Pentax My (relatively) new (to me) K200D

[MiguelATF]

It's been a good six to seven years since I last shot with a Pentax DSLR - a K200d - and for irrational reasons which made sense at the time, I've just purchased another K200d. These days, with a 10mp sensor and relatively limited higher ISO capabilities, it seems positively dinosaur-like in certain senses -

But in others - the quality of the build, the solidity, the classic but quite usable viewfinder - it's been like finding an old friend again whom one hasn't seen for some time - and being pleasantly surprised that the friend has aged gracefully i.e. not all that much.

I picked the camera up down in the San Francisco Bay Area and took my first photos with it during the longish drive back to Oregon. I bought a surprisingly affordable small (pancake) DA 21mm lens (a 35mm FOV equivalent) as well, mainly because it was one of the only lenses used for years by one of my favorite photographers, Tyler Monson. Not the 'fastest' lens in the world, but not the slowest either. And ---

The initial results make me remember why I like shooting with Pentax cameras and glass.

Here are a few, taken at a de facto graveyard for ancient buses, alongside the Interstate freeway, which I spotted on my drive home -

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Another -

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And one more for good measure -

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The rest of this small series are right here -
Northern California October 2018

The K200d is definitely not as lightweight or semi-pocketable as my G1x Mkiii - and in terms of autofocusing capabilities or low-light photography, it's antiquated next to my GX8 ---

But, damn, it's still a surprisingly good picture-taking device.

 

[donlaw]

That bus cemetery looks great. What I nice find to test out the camera. Nice images.

 

[MiguelATF]

That bus cemetery looks great. What I nice find to test out the camera. Nice images.

Thank you, Don.

 

[rayvonn]

This is why I've found myself going back in time with camera purchases/ gear and selling the modern stuff. You just can't get files like that anymore. Yeah, limited high iso/ low light capability but honestly, so what? Btw, I love that old bus yard.

 

[MiguelATF]

This is why I've found myself going back in time with camera purchases/ gear and selling the modern stuff. You just can't get files like that anymore. Yeah, limited high iso/ low light capability but honestly, so what? Btw, I love that old bus yard.

Have to agree with you. And though it is a notoriously unscientific and imprecise comment, there is something about the better generations of older CCD sensors that really seems to visually 'sing'. The lens in question - a diminutive but excellent DA 21mm Ltd (with a 35mm Field of View) seems, from the initial results, to typify some of the superb characteristics of Pentax glass. Confession: I started shooting with Pentax analog lenses many decades ago and the modern iterations of them seem just as fine as the older ones. The tiny 21mm is stellar.

I loved the old bus yard, too.

Incidentally my recollection is that the K200d sensor is quite good up until around 400 ISO and then falls off pretty rapidly. But for most of the intended uses I have in mind, that should be more than enough.

 

[kyteflyer]

Have to agree with you. And though it is a notoriously unscientific and imprecise comment, there is something about the better generations of older CCD sensors that really seems to visually 'sing'. The lens in question - a diminutive but excellent DA 21mm Ltd (with a 35mm Field of View) seems, from the initial results, to typify some of the superb characteristics of Pentax glass. Confession: I started shooting with Pentax analog lenses many decades ago and the modern iterations of them seem just as fine as the older ones. The tiny 21mm is stellar.

I loved the old bus yard, too.

Incidentally my recollection is that the K200d sensor is quite good up until around 400 ISO and then falls off pretty rapidly. But for most of the intended uses I have in mind, that should be more than enough.

I always limited mine to 400, just to be certain of keeping the noise low. I prefer slower shutter speeds to higher ISO. The K200D loves the 35mm ltd and the 15 as well.

I remember being really chuffed with this at the time I shot it. Just a measly mozzie but the lens was new. Reprocessed today with snapseed which seems to have added noise that wasnt there before.

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[MiguelATF]

The K200d's RAW digital files lend themselves nicely to black & white (monochrome) conversion as well. For all the talk about the beautiful colors of older CCD sensors, they do monochrome quite nicely as well.

This (recently taken) image is a good case in point -

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[rayvonn]

The K200d's RAW digital files lend themselves nicely to black & white (monochrome) conversion as well. For all the talk about the beautiful colors of older CCD sensors, they do monochrome quite nicely as well.

This (recently taken) image is a good case in point -

View attachment 188714

There's a used K200D near me going for $100. I have 2 Takumar lenses, one being the 50mm F1.4 and 200mm F4 ready to be used on it. So bloody tempting.

 

[Luke]

I'm not familiar with the "old" Pentax nomenclature...I would have assume a K200 was some sort of film camera. Those results look awesome...but of course 10MP is more than enough. I like the look of older sensors (when kept at appropriate ISO).

I'll keep an eye out for this body near me and keep watching to see what wonderful images you create with yours Miguel.

 

[MiguelATF]

There's a used K200D near me going for $100. I have 2 Takumar lenses, one being the 50mm F1.4 and 200mm F4 ready to be used on it. So bloody tempting.

$100 is a good price for a K200d body in good condition. The only thing to remember about lenses is that the K-mount (aka Pentax bayonet mount) lenses can be mounted and used (without autofocus, etc, obviously) - but for the older Takumar screw-mount (aka M42mm) lenses, I believe you would require a special adapater.

I have a beautiful old 50mm f/1.8 SMC Pentax bayonet (K-mount) lens which I used with an adapter on some micro 4/3 bodies which I'm planning on using on my K200d and am looking forwards to it

 

[MiguelATF]

I find myself reaching for the K200d and slinging it around my shoulder on a certain kind of day. With the tiny little DA 21mm pancake (a 35mm F.O.V.), it seems to lend itself to...a number of subject in and around the small Oregon town which is my adopted home.

Like this ancient Dodge pickup -

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- whose rusty grill and ancient tires seem like a precursor to some mechanical apocalypse -

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The RAW files lend themselves easily to monochrome conversion -

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Or maybe it's just the Pentax glass but...damn, I like what this camera can do.

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[MiguelATF]

Most of what I've done with this camera has been wider, more landscape-y stuff.
But with the tiny 21mm lens attached, it does close-ups rather nicely, too.

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[theoldsmithy]

Dammit, Miguel, my Pentaxian past is calling to me again!
I’d been hankering after the 21mm lens myself. I had assumed the SMC version was inferior to the HD but those images are splendid. I may also have to do some investigation into those earlier K cameras. Has anyone tried a K20D? I’d be interested to know what people think of that CMOS sensor.

 

[MiguelATF]

Dammit, Miguel, my Pentaxian past is calling to me again!
I’d been hankering after the 21mm lens myself. I had assumed the SMC version was inferior to the HD but those images are splendid. I may also have to do some investigation into those earlier K cameras. Has anyone tried a K20D? I’d be interested to know what people think of that CMOS sensor.

A rather brilliant and subtle Pentaxian photographer whose work I have followed and admired for years, Tyler Monson, started out shooting with the K10D, the larger brother/predecessor to the K200D; later he abandoned it in favor of the newer CMOS-sensored K20D and, as far as I was able to tell, the look of his photographs never really changed. That is, he did great work on both of them. He later went on to shoot with a K-5 and a K-3 and I believe now he's shooting with a K-1. But --- his K20D work was pretty damn fine.

With regards to the differences between the older SMC coated lenses (the green rings) and the newer HD coated ones (the red rings), Pentax Forums did a detailed comparison of the differences here -
HD vs. SMC Pentax Limited Primes Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews
- and concluded that although the HD lenses seemed superior to their SMC ancestors in suppressing ghosting and some flares. But they also more or less admitted that the older (and much less pricey) versions of the LTD primes were pretty damn fine lenses.

 

[MiguelATF]

Here is the photo-blog Tyler Monson did in 2010 - of a 113 hour trip he took to Iceland. In it, he used the K20d and 90% of the pictures were done with the DA 21mm lens (which I'm pretty sure at the time only came in one flavor, the SMC - green ring variety). There are some great images here --- well worth the time, in my opinion -

113 Reykjavik

 

[theoldsmithy]

Here is the photo-blog Tyler Monson did in 2010 - of a 113 hour trip he took to Iceland. In it, he used the K20d and 90% of the pictures were done with the DA 21mm lens (which I'm pretty sure at the time only came in one flavor, the SMC - green ring variety). There are some great images here --- well worth the time, in my opinion -

113 Reykjavik

A fascinating set of photos. And what a difference 2 years makes. I visited in 2012 and it felt positively cheerful and prosperous (mind you, they did decide just not to bother paying any foreign debts if I recall).

 

[MiguelATF]

The K200d does nicely with 'legacy' glass as well. Here's a candid indoor portrait taken with my old 50mm SMC-M f/1.7 Pentax lens, wide open - glass which dates back over half a century, a lens with its own particular 'character' which the K200d does justice to--

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[MiguelATF]

Another shot with my old 'legacy' lens, the SMC-M Pentax 50mm, taken in low light, with the lens wide-open at f/1.7 (obviously Pentax lenses like Pentax sensors )

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[MiguelATF]

An available-light portrait, with the DA 21mm lens, at ISO 800 - near the supposed upper limits of what this ancient camera can do. But I rather like the way it seems to .... render light.

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[MiguelATF]

My K200D saga continues with another lens that I picked up, lightly used, for a very reasonable price - the 10-17mm fisheye zoom. It's such a weird and intriguing concept, a fisheye zoom, typical of Pentax quirkiness. The lens was co-designed by Jun Hirakawa, a million years ago. Here I'm trying it out on an overcast Oregon day, at the wider (fisheye) end of the zoom, at 10mm.

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