UKC

Hi,

Which first SLR to buy often seems to come up as a question on here, this looks like a great buy at £399 (with cashback). Weather sealed and designed to work down to -10C, should be a great climber's camera. I have an older Pentax which I love, and because the new bodies can use every lens Pentax have ever made, there's a huge range of glass to play with.

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/7756/Pentax-K-30-Black-Digital-SLR-with-18...

Full review here

www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentax-k-30/

Hope this is useful to someone.

Sam.

In reply to Sam W:

I thought a weather sealed Penatx was the way to go but I had sooo many problems with the auto-focus in snow and cold temps. Maybe it's better now.

In reply to Sam W:
My two pennorth....got a Pentax K5 and love it. K30 uses much of the same tech. Not had it out yet in temps below -5 but a trip to Sweden in Feb next year should soon sort that. Lots of people use 'em in silly cold and have no probs, check the US pentax forums out for peeps who've had their pentaxes out in minus silly degrees. Of course -
1. Battery life will be crap (like everything else) so take spares.
2. Only some of the more recent pentax glass is weather sealed, so good though the older glass is, it won't be water resistant unlike the camera.
3. If you have ANY camera out in very cold temps for an extended period, the standard advice is to chuck it in a sealed plastic bag with some silica gel BEFORE you bring it in the warm, let it warm up gradually over many hours, and only then take it out of the bag. Otherwise the camera will get covered in condensation, which is not good for delicate electronics.
.. just a few pointers!

To the OP - which Pentax lenses do you have?

Anyone after legacy Pentax glass, get it quick as they're bringing a full frame model out in 2013 at which point legacy glass could get very expensive..

Good luck.

Paul

In reply to Paul Evans:

Somehow I seem to have ended up with quite a range of lenses. In no particular order

DA 35 2.4 - Brilliant cheap lens, sharp and fast, on my K7 most of the time.
DA 55-300 - A good zoom, pretty sharp.
F 70-210 - Second hand bargain, sharp and good colours. Auto-focus isn't amazing, keep thinking I should sell it, but am also aware the price will shoot up if the FF Pentax ever arrives.
DA 18-55 WR - Came with the camera, good kit lens, mainly gets used if it's raining.
M 50 1.7 Nice and sharp, bit of a faff to use on a digital body, rarely used since I got the 35.
M 28 2.8 Good lens, but don't think I've ever used it with the digital body (bought when I was using an MX)
M 75-150 A ridiculously underpriced lens, albeit one I never use now I have the zoom range covered with AF lenses.

I also have a Sigma 10-20 which can be great for climbing photos, really like it.

In reply to Sam W: Is it the DA or DA* lenses which are weather sealed?

You could get the body only from SRS (when they throw in a 3rd party battery), join pentaxuser.co.uk forum to get free postage, and buy the 18-55WR lens for £50 - lots about as they've been in so many K5 kits.

Thats what I've just done.

In reply to Sam W: Canons Eos 60d is weather sealed, everything below it is not (650d, 600d etc or 1100d).

In reply to Bloodfire: But the canon is nearly twice the price of the K-30. Camerapricebuster has it at 599 body only or £749 with kit lens. And is the kit lens weather sealed?

The K-30 is 399 after cashback including Weather sealed lens.