Pentax in reviews...

Often, as a Pentax user, I feel that Pentax cameras and equipment get unfair reviews in magazines etc. Now, obviously no-one would like to admit the equipment they used was rubbish, but I very much believe that Pentax gear is up there with the best (okay, perhaps not Nikon D3 best, but the K20D is a fifth of the price). You do tend to get your money's worth with Pentax, comparable lenses are better value, bodies have more features (weather-sealing being a case in point - both the K20D and K200D are fully weather sealed).

But occasionally a review appears that fully justifies the feeling that there is a bias towards other brands, and the one below is a classic!

These lens tests were from the Photography Monthly magazine Macro Lens round-up, June 2007. Left hand chart and verdict Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8, right hand Pentax SMC-D 50mm f/2.8 (click on the pic to open a larger version).



Just take a second to note the score for each lens under 'Performance', then have a look at the resolution charts. Hmmmm...

According to the reviewer "where it (the Canon) does score well is wide open at f/2.8", whereas "at the wide apertures below f/5.6, the (Pentax) lens is a little disappointing".

Hence the reason magazine reviews are held with an air of scepticism round here.

2009 Desktop Calendar

Just a quick one to let you know that my 2009 Desktop Calendar is now available, with details and a link to purchase it using Paypal on my Calendar page.



To see how the calendar looks in real life, this blog post has some shots of the 2008 calendar.

Thanks for looking!

Nearly Winter!

Well I've been a bit quiet on here lately, but that doesn't mean I've not been busy!  I've run several workshops over the summer, including the Garden and Flower one described in my previous post, which worked well so I will be repeating that one next year.

However, for this year we're near the end of my workshops, just a Macro one and a Photography in the Park one to go.  You'll have to be quick to book onto the Macro one, as it's very nearly full, so don't hang about!  Details here.




So once the workshops have finished for the year, how do you get help with your photography?  One to one tuition of course!  Before you think that it would be too expensive, it's not, but if you want to share the cost with a friend or two, that's no problem. Find out about my 1-2-1 tuition here.

I'm currently sorting the dates for my 2009 workshops, and all being well I'll be adding a venue to the list - the Essex Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre at Hanningfield Reservoir, between Billericay and Chelmsford.  I'll post dates when I've finalised them.