I recently ordered some new camera gear. A Pentax K20D. and a Pentax 18-55 II that I purchased on Ebay for 100 bucks. I have not received the camera yet (should be here tomorrow) but I received the lens this afternoon. I am very impressed with this little “kit” lens so far. The front does not rotate during focusing or zooming. It sports a metal lens mount and you can override the autofocus at any time just by grabbing the focus ring. It feels very solid and the lens hood that comes with it has a little removable slot so you can turn your polarizer.
No kit lens I have ever used has sported these features. It seems like this lens was designed by photographers and not accountants (hint hint Nikon and Canon). Kudos to Pentax for focusing on stuff that is important and keeping it within my small budget. Hopefully over the weekend I will have some images to show.
You got the lens for $100 or the whole kit for $100? Looks good. I can't wait to see some images! Love new toys! I wished I had money to get a new body.
I'm sure you have plenty of info, but here is the place I always check on cameras:
Just the lens, the camera cost a bit more. Yea I have read the dpreview article on it, as well as others. My Dad has a K10d that I have used a little which is essentially the same camera minus a few features and the 14.6MP CMOS sensor.
Pentax is coming around with great new bodies. As far as I know they have been making great lenses for a while but have been a little slow into the digital age. I am particularly excited about one touch 5 shot image bracketing for HDR. Also on the k20d when you set a 2 sec self timer it automatically does a mirror lockup. Why can't all cameras do that? It is such a good idea.
yea Aaron the new camera is good so far. 14.6 MP is awesome at ISO 100 but it can get noisy in a hurry. I probably wont be shooting this thing above 400 if I can help it. I am already drooling over some new lenses, it seems like Pentax makes some winners.
Posted by Marc Langille on June 24, 2009 at 10:17 PM
Pentax?? Oh my....
Seriously, congrats on the new gear and taking photos. The K20D can do very well at higher ISO settings in a number of situations. Sometimes a bit of NR in small amounts will do the trick nicely without detail loss. I've seen some images from the new WR kit lens - very impressive stopped down just a bit. I am impressed that it's weather resistant - in a kit lens!
Discussion
6 repliesNo kit lens I have ever used has sported these features. It seems like this lens was designed by photographers and not accountants (hint hint Nikon and Canon). Kudos to Pentax for focusing on stuff that is important and keeping it within my small budget. Hopefully over the weekend I will have some images to show.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2479/3640088496_0596b8751c_b.jpg
I'm sure you have plenty of info, but here is the place I always check on cameras:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0801/08012311pentaxk20d.asp
Seriously, congrats on the new gear and taking photos. The K20D can do very well at higher ISO settings in a number of situations. Sometimes a bit of NR in small amounts will do the trick nicely without detail loss. I've seen some images from the new WR kit lens - very impressive stopped down just a bit. I am impressed that it's weather resistant - in a kit lens!