Tag Archives: K5

I Suppose this VOIDS the Warranty …

May 6, 2020 ronaldscheckelhoff Leave a comment

Figure 1: My Pentax K5 probably isn’t under warranty now.

So … I guess my K5 has long been out of warranty anyway. About a year ago the mirror-box went out of calibration. Anyway – I think that’s what happened, and I thought about sending it in for a re-cal. Subsequently the LED/Live-View screen went belly up, and finally the main board. The cost trade-offs seemed to imply that fixing the K5 was no longer an option, so I decided I may as well take it apart and see what makes it tick. After a dozen or so tiny little screw removals …

K5 Quandry

September 6, 2019 ronaldscheckelhoff Leave a comment

Figure 1: Should I go mirrorless?

When I first used my K5, I was enthralled. It was easily the most solid feeling camera I’ve ever owned. Most cameras give me the feeling that I have glass in my hand (smile) – and that I have to be careful. The K5 made me feel like I had a hatchet in my hand and that tossing it into a spiraling arc that ended on a cleaved tree trunk would do it absolutely no harm.

Comparing a Pentax K5 to a Sigma SD14

January 20, 2019 ronaldscheckelhoff Leave a comment

Figure 1: Antique maritime binoculars shot by the SD14 (by Sigma).

So, it seems that camera comparisons are never really apples and apples, but instead apples and oranges or pineapples. Why compare a camera that is circa ~2007 (the Sigma SD 14) with a much newer camera such as the K5 from 2013?

USING OLD FILM LENSES WITH THE K5

October 5, 2018 ronaldscheckelhoff Leave a comment

Figure 1: Three old film camera lenses – a Tokina is mounted.

Who shoots green mode anyway? Sure, using old film lenses limits the number of modes you can use on the K5. For the lenses shown, only Av (Aperture priority) and M (Manual) modes are available. But Av is about as automatic as I want in most cases. I like to have the diaphragm and the ISO completely under my control.

Photography On the Cheap

September 23, 2018 ronaldscheckelhoff Leave a comment

Figure 1: The K5 is shown with a Tokina lens from the 1980s.

I started shooting with a bridge camera about two years ago (the FujiFilm s8600). This was an attempt to bootstrap a photography interest of mine that had started in the early eighties (with an Olympus OM-1) – but which never managed to progress past the level of a novice, and hasn’t to this day. There was always something more important to do, other than to teach myself to use a camera. Now retired, I am devoting a lot of time to the task of catching up with the post millennium photography world.