Buying Pentax K-7

[bosco555]

Hi all and happy new year!
I am new here, new to digital SLR photography even though I have been shooting the 35mm for 30yrs.

I have been reading these (and other forums) regarding where to buy equipment. I am particularly interested in the Pentax K7, and one of the many features that caught my eye was the built-in body shaking reduction system.

I would humbly ask you gurus advice and opinion on the matter...Also there was talk that some suppliers had the very first K7s that were shipped to AU and not the latest. Could someone please shed some light on the subject?

I have been reading about lenses as well, but boy....now I am more confused (about what make) than when I first started reading!!! I used to have (35mm) a wide-angle 28mm, 50 and 135mm..I suppose I'm asking again for advise here...Hope I'm not pestering too much..:o

Thanks to all in advance

Gianni

[Kym]

Pentax SR, Canon IS, Nikon VR, Sony AS? etc all do the same thing albeit differently.
Pentax and Sony use in body stabilisation and C & N use lens based.

Simply... In body SR means ALL your lenses are stabilised whereas C & N require more expensive lenses if you want that feature.

One advantage of lens based SR is that you see a more stable image through the viewfinder, but at a premium.

This will no doubt get a bite from some members:

The "In-lens-system-is-better" myth was started and perpetuated by various publications by Canon including the most often quoted White Paper. The fact is that there has been no objective testing done comparing various system. One reason being that it is very hard to implement a image stabilization test while eliminating other variables.

Canon is worried about the SR/AS trend, so much so that they put out a full page ad in photo magazines advocating the in-lens supposedly "superiority" over in-body system. This would further perpetuate this myth with the mis-leading ads which was full or errors. In the ad, Canon stated that they chose in-lens method because they tested both and found in-lens system to be better. This, of course, cannot be true. They first used in-lens stabilization back in the film days because there was NO OTHER CHOICE! You can't possibly move the whole film around.

[Kym]

Here is a sample of Pentax SR in action
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=19647176&page=1

The K-7 SR is better than the K100D.

[bosco555]

Hi Kym thank you for the info..apologies for posting in the wrong place. Can you recommend any online resellers, or is it best to buy locally, in your opinion? I live in Perth...
thanks again

gb

[Kym]

Use Static ICE http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=pentax+k-7&spos=3
I use Camera Store - they are Diamonds/Photographic Wholesales online shop.
They are a proper Pextax dealer (not grey market)

[Kym]

BTW: What 35mm gear do you use?

[bosco555]

I have an ol canon AE1 with 50 and 135mm, and a chinon CP7 with a 35-70mm...Don't use them that much anymore...

[Kym]

Pentax lenses work from 40+ years ago.
My 50mm f/1.7 comes from around 1977.
See http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=30767

That also means you can buy useful lenses 2nd hand !

[bosco555]

Indeed and with the Pentax there is quite a diverse range that one could use, as per the above link...
Bought my Canon in 1978..took it with me to the Algerian desert, all over Africa, and used it here in Oz for a bit...now there is fungus growing in the lenses...The Chinon is still good though..but digital is the way...now I have to convince the better 1/2....
As I was mentioning before...do we have to worry about old stock on the K7?

[knumbnutz]

Welcome to the Pentax side of things !
I have never heard of the new vs old K-7 and wouldnt in the least worry about it. There is always turnover and a lot of friends have K7s without issues.
I too used to have an AE-1 program, not bad but digital is the way to go, yes but good or bad you will definitely spend more time in front of a computer.
One thing Pentax has and i believe over the others, is their devotion to primes, pancakes and limited lenses. They are all up there with the best.
As for shops, the worlds your oyster, the internet brings everyone closer.
Cheers Neil

[tim71]

I bought a K-7 twin lens WR kit in January from Digital Camera Wharehouse http://www.digitalcamerawharehouse.com.au/ and have been vert happy with it. It builds upon my 10 m42 screw mount takumars.

cheers,

Tim