Pentax K5

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Hello. Been browsing the forums for a while, but haven't said anything for a while due to me having no money and can't afford a DSLR currently.

However! my parents has kindly said, as we didn't get you anything this year as we were moving house during my birthday so it was incredibly hectic therefore they couldn't find the time to buy me something before I started uni, and Christmas is looming incredibly quickly, that I could get a camera! :)

They are going off to Hong Kong mid January, and during the move we found a lot of my dad uncle (my great uncle? um not sure anyways!) pentax lenses. so I was looking at K5 is that still a reasonably good camera for the occasional shots? To put it in perspectives I take pictures of anything I think it's pretty and worth taking pictures so no particular group and um since I got my phone in August, I've taken over 200 pictures to date, so although that's not a lot of pictures it's still a bit.

um any help would be useful please. Thank you, if no one replies, then I assume that you all think K5 is amazing and I should go for that?
 
I nearly bought a couple of Pentax k5s, when I was looking into changing system, the cameras do look very very good, and every Pentax owner I've ever spoke to always sing there praises, just double check that Pentax haven't changed there lens mounts in the past, as I have a feeling, but I might be very wrong
 
Ok just checked lol, provided the lenses you have are after 1975 then you should be good , (k mount lenses) ;)
 
The K-5 is way more capable than occasional shots! It is one of the better mid range DSLR's available at the moment in my opinion. I bought a Nikon D7000 first which is in a similar level as the K-5 but swapped after having a play with a K-5.

If you just want the occasional picture though maybe a K-5 is an overkill and you'd be better served by something capable yet more portable and streamlined? Maybe something like an EP-3/GX-1 ?
 
for the occasional shot the k-5 is too much. you could get a k-r which would be easier for you to use as well.

on the other hand if you have the money and you can see urself potentially interested in photography a bit more in the future the k-5 should be with you for long before you decide you need an upgrade :)
 
Thank you for all your responses they were extremely helpful. Um sorry what I mean is that it's the occasional photos, because I'm currently busy with uni whereas when I get my summer holidays / christmas holidays I'll have more time to be able to fiddle around with the camera and take pictures of pretty much anything and everything.

I don't intend to become a professional photographer, but It is definitely something that I do think I'll give up. I'm thinking of buying this camera, for now and not needing to upgrade for possibly another 10 years. I've been using my Pentax S7 since Summer of 2007, so for quite a while really.
 
If you do get one make sure its from somewhere like SRS Microsystems or another good Pentax dealer who will have sold a fair few and provide good customer service

The early models had a problem with sensor stains, but all seems ok now, still best to check though by shooting something like a white wall at f/22 then viewing carefully at 100%.
 
Hey thanks for the websites suggestions, do you recommend my parents to purchase the camera for me online? They are going to Hong Kong / China in January and was thinking about purchasing it for me then if it's cheaper. Not sure really.

However I've been checking camera price busters daily so I'm just keeping an eye on the price so when it does drop significantly I'll quickly phone my parents :)
 
Remember that at the moment there is also £90 cashback for Xmas.

TBH I would say now is the perfect time to buy, it may be a bit cheaper in Hong Kong/China but what happens if you have a problem with it .. at least here you get a 2 year warranty (from SRS).
 
Hey!

Right a new dilemma now, the lens, doesn't fit the Pentax K5 so what I was thinking is that, as my brother girlfriend has a Canon 550D, so I was thinking either getting the Canon 450D second hand from LCE with 18-55 lens for £380 or do I spend the extra £20 and go for the Canon 500D with 18-55mm lens for £399 ?

I know one of the main difference is the face thtat 450D doesn't have a video camera capabilities, and the 500D does but that doesn't bother me to be honest. I'm not too fussed about the difference the two as people who has both cameras has been very happy with it.
 
The k5 was because my uncle has film lenses but they won't fit on the k5, not sure why but I don't think they are proper pentax lenses but a 3rd party one. Unless I buy a mount but that would mean using it manually and I don't have the knowledge / experience to do that at the moment, so I'm looking an canon as a cheaper alternative to buy for now.
 
As others have said the K5 is an excellent camera and if someone is offering to buy it for you, just say yes please.

I'm intrigued by the "Pentax" lenses that won't fit. I'm guessing they are M42 threaded lenses (ie pre about 1975) which, as Manualfocus has said, will fit if an adapter is used.

Although the range of current lenses for Pentax is not as large compared to Canon or Nikon, because all K mount lenses will fit there is a huge range of old lenses that can be picked up for very little.

You will lose some or all of the auto functions and only you can say how important that is to you.

Any K mount lens with an A on the aperture ring will allow you to use any of the exposure settings on the camera but, depending on the age of the lens, you may have to use manual focus. The photo in this link was taken on K5 with an old Sigma K mount zoom lens I bought around 1978.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=370491

As the image stabilisation is in the camera with Pentax, any lens used becomes an image stabilised lens.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
As others have said the K5 is an excellent camera and if someone is offering to buy it for you, just say yes please.


Dave
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for all the advise, although my parents are willing to splash out on me, I'd feel bad for them spending so much on me as they have recently retired, hence why I'm thinking either getting at canon 450d or 500d at a cheaper price moment and in the future when I do get a job to purchase the K5 myself.
 
I'd suggest looking at a K-x or K-r instead in that case.

Then you can start building up a pentax lens collection (pick up some cheap old manual primes on ebay to mess around with) and get familiar with the pentax style layout of things.

I don't see any reason to buy into a cheaper canon system now when you could go for a cheaper pentax body and save yourself having to switch over later.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
If you do get one make sure its from somewhere like SRS Microsystems or another good Pentax dealer who will have sold a fair few and provide good customer service

The early models had a problem with sensor stains, but all seems ok now, still best to check though by shooting something like a white wall at f/22 then viewing carefully at 100%.
Click to expand...

If you are going to get one from SRS who I strongly recommend, join Pentax User forum and you will get free postage.
 
My uncle camera is the Spotmatic, Asahi Pentax. That's all I an see from the front with no model number?

He has Super - Takumar 1:1.4/50 Lens
Takumar - auto tele f = 200mm 1:35 8-100
Takumar - super multi coated 1:3.5/38 1.3-20

I don't know what mount to buy about these things. I think I may go for the K-R now though.
 
They are very nice lenses!

They will work on any of the Pentax SLR's with this adapter. However, don't buy it at that price! If you keep an eye on the forums here and in Pentax User you can pick up an official one second hand for about 25 quid. It's worth getting the official one instead of the ebay chinese knockoffs for a couple of reasons.
 
Thanks for all the help, just one final question! (for now anyways, sorry guys! :$)

Will it be silly of me to either go for twin kit lens or 18-55 lens with the K-R or shall I just buy the camera and the adapter ?
 
I would get the kitlenses.

The old lenses should be good for experimenting with faster apertures and excellent image quality, but you'll still want some general purpose AF lenses for when you want to use it for snapshotting.
 
Will the 18-55 be suitable for now or shall I go for the twin kit lens? The thing is, according to CPB Jessops has the KR with 18-55 lens for £344 which seems amazing at the moment. I'm quite tempted for that.
 
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