Pentax Pentax KP

[rayvonn]

43mm apparently provides the most human-like view and its only Pentax that does that focal length, right?

 

[gordo]

AFAIK Pentax is the only one who offers a 43mm lens FF lens, and it is a holdover from the film days. Fuji offers a 27mm (41mm FOV). Nikon used to have a 45mm. Voigtlander produces 40mm lenses for rangefinder and SLR/ DSLR. Haven't really followed any of the other brands.

 

[drd1135]

Sigma makes a 45 for Sony FF and Panasonic make their excellent 20 for mu43. 40 ish may be my favorite FL.

 

[MiguelATF]

I'm still stuck between rocks and hard places with regard to my Pentax gear.. I keep wanting a KP but I have decided I don't like a tilt screen, I prefer variable angle so thats going to be a K70. Then, I realise that I still like what I have. So... no new purchase (except I would like some more recent WR lenses). My favourite FoVs seem to be 35 and 55. I had the FA43 and just didn't really bond with it.

The good news about the K-70 is ... relatively speaking, the prices of K-70's, used but in excellent condition, have been coming down lately. Significantly, I believe.

I understand the problem of not needing or wanting to purchase newer cameras...because the older ones that one has are so fine. I pretty much felt the same way about my old Pentax K200d's (both of them). But, for my own purposes, the KP which I bought (on sale, admittedly, after a big price reduction more than a year ago), wound up doing everything I really loved about my K200d's....but, for my tastes and purposes, a little better. The newer sensor - and the newer (and fairly remarkable) high ISO capabilities, were what really sealed the deal, so to speak.

But K-70's are getting more and more reasonable by the day, so as they say, hope springs eternal in a Pentaxian's heart

 

[kyteflyer]

But K-70's are getting more and more reasonable by the day, so as they say, hope springs eternal in a Pentaxian's heart

Then, of course, theres that new "flagship" model coming.

 

[MiguelATF]

Speaking of the 40mm focal length - which let's not forget is technically a classic 60mm Field-of-View - I keep being surprised by its versatility. Portraits. Check. Available light. Check. And much to my surprise: Landscapes (in a manner of speaking). Check.

This was taken at sunset, in Oregon City, Oregon.

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Of course, I couldn't help thinking of Jean-Paul Sartre's classic play: No Exit.

 

[MiguelATF]

The KP + DA 40 Ltd lens - a relatively smallish combo - and oh-so-useful for ... impromptu photos of .... the world around me.

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[MiguelATF]

One more with the tiny DA 40 which has to be one of the more interesting (and useful) 'pancake' lenses ever made. Mounted on the KP body it actually makes the camera seem almost 'petite'

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[MiguelATF]

The neighbors are putting up Halloween decorations early.
Taken with the DA 40, such a cool little lens.

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[MiguelATF]

Trying out my new (to me) older (film era) lens - a Pentax FA 50mm f/1.7 -- on the KP.

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[MiguelATF]

Another Halloween image, this one taken with that weird-but-cool Pentax fisheye zoom lens, the DA 10-17mm, closer to the fisheye end --

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My former fisheye, a Rokinon which I used on micro 4/3 bodies, was clinically sharp - but this lens, coupled with the KP's excellent sensor, has some interesting qualities to it.

 

[gordo]

Cool. Fisheyes can be a blast.

I'm seriously considering the new version with the removable hood for use at 10mm on my K1.

 

[MiguelATF]

Cool. Fisheyes can be a blast.

I'm seriously considering the new version with the removable hood for use at 10mm on my K1.

If I didn't already have this version (the SMC non-HD older one), I would be seriously tempted by the newer one as well. The cool thing about the design is that it becomes much much more rectilinear at the 17mm end, whereas at the wide end it is much more of a fisheye. I don't shoot with it that much, but every time I do, I get surprising images - and keep telling myself I need to use it more

 

[gordo]

If I didn't already have this version (the SMC non-HD older one), I would be seriously tempted by the newer one as well. The cool thing about the design is that it becomes much much more rectilinear at the 17mm end, whereas at the wide end it is much more of a fisheye. I don't shoot with it that much, but every time I do, I get surprising images - and keep telling myself I need to use it more

Agreed - I think it would get mostly used at 10mm for the lensball effect, unless I end up with a Pentax APC-C then it will get used throughout the range.

It's obvious you're enjoying the KP.

 

[MiguelATF]

KP + that eccentric 10-17mm Pentax fisheye. Taken in a suburban neighborhood in the smallish Oregon city-town where I reside. And, yes, Halloween aka All Hallows Eve, is right around the corner.

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[MiguelATF]

And the Halloween beat goes on. And Día de los Muertos - the Mexican Day of the Dead - is almost upon us. The day when, as tradition has it, we are visited by the spirits of family members and loved ones we have lost. Who have died. As the novelist John Green points out, philosophically, "There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us." Somehow, when you say it in Spanish, with Día de los Muertos just around the corner, it sounds even better: “Llegará un día en que todos nosotros estaremos muertos dije. Todos nosotros."

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