Reprise of Pentax

You know when there’s something you always come back to? Something reliable, familiar, almost comforting? You may own technically better, more superior things but you still crave the old stuff? That’s me and Pentax. I have acquired a very cheap Pentax K5II S. It’s in great shape and it’s been on my wish list for a couple of years. It’s the highest rated Pentax DSLR on Pentax forums, out doing the K3III and full frame K1 II. It was released in 2012 and has a 16mp sensor without the anti aliasing filter (unlike its brother the K5 II).

They don’t come up for sale very often, partly I suspect because true Pentaxians who own one, don’t sell them on. They have that great Pentax image quality but it’s sharper, capable of resolving more detail. I have few autofocus and manual Pentax lenses which all seem to work well on it.

It won’t replace my Nikon gear but it’s a gem for landscape photography. We travelled over to Marsden View, a ridge of rocky outcrops overlooking Marsden Moor on the recent bank holiday Monday. I had my Nikon Z7II and a couple of lenses. I took lots of photos looking out over the rocks over this epic landscape. I returned a few days later with my Pentax and took a few more as a comparison but also as it was quieter and the weather slightly more moody. I’ve studied the raw files from both cameras and you can’t tell them apart! Strange that one is a full frame 45 mp full frame camera and the other an APSC 16mp. You would have thought the Nikon would out perform the Pentax but I can’t tell the difference tbh.

It’s hard to describe why it’s such a joy to shoot with an old DSLR but it feels more intuitive somehow. Simpler, less options and somehow more relaxing. The rear lcd screen isn’t the highest quality so you can’t really appreciate the quality the camera captures until you download the images. The peace of mind of having a battery that will last all day and take twice if not three times the number of shots as my Nikon cameras, is a big plus. Pentax lenses are generally excellent, the cameras and some lenses weather resistant but the real pleasure is that all historic K Mount lenses are backwards compatible and easy to capture focus.

It won’t be used for my professional assignments but several images will be turned into prints. It’s such a capable, lightweight professional cropped sensor camera, it is hard to resist its charms. You can trust it to capture what you see the moment before you press the shutter. It delivers the expectation all photographers have in that split second before. As I’ve said before, I’m not a landscape photographer exclusively but I do love shooting landscapes. We are very lucky to live in such a dramatic part of England and within easy reach of both coasts. It’s an easy choice to take a Nikon and a Pentax but I suspect my K5II S will be with me more often than my Nikon. I love using the Nikon but it’s heavier, the lenses are bigger and it feels as if I shoot with a bit more trepidation than with the Pentax. I don’t expect as much from the Pentax and yet it delivers every time. Creating art requires a certain amount of freedom and less expectations. I can take the Pentax and two or three lenses, they will resist pretty much anything the weather throws at me and do what I want them to do.

Pentax might be considered a forgotten camera brand. They’re not in the top five, barely in the top ten of camera sales but they do make exceptional equipment. The older models are increasingly hard to come across and when you find one, you need to get one while you can. I don’t think I’d opt for the full frame K1 II although I hear it’s a stellar performer. It’s very heavy, the lenses are bigger and when the cropped sensor bodies can deliver, why add more weight and pressure to produce exceptional images just because it’s full frame? Summer is slowly fading and autumn approaches. My favourite season especially photographically, I suspect my new/old Pentax will see a lot of action over the next three months. It has certainly reignited a desire to go out and shoot which seemed to be somewhat missing over this summer. I’m not built for hot endless summers, I’m more at home in colder, moody seasons, trying to capture natures drama, when it sheds its summer clothes and prepares for the coming winter.