Dissatisfied with K-x

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

I am thinking of switching my recently bought K-x for something else. The M42 lens market has gone horribly wrong lately, eBay lenses are going down in quality and up in price. I also can't find a whole set of reasonably affordable lenses that are good enough for me, Zeiss Jenas are turning overpriced for what they are and Pentax lenses are too saturated, I feel like I'm looking at a cartoon.

The green button and anti shake reduction are great, as is the high-ISO performance but I just don't get on with this camera like I did with the EOS 1000D and this is showing in my photos. It's partly the ergonomics, the stupidly positioned shutter dial and the way my little finger doesn't fit on the body because it's too short. There are little things too like the way the mode selector dial goes on indefinitely so it can't be operated by feel, I liked knowing that manual was one setting away from the end and could do it with the camera to my face if the setting had been knocked off. Another annoyance is that the

I intend to use mainly Nikon lenses, in the future should budget permit then Contax/Leica lenses. The camera I am looking at most is the EOS 500D. I can get a grey market one (Rebel T1i) for £340. As it uses the same battery and charger as the 1000D, the US plug would not be a problem. The only potential problem would be a warranty, within a year the foam above the mirror had warped and kept intruding into my photos on the 1000D and I am worried about similar issues on the 500D but it looks at least a bit better built.

Has anyone used both the 500D and the 1000D here? I would like to know if both cameras have a similar feel, they seem to have pretty similar control layouts. Has anyone with the 500D/T1i noticed any common problems that develop over time with it? Any other Canon recommendations in the <£500 bracket, new or lightly used? It's going to be used pretty heavily, I took about 20,000 shots in my first year of DSLRing.

blende8 · Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 260 Location: Bremen, Germany

ludoo · Expire: 2011-12-05

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

It's not just on this camera. Shooting RAW on both the K-x and 1000D I've noticed that Pentax lenses give very highly saturated colours, too strong for my liking, with the English climate it can lead to an unrealistic look especially combined with the better colour definition of the K-x. Nikon lenses are different in this respect and give a more gritty, realistic look with more restrained colours. Zeiss Jena I find to be between the two. The original M42 Tak 135 is the only Pentax I've found to not look cartoonish.

This is from observations with the Super Tak 3.5/35, both 1.4/50s, 1.8/55, 2.5/135 and Nikon 2.8/24 AI, 2/35 AIS and 1.4/50 NAI. For Zeiss Jena I have had the Tessar 2.8/50, Pancolar 1.8/50 (x2) and the Sonnar 3.5/135.

The more practical issues I've mentioned are the ones which really make me dissatisfied with the camera though.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Just reduce them a bit if you shoot Raw. I hear it's the reds that go crazy.

I must admit, I like vibrant pics.

scsambrook · Expire: 2011-11-18

Interesting to hear what you say about over-saturated colours - it's not something I've ever noticed. The humble little 18-55 that came with my K100D seems quite "ordinary", even when shooting jpegs, and my 50mm SMC-A lens doesn't seem much different different from an old Leitz 135 Hektor lens head which I use on a bellows. And - although I'm not sure if this is valid for digital cameras, my experience of older Nikon lenses like the 105/2/5 and 135/3.5 was that they were relatively "warm" when used on slide film.

I guess we all see colours differently. I often wonder if the colour I see as fire-engine red is the same as someone else's canary yellow Smile

But I can see your point about the silly prices some M42 lenses are selling for. Trouble is, the costs of all "adaptable" lenses are climbing now and the bargains in quality optics are seemingly a thing of the past.

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

Odd that you say that scsambrook as I've found Nikkors to be cool. Adaptable lenses seem to be going up massively, many have doubled in the past year. This doesn't seem to be happening with Nikkors though, possibly as they've always been able to be used on Nikon DSLRs so prices are more stable. There are still many good bargains to be had with Nikon, I got a cosmetically rough 2/35 and a 2.8/24, both for about £60 each which is a lot of performance for the money. A 1.4/50 was about £50 and there were a few to choose from at that price. The equivalent Super Tak is now just about double that and those wider than 35mm are crazy money.

I love the natural look they give, it's very detailed without looking too bitingly sharp. The colours too seem a little restrained, greens in particular are great, just look at this thread by NikonD:
http://forum.mflenses.com/some-of-all-nikkor-24-2-8-and-nikkor-h-85-1-8-t34109.html . The build quality is on a par with Pentax, although the whole step aperture ring is wonderful. Simplicity and intuitivity is important to me, if I could I'd probably have a Leica.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

you just changed camera model. Different ergonomics and different colors would need sometime to get used to.
The later even was also true for me after changing from a Pentax *istDs to the K-x.

Quite a few times people have commented on my pics on my flickr stream that they particularly like the colors, sometimes remarking that they have a 'pastel - like' quality, unlike more harsh, saturated look one sees more commonly. I have been asked if I did some special editing to achieve that, but all I can answer is that I am using Takumar lenses on the K-x ( *istDs )

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

Well, Canon will give you the most mount options for a DSLR with a mirror.

I'm looking at getting another small Canon next year, though I think I'll go with the 550D over the 500D, as the high ISO performance is much improved over the 500D and that matters to me.

I'll probably sell on my wildlife Sony a450 at that point, as although it is useful, I don't find the super steady shot particularly useful and just having M42 mount lenses available is restrictive. An 18MP Canon however... Cool

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

Kuaan, the point is that the ergonomics are spoiling it for me. I'm not going out and taking photos for the sheer sake of it. I also don't think I'm going to get the right lenses with this camera to get the same look I had before.

ManualFocus-G, I had previously written off the 550d due to budget and looking at tests it didn't seem the high ISO performance was any better than the 500d, I'll look at some more real-world examples as it's important to me. My Cyrus One amp and Sennheiser HD580s may have to be sacrificed in the name of photography.

magkelly · Joined: 06 Jul 2010 Posts: 182

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Having finally gotten my hands on a Pentax DSLR albeit an old and not so flashy model the K-x is looking more and more like a dream camera to me. I like the smaller size of Pentax cameras actually. The fact that a Spottie fit my small hands was one of the reasons I fell so hard for a Pentax SLR the first time I ever held one, but I can see how that compactness could potentially drive you crazy if you're a person with larger hands.

Canon makes some really great cameras and I have no quarrel with the mechanics of my black AE-1 but I don't end up using it at all because it's just too darned big for me.

I say go with whatever fits you best and works for you otherwise. If a Canon or Nikon is more ergo friendly for you, then that's where you need to be. Me, I'd practically kill for a K-x, but that's not to say my idea of a dream camera is anyone else's.

eeyore_nl · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 837 Location: Netherlands

Yes, the coating on old Takumar lenses gives more color saturation than especially on the modern Canon consumer lenses. I like that. Personally I love the Takumar colors.

It's only a pity that the 35/3.5 will not work on the Canon 5D due to mirror clearance problems Sad

Takumar 200/4 on a Canon 30D

Ivo · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 109 Location: Maastricht

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

yinyangbt · Expire: 2012-12-27

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

Having looked at some 550d samples, I've been convinced.
The K-x is up on the marketplace, mint aside from some scratches on the lens mount.

dnas · Joined: 14 Nov 2008 Posts: 488 Location: Japan

Transit · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 52 Location: Wanganui

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

I'm not sure what this means: discount house Tiger Direct is now selling pink Kx for US$480

nemesis101 · Expire: 2015-01-22

Really?

I thought that my Panny L1 (which also gives focus confirm without a special chipped adapter) was more flexible as it can also take Minolta lenses?

Doug

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Since when can you not mount K-mount lenses on EOS?

William · Joined: 26 Nov 2009 Posts: 489 Location: London

You can. I have before. I am trying a Pentax-M 50 1.7 on the K-x but there's the annoyance of stop down metering meaning that I have to hold down the green button when composing and metering.

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

ManualFocus-G · Expire: 2014-11-24