The K-S1 and the 18-135 lens

flektogon wrote:

Historicity wrote:

Ptitboul wrote:

Historicity wrote:

(...^)

As to the K-S1 itself, having just one dial for aperture and shutter-speed adjustment is going to take some getting used to. Today, in fiddling with it I kept changing the switch on the left side of the camera from AF to MF and so missed perhaps a dozen shots. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid doing that before I miss shots more important than the ones I was taking today.

I have the same issue with my K-S1. This lever obviously prefers to be in MF position!

With a screwdrive lens, I can use the absence of AF noise as an indication, but the 18-135 is too silent.

I'm giving serious thought to taping it in the AF position. There is no point i leaving the MF option open if I'm not using MF lenses at the time.

Also, I wonder about the SK-2 in this regard. If I end up wishing the SK-1 it had a little more of this, I'd start looking at the SK-2, but I'd be comparing it with the K-70 -- if it came to that.

Lawrence

Well, my K-x (in addition to my K-S1) has the same AF/MF switch, so why do you think that the K-S2/K-70, or any other Pentax body would be different? While K-S1 is not the best Pentax body, it is the best "deal" Pentax body for sure. And the smallest. And the lightest. And the nicest...

Regards,

Peter

Peter,

Well, I don't know for sure, but in looking at the AF/MF switch of the KS-2 on Amazon it looks as though one moves it forward and back rather than up and down. If so that would probably eliminate the problem.

Now I knew in advance that the KS-2 was a lot better than the KS-1 but I was interested in finding out if the much lighter KS-1 would be an acceptable replacement for my Olympus EPN-2 as the camera to use when I wanted to go light. The fault of the EPN-2 in my opinion was that the controls, being mostly on the menu were too small and fiddly for me to want to use. The controls of the KS-1 are a step up from that but having the shutter speed and aperture on a single dial makes using it in the Manual mode a little awkward. Yes I managed on the last outing most of the time, but I'm asking myself do I really want to put tape on the AF/MF switch and get used to a one-dial control when my other cameras, the K5, K5ii and K3 have two dial controls. As it is, the K-S1 one dial control is awkward but if I use the K-S1 more regularly that might make the K3 etc awkward.

I just read this review of the K-S2: http://cameras.reviewed.com/content/pentax-k-s2-digital-camera-review The reviewer rated the KS-2 package as average because of the kit lens, but if you buy it as a body only and put a better lens on it, their rating goes up (something I wish Klaus of Photozone had done with the 18-135 -- that is, if you use the profile corrective then his rating could have gone up).  The reviewers wrote "If you're set on the K-S2, you can save $50 or so by opting to buy a body-only version and putting that toward a proper kit lens. While you'll end up spending more overall, the performance boost is absolutely worth it. If you can find a better lens to pair with the K-S2, it goes from being an average DSLR to one of the best budget options out there."

As to the comparison with its predecessor, the reviewers write, "this is the camera the Pentax K-S1 should have been. The K-S2 is much more tastefully restrained with its design choices, all while offering better connectivity in a more practical form. Not only is the K-S2 a big improvement, but this camera is the least expensive way to get dust- and weather-sealing in a brand-new DSLR—making this a great travel buddy if you're headed to more extreme climes."

I don't need the connectivity the reviewers appreciate, but I would appreciate having two dials and its being weather resistant would mean that my "going light" could be accomplished in bad weather as well as good.  Of course I wouldn't be going as light as with the KS-1.

Lawrence