This old film SLR to me is the greatest design ever, it doesn't even have an on button. You can select to be in an aperture priority mode or bulb.
I wish cameras could be made like this again, the Nikon has so much absolute crap in it that never gets used.
But I believe Pentax DSLR's are the simplest ones on the market, their lenses are absolute top notch to. They pay attention to the little details other manufactures miss entirely.
It may seem crazy but I am thinking of heading back in the Pentax direction. Its been so long since I posted here to.

There is nothing wrong with second thoughts. Where it goes wrong is when it cost money, and changing system can be an expensive proposition. I come from Nikon film cameras, and when I turned into digital, I went with Pentax. I just wish I could use some of my Nikon lens on my Pentax sometimes. Good luck dealing with your dilemna.

I've never had any SLR but Pentax, so I'm not the most qualified to reply to this.

However, it does seem that there's very little buried in the K10D menus that I'd describe as 'absolute crap'

The slimming 'filter' perhaps.. but I can't think of much else. Ironically, I did need the feature once, but I did it on the computer, not with the camera.

There are things I rarely use, mostly concerned with viewing and editing in the camera, which I never do, but all the rest does seem to have a purpose, in a 'that might well be handy sometime' kind of way.

You'll never get the simplicity of a manual film SLR again, though, although I don't really believe that's a negative.

Maybe I should get a Leica M8? These are probably the closest to what the old film SLR's where. I can't really afford it but maybe it's something to save for.
Personally so long as I can change the Aperture, ISO, focus and press a shutter button I am happy. Having a display to see and delete photos or even view a histogram is a bonus. Beyond this Everything else to me is somewhat pointless, it all just gets in the way.

with both my DS and my K20D nothing really get's in the way. Once you have set the custom settings to meet your liking it is just using the mode dial.

I spent a short time fantasising (that doesn't look right) about a return to Leica but you should read about the issues they are having with the sensor!

Even if I could afford it I wouldn't until they sorted that one out - unless I have missed the point of teh problem!

I like simple too but it's good to have the flexibility that modern DSLR can offer.

Mike

Before going to the Leica M8, check reliability record of said camera. It is not what Leica used to be. From what I heard, it might be the worst digital camera you can buy right now. I don't have first hand experience with it, but one of my friends has one and he is disgusted with it. It's always away for a problem or another, and I've heard similar stories on the web from other users.

Sigh. All I want is a nice simple camera. Maybe I will go back to film, there was never a problem with film.

Ah, the good ol days...
wrong iso settings on the dial...
hitting the end of roll at decisive moment....
scratches across 35 shots from dust in the camera back...
fogging from static discharge when cold..
film not exposed cause the winder didn't catch...
accidentally opening the camera back with exposed film inside...

photofinishers trying to convince you your camera is defective, rather than admitting they don't know how to print...

Oh, the arguments I had with that one!!!!

Apparently my SuperME and a little compact camera I had BOTH had the same fault, which left identical scratches on the negatives

Surely not?

well, not to me anyways...lol..I'm a trained professional idiot!

never shot a roll of meduim format on the "y" synch instead of "x" synch either...noooooo, I'm wayyyy to smart for that!

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I know x-sync, but what is y-sync?

oops maybe that was "M" sync........... I get letters mixed up sometimes..
used for ancient flash bulbs....
basically fires the flashbulb BEFORE firing the shutter....

Since electronic flash have a short duration light, the shutter on the camera opens fully, then the flash goes on, then the shutter closes. With M synch, you use flash bulb with a "long" duration flash, so the flash is ignited, then the shutter opens, then the shutter closes and, after all that, the light goes off. When using flash bulb, the shutter time you used had some incidence on exposure, which is not the case dwith electronic flash guns.