Several years ago I was giving moral support to my (now) wife as she ran the Race for Life in Huddersfield. I had my K200 and 18-55 WR lens out in seriously torrential rain and it just kept going. The summers now I am n Hungary can get pretty dusty around our way and the Pentax WR cameras and lenses have never failed yet doe to weather!

Hello.

Still got some of this £1 film (36 exposure!) from a UK pound shop. I have two questions. Firstly it expired in February last year and so I am unsure whether I should rate it slower than the given ISO of 200? Secondly is it worth persevering with (I have had good experiences with Kodak Colorplus 200 also from the pound shops)? AGFA are a known name in photography and it does say made in Japan on the box. I have yet to load any in as I had to finish a roll of Ektar in the Spotty F first. Will I just end up disappointed with this film or will it give an interesting look? I like film shots to look like they could be from the 60's and 70's. And to compare in feel to my Grandad's and Dad's 60s and 70s slides and negatives.

It will be going in the Spotmatic F I think just for fun. My film scanner has a problem that is fundamental so the scans will be poor until such time as I can afford/save up for second hand if possible Epson v500 series.........

Trying to rediscover the fun and relaxing things in life.

Just mooched on here for the first time in months and so far the repair is holding up nicely. It helps that I can always physically go to the people who repaired it as they have a bricks and mortar shop. Haven't had any spare time to use any cameras for the last few months but the few occasions it has been out it seems better than it was originally! If it does fail again I will look seriously at the screwdrive conversion as I am with a K5 for the forseeable future regardless.....!

Apart from my lack of HUngarian skills it all went smoothly and the repair time was two weeks, very professional and good service. You'd never know they had anything to do with Pentax though.......... Wall to wall Canon!

Since I got the DA* 16-50 back from repair (SDM! But hopefully that is now finally put to bed) I have been reviewing how effective it is. Very, very good. Along with the DA* 50-135 it gives really nice (to my eyes) sharp, well defined and colour accurate images that most of the time only need minimal work in Lightroom. I only shoot primes when I use my film kit however............ For me it's a very different experience and primes are for going and doing fun photography where I don;t need to get anything specific whereas the zooms give a little extra flexibility where it counts if for example at the funfair with my daughter trying to get a photo of her on a ride!

I haven't used primes much on the DSLR, however the plastic fantastic 35mm has been used and I think it is a very good performer. I used to have a Ltd 21mm that I had to sell and that was the best made lens I have owned but could never get anything I really liked out of it. I have never used the FA primes or any other of the DA Ltd primes so can't comment on them.

I think it's really striking and effective. The flag being almost fully unfurled is a nice little feature too. I find it quite evocative of the bygone era of sailing fishing boats.

I like this a lot!

I think that's what I am interested in. Same as with the K-01 I used to have, very good performance but seemingly unloved and therefore could pick them up for relative peanuts! There is a K5 IIS at SRS but it's £350 and I would rather wait and see what comes of the APSC flagship after the FF has appeared before replacing my 'serious' camera (serious! I made myself laugh!). That will be a long time though.......... The KS1 will be comical with the DA* zooms I think!!

Will sleep on it again.

Thanks Richandfleaur for the detailed and honest discussion! It seems a very inexpensive way to acquire the latest Pentax software and sensor without going to the KS2 which is a bit too much money at the moment for me though it does have interesting features. I can live without WR as the K5 has that as does the Olympus (though I have had the K5 and my previous K200 out in serious conditions so I trust Pentax a lot more on that scale).

For £200-220 with postage......... Yeah it seems the price it probably should have been originally, but hey ho!

I would probably stick with the DA 35mm 2.4 with it as this seems like it should be a good fit and a nice city and local run around package if I feel in a Pentax mood rather than an Olympus mood. (I am very lucky to have a choice in the matter, I could very easily have still had the K200d and kit lens as my only camera. I wouldn't be disappointed as it was a great piece of kit. I have retired it. It is put away until such times as the space exists to bring it out on display and occasional use).

Written too much again!

Technically the package is really about the sensor and firmware around it and that seems to be very good, with decent glass I don't see why very good results should not be forthcoming.

Down to the £200 mark or so from what looks like a reputable German ebay dealer/shop. Huge +ive feedback.

I am tempted by this now as I doubt it's ever going to get cheaper and would go nicely with my K5 and seems tailor made for the 35mm 2.4. Or the 40mm, really compact for general traipsing round.

I do have about £200 spare. Really for the sensor and a few reports from people in the wild it does seem a bargain? Not sure about upgrading the K5 for the K3 (maybe for the K3 successor when it comes down in price). But at the price these KS1s are now seems a lot of fun for prime lenses and if the live view and focus peaking is actually useable a lot of fun with the older lenses! And if I don't like it would be an easy trade in and probably not that hard to sell on. Worth a punt?

I can rotate cameras then depending on how I feel on the day, the K5 with the big zooms, M4/3 because it feels like a digital film camera or the KS1 with primes!

Or am I just daft? Or wait for a decent K5IIs to come along?

I do have a Pentax AF400FTZ that I got for £5 in totally mint condition that I can get decent results from with bounce flash with the K5. It is enormous though! This would have most of the functionality of the cheap new manual flashes won't it? I have inly used it on manual mode and experimentation varying the F stop generally leads to something acceptable!!

Sometimes I do like/need to be fully auto with the toddler running around and so was considering this new small Pentax flash...... As always it is very complicated to make a decision... I doubt I will really be getting into flash as a technique it's more for getting family shots in poorer light.

That is a USP of Pentax right there! I have had my Pentaxes out in torrential downpours so I know they can be trusted with the WR. To make it worthwhile though I may have to order something else to go with it as well, will have to think about that!

It's not something I know a lot about but most flash guns I see are pretty bulky. I want to avoid too much bulk. I will sacrifice power for portability as I don't use much flash and only really as a fill in already lit rooms. For my Olympus for example the add on flash you get with the camera has always been adequate and I haven't had any desire to get a dedicated more powerful flash. The Pentax just seemed to be a nice little package for an occasional user. Could even leave it on te camera until wanted as it is almost small enough.

The one on Amazon is hardly a comment!!