Having been locked down since 16th March and made some savings, I surprised myself by considering upgrading my camera and main lens. After much research and careful thought I decided to invest in the Pentax K70 body, the updated version of the K7 that I purchased 10 years ago. This matched my budget, and a number of independent reviews confirmed that it was still the best value in its price range, with more functionality than the equivalent Canons and Nikons at about twice the price! It supported the lenses I have, and would be easier to learn rather than starting with a completely new format. with this I bought a new HD Pentax-DA 16-85mm wide angle as my main lens - my first Pentax lens ever! I’m delighted with the results already (see images below).
In addition, some months ago, a close friend gave me a Carl Zeiss Jena Zoom 28-135mm Macro lens. It took some time to find and source the correct adaptor, and after a couple of false starts, it is now fully functional. Although it’s a manual lens, a few early shots already show its high quality. I have yet to test it properly, but it will be a useful addition to my kit bag, and will be featured in a future blog.
Here are some early shots showing the significantly improved clarity, dynamic range and overall quality of the images taken. These are samples only so I haven’t critiqued them compositionally or technically: however as ever, any comments are always welcome!
