then and now

I came by my Pentax as an extravagant birthday gift from my wife last year. What led me to pick it, though was a lot of nostalgia for my old Pentax K-1000, which I received as a travel gift from my mom in 1989. As digital cameras became prevalent, I always said that Pentax should come out with a digital K-1000, and that if they did, I would buy one.

What I meant was that I wanted a relatively inexpensive camera with few features, one that would be both easy to use, and that had the potential to teach the user of the camera a few things about photography and optics. The K-1000 was very basic to use. Knowing nothing of photographic principles, it was possible to pick it up, have the light meter explained (the needle should be in the middle part), and, through sheer fiddling, come up with settings that would result in viable images. With just two or three other concepts included (don't go under a certain shutter speed without a tripod, try to use the fastest shutter speed possible, and use condition-appropriate ISO film), you could be up and running taking printable, decent photos and concentrating on developing your composition skills rather than on working the dials and rings. My K-1000 was so easy to use that I never even thought about it being a "real" SLR, or about whether the ideas I gained using it would come in handy later.

My experience with the K110D, which I consider the true digital progression from the K-1000, has been very similar. It taught me what SLR really means, that the image you see in the viewfinder and the image that hits the sensor are the same, coming as they do directly through the lens. This is in stark contrast to the image you see on a compact digital camera, where the image you see on the LCD is a product of interaction between the lens, the sensor, and the LCD, and you're taking the picture based on this interpretation. When you make changes to the settings, you're manipulating how the LCD image looks as much as you are how the camera will take the picture. On an SLR, when you change a setting, you're affecting how the camera behaves, and you don't necessarily get a visual cue, because no matter what you change, you still see the light that's coming through the lens, and nothing more. This requires a bit more understanding of what your settings do, as well as a bit less understanding of your camera's menu structure. For me, this is a good thing. more often now, I shoot the picture I want instead of shooting the general area and cropping out the bits I didn't really want.

Of course, using a fully automatic camera is a completely different experience than the old fully manual K-1000, but I can't say there's much I miss about manual focus, and switching over to manual mode generally alleviates any lingering nostalgia I have for the old ways. I'll need to brush up on basics again once I start trying to take some low-light pictures (I need a tripod upgrade first, since my first one has succumbed to age and cracked in at least one place), but until then, I'm very pleased with the pictures I'm taking, and I think they're at least as good as the ones I took in the old K-1000 days.

then:

now:

my setup

Just as background, I thought I'd discuss my setup today. It's nothing fancy, I assure you, in fact quite the opposite and I like it that way.

Before I had this camera, I shot quite a bit of material with a Sony DSCP10. You can look at my flickr set for that camera to see some of them. I was pleased with the pictures that camera took, but I wanted some better low-light options, and to have a smoother set of controls so I wasn't spending 15 minutes arguing with the interface just to take a macro shot that might or might not actually be in focus once I got it onto the computer.

I got my Pentax K110D for my birthday last year. I wanted to K100D, and in fact that's what my wife thought she ordered, but she was mistaken. I thought about sending the thing back and getting the K100D, but then I started thinking how I've never needed stability control before, and damned if I need it now. There have been some times that I've wished I had it, but I'm going to have to get a tripod regardless, so most of the time I just don't let it bother me. I like to think that there's some sort of manly austerity to shooting with the most featureless equipment available, but then I look down and the dial on my camera and think about how long it's been set on full auto mode, and I find something else to think about.

The K110D came with a very middle-of-the-road P-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens. It's a great all-purpose lens, but this summer I found myself wishing for a better zoom, especially on my trip to Mt. Rainier when I took this one:


I really wanted a better picture of that cave in the glacier, but my ass was whipped from a brutal hike the day before, and there was no way I was going to get the family up enough trail to make a difference. What would have made a difference? The lens I got for Christmas, a Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto Zoom. I have yet to really have an opportunity to find out what this lens is capable of, but I know I'm going to put it through its paces as soon as I can get out hiking this year. Even though it's heavy and large in size, it really will be a great hiking lens, since most of what I shoot is either macro or zoom on the trail. A macro shot that could have used a little more zoom:


I was also fortunate enough to get a camera bag to help me heft another large lens and other gear:

All of my gear in this bag is kind of heavy for hiking, but if I take out the K Mart lens, it should be just about right. I've gotten used to carrying a small camera bag with me on the trail, so having a backpack case should be no problem, even with the added weight.

welcome

Welcome to post #1 for my new digital photgraphy blog. Enough people thought I had something of interest to say on the subject that they convinced me to start it up. Apologies to anyone coming here looking for something about photographic memory and not photography. Next link, thanks for the hit.

I'll be using this blog to showcase some of my favorite photos, as well as to post some ideas about digital cameras, many of which have been discussed elsewhere. I hope that readers (if any) will join in the discussion or make suggestions about cameras, photos, subjects, techniques, or other topics as appropriate.

Without further ado, the first photo, taken a couple of weeks ago using my Ebay KMart zoom lens mounted on my Pentax K110D DSLR:



This lens was kind of an afternoon boredom shopping impulse purchase. It may also have been the first ebay auction I've ever won. The seller obviously had detected some flaw in the lens, as they very carefully stated that it was sold as-is, and any tiny flaws detected after the purchase were not their responsibility. The last zoom lens I owned has had wicked haze, possibly from lens fungus, for years, so I wasn't too worried about tiny occult flaws for $25. The fungus lens turned out not to be backwards-compatible with my K110D, and I had gotten frustrated trying to take far-away pictures with the OEM lens on the camera kit, so I figured I'd piddle about with this K Mart Special and see what happened. I like it a lot, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the light through ol' K Mart. I got a new zoom lens for Christmas, but I'll keep the manual focus around for when I want something I can take with me without feeling nervous.