Pentax Pentax K-30 Official

I owned one for a couple days. I had never owned a DSLR. While this is one of the smallest, I felt it was too heavy and decided that smaller cameras are more my bag. The IQ was great....focus snappy. I think it's easily the best value in DSLR cameras right now. I wanted weatherproof, too. I went with the Olympus E-M5 instead. I'm pretty pleased with it.

I thought you had a K-r?
 
Thanks Luke,

I think the em-5 is out of my budget just now. Is the em-5 frosty proof too?

What lens did you use with the k30?

If you are looking for weatherproof... dont. the lenses are weatehr resistant, not weather proof. That said, I've used my 18-55 and 50-200 in driving rain. Just made sure to have a cloth to wipe them down afterwards, why risk it. I think the DA* lenses are weatherproof, more so than the WR ones.

If i was buying now, I might be tempted by the 18-135WR, but I'm not, and for those horrible days, the other two do very nicely.

Which lens to get depends entirely on what you want to be doing. Most people will advice the DA*16-50 f/2.8 which has the silent motor for AF. the ones I have still use the screw drive and are relatively noisy... but they are also half the weight and 1/4 the cost.

If I dont sell my gear I am hoping to be able to save for (or sell some lenses to get) an DA*55 f/1.4.

For how the K30 performs with various lenses, go to PENTAX : Welcome to the PENTAX Photo Gallery
 
The E-M5 is cold proof (I think, but I don't remember HOW cold, winter photography is definitely an interest to me, but once it gets TOO cold, my fingers don't work anyways)

I was using the WR18-135 (or something like that) it was the weather resistant zoom with the big range.

I was originally leaning towards the Pentax because of the price difference, but then I started to calculate all the lenses I'd want to buy for it....... and I already have a nice selection in m43.....it made the choice easier.

Still, I wish I had a camera that could do action. But for how little I shoot it, I'll just do without.
 
Here was the best shot I got with it for the couple days I had it. I had some sort of setting on that I would do a half shutter press to lock on my focus target and the camera would track it. For someone who had never used a DSLR before I felt like I was hallucinating when I locked on this little bug on a flower and it took off and the camera tracked it (or did I just dream the whole thing).

I think I may end up re-getting that K-30....and that WR 18-135 or whatever it is was pretty awesome. All I would really need is that lens and one fast normal lens and I'd be done. the 18-135 focuses close enough that you can do pseudo macro with it. this little bug and these flowers are tiny....like the flowers are the size of a a the tip of your pinky finger. It's heavily cropped (and overprocessed), but the file still holds together well. Darn you for reminding me of this camera.

View attachment 60109
prepare for landing by Lukinosity, on Flickr
 
Thanks Sue and Luke ... I defintely have a GAS attack. I want a weatherproof cam for my trip to Poland in December. I started off thinking an olympus tough tg-1 would do the trick but got distracted with this camera. This is more than I wanted to spend and its bigger than I want to cart around but there's no reasoning with me when I have an attack of the GAS. Maybe if I see one for real I'll come to my senses ... if you happen to see my senses anywhere send them back to me!
 
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