Upgrade from Pentax K100D to?

[greengiant]

Hi all, a long time lurker, delurking for a bit

At the moment I shoot a Pentax K100D dslr I bought this way back in 2006!. My main interest in photography is panoramics / landscapes.
I have the following lenses:

Sigma 10-20m F4-5.6
Zenitar 16mm F2.8 fisheye
Tamron 70-300 F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2
Pentax 18-55mm kit lens.

So not a massive investment in Pentax.

Recently, however I've been finding that I have been running into the limitations of the camera. Mainly poor autofocus, and very slow raw performance. The poor raw performance is particularly noticeable when I am shooting bracketed raw exposures when shooting images for a multi image HDR panorama.

So now I am considering my future options.

Do I stick with Pentax, and invest in a new body such as a Pentax - however none of my lenses have HSM focussing, they are all screw drive. To gain maximum performance from a new Pentax body, such as the K70 which supports HSM lenses, I'd want to eventually upgrade my lenses.

What I am actually seriously considering though, is migrating over to Canon / Nikon.

There certainly is a wide market from reputable companies selling used gear, which I reckon would give me a decent camera body for not a lot of cash. I'd certainly be able to afford a higher spec of camera body this way, than buying new! The same with lenses.

Seeing as I have a "Big Birthday" coming up, now would be a good excuse to "treat" myself

Thoughts please?

Regards,

Brian.

 

[D.P.]

IMO, Pentax is dead and now would be a good opportunity to move to Canon or Nikon.

 

[greengiant]

Thanks for the reply, D.P. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed using my Pentax K100D, I just feel that I have outgrown it. Seeing as I don't have a massive investment in Pentax glass, then perhaps a move to either Canon or Nikon would be a better idea for the long term.
Looking at reputable online second hand dealers, there is a lot of used lenses at very reasonable prices which would be ideal for my needs in Canon or Nikon mounts, e.g. Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM or the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX HSM.

Seeing as I've been out of the loop for a few years, if I were wanting to spend, say at the most £400 on a DSLR body, either new or used, what should I go for? At the moment I'm leaning towards Canon, as I like the feel of my Canon SX40HS Bridge Camera.

Regards,

Brian,.

 

[hux]

Personally I'd wait, there's some Pentax news in a few days coming that required an nda, so it'll be good might be a new camera coming.

At least have a look at the K3, brilliant camera love mine to bits, great in low light holds it's own against full frame cameras.

Least have a play, and no Pentax isn't dead far from it, Nikon posted worse quarterly profits than Pentax and I don't see anyone saying they're dead.

 

[D.P.]

Pentax does a lot more than just Camera, their camera division is dead for all intents and purposes. They will keep rolling out the odd camera update or lens, years after the rest of the competition have. How long did it take Pentax to release a full frame camera?

Sure you could buy a decent Pentax camera and lens setup, the question is hwy? The OP ill have to start form scratch since his lenses are so old. Buying in to the Pentax system inevitably just limits the choices of cameras, limits upgrade options, reduces lens selection and regular updates, gives access to a far smaller second hand market and limits availability of 3rd party lenses.


The cameras and lenses themselves are great, often every bit as good as Canon or Nikon (although their AF is pretty dated normally). But there just isn't really a compelling reason when the competition is so strong. It is not like you get a massively better camera for a fraction of the costs, they are all priced pretty similarly.


And I certainly wound;t wait for any Pentax announcements. We know form experience how long it can take Pentax to say a new camera is coming to when it is actually available to buy.

 

[Schizo]

I would go for canon as well,having used don't,Nikon I'm very happy with canon,there lens line up are very good and plenty on the market for a good 2nd hand deal.

 

[Holst1981]

Depending on what your photographing you may not even want dslr.

Well worth a trip to a proper camera shop to get a feel for different cameras.

You will struggle to buy a "bad" modern camera. Different cameras suite different people and budgets.

Best value is likely to be second hand nikon or Canon.

 

[greengiant]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
My main interest is landscape photography / nature photography, so I'm looking for a system which has decent wide angle lenses (e.g. 10-20mm), plus decent macro lenses. There certainly is a good market for used Canon & Nikon gear compared to Pentax.

As I mentioned above, all my current lenses are ye olde worlde screw drive, which I'm finding are increasingly hard to focus accurately with. That could mainly be down to the age of my Pentax K100D. So rather than buy a new Pentax body which is compatible with pentax SDM focussing, as well as replacing all my lenses with SDM ones, I may actually be easier to start from scratch.

I have had a fondle of Canon & Nikon DSLR bodies in a local highstreet chain of electrical stores, with the Canon feeling nicer in my hands than Nikon.

Tomorrow I'm planning on a trip out to a major camera retailer, which may have some second had gear in stock. I do think I'd get a better camera for my money by buying a used Canon body.

 

[greengiant]

Just a quick follow up. Visited my local camera shop today, and came home with a Canon 750D with EF-s 18-55 IS STM kit lens, plus the Canon EFs 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 IS STM! Looking forward to comparing photos taken using the Canon 10-18mm on the 750D, compared to shots taken using the Pentax K100D with Sigma 10-20 F4-5.6.

I'm already eyeing up more glass for the camera already, such as a 50mm f/1.8, and a 105 f/2.8 macro.

But I'll need to wait on some pennies coming in again though! So I'll probably opt for looking for these lenses used.

 

[Schizo]

I have just got that camera with the 2 kit lens,the 18-55 and 50mm,I have since purchased the 100mm macro (amazing lens for portraits) sigma 70-200 2.8 (my favorite lens) 24-105 l lens f4 ( great street lens),sigma 24-70 2.8(another great lens for walking about and lots of other stuff) tokina 11-16 pro 2.8 mk2 lens,super wide for those landscapes

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks everyone for the replies.
My main interest is landscape photography / nature photography, so I'm looking for a system which has decent wide angle lenses (e.g. 10-20mm), plus decent macro lenses. There certainly is a good market for used Canon & Nikon gear compared to Pentax.

Did you just get a camera for that kind of photography,and not get one with a Pentaprism?? That is the one thing people have forgotten to tell you that the lower end Canon and Nikon dSLRs don't have. All the newer Pentax dSLRs have it and that is their niche and they are all weather sealed. I have handled most of the newer models from both companies(tend to visit some of the shows),and I would not touch a pentamirror with a bargepole,as pentaprisms are just brighter and tend to be larger,ie,not looking down a tunnel. For Canon you need to get at least a £900+ 80D to get those features.

If anything,the Nikon D7100 and D7200 have those features too,and they are cheaper than the 80D,and you can get them secondhand from reputable dealers for less. Plus the 10-20MM AFP also has VR built in too,which makes it quite unique for that class of lens.

 

[EddScott]

I recently bought a K70 as I had Pentax fit lenses anyway and rather than start again after my K50 started to play up I decided to stick with what I felt comfortable with.

Maybe should have gone with a different brand but I never had any complaints or felt the K50 was lacking what I needed so the K70 is just the same with a few extras like moveable screen and WiFi.

 

[greengiant]

Did you just get a camera for that kind of photography,and not get one with a Pentaprism?? That is the one thing people have forgotten to tell you that the lower end Canon and Nikon dSLRs don't have. All the newer Pentax dSLRs have it and that is their niche and they are all weather sealed. I have handled most of the newer models from both companies(tend to visit some of the shows),and I would not touch a pentamirror with a bargepole,as pentaprisms are just brighter and tend to be larger,ie,not looking down a tunnel. For Canon you need to get at least a £900+ 80D to get those features.

If anything,the Nikon D7100 and D7200 have those features too,and they are cheaper than the 80D,and you can get them secondhand from reputable dealers for less. Plus the 10-20MM AFP also has VR built in too,which makes it quite unique for that class of lens.

For me, photography is just a hobby, so the difference between pentaprism / pentamirror isn't really much of a concern for me. I'm certainly finding the Canon 750D a significant step up from my Pentax K100D. Live view on the rotating screen ideal for macro photography of beasts and bugs! Plus there is a better choice in used lenses for Canon / Nikon I have tried holding a Nikon D5300 in the purple shirt store, and I actually preferred the feel of Canon DSLRs.

I recently bought a K70 as I had Pentax fit lenses anyway and rather than start again after my K50 started to play up I decided to stick with what I felt comfortable with.

Maybe should have gone with a different brand but I never had any complaints or felt the K50 was lacking what I needed so the K70 is just the same with a few extras like moveable screen and WiFi.

All my Pentax lenses were screw drive focussing, so I would have had to replace them all eventually to make them compatible with aPentax body with SDM focussing. Hence my reason to jump ship to Canon

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For me, photography is just a hobby, so the difference between pentaprism / pentamirror isn't really much of a concern for me. I'm certainly finding the Canon 750D a significant step up from my Pentax K100D. Live view on the rotating screen ideal for macro photography of beasts and bugs! Plus there is a better choice in used lenses for Canon / Nikon I have tried holding a Nikon D5300 in the purple shirt store, and I actually preferred the feel of Canon DSLRs.

The problem is there is probably a large secondhand market for cameras like the D7100/D7200 too,and it really does make a difference though as LCDs are not useable in all light conditions. Places like MPB Photographic and WEX have plenty of stock which has a warranty.

I also do photography as a hobby and once I moved to dSLRs with pentaprisms and cameras with decent electronic displays,I couldn't go back to a pentamirror. They are dark and titchy by comparison. The thing is there a large secondhand market for Nikon lenses too and lenses like the 18-105MM are plentiful secondhand and quite cheap. Even the 10-20mm AFP has VR built-in too. I am also very weary of that store too - historically they have tended to get sponsorship from certain companies and then devote more display space to certain companies.

Even on the Canon side you could have probably got a better deal on a slightly older higher end camera body too methinks.

 

[greengiant]

First of all, I didn't buy the camera from the purple shirt store, you'll be pleased to now CAT-THE-FIFTH, but my local WEX Store.

And I prefered to by a new body with 2 year warranty rather than a used one. As I said, I tried holding a Nikon D5300, and it felt uncomfortable in my hands compared to the 750D. No point buying a camera you don't feel comfortable holding!

 

[hux]

I recently bought a K70 as I had Pentax fit lenses anyway and rather than start again after my K50 started to play up I decided to stick with what I felt comfortable with.

Maybe should have gone with a different brand but I never had any complaints or felt the K50 was lacking what I needed so the K70 is just the same with a few extras like moveable screen and WiFi.

Good choice, the K70 is meant to be pretty sweet.
That announcement btw is two new lenses, 11mm-18mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4mm, both Da* lenses and new optical construction, should be pretty sweet.