I am still using my Dad's Spotmatic F and nothing seems to be wrong with it as far as I can see. He bought it new in 1973 and I still have the receipts. It was not cheap, not cheap at all.............

Is it wrong that when I look back at the photos from my time when I only had the 18-55mm kit lens and actively wonder if I was actually a better photographer in many ways with no options available? I have the 16-85mm as a standard lens and when it hits it is great but sometimes I wish I had kept the 18-55. Sold it because, well, that is what you do isn't it?

Was out testing the old K200d with a sort of newish HD 16-85 and forgot I had it on Av.................. Queue a load of "Why is this blurry and not in focus?" consternation before realising. In my defence was out with the kids and the weather was a little overcast and really at ISO 100 you shouldn't really be on F8 and forget.................

Long time no see................ !

Feeling I have barely done anything of worth with the bunch of dust collectors on the shelf (been far too hot this summer in Hungary to actually do much more then the office job) I think I realised I was jaded.

To combat this ennui I pulled out some old primes I accumulated way back when film era manual lenses were not cool and therefore still reasonably priced and put them on the K3ii and K200. Not easy, no zoom, full manual mode and I always forget about the green button but the old Sunny 16 rule has worked a charm shooting in RAW.

The list:

Pentax M 28mm 3.5 - Easiest to use for focusing as you're close to infinity most of the time, results are rather nice however.
Pentax M 50mm 1.8 - This was the standard kit lens for the early to mid 80s i believe? (Well before my time!). Needs some care with focusing but I get it on the nose most of the time. More about practice than anything else.

Pentax K 55mm 1.8 - No idea when I got this or why. It is on the K200 and will be tested this weekend I think.

Cameras are set to manual focusing and the "beep" is the guide for being in focus. I have set for spot metering and central focus point.

So far putting this extra challenge has helped make things more interesting again as well as made the cameras themselves more portable. To the point I am considering selling off all the autofocus lenses. I have a M4/3 system for family stuff and when I am feeling lazy for AF and auto modes.

In the early 2000s pre kids I was using a lot of film and thinking back I only ever used a 50mm on film, never changed lenses when out, and much of that output was the best I have ever done. With the DSLRs I also seem to have an aversion to carrying a lot of stuff and rarely if ever change lenses.

Ramble over.

One day I will have a KP....! Somehow, maybe.

In all seriousness Pentax have a niche it seems and are able to hopefully stay functioning and release updated models every so often. I am not even sure if a new model upgrade every year is really a great strategy. I have a K200d that still works great I bought new in 2008. The K3ii actually scares me! It is very, very good. Only issue I have now is the DA* Zooms. Good but huge.

Naughty!!

It's been nearly two years in the new house. The giant clear up and out needs to commence..........

No idea how or where to start!! The kids toys are everywhere....................

Sacrificed size of the house for size of the garden and countryside and am wondering over the wisdom of that! (During lockdown it has been great really!).

How do I get ruthless with this stuff? Going to be selling on most of the musical instruments maybe simplify the camera kit too. Any one else had to go through this process and how did it go? Tips?

What stops me taking out the Pentax gear is actually simply the size of DSLRs (and Pentax is on the compact side) and the weight of lenses etc. The M43 kit is much lighter and smaller and with a kit of lenses can go in a reasonably compact shoulder bag. Pre kids and when I was still living in the UK I was using Pentax film cameras a lot of the time for much the same reasons. Just too expensive for the processing at the moment. Hopefully once the disasters of the last couple of years are behind me I can start looking to use them again.

I digress. I use a smart phone a lot for quick shots of the kids and for the minimal sharing I do it is very convenient to have everything on one device. The smart phone is my internet, camera, phone, basic computer, gps, and so on all in a pocketable device. There are good reasons why they are so prevalent.

If I want really good pictures a good camera is still the way to go, but in the past how many people really had a top level SLR? Or just a compact P and S?

Gives me something to think about. I do have an Olympus M43 set up where everything works for the moment, however as it is a little long in the tooth I would worry about any repairs..... Yes the form factor is very appealing and not since the K-01 has Pentax come close to the sort of thing. The Q was out there on its own as unique! Only Fuji seem to do something similar. And support their products strongly.

So has it gone to a Private Equity Firm? In that case writing is likely on the wall as they will want quick returns and maybe that will be the end of it. Asset Strip and let die. QC and R and D cost to much money and only bring returns later and not now.

I think we should be very pleased Ricoh came in for Pentax as stability is always under rated.

I see no downside to this plan.