Done Gone And Done It...

[almo]

You guys may have noticed my presence on this forum over the last week or so, and there has been a reason for that. I have been researching, pricing, and comparing cameras, and the one that has consistantly stuck out to me has been the K10D. So....

I pulled out the old master card and dropped a grand on a new K10D, Vertical Battery Grip, Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL, Sigma 28-300 F3.5-5.6 IF Compact Hyper Zoom, and a Transend 1GB SD card.

After the stuff gets here I will look into getting more memory, batteries, and some UV filters.

I will let you all know when she gets here and how it goes!

[spiraleyes]

Wow, you aren't messing around! Congratulations on such a great setup.

I'll give you some feedback on how I like my 40mm once I get it

[Didache]

Good job almo!! I know you will enjoy your new gear.

Cheers
Mike

[Cato]

speaking of dropping the hammer, after reading every photography review blog on line, i broke down and ordered a K100D Super ----it comes wednesday.

[almo]

speaking of dropping the hammer, after reading every photography review blog on line, i broke down and ordered a K100D Super ----it comes wednesday.

Sweet!

I am expecting my K10D between Wed-Sat. I am hoping for Wed. but not holding my breath. I bought the camera from BeachCamera.com and the rest of the stuff from various sellers on Amazon, so it'll be like my birthday for a few days next week. just hope my camera and at least one lens arrive on the same day, or I am gonna be all pouty with just one half of the kit, wishing I could use it already...

Great choice of camera there. I have already been looking at that or the DS as a backup to my K10. I have never had a backup, and it sure would be a nice feeling to know one was there. Espeacilly one that is smaller and easier to tote around. I can imagine a few instances when that would have been a good thing to have with my big ole' D60. With the grip on it's the same size, if not weight, as the 1D

[almo]

Good job almo!! I know you will enjoy your new gear.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike,

You have been the Wise Sage in my journey from Canon to Pentax. It would have been nice to have the same kind of help when I was looking to switch to Olympus in late '06. I may have saved myself the pain and just waited it out.

[ken1953]

Almo, since my joining of PR, you have been one of the people I have admired greatly. Your photos are always wonderful, even if your subjects are sometimes a little "creepy". haha... I look forward to seeing what you do with the new gear.
Welcome to K Team....

[spiraleyes]

Thanks Mike,

You have been the Wise Sage in my journey from Canon to Pentax. It would have been nice to have the same kind of help when I was looking to switch to Olympus in late '06. I may have saved myself the pain and just waited it out.

Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to switch over to Pentax? Most Canon shooters that I know swear by Canon, no matter what.

[almo]

Almo, since my joining of PR, you have been one of the people I have admired greatly. Your photos are always wonderful, even if your subjects are sometimes a little "creepy". haha... I look forward to seeing what you do with the new gear.
Welcome to K Team....

Wow, thanks Ken.

That truley means a lot to me, unexpected as it was.

My first reaction was, is he thinking of another almo...

But seriously, I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with this new camera. Part of me wants to know I can get what I have come to expect from my Canons, and the other half says, wait a cotton pickin' second! This isn't Canon, it's Pentax. I know the images have a subtle difference to them, in many cases I have seen that they are much more film like than Canon's pure digital look. Not that the Canon look is bad. In terms of pure digital image awesomness no one can touch Canon. But what Pentax offers is something different I think. I miss the film look that I started out with in photography. That is one of the main reasons I switched to Olympus, but even though the images from that camera were stunning, at any ISO over 360 the noise became to big a problem for me. Pentax however seems to get great high ISO performace up to 800, and decent perfomance up to 1600. My first serious SLR camera was a Pentax that I shot mainly Velvia, and Illford H5+ with. I need only go back to my old slides to remember that spectacular Pentax glass, and look. I know it seems like kind of a larf, but I can tell which camera I used to shoot a slide just by looking at it. Well which brand, not model. This will be my 4th Pentax camera, and my first digital Pentax.

I am truely stoked! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[jgredline]

Awesome
We need more Pentaxians in this world

[Turkey_Lips]

Congrats on the awesome purchase. But why did you get the Sigma 28-300 F3.5-5.6 IF?.... I would have got the Tamron 18-250 Di LD II?. I would have sold you my 18-55 for 50 bucks and that includes shipping if your in the USA.

[Turkey_Lips]

Pentax K10D Digital Camera Body 10.2MP, 3872x2592, SD/SDHC $561.95 includes shipping http://www.fotoconnection.com/p56924...2-sd-sdhc.html

Pentax DA 18-55 from me for 50.00 includes shipping

Kingston 1GB Secure Digital Card SD 10.00 free shipping
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...662&adid=17662

Total 621.95 that leaves you 379.05 for lenses

[almo]

Pentax K10D Digital Camera Body 10.2MP, 3872x2592, SD/SDHC $561.95 includes shipping http://www.fotoconnection.com/p56924...2-sd-sdhc.html

Pentax DA 18-55 from me for 50.00 includes shipping

Kingston 1GB Secure Digital Card SD 10.00 free shipping
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...662&adid=17662

Total 621.95 that leaves you 379.05 for lenses

After the rebate the K10D I bought will be $509, that with free shipping. I bought it from a place I'd trust with my child, which means a lot to me.

The 1GB sd card I got was $5.85, a little under $9 after shipping.

I obviously did't know there was an 18-55 on offer for $50. The oder has gone though and it has shipped, and frankly $27 isn't worth the hassle to me of returning it and paying for shipping, and waiting for a refund.

I bought the sigma, 1 because I like sigma, 2 because I do a lot of telephoto shootong and I am used to the reach provided by 300mm. Plus the lens I chose is of better quality. Also I wanted a seperate lens for wider work, with a shorter range, because I shoot a lot of fishtank shots that require such a lens. I also plan on getting the Sigma APO 1.4x converter, maybe sooner, maybe later.

I researched this purchase for 2 weeks, in a very obcessive manner. The way I do everything. I did not make my choices lightly.

Thanks for posting!

[almo]

Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to switch over to Pentax? Most Canon shooters that I know swear by Canon, no matter what.

Hey,

I'm sorry, I missed your post here.

Well, that is a long story. I'll try to make it short. I did this in late 06 woth Olympus. I regret that had me running back to Canon. However I am not a dyed in the wool Canon user. My first SLR was a Canon Rebel G, my second, which I got shortly before my Rebel died on me only months after I bought it, was a Pentax ME Super. That ME was the first SLR I ever used, 10 years before that. It was my father's camera, and he gave it to me when he saw that I was serious about photography, and it changed my perception about what photography was all about. I fell in love with Pentax.

However I returned to the world of Canon about a year later after I had really found my place in photography. I shoot mainly natural themes, wildlife, landscapes...ect, and because of the dead Rebel I'd owned, I had a Canon 28-80 and Tamron 70-300mm lens for canon. I also felt I needed a good AF body. At the time I was young in photography and still highly driven by gear. What I really needed was some really nice lenses for my ME Super, but my gear lust said I needed a big impressive Canon EOS film body with a big lens. Well I had the lens already, so I just bought the body. The camera I choose was the Canon EOS ELAN. great camera, if somewhat unnecessary for me at the time. I used this body for a couple of years. Then I discovered the best film body I had ever seen, in my price range anyway. The Minolta Maxxum 7D. Man I mean I sold every scrape of photographic equipment I owned to buy that camera, and it was a great camera too. Only, I never used it. Well, not much anyway. It was early 03 and digital was really starting to make it's voice heard in the market. So my gear lust kicked in again, along with the relization that I could no longer afford the slides I was shooting. So I broke down and sold my beloved 7D and in a choice between an $800 Canon D30 and a $550 Minolta DiMage 7i, I went with the Minolta. OMG, what a mistake, but that's a story for another post... lol.

At any rate I used the 7i for about 3 years. then one day my ex gf offered to give me her Canon D30 if I would give her the 7i. I didn't question this, I just said, YES!

So that is why I ended up with Canon DSLRs. Not that I regret it. That D30 was an awesome camera, as were both of the D60's I've had. But, I have always had a desire to return to Pentax cameras. The *ist D was the only offering on the market back when I first got into DSLRs, and I couldn't afford it, and, until the advent of the K10D Pentax has not released a camera on the semi-pro level I am used to.

One other reason is that my Canon D60 is 6 years old now. I have not had it all that time, but it is 6 years all the same. I would like a new camera. one I can keep a few years and know it is only as old as I have owned it. On top of that, I just couldn't afford the Canon equivalent of the K10D. And, to get the features of the K10D in a Canon, I'd have to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars that I do not have. I will give Canon the edge in speed, new lens availablity, and high ISO noise performance, but they can't compete price wise.

So, that is why. Hmmm.... well this was supposed to be short...

[spiraleyes]

Ha! That was practically a novel! Thanks for the story, welcome to Pentax!

[almo]

Ha! That was practically a novel! Thanks for the story, welcome to Pentax!

Thanks!

That's, welcome "back" to Pentax, actually. First time digital, but long time Pentax user. I have always had one until very recently.

BTW...

I put out a bid on a SMC 50mm f/2 lens and a ME body and won both, so it would seem I am going Pentax all the way!

All I need now is an Optio compact and I'll be all set...

[spiraleyes]

Sorry, welcome back to Pentax!

[Turkey_Lips]

With over 24 million lenses that will fit a Pentax camera floating around the world, It's hard not to go with Pentax.

[Dstrickland]

Pentax has been around a long time. I started with Minolta manual focus/exposure and they are great film cameras. I just received a Pentax K10D for a christmas present and my wife got it with the 18-55 and it sure seems sharp to me. My next lens will be the 50-135mm 2.8 DA* (I think that's how they call it) for shooting little league baseball. The battery grip and midlevel flash will also be purchase here soon. I tried out the 18-250 Pentax at my local camera store and it seemed pretty sharp too but I think I could use the extra speed in a lens. Good purchase though, you won't be disappointed.

[Cato]

Brown santa is set to deliver my 100D super today--not much work be happen this morning