New ways to play with K

The K-5 has arrived and is doing just fine, as expected. Now about my lenses..

I had tried to deal an 18-250 but it was rejectDolby B&H, and now i see why. When I last used it focus was fine except at the long end where I presumed f/6.3 had too little light. Now I cannot get it to focus anywhere in the range! Very disappointing. The 28-90 and 100-300 work fine but I have neither wide-angle nor weather-sealed options.

The WR issue was fixed tonight with a DAL/WR 50-200mm lens. Nice, but it limits the 100-300's utility a bit! In the past I've found the DAL copies of the 50-200 gave better results than the da versions - which makes no sense at all, though I hope it's still true!

So this leaves me with a major hole below 28mm. I am bidding on an 18-50re but kept the bid low so we shall see. I may want to lose, to try a new option that caught me by surprise.

I had a few familiar choices: 18.55 or 18.135, 10.17 fisheye, 16.45 or a local copy of the F17.28 fisheye. All these options are familiar ones but no used deals are exceptional so all options will cost over $100 right now. And then I saw a "pristine" Tamron 10.24 online for $150. That's a really low price for an ultrawide and opens up more possibilities than the usual suspects.

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Update: sure enough the 18-50 went for a dollar over my bid, and the 10-24 option was pulled. Plan B-minus is to find a mount for my white 18-55WR, preferably a WR mount but anything will do on a budget! depending on my need I could have either the 18-55 or 55-200 have the sealed mount.. but better both than the wrong one at the wrong time.

not again yes again.. not

Recall the short time since my K-5 departed and I embraced the µ43 for the third time, more or less. If you'd rather not click I will stipulate that it was mid-December, six short months ago

Also recall that I am not sane, and occasionally stressed financially.

All set?

No surprise to you then to learn that a K-5 is on the way here, and the gx7 is gone. Yes 'tis true.
Someone had a Want to Buy offer when I had a dollar crunch, and gx7 plus 20mm have departed.

I returned to µ43 for several good reasons, and one important factor was low prices. I could pick up an Oly PEN with 16Mpix sensor for under $250. This time the low prices swung to Pentax: I let the two items go, picked up the K-5 and put $250 in the bank! My 'new' K-5 has over 50k clicks on the shutter, but that's either quarter or half of the rated lifespan - and per the first paragragh I'll likely let it go for some good reason before I've put 5k more on it. Sad.. but true.

This leaves me* with a K-5 and several lenses that failed to leave with the previous camera (including a da18-250), plus the GM1 and a few decent Lumix zooms - and some of that Lumix gear is changing again soon.

..something like this?

I've decided that for me smaller µ43 is better, so the gx7 plus 12-60 are not ideal. I offered the 12-60 in trade for a gm1 or a baby kit lens, and an offer came back for a gx1 and 12-32mm pancake zoom. Not sure yet about the body, but kit lenses come no smaller than that 12-32! I've now read up on several "GM1 or GX1?" threads, and many prefer the GX1 ergonomically despite the newer sensor and a few added GM1 tricks. Plus a viewfinder can be added to the GX1. Perhaps that deal is worth a test drive in any case!
Deal agreed to, GX1 and 12-32 for the 12-60. O what fun!

*Kit update, FWiW:

K-5 + 17-28FE,, 28-80 1:2 and 100-300 Σ, 70-150 Rikenon - 25-450mme

GM1, GX1 + 14/2.5, 14-42ii, 45-150, 30mm Σ, -- 28-300mme

Staying in touch

Our cell phones have been almost useless this past year. Our home is quite remote, so it's no great surprise - yet the degraded signal is a problem.

We recently picked up a signal booster, a WeBoost 3G device for residential use. First tests were not great, but finally I rigged up a spot with a decent signal. Today I crawled under the house and rerouted a coaxial cable that once went to a satellite dish. I pulled it to the east side of the house where cell towers are most prevalent and mounted the antenna high on the side of our home. That worked for a bit but not consistently, so I moved it to the edge of our deck. Now our signal is pretty nearly at maximum!

So we went from a home where two indoor spots gave us occasional signals to excellent reception in several rooms and our deck as well. Much better!

Tempting items

I have been beset with opportunities to modify my camera kit. I dumped some gear when buying the 20mm pancake and a check is on its way.

But wait:how about some gear instead of cash?

•  I could have grabbed a 14/2.5 Lumix instead of cash, allowing the trio of 14-20-30 to fill in for the 12-60. Wait a moment, wasn't the 12-60 the main reason I now use µ43 gear at all?? Why am I avoiding it, especially when reviews praise it at the wide settings in particular? Strike one.
• My copy of the Pentax 18-250 was turned down and will be returned. Bummer since I have no body for it. Oh wait they have a used K-5 at a great price! Right, 2 systems again. Worse yet the µ43 kit. has a wx-sealed lens but not body and Pentax would be reversed. So get a cheap WR lens.. thereby refuting the 18-250 as an excuse for the body. Strike two.
• Something else perhaps, a cheaper K body or a Sigma 60 for the gx7? No thank you. Keep reminding myself that the check is paying for the 20mn I already have, not free cash to blow on more stuff.

So the blog was silent despite these temptations!
I just wanted the record to be clear.