Saturday, March 18, 2006

Say hello to my little friend

 
 
"Self-portrait", Pentax *ist DL, 2006

(And now for the subtext. This is the cheapest (non-eBay), the smallest, and nearly the lightest DSLR on the market. That's the good. The better is, it feels right -- as compared to the Canon Rebel XT (both the name and the construction somehow feel substandard) and the Nikon D50 (the handgrip didn't fit my hand as well and the viewfinder is smaller). My old screwmount lens works fine on it with an adapter. It takes AA batteries as well as NiMH and CR-V3's. Image quality is acceptable. The new lens, a 50/1.4 SMCP-FA scaled by the crop factor to a portraitish 75mm, is very nice. All in all, it's clean, unobtrusive, down-to-earth and definitely not scary, unlike this or this.)

7 comments:

Rapid I Movement said...

The most important problem with SLRs is their general bulkiness. I doubt whether even with the smallest SLR in the market you can get around it.
I think now that more than anything else, being at the right spot at the right time is the most crucial thing in photography. I'm thinking of buying a cheap pocket point-and-shoot camera myself.
But congratulations on the new acquisition!

expiring_frog said...

Totally agree re bulkiness (though I find it difficult to hold a very small camera steady), and re being at the right place at the right time. I have some issues with p&s's, principally responsiveness (viewfinder, shutter lag...) and DOF. One other advantage of SLR's is for non-people photography, say landscapes and stuff, where the easier manual settings, lenses, accessories, image quality etc help (am not saying they're essential, though).

Kele Panchu said...

Happy shooting! :)
Heavier camera helps if you use a longer (and heavier) telephoto lens.

expiring_frog said...

@Panchu-da: Kintu amake oi pellae telephoto-ta ke kine dichchhe? :P Ei maal kinei to ekhonkar moto budget ujaar. Bhabchhi ebay-te shostae purono lens khnujbo ki na.

Kele Panchu said...

Try keh.com they have a huge inventory. Pentax er SLR lens ki D-slr e cholbe? Tahole onek lens i paabe.

Rapid I Movement said...

You can buy "shoshtai purono" lens - but not "shoshtar" lens. In fact, the most important thing is the lens - most camera bodies do what they're supposed to do. It's the lens which make the difference - especially distortion around the edges.
Shooting in RAW and using Photoshop heavily seems to be quite prevalant.

expiring_frog said...

@Panchu-da: Yes I know of KEH. And yes film SLR-er lens DSLR-e cholbe (not necessarily the other way round). My current lens works on both D and non-D SLR's. Problem with manual telephotos on the DSLR -- focussing isn't that easy without a split-image screen (not available for this body afaik). Also good old long lenses are usually goddarned heavy (I used to lug one around). Also, and most importantly, ekhon tnyak khali :). Dekhi ki kora jaaye.

@r-i-m: Yes I know that (though that equation has changed slightly now that the body incorporates the sensor which plays a part in image quality). And that's precisely why I bought the cheapest body, without the kit zoom, and with a fast Planar prime. Incidentally, I can live with some distortion, but not without sharpness.