2009 April 17 | Chatter Of The Squirrel

Photography: 20 Pentaxians Annex A&W

April 17, 2009 on 11:28 pm | In Me!, Photography | No Comments

I’ve started following the forums at Photo Malaysia, particularly the Pentax sub-community. In the beginning, the forum was just a place for me to find bargains for my Pentax system. But now it’s more than that.

There are relatively very few Pentaxians around, so those that are, tend to stick together.

A bunch of guys suggested a get together of Pentaxians, and after a couple of weeks of ding-dong-ing, everyone finally commited to Friday night at A&W PJ. It’s a relatively central location, with good light, airconditioned, and plenty of space. A&W never commands much of a crowd these days.

People started trickling in at about 8pm, and some of the busier folks came in much later. 20 Pentaxians annexed an entire corner of the restaurant, and filled the place with geek chatter, intermittent bursts of flash, and half a ton of cherished glass. There was so much to see, and so much to talk about that we didn’t clear out till past 11pm.

Even met the guy to whom I sold my K100D grip last month, and another bloke I sold off the split-prism focusing screen to.

There were a lot of rare and interesting lenses to try out. The most common camera was the K10D, but there was no danger of my camera getting mixed up with the others… Mine was the only one using an old Pentax camera strap from the ZX-7, and it’s also the only camera with a flat battery.

Curses! I know my lithium batt is near the end of its life, and had ordered in a new one via eBay last month. But it has not arrived. I’m expecting 5 different postal packages that’s way past due already. Someone is stealing from me. Extensively! UNFORGIVEABLE!

Anyway, I missed the chance to swap other lenses into my camera so that I can have a collection of pics and make comparisons which lens would give results I desire.

I managed to take meet my dream lens :

The 31mm Limited. This is widely regarded as the best piece of optics around, and I finally got a chance to play around with it. Pics did look very sharp, and the colours appeared a little cool. But it could be camera settings. How I wish I was able to swap this gem into my camera and took some snaps with it.

The other Limiteds were also represented, 43mm, 77mm, the DA 70mm etc.

I was the only one with the DA40mm, and that got a handed around a few times too. Nothing else focuses as fast as the pancake lens.

Saw lots of interesting lenses. A fish-eye made in Belarus. Saw two mirror lenses, the 500mm was quite interesting, the 1000mm looked like a home-made nuclear device. An 85mm Russian lens. A pair of Tamron SP90 macro lenses. Lots of antiques.

There was a lens-mounted twin-flash that everyone wanted a go with.

Some vets brought their prized film bodies too.

It was an amazing evening of sharing. More pics to be seen on the forums here.