Digital camera advice please

[Cycling Naturalist]

I've got a Sony Cybershot camera which is brilliant for simple snaps. However it's let down by the limitations of the tiny lens. I've got an old conventional Ricoh SLR that has a couple of excellent lenses using the Pentax K bayonet fixing.

Is is a practical proposition to buy a digital camera body that will take the other lenses? Or has the Pentax fitting disappeared from the scene?

 

[Young Un]

Pentax fiting hasn't disapered - pentax still use the same the same fittings on their modern cameras, whihc is the reason we bought the pentax as we already had three good quality lenses.


Steve

 

[fossyant]

What he said..... up there !!!!

I have a so called compact....not....it's just about as close as possible to an SLR, without going as far (plus I don't know enough about the technical side) -Fuji S9600 (SLR sized with a good lens, 35 - 300 MM Zoom - small it isn't.

I know what you mean about these little pocket sized ones...... no way will you get a great photo with that lens....no matter how many pixels you throw at it...

Bigger lens, less pixels gives a vastly better picture !

 

[sheddy]

I guess you might want to take your lenses into a Pentax Dealer and have a play. This guy has a lot of detailed reviews - http://www.steves-digicams.com/hardware_reviews.html

 

[Melvil]

I'd definitely reccomend that you go to a pro to see if your lenses are compatible with a digital body. As well as the issue of cropping (the digital sensor is usually about 1.5-1.7 times smaller than 35mm film) there might be issues with the autofocussing and metering...it's worth getting it checked out.

But if it is compatible go for it! Digital SLR's can make better, less 'noisy' pics than digital compacts.

 

[bikepete]

Pentax are very much alive and making digital SLRs. The K20D gets really good reviews just now - I have the earlier K10D model.

Re the Ricoh lenses, they will almost certainly fit but check this page:

http://www.robertstech.com/compat.htm

'P' series Ricoh lenses may cause problems as you'll read, but a minor mod can fix this. Others should be fine. More on this at the Pentax forum at DPR: e.g.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&message=19213554&changemode=1

Pentax are a bit of an underdog compared to Canon/Nikon but that means they have to try even harder to make attractive cameras and they do make quality kit, often with features like weather sealing that are only on more pricey models from the other brands. And they use AA batteries for some models which means you can always get emergency power. All models have shake reduction built into the body meaning that even with old, manual lenses you get image stabilisation (which lets you use lower shutter speeds in low light while keeping images sharp).

Not in all that many dealers alas - maybe check here:


http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/pro_centres.html

or try

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/

for a good mail order place - also note current cashback offers on Pentax DSLRs.

 

[ufkacbln]

I have also had excellent results from the Fuji S9600, and what is more due to the new successor it is available at a good price!

Certainly available at the £200 mark.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I have also had excellent results from the Fuji S9600, and what is more due to the new successor it is available at a good price!

Certainly available at the £200 mark.

Does it use the Pentax lens fitting?

 

[LLB]

I just picked up a Canon EOS 1000D SLR and am getting to grips with it slowly.

It came with the image stabilising 18-55mm kit lens which is pretty good apparently.

 

[PatrickPending]

Does it use the Pentax lens fitting?

no, though you will find samsung dslrs do, they share pretty much all the dslr technology these days ie the pentax model has a pretty much identical samsung equivalent, got a *stDS and a D20 myself. Splendid cameras.

Again as said above issues may occur with autofocus and also theres the cropping issue. take them along to a pentax dealer and give them a try....

 

[Crackle]

I can vouch for the Pentax digital SLR's. I have an *istD, which I think was their first. I bought it because I had Pentax lenses already. I don't know about Pentax fit lenses but the Pentax lenses will certainly work, no matter what vintage.

The crop issue is not so much an issue as something to bear in mind. If you have a wideangle then you will lose some field of view, so it won't be so wide. If you take landscapes it may be an issue. With digital, it's fairly easy to stitch pictures together, it just depends how you use it.