All Forum Comments
Comment by jukar posted on Considering a pentax system at 16/03/2009 - 02:20
Its good to hear that K20D doesnt feel like downgrading from a user with a lot of nikon experience. Its important that i can grab the camera and use it, in some way the D200 has lost some of that grab and click appeal. I also dont want to feel like i had to downgrade.
Actually my D200's AF is falling apart quite often when shooting moving dogs, it needs a lot of light to work well when it comes to action. Also more expensive glass could help, but if there is enough light available my cheap Tamron 55-200mm keeps up with almost scary spot-on accuracy, i assume most cameras AF-systems can keep up when there is light and the challenge comes from when there is less light and more crappy lenses. Doesnt K20D af-system have more cross-sensors than D200?. If i remember correctly D200 has one and K20D has five.
I am located in finland. I have seen a few pentax shooters in this town they call city, but strangely last time i saw them none of them were taking any pictures while i was constantly firing away. Perhaps they were actually watching the show.
I definitely need to find a store with a K20D. Changing systems is still a huge leap and the best thing to do might just be to find a pentax user, its also kind of scary going to a new system not knowing what kind of traps there are.
Do you happen to know any links to sample pentax pef or dng files i could play with and try to get some of sort of idea how k20d raw-files work. Also do pentaxes come with any file transfer software?. I need a software that keeps up a running number for the files because the file numbers are always reseted in the camera at some point.
Actually my D200's AF is falling apart quite often when shooting moving dogs, it needs a lot of light to work well when it comes to action. Also more expensive glass could help, but if there is enough light available my cheap Tamron 55-200mm keeps up with almost scary spot-on accuracy, i assume most cameras AF-systems can keep up when there is light and the challenge comes from when there is less light and more crappy lenses. Doesnt K20D af-system have more cross-sensors than D200?. If i remember correctly D200 has one and K20D has five.
I am located in finland. I have seen a few pentax shooters in this town they call city, but strangely last time i saw them none of them were taking any pictures while i was constantly firing away. Perhaps they were actually watching the show.
I definitely need to find a store with a K20D. Changing systems is still a huge leap and the best thing to do might just be to find a pentax user, its also kind of scary going to a new system not knowing what kind of traps there are.
Do you happen to know any links to sample pentax pef or dng files i could play with and try to get some of sort of idea how k20d raw-files work. Also do pentaxes come with any file transfer software?. I need a software that keeps up a running number for the files because the file numbers are always reseted in the camera at some point.
Comment by jukar posted on Considering a pentax system at 15/03/2009 - 09:33
Hello
Reason(s) why i am posting this to a pentax forum is because obviously i am considering a pentax system and second i think there are more pentax users that have used nikon dslrs than nikon users with pentax dslr experiences.
Right now i am a D200 owner, however there are a few things which irritate me about D200. The rubber on the camera tends to wear off, i have to handle it with care, i cant just grab and use it, i have to watch out the rubber which i held in place with a two-sided tape. Also the front dial takes more finger strength to use than it should, and D200 is quite old technolody in general. I however still enjoy using it, but the little things are starting to take their toll bit by bit. The D300 would be a perfect solution but its really out of my reach, for a cost of D300 body alone i could buy approx. a 3 lens pentax system.
Most of the things i care about are build and external controls, that is why i dont feel like going back to a DXX camera, and the Nikon with weather-seals comes with a price. I mean even K20D's battery grip has seals my MB-D200 doesnt come with any sealing. I also dont feel like owning another D200 as i have had even this one fixed for banding, and now the rubbers are starting to come off.
Now i think the only lens from the nikon system i will be really missing is the 35mm f/1.8 i just received. I know there is the 30mm sigma but according to pretty much every test it only excels in center, and it costs a lot more than a 35mm Nikkor. I know pentax has a load of primes, but im not seeing any 30-35mm f/1.4-8 equivalents. However i do see a lot of other interesting primes, but a 35mm is the one that would get me very happy for a very long time. Talking about lenses for cropped sensors, what is the closest i can get? and at what price.
Then is the high-iso thing. I havent found any good head-to-head tests with K20D and D200 or even D300. Am i wrong if i assume that K20D is noticeably better than my D200?. I always shoot raw, i dont care the default jpg-output. Im not expecting K20D to beat D300 just remain competitive. I also like the idea of 14mpix as it gives me more to play with, and my D200 also doesnt come with 14bit raw option.
Now the one thing i really dont like about K20D is the 3fps, i really like my 5fps. I rarely do a lot of 5fps but when i do, i am so happy i have it. I think its a bit like owning a car that can do pass bys real easy, i rarely have to get past another car but once i do id be really happy if my car could do it with ease.
If there are any previous D200 owners can someone tell how the AF-compares. I have read a lot of bad about it and then some good, i find it hard to believe that K20Ds AF cant keep up with a four year old nikon.
At this point i am mostly toying with the idea, i dont consider myself a nikonian or anyone else in that matter. I think we are photographers (or photography hobbyists) at first and we just pick a set of tools to go with our hobby or profession. Of course then there are people who choose to identify themselves with a sports team or a camera brand, and i have no problems with that.
Changing a system is perhaps a radical move, and it might even be a unneccessary one. Nevertheless i am interested in pentax, mainly because i get a lot of camera for the money and very likely a superior build quality (in a smaller package) even when compared to D300 with compromise mainly in fps. I dont care for high-res lcd that much, id much rather take shake reduction.
I have handled only one pentax in a store (not many stores with pentax dslrs around) it was a K200D, and what i remember was that it focused real fast on AF-C, it was also very noisy when focusing. It felt faster than my 18-70 AF-S in that regard.
So put a long story short.
1. D200 vs K20D IQ
2. Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX equivalent
3. D200 vs K20D in terms of AF
I mostly shoot stuff which doesnt require 5fps, i like weather-sealing because it adds to the build quality and i feel like (and i do take) taking my camera out more, with my D70 and D80 i really hated even the thought of light rain. If my camera had a live view im pretty sure i didnt bother to figure out how to turn it on.
Reason(s) why i am posting this to a pentax forum is because obviously i am considering a pentax system and second i think there are more pentax users that have used nikon dslrs than nikon users with pentax dslr experiences.
Right now i am a D200 owner, however there are a few things which irritate me about D200. The rubber on the camera tends to wear off, i have to handle it with care, i cant just grab and use it, i have to watch out the rubber which i held in place with a two-sided tape. Also the front dial takes more finger strength to use than it should, and D200 is quite old technolody in general. I however still enjoy using it, but the little things are starting to take their toll bit by bit. The D300 would be a perfect solution but its really out of my reach, for a cost of D300 body alone i could buy approx. a 3 lens pentax system.
Most of the things i care about are build and external controls, that is why i dont feel like going back to a DXX camera, and the Nikon with weather-seals comes with a price. I mean even K20D's battery grip has seals my MB-D200 doesnt come with any sealing. I also dont feel like owning another D200 as i have had even this one fixed for banding, and now the rubbers are starting to come off.
Now i think the only lens from the nikon system i will be really missing is the 35mm f/1.8 i just received. I know there is the 30mm sigma but according to pretty much every test it only excels in center, and it costs a lot more than a 35mm Nikkor. I know pentax has a load of primes, but im not seeing any 30-35mm f/1.4-8 equivalents. However i do see a lot of other interesting primes, but a 35mm is the one that would get me very happy for a very long time. Talking about lenses for cropped sensors, what is the closest i can get? and at what price.
Then is the high-iso thing. I havent found any good head-to-head tests with K20D and D200 or even D300. Am i wrong if i assume that K20D is noticeably better than my D200?. I always shoot raw, i dont care the default jpg-output. Im not expecting K20D to beat D300 just remain competitive. I also like the idea of 14mpix as it gives me more to play with, and my D200 also doesnt come with 14bit raw option.
Now the one thing i really dont like about K20D is the 3fps, i really like my 5fps. I rarely do a lot of 5fps but when i do, i am so happy i have it. I think its a bit like owning a car that can do pass bys real easy, i rarely have to get past another car but once i do id be really happy if my car could do it with ease.
If there are any previous D200 owners can someone tell how the AF-compares. I have read a lot of bad about it and then some good, i find it hard to believe that K20Ds AF cant keep up with a four year old nikon.
At this point i am mostly toying with the idea, i dont consider myself a nikonian or anyone else in that matter. I think we are photographers (or photography hobbyists) at first and we just pick a set of tools to go with our hobby or profession. Of course then there are people who choose to identify themselves with a sports team or a camera brand, and i have no problems with that.
Changing a system is perhaps a radical move, and it might even be a unneccessary one. Nevertheless i am interested in pentax, mainly because i get a lot of camera for the money and very likely a superior build quality (in a smaller package) even when compared to D300 with compromise mainly in fps. I dont care for high-res lcd that much, id much rather take shake reduction.
I have handled only one pentax in a store (not many stores with pentax dslrs around) it was a K200D, and what i remember was that it focused real fast on AF-C, it was also very noisy when focusing. It felt faster than my 18-70 AF-S in that regard.
So put a long story short.
1. D200 vs K20D IQ
2. Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX equivalent
3. D200 vs K20D in terms of AF
I mostly shoot stuff which doesnt require 5fps, i like weather-sealing because it adds to the build quality and i feel like (and i do take) taking my camera out more, with my D70 and D80 i really hated even the thought of light rain. If my camera had a live view im pretty sure i didnt bother to figure out how to turn it on.
Comment by jukar posted on Considering a pentax system at 15/03/2009 - 04:39
What zooms people are mostly using. I know pentax kind of specializes in primes, but i assume they havent given up on zooms just yet. 17-70mm f/4 looks interesting, i might take it over 17-50mm f/2.8 Tamron because i appreciate the reach and i really want my general purpose zoom to reach around 70mm. What strengths and weaknesses 18-55 II has?.
hefty1
About the old lenses, how many of them are useable?. I have seen many unfamiliar to me k-mount (that is the mount right?) lenses on sale around. On the other hand most of them dont cost much, so experimenting shouldnt be a problem.
johnriley
I bet their cameras were just fine and they were there to actually enjoy the festival and not chimping with their dslr, i was just a bit disappointed that once when i saw people with pentax cameras i didnt see them using them. I had in mind to shoot a candid sequence after every 5 minutes "still not shooting.. still not shooting" . I have actually handled the D300 few times and found it very surprising that i couldnt really find my way around as easily as i expected.