grumpyguts wrote:
Just thought I'd say 'hello'. Been into photography since impulsive buy of (ahem!) Fuji S7000 bridge camera back in 2003, got more serious, and no run a kit based around a K10D (WHO'd want a K5, anyway :mrgreen, then added an ME-super, which came with the fantastic f1/1.4 50mm SMC lens, and a few other things (a couple of M42, using an adaptor, as I first got the film bug by borrowing an old Praktica (?Practika ?Praktika???). The inspiration to interchange lenses came late, but the said 50mm, with the 1.5x APS-C factor, is wonderful, being great for portraits - giving supremely sharp images.

Anyway, I live near Watford, NW London, and am currently without gainful employment, having become disabled in a car crash some years ago, then had another last month (none my fault!!) I had a year off taking pics, as I found I had become stale, but have started again. I really like macro: I just found 2nd hand PKA bellows, can't wait to try - traded in a Sigma 50-500mm lens I thought I'd use a lot, but just made one trip to try it out, and it's just been sitting in the cupboard since - and also had enough for the Pentax 55-300mm DA, which seems great (the huge size of the Sigma was half the problem), and I've a decent 1.5x multiplier - or less so 2x - if need be.

I like people pictures, too, although nobody really likes this any more - even with all the CCTV constantly monitoring them! Also discovering long exposures - car lights, cyclists .. perhaps I'll try out waterfalls and seascapes; but the sudden lack of car (with no current prospect of replacement) makes things difficult. There ain't much beauty around here, although the Chilterns aren't far. Yes, also architecture, old churches - inside and out - appeals (perhaps I should say archaeoarchitecture!

I'd like to get more into informal portraiture, and learn more about how to use flash better. (I recently managed to knock over my tripod, which had camera plus THREE flashes on it (two cheapy ones), but managed to smash up my beloved Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-1D - everything else was undamaged - so am forking out £125.00 to get it fixed. (Times are hard: there was a point when I would have said 'blow it' and got a new 58 AF-2D - sense has finally prevailed, and this one has a metal base; I always thought too much was being asked of the thin plastic bases on the larger flashguns.)

I've just got a roll of 3200ASA Ilford, and have a plan to go to town in the dark, and take some shots with a star-burst filter - 'my' bloke at SRS gave me a free screw filter with two scored elements that you can rotate to get any effect from, well, straight lines, to 90 degree. With a suitably lonish lens to compress the perspective, and a cable release, I might get away with it (unless I start trying some fill, or 2nd curtain, flash!)

So this is me; forcedly unemployed doctor/psychiatrist, currently recovering and planning to re-invent myself as a writer (I've a couple of novels in my head, and some poems on paper; but would do anything - medical articles, therapy, stuff for papers/mags, I could certainly manage pop lyrics .... ?pornography??), but I don't know how to get into it to make it pay. There's always photography, of course; but, unfortunately, writing and taking pictures are two things everyone reckons they can do ... I can't believe some of the cr4p that gets published. There's always minicab/bus driving.

I'm quite isolated, and would be very happy to link up with a photo buddy or three. for some work, but also some socializing. I'm sure there's a way of getting messages or emails to people on here, but I haven't checked the site out yet. So, HELLO PENTAX LOVERS EVERYWHERE!
David

Pentaxophile wrote:
I wouldn't cry... the 35 2.4 is a very nice lens, less than a stop slower than the 31mm (not that I am saying it is on a par with that particular lens!)

cabstar wrote:
wouldn't bother joining any of them. Never been asked if I am a member of any society...

I don't see what benefit you get from joining them...

Oggy wrote:
If you want a real treat, try vinyl.