I love my RS-5, but if I was buying one today, it would be the sport.

Not that anyone cares, but I've decided on RS-7 over RS-Sport. As falkon pointed out, that'll give me an option of adding a storage if I want and also, the quick-release buckle on RS-7 would allow me to easily wear it with my sling-o-matic bag whereas RS-Sport (or RS-5, for that matter) will require some finagling that'll be hard to do when I'm out and about. Oh, and RS-Sport is friggin' bulky when compared to RS-7.

Yeah, I actually meant the RS-Sport 2.

I really need to get better at focusing manually - probably would've been easier if I had taken this shot on less windy day.

Edited June 28, 201115 yr by Salt Peanuts

Made my first real attempt at street photography at the Taste of Chicago festival last weekend (6/25 specifically). Found it really challenging to pull off. Great festival btw - had a total of 4 Bacardi Silver mojitos along with a varied sampling of food ranging from fish tacos to deep-dish pizza to popcorn and some other stuff that's a blur now. I know the exposures are less than stellar; plan to fix them from the RAWs later.

Took so many other pics from the 5 days I was in Chicago - almost filled up one of my 32GB cards in RAW+JPG mode, so more pics later. Wanted to post this one though - I stayed up all night one night so I could catch the sunrise over Lake Michigan. Had a great view from my hotel room window, was definitely worth staying up all night for.

Edited July 1, 201114 yr by Asr

Nice captures, Steve. Yup, street is tough. Until you've tried it, it looks like all you have to do is walk around and snap the shutter once and a while, and done. In reality, it is difficult to see, react, and shoot those "decisive moments". Looks like you had a fun time.

What body/lens combo did you use?

Ricoh set to acquire Pentax camera brand and business, get serious about digital imaging

Whoa.

Is this good, Knuckles?

Tentatively, I'd say yes. Ricoh has made some neat compact digital cameras in the last few years, and some cross pollination with Pentax's DSLR line will most likely be mutually beneficial.

We'll see. Maybe it's not the best moment to buy a Pentax

Nice captures, Steve. Yup, street is tough. Until you've tried it, it looks like all you have to do is walk around and snap the shutter once and a while, and done. In reality, it is difficult to see, react, and shoot those "decisive moments". Looks like you had a fun time.

What body/lens combo did you use?

One of my biggest challenges was firing fast enough - as in, my response time to stuff happening around me, bringing up the camera quickly, adjusting zoom, framing, & focusing. In fact, for some shots I switched over to manual focus and fixed the zoom so all I needed to adjust was focus. Yup, had a fantastic time in Chicago, saw lots of stuff there. Was nice to revisit after the chaos of CanJam last year and take things in a little more slowly.

Gear was my Nikon D7K w/ 16-85 f/3.5-5.6. Not a very fast lens obviously but it worked out ok.

I hope they will not follow Minolta/Konica footstep. Btw, Hoya bought Pentax for 1 billion just 4 years ago and sold it now for 124 million

The grandson of Hoya's founder was not happy with the acquisition of Pentax and to prevent "mistake" to happen again, he proposed changes to the board.

Edited July 1, 201114 yr by Cankin

True dat, but Hoya is keeping the medical division of Pentax. While I doubt it's worth $875M, said division is quite profitable and owns a lot of valuable tech.

They have to pull out full frame DSLR to become competitive, or to retain their market share. It is the only DSLR maker which doesn't have full frame. M9 is full frame too, but it's a rangefinder.

I have no idea how anyone but Canon and Nikon stays afloat seeing as they don't have a proper infrastructure for optics manufacturing.

We'll see. Maybe it's not the best moment to buy a Pentax

I gave this some thought while I was driving across the state this evening. Two important points:

1. All digital cameras are ultimately disposable. All of them.

2. The best camera is the one in your hands.

That might sound a bit cliche, but 5 years of shooting with a DSLR has proved both points to me many times over. If you need to get back into photography, almost any camera is a good start. If you have glass that fits the Pentax mount, then find one of their entry level DSLRs that will work with your lenses and go. Spend less, not more, realizing that this camera is only going to be temporary. Mike Johnson, aka The Online Photographer, made an excellent post about starting in digital photography. It doesn't exactly apply to your situation, but it's a good read and has a lot of valuable information in it. Especially the part about buying a new monitor.

IMG_3693 by drjlo1, on Flickr

that's a cool shot

nice, fill flash?

I gave this some thought while I was driving across the state this evening. Two important points:

1. All digital cameras are ultimately disposable. All of them.

2. The best camera is the one in your hands.

That might sound a bit cliche, but 5 years of shooting with a DSLR has proved both points to me many times over. If you need to get back into photography, almost any camera is a good start. If you have glass that fits the Pentax mount, then find one of their entry level DSLRs that will work with your lenses and go. Spend less, not more, realizing that this camera is only going to be temporary. Mike Johnson, aka The Online Photographer, made an excellent post about starting in digital photography. It doesn't exactly apply to your situation, but it's a good read and has a lot of valuable information in it. Especially the part about buying a new monitor.

Did I ever tell you that you're evil? Especially for the new monitor part Thanks for the reply and the link. Interesting reading.

Point 1 is one of the reasons I'm taking so much time considering the DSLR thing. On one hand I want something a bit more than decent. I really don't want that poor results discourage me from doing something that I really enjoyed many years ago, but I'm not that sure I'll keep enjoying--there are other limiting factors into play--. On the other hand getting good gear which is doomed to be obsolete in a couple of years isn't my favorite way to spend money. Otherwise I think I had got the K-5 or a D7000 a few weeks ago, then seeing if the whole photography thing is as rewarding as it used to be, and I still have some skills. I feel as though using film there were less variables and things were simpler, more manageable.

Your bug is cooler than mine.

Bugs (caterpillers?) FTW. Nice job, Jon and Haj.

While we're on bugs, I grabbed this little guy in the Denver Botanic Gardens. Never managed to snap a bee so heavily loaded with pollen......

Bugs (caterpillers?) FTW. Nice job, Jon and Haj.

Thanks. I wish I had stopped down a bit more, but hindsight is 20/20.

nice, fill flash?

Yes, but the bug also happened to crawl into a sliver of evening sunlight with his head at the time.

BTW, does anyone know of rumors of replacement model for Samsung NX100? I ask because according to Bens' Bargains, Adorama is selling the NX100 with Samsung flash and 20-50mm lens for $399 after $150 off coupon code!

"Samsung NX100 14.6MP Digital Camera + Samsung SEF15A A-TTL External Flash for $549 - $150 off with coupon code S8585896 = $399 with free shipping."

I've been going back and forth bet. NEX-5 and NX100 for my portable APS-C camera for awhile now, and there's even rumors of NEX replacement.

Edited July 2, 201114 yr by Jon L