Hi there,

 

I'm Mick and I'm an Amateur Photographer from Hull, East Yorkshire, UK.

  

I'M A PENTAXIAN. A LOYALIST. A DIEHARD. I ONCE CARRIED A K1000 AROUND WITH ME EVERYWHERE, ONLY RELUCTANTLY SETTING IT DOWN TO TAKE THE OCCASIONAL SHOWER. I TELL MY KIDS BEDTIME STORIES ABOUT THOSE HEADY DAYS WHEN THE CAMERA KNOWN SIMPLY AS THE PENTAX WAS THE BEST-SELLING SLR MADE. I DON'T SPEND COUNTLESS HOURS PIXEL PEEPING. I JUST TAKE PICTURES. AND WHILE I MAY BE TEMPTED, ON OCCASION, TO TURN TO A STRANGER ON AN ELEVATOR AND SAY, THE BEST AUTO-FOCUS SLR LENS EVER MADE IS THE PENTAX 31MM F/1.8, I'D REALLY RATHER BE USING MY EQUIPMENT THAN TALKING ABOUT IT. PENTAX UNDERSTANDS THAT CAMERAS DON'T TAKE PICTURES, PHOTOGRAPHERS DO. THEIR NEW DIGITAL SLR'S ARE THE RESULT OF LISTENING TO PENTAXIANS AND DELIVERING TOOLS FOR TRUE PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS. THESE CAMERAS ARE ALREADY CREATING MANY MORE LOYALISTS. SO THE QUESTION IS: CAN THESE NEWCOMERS COUNT THEMSELVES AMONG THE DIEHARDS? HEY, WE'RE PENTAXIANS, NOT PHOTOGRAPHY SNOBS. WELCOME TO OUR CLUB.

  

Other than being a primarily a Pentax shooter, I don't have a preference in my photography and I love to shoot both Digital and Film in 135 and 6x6 MF formats with SLR's, Rangefinders and TLRs. I'm very much an old-school photographer and still think a lot about shutter speeds/f-stops, hyperfocal focussing and use the sunny/16 rule often. Real camera's should have aperture rings !

 

Digital cams are nice to use and provide a great introduction into photography allowing one to learn very quickly, but I still like the feel of a camera that includes some Glass, Brass and Chrome!

  

My current collection of gear consists mainly of Ricoh and Pentax branded equipment with K and M42 lens mounts. I have also recently gotten into FSU Rangefinder cameras and 6x6 Medium Format TLRs that I am currently finding to be fascinating. The only downside to film is the cost and it's particularly expensive on the Medium Format side of things.

 

My current user camera bodies are:

 

(Digital) Samsung GX-10 w/ Grip

(Digital) Samsung GX-1L

(Digital) Pentax K-30

(135 SLR) Pentax MZ-S w/ Grip

(135 SLR) Pentax Z-1

(135 RF) Zorki-4K

(MF 6x6) Yashicamat 124-G

  

Although my collection also includes:

 

Pentax Spotmatic SP1000

Pentax K1000

Pentax P30

Pentax *ist

Pentaz Z-1

Pentax MZ-S w/ Grip

 

Praktica MTL3

Fujica ST605n

Ricoh KR-10

Ricoh KR-10M

Ricoh XR-500

Ricoh XR-20sp

Ricoh XR-P

Zenit EM

 

x1 FED-3a (1963) w/ Industar 26n 50/2.8

z1 Zorki-4K (1976) w/ Jupiter 8 50/2.8 (recovered)

x2 FSU FED-2 w/ Industar 61 52/2.8

 

YashicaMat-124G 6x6 TLR

  

Personally I like to have a mixture of Zoom lenses and prime lenses covering 16mm through 500mm. The wide angles are for architectural images and the telephotos are for wildlife and shipping images. I guess though, that in looking through my current selection of lenses I've become something of a collector.

 

PRIME LENSES

16mm / 2.8 Zenitar MC

20mm /3.8 Cosina

24mm /2.8 Sigma Super-wide II

28mm /2.8 Pentax SMC-M

28mm/2.5 Vivitar Adaptall-2

35mm/2.8 Pentax SMC-M

35mm/2.8 Soligor (T-mount)

40mm /2.8 Pentax SMC-M (Pancake)

40mm/2.8 Pentax DA (AF Pancake)

50mm /1.4 Pentax SMC-M

50mm /1.4 Pentax SMC-A

50mm /1.7 Chinon

50mm/1.8 Pentacon

50mm /2.0 Pentax SMC-M

50mm/2.0 Pentax Super-Takumar

50mm/2.8 Chinon AutoFlex

50mm/2.8 Meyer-Optik Goerlitz 'Oreston'

50mm/4.0 Pentax K Macro

55mm/2.2 Fujinon

58mm/2.0 Helios-44M

85mm/2.0 Pentax SMC-M

100mm /2.8 Pentax SMC-M

135mm/ 2.8 Pentax SMC-M

135mm/ 2.8 Soligor

135mm/ 2.8 Meyer-Optik Goerlitz "Orestor"

200mm/ 4.0 Meyer-Optik Goerlitz "Orestegor"

200mm/ 4.0 Pentax SMC-M

300mm/ 5.6 Paragon (M42 Preset)

300mm/ 5.6 Chinon 'Cat'

500mm/ 8.0 Optomax (M42 Preset)

500mm/ 8.0 Vivitar Solid 'Cat' - Adaptall 2

 

MF ZOOMS

28-70mm/ 3.5~4.5 Centon MC

70-20mm/ 4.0~5.6 Centon MC

35-70mm/ 3.5~4.5 Pentax SMC-M

80-200mm/ Pentax SMC-M

80-200mm/ 4.5 Vivitar

28-200mm/ 3.5~5.3 Vivitar (Komine made)

28-210mm/ 3.5~5.4 Vivitar (Cosina made)

35-70mm/ 3.4~4.5 Rikenon

 

AF ZOOMS

10-20 mm / 4.0~5.6 Sigma

18-55 mm Schneider-Kreuznach

50-200mm Schneider-Kreuznach

35-80mm Pentax FA-J

28-105mm Pentax FA (Powerzoom)

50-500mm / 4.0~6.3 Sigma APO RF "aka BIGMA"

19-35mm / 3.5~4.5 Tokina Hoya

 

RANGEFINDER LENSES L39

Industar-61 50/2.8

Industar-22 50/2.8

Jupiter-8 50/2.0

Jupiter-11 135/4.0

Jupiter-12 35/2.8

KMZ Universal Turret Finder (35/50/85/135mm)

  

I find the zooms particularly useful when taking shots of the local shipping on the River Humber where I usually need the maximum range possible to fill the viewfinder. Although I am definitely of the opinion that the Primes are overall better than the zooms they just seem a touch sharper to me and they are obviously much faster.

 

My first love in photography is in shooting the local shipping on the River Humber. I also love shooting everyday scenes in the town that I live in and even in such a short time as a photographer I have seen many many changes in where I live, this is one of the things that keeps me going with photography.