ArcticCorsair - Pentax Shooter's photostream

Hi there,

I'm Mick and I'm a 34yrd old 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 an 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
(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:

Nikon Coolpix E8700 (8.0 MP)
Minolta DiMage 7 (5.0 MP)
Nokia N95 Camera-phone (5.0 MP)
Sony-Ericsson K800i camera-phone (3.2 MP)
Olympus C830 (1.3 MP)

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 Ernst Leitz Leica III (1939) w/ Summar 50/2.0
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
.... and Weston Master IV light meter
.... another Weston Master II light meter

YashicaMat-124G 6x6 TLR
Lomo Lubitel-166B 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
35-300mm / 4.5~6.7 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
Ernst Leitz 'Summar' 5cm/2.0
KMZ Universal Turret Finder (35/50/85/135mm)


Being essentially a cheapskate bastard I don't like to pay full price for film so I almost always use the out-of-date stuff. Film doesn't just go off like milk so why pay the earth for in-date stuff when the out-of-date is just as good (for most things). Currently I am using the following film stock:

120 Shanghai GP3 100 (ok for home processing but pro labs don'r seem to know what to do with it?)
120 Kodak T-Max
120 Fuji Reala 100
120 Fuji Velvia 100
135 Fuji Superia 100
135 Fuji Superia 400
135 Fuji NPC160 Portrait Film
135 Ilford FP4 125
135 Ilford XP2 Super 400
135 Fuji Neopan 400CN
135 Kodak BW400CN

I currently have around 300 rolls of film in 120/135 format :)



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.


I've recently succumbed to buying into the Olympus OM-system. I got from eBay an old OM-10 and T20 flash. I've added in the manual adapter, 28mm lens, 75-150mm and am looking forward to getting out with this little camera. I will primarily be carrying it around with me as a spare camera on those occasions when I'm not out specifically to shoot film such as when an impromptu opportunity arises at work.