Pentax K Mount

I don't maintain a journal, but I did find this entry in a website I maintained several years ago regarding my transition away from large format photography:

7/21/2007: Well, it finally happened.  The Cambo was set up and ready for a beautiful shot of the Tetons along Mormon Row, and my Minolta refused to meter.  And then it (the Minolta) retracted its partially exposed roll of film, including the leader.  The same roll, incidentally, that took almost 20 minutes to load a week earlier due to electronic issues.  That preceding week I was in Oregon's Steens Mountains, waiting for the morning light in freezing conditions.  About then it hit me: I'm really not enjoying photography as much as I used to.  The Cambo's bulk and cost was sucking all the fun out of it.  At ~$5/sheet for purchasing and development, plus an additional $20-$100 for flatbed/drum scanning, I wasn't even taking many photos anymore.  Those that I did take were immaculate, but what use is that if I pass up hundreds of shots a year because my camera is too heavy to carry?  And I wasn't in the mood for guessing the exposure, given the costs. 

So, I'm in the process of selling it.  All of it.  Camera, lens, lensboards, film holders, film, darkroom gear, etc.  It was a great experience, and I learned more than I ever expected.  With that background, I still love photography, so it's time for something new.

Since I still had the 24-50mm Minolta lens, I headed for the digital Sony Alpha100 (Sony recently acquired all of Minolta's photographic business).  But the body/layout of the Alpha100 just didn't feel quite right to me, and the digital crop factor left me with a 36-75mm lens, perfect for... not much, at least for what I like to photograph.  Pentax's new K10D received higher scores in some recent reviews, and (holy crap!) it's fully weathersealed, as is the grip!  Image quality should be very good... at least compared to other DSLRS.  The Cambo could've blown every DSLR up through the Hasselblads out of the water, but this K10D doesn't weigh 10+ lbs or cost $39,000.  So after agonizing over the cost (largely offset by rebates and payments for the LF gear), it's on order. I can't wait!

Pentax Digital

 The Pentax K10D was a wonderful camera.  Lightweight, robust, packable, comfortable, and well-balanced in the hand, the K10D is my reference for what a dSLR should feel like.  I've since come to appreciate what more than 10 megapixels can do, but ergonomically the K10D was terrific.  My limited hands-on experience with the K-5 suggests that Pentax continues to make superbly well-designed cameras.  My new Nikon D600 feels like a football in comparison. 

My primary lens was a 16-45mm/4, equivalent in terms of field of view to a 24-68mm lens on a 35mm camera.  With a minimum focus distance of nearly 11", I used this lens for everything from wide-angle landscapes to floral closeups.  Inexpensive, light enough for travel, and sharp enough for most subjects, it was an ideal complement to the strengths of the K10D.

Unfortunately, my time with Pentax occupied a period of reduced photographic interest in my life.  Other things were going on, I was traveling less, and I just wasn't as inspired to make photos as I had been.  I certainly took a lot of photos during this period, but none of them received the attention and interest I formerly devoted to my large-format images. 

My interest in photography began to grow again in 2012.  I acquired a Sigma 70mm/2.8 macro lens which opened up a whole new world of photography beyond landscapes.  It all came back for me:  photography as a hobby, a creative outlet, a technical challenge, a way to document the beauty in the world around me. 

But a trip to Scotland and Ireland in late 2012 exposed a major problem I was not expecting.  With me was my K10D and 16-45mm/4, and upon arriving home I discovered that only about half of my travel shots were properly focused.  Adjusting the AF on the K10D required a hack into the system settings, and that did little to correct focusing issue.  Even the best of the photos, however, simply didn't contain as much detail as I wanted.  Fine for casual travel, but those few that had real artistic potential just lacked the latitude for creative adjustment. 

I could have sent the camera in for repair, but the K10D was released in late 2006.  Compared to contemporary cameras, particularly those with larger sensors and improved features, my poor camera was showing its age.  So in February 2013, I posted my two Pentax-mount lenses for sale online and purchased a Nikon D600.