I bought my K5 about a year and a half ago together with the kit lens.

A couple of days after, I also bought the DA 40mm f2.8 lens.
Why, It was a spur of the moment thing. I was a bit fascinated by the small size of the lens.
However, I never used it, until today.

I went for a day trip and only used this lens.

Wow, when looking at the pictures, I was blown away.

This lens is just superb. I took landscapes and street pictures. This lens fits them all.
I haven’t taken any portraits or similar yet. I hope it is not to sharp.
I suppose if it is, I can use a softening filter.
I posted 2 pictures on my portfolio thaken with this lens today.

Regards, Horst

There must be a reason, why every one in this forum uses a Pentax Camera.
Could it be:
a.) because you always had a Pentax camera and thought they are pretty good.
b.) You bought the latest one because you already had a bunch of good lenses and you can still use them.
c.) you just started and found the Pentax suited you the best for price and features, or
d.) you inherited one.

Whatever the reason, you managed to get a very good camera.
By no means a perfect camera, but then nothing is perfect.

I own a K5. I believe it is the camera I prefer.
Of course I have a few niggles: I don't like the in build flash. It makes the pentaprism stick out in front and my personal believe is , it is quite useless anyway. It belongs to the little pocket cameras.
The other thing i would like to have changed is the little green button.
I like to see it somewhere in front or combined with the DOF preview lever. That's about all I like to change on this camera. But this are only my personal preferences.

Some people said, "They got along well without the SR", I am sure they did, they had no choice. There wasn’t such a thing then.
We all got along without a GPS in our cars,
We used a roadmap, endangering others and ourself by looking at it while driving, trying to find a little side road. A nightmare at night.
Now most of us have a GPS in the car or in the phone and life is so much easier and safer. Why not use the SR if you can. It works!

I know you can drag a tripod along. The heavier and the bulkier the better.
But then don’t use auto focus and use a remote release. You try to do this in a crowded place. Good luck.

The reason I bought another Pentax : After my Spotmatic, I bought a Super-A with a winder, because the body was a bit to small for my hands.
Both the Spotmatic and the Super-A never let me down in any situation.
Neither it seems, does my K5.

Regards, Horst

When looking at the galley pictures and checking the Exif data, I find the F-stop and the aperture value to be different.

Why is this so?

Regards, Horst

You seem to have exactly understood my point I was trying to make.

All the talk about contact lenses misses the point. Unless they are transition contact lenses. Then we are back to the original problem.

I have trifocal lenses in my spectacles.

I do prefer spectacles, in my job, they give my a certain amount of eye protection.

Regards, Horst

I am slowly getting very worried when I read about this lens adjustment business.

I have no idea how to do it and if I have to do it.
Does it mean every time I change lenses I have to somehow readjust it.
It seems to be quite a complicated business.

If anyone can enlighten me, why and how to do it, I would be grateful.
Regards, Horst

Well, I am short sighted. But my problem was looking trough the viewfinder before taking the picture.

What I really wanted to say from the beginning was: I just found the reason why it looked different when looking trough the viewfinder then the actual picture which was taken. I also thought I mention this, so others who are maybe a bit slow, like I was, to see the reason why it happened.

Regards, Horst

You are of course correct Philip.
However my problem is, that what I see in the viewfinder is slightly different to how the picture turns out.
However now that I figured out, what the problem is, I can take this in to account.

What I really had in mind was to make others aware of this.

Regards, Horst

Hi John,
this does not solve the problem with the transition glasses.
Also my glasses are Bi-Focal. So I don’t have to have 2 sets of glasses.
Also the same problem arises when near focussing.

I just wonder if a filter is on the marked which changes , when subjected to UV light. I would say this may solve the problem.
At least the lens would see the same as I see in the viewfinder,

Regards, Horst

This makes sense, however I am near sighted and anything past about 5m looks like a blur to me. No way I can see small objects at a distance.
Regards, Horst

I normally wear spectacles with transition lenses.
When photographing in sunlight, specially in bright sunlight, I noticed when looking through the viewfinder of the K5, it always looked more contrasting and the colours, especially the greens looked more saturated then later when I downloaded the pictures to the computer.
However when taking pictures late afternoon and evening, the problem disappeared.
It took me a while to figure out, the reason for this was not the camera or the lens, but my specs which turned very dark when a lot of UV existed.

This is a problem, because I only have glasses with transition lenses.
It looks like I need a pair of glasses with just normal lenses to see it like the lens sees it. I am sure, I wouldn't have taken some pictures, if I’ve seen how they really looked. Often to bright and washed out.

I thought I mention this, in case someone else has the same problem

Regards, Horst