My Equipment

My latest arsenal comprise of the the Pentax K-5. Combining the a 16MP CMOS sensor that I am willing to go up to ISO3200 with faster AF, weather-sealing, quieter shutter into the compact body of the K-7, I think is the best camera Pentax has released yet! In June 2001 I caved in and bought the K-5 + DA 18-135mm WR lens combo.

The compact camera that I carry everywhere is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3.
Below are a list of lenses and accessories I current use on my Pentax bodies.

FILM
I also start exploring other photographic mediums such as the Pentax 645, Yashica Mat-124G and Polaroid cameras.

PREVIOUS CAMERAS I HAVE USED:

Pentax K20D
In April of 2009, I upgraded to a Pentax K20D with a Katzeye focusing screen. The K20D to K10D is a refined version of the K10D with the same shell. Live-view is pretty useful for low-angle compositions, and interval timer provide some time-lapse fun!

Pentax K10D
In 2007 I upgraded to the K10D with the battery grip and was very happy with the camera! K10D was a big improvement from the *ist DS with higher resolution, faster response, shake reduction, and environmental seals. Plus now I know exactly how to pronounce the camera name!

Pentax *ist DS
This was my first D-SLR and it opened up a whole new world of photography for me. I started with a lot of manual focus lenses 50mm F/2, 135mm F/2.8, etc and progressively upgraded to more autofocus lenses. It is a 6MP body, fully auto, can shoot at 3FPS, and can take the abuse of the different conditions I subject it to!

Sony DSC-F717:
This camera is 5MP, 6X optical zoom, and a unique twisting body feature which attracted a lot of attention. The best thing was the manual zoom/focus feature which was way ahead of its time in prosumer cameras at that time. The video images were very clear and the audio was very clear. However, it was a very awkward shape to store and quite big with the lens sticking out the side. The image quality was really good except when shooting at the sun directly.

Toshiba PDR-M700:
With 10X zoom, 3.2MP and manual focusing and full manual exposure this camera was very impressive and certainly delivered excellent results. I mainly used this
camera during my 1B term during class catching all my classmates sleeping during Materials class! The video mode was pretty good and the length of the video was only limited by the capacity of the memory card. With the manual mode the camera could take amazing macro shots.

Canon FT:
This is my dad’s camera from his university days. The amazing part is that everything still works on it and the pictures that come out are amazing. I started using this camera when I was a little weary of the 2.8X optical zoom on the PDR-4300 and wanted to explore other shooting options. Film was really difficult to use because everything had to be manually adjusted, metered without being able to see the result instantly. However there was also a different type of fun in the anticipation and mystery in the roll of film. Well I started buying all these lenses for it and ended up with:

A wonky brass shell fish-eye lens with a dramatic blue tint, lens flare, and distortions

Toshiba PDR-4300:
This 4MP camera is the official beginning of my photographic journey. Even though we had no idea when we bought the camera, it possessed the most advanced manual functions that encouraged me to experiment with the different modes and trying different options. This camera was also very tough, surviving a bike crash, spilled superglue in the same compartment, drop from chest height onto a sandy, wooden platform, and numerous bumps against hard objects while inside my backpack. Finally, my mom (the terminator) dropped it during a dinner and now it can’t recognize whether the battery compartment is closed or not.