On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 11:10:34AM -0400, Paul Stenquist wrote: > I'm not a full-time pro either. I'm a full-time writer, primarily a > journalist, and that affords me a lot of opportunity for professional > photography, so my equipment expenses are business expenses and well covered > by photography revenue. But there were times when I worked as an advertising > writer when I was strictly a hobbyist. I still had photography maintenance > expenses, but I always counted them as part of the cost of the hobby. LIke > you, I sometimes delayed repairs until cash flow was right. Spending money > isn't fun, but it goes with the territory. Photography is an expensive hobby.
Actually, I disagree. Spending money is usually fun, and almost always prefaces fun. It's earning the money to spend that tends to be a lot less fun. > > Paul > On Aug 22, 2013, at 10:28 AM, Bruce Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Sadly this doesn't leave us "advanced amateurs" in a happy place. I > > don't shoot as much as a fulltime pro, I don't have the cashflow of a > > pro either, but unfortunately I have a pro's taste in gear. I have few > > lenses, but what I've selected is Pentax' fastest current glass and > > those are mostly SDM (except for a Ltd macro). > > > > So I don't always have the dough to fix blown SDM motors. I'm just > > waiting for the right moment (and mindset) to get my twice-kaput > > 50-135/2.8 repaired again. (Meanwhile my MF skillz are improving.) > > > > However, I've done my homework and I know I'll not do better > > elsewhere, so I've made no plans to do a wholesale brand switch. > > Pentax, for all its faults, is still at the intersection of > > performance, function and budget for me. > > > > > > On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 9:56 AM, Paul Stenquist <[email protected]> > > wrote: > >> I expect to spend a certain amount on maintenance of my equipment. I don't > >> know any pro shooters who don't -- whether they shoot Canon, Nikon or > >> something else. I think my equipment expenses have been reasonable, with > >> the possible exception of flash unit failures. But I think flashes in > >> general are more failure prone. > >> > >> Paul > >> On Aug 22, 2013, at 9:48 AM, Boris Liberman <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >>> I'm with you, Paul, on this one. Pentax did not do as noble by not > >>> admitting the problem, but it stands to reason that the technology was > >>> being improved following consumer reports. I cannot tell from first > >>> hand experience, but I wouldn't be surprised if nowadays all these > >>> issues are hammered out and Pentax is merely suffering from bad > >>> reputation that SDM technology managed to acquire. > >>> > >>> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Paul Stenquist <[email protected]> > >>> wrote: > >>>> > >>>> On Aug 22, 2013, at 9:06 AM, Zos Xavius <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>> > >>>>> Does the tokina variations of these lenses have SDM like the 50-135? > >>>>> If it were me I would just use the screw drive. SDM sucks anyways. I'd > >>>>> be thankful pentax put in a screw drive for backwards compatibility, I > >>>>> imagine they will get away from SDM entirely with new lenses. > >>>> > >>>> Pentax will not abandon SDM.. In lens focusing motors have become the > >>>> industry standard. SDM is faster, more accurate and much quieter than > >>>> screw drive. Pentax's initial attempt wasn't a perfect one. The motor > >>>> could have been better. But I'm a heavy user who can't always take as > >>>> good care of my equipment as I might wish, and I've had only one SDM > >>>> motor failure on my three DA* lenses after at least 70,000 frames. > >>>> > >>>> Paul > >>>>> > >>>>> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 7:42 AM, SV Hovland <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>>>> I have tested this on my own K-7 and DA*16-50. I wanted to find out if > >>>>>> this is a good solution for me and I did the test before the warranty > >>>>>> went out. I found it to be perfectly good. It focuses just as fast as > >>>>>> SDM, but with more noise of course. So I decided to not send my lens > >>>>>> in and complain about slow SDM after all. I could wait to complete > >>>>>> break down and continue with the "old" focusing instead. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Regards > >>>>>> Stig Vidar Hovland > >>>>>> > >>>>>> ________________________________________ > >>>>>> Fra: PDML [[email protected]] på vegne av Boris Liberman > >>>>>> [[email protected]] > >>>>>> Sendt: 22. august 2013 09:09 > >>>>>> Til: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>>>> Emne: Re: Giving up on Pentax (probably) > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Well, it was easier than I thought. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Here is the link: > >>>>>> > >>>>>> http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/208353-how-deactivate-sdm-silent-autofocus-allow-screw-drive-autofocus-da-16-50mm-f-2-8-a.html > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 9:49 AM, Chris Mitchell > >>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: > >>>>>>> Hi all > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> The last straw has been that my DA* 16-50 has stopped auto-focussing > >>>>>>> again. The internal motor was replaced a couple of years ago (so out > >>>>>>> of warranty) and now it looks like there's another couple of hundred > >>>>>>> quid to be spent on it. And yes, I've cleaned all of the contacts and > >>>>>>> yes, my DA* 50-135 works OK on my only remaining K-7 body. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> So the decision's nearly made to sell off the K-7, DA* 16-50 (either > >>>>>>> repaired or as is), DA* 50-135, a lovely F*300 4.5 (the one with the > >>>>>>> tripod mount), an FA-135 2.8 (probably my favourite lens ever) and an > >>>>>>> FA-50 1.7. I'll put the proceeds towards a backup Fuji X body and get > >>>>>>> the excellent 55 - 200 zoom to cover the long end of the range and to > >>>>>>> sit alongside my growing collection of Fuji X primes. I'll keep a > >>>>>>> number of MF lenses so may still be able to appear in the PDML > >>>>>>> annual... > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> Any guidance on how to price? Or if anyone's interested in making me > >>>>>>> any sensible offers, contact me off list and I'll get more details and > >>>>>>> photos arranged and we can sort out logistics. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> Yours sadly, Chris > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> -- > >>>>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>>>>> [email protected] > >>>>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>>>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above > >>>>>>> and follow the directions. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> -- > >>>>>> Boris > >>>>>> > >>>>>> -- > >>>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>>>> [email protected] > >>>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >>>>>> follow the directions. > >>>>>> -- > >>>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>>>> [email protected] > >>>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >>>>>> follow the directions. > >>>>> > >>>>> -- > >>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>>> [email protected] > >>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >>>>> follow the directions. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>>> [email protected] > >>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >>>> follow the directions. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Boris > >>> > >>> -- > >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >>> [email protected] > >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >>> follow the directions. > >> > >> > >> -- > >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > >> [email protected] > >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > >> follow the directions. > > > > > > > > -- > > -bmw > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > > follow the directions. > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Larry Colen [email protected] http://red4est.com/lrc -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
