My First DSLR - Pentax Kx

After many years of contemplation, finally I'm getting my first DSLR. Picking up my camera later on today and hopefully I can point and shoot out of the box if it's not too complicated to do so

Hiaz... got the full set of equipment and forgot to buy the SD card for the camera! Will try to post my new equipment and also some shots taken from the new camera. Didn't know that DSLR can be so complicated, not looking forward to reading the manual to find out how things works but have to if I want to start taking pictures.

Offer still open, looking for "guru" to enlightend me on DSLR picture taking...

Finally got time to take a closer look at my investment!


Manage to get a Kata Camera bag and a Maha Battery charger, but silly enough to forget the SD card!

So will take some time for me to post pics with the new camera, the image above taken with my old trusty Lumix camera, Compact Digital camera.

WAH!! AT LAST!!! aleadi had a cameraman for hire hehehe

woah...wat a nice red Pentax DSLR u got there....wats the poison cost?usually freebies will include tripod bag n cards..didnt bargain for that ehh...??
upz for ur DSLR...finally i noe who to look for ..

Hard to say about freebies, the Pentax Kx is on offer so have check with several photo stores, all about the same price and no freebies. Breakdown on my spending:-

Pentax Kx Dual Lens Promotion
Kx Body (Red)
Pentax DA L 18-50 mm (red)
Pentax DA L 55-300 mm (black)

$1103

Kata DC 437 Camera Bag - $45 ( $55 SRP)

All from Orient Photo at SLS

Maha MHC 9000 Battery Charger and Analyer comes with 4 Imedion NiHm 2100 MhA battery - $109
Eastgear - SLS

The Pentax Kx is in the same category as the Canon EOS500D and the Nikon D5000 but very far from the standard of the D90 I did my comparison, the Pentax Kx with the basic lens kit, 18-50 mm lens is going for around $780 -$790, both EOS500D and D5000 with the same lens kit is going for ard $1200 - $1300. I'm paying for less and also got an additional telephoto 55-300 mm lens. This is value for money.

Furthermore the Pentax brand is like the Chevy brand, it's there, not very popular but they give good product. In terms of accessories, it's the same you see more Honda, Toyota parts but less Chevy, same here more Canon, Nikon but less for Pentex. It's still there but you need to work hard and look for you. I'm not mainstream, guess that's why I opt for all these unknown brands, btw the lens are far more cheaper than Nikon or Canon lens, so I might extend on my lens collection starting off with a very fast prime lens 50mm f1.4 soon, provided I can clear this payment ASAP.

Anyway if I may quote bro PL " It's not the camera but the person behind the lens, that makes a difference" I think that's what he quote me leh...

cool....

My.. what a pretty camera you have there..! Some serious shopping bro..! Btw why do you need the Maha battery charger? Unless you're investing in a flash gun, think battery charger should be included for your camera right? Enjoy your new toy. Maybe we can go out sometime and shoot something. I'm already very rusty, need the the practice. But only have one kit lens (18-105). Have yet to invest in a long tele coz the one i was interested in (Nikon 55-200) really suck big time. Very plasticy and slow. The next alternative (70-300) costs a bomb. May have to settle for 3rd party quality lens.

pussy_lover wrote:My.. what a pretty camera you have there..! Some serious shopping bro..! Btw why do you need the Maha battery charger? Unless you're investing in a flash gun, think battery charger should be included for your camera right? Enjoy your new toy. Maybe we can go out sometime and shoot something. I'm already very rusty, need the the practice. But only have one kit lens (18-105). Have yet to invest in a long tele coz the one i was interested in (Nikon 55-200) really suck big time. Very plasticy and slow. The next alternative (70-300) costs a bomb. May have to settle for 3rd party quality lens.

Thanks for mentioning the word pretty. As to why I need the battery charger, my camera uses AA battery la. Pros and cons, I will never run out of battery even if my rechargeable is flat I can just run to 7-11 and get Lithium or Alkaline battery!

cooL ar ur Pentax DSLR..can fit normal BattS..so rechargable batts are certainly good for u brO...keep those litthium batts for Emergency use.

Here are some of the shots taken for low lights, non are processed so they are what I captured and I still have a lot to learn about my camera.

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Plenty of lights here taken at ISO 1600, no stand use as I have yet to invest in one.

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This one is taken at ISO 3200 but still under exposed the meter was blinking like crazy when I press the shutter but I can go at any lower speed and I'm sure my hands were shaking but some of the camera shakes taken care by the build in image stabilizer in the camera.

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Another shot with more lights and lower ISO setting. Would love to reshoot these images with the proper setting and equipment but looks like I have to wait a while longer as I will be getting the stand and the remote release soon.

try set to slower shutter...e.g 1-3 sec.maintain ur posture by holding close to ur body.control breathing or rather hold breathing for that few sec.best is get tripod n mount on it.that remote release is a muz have for night photography..

the first pic looks better.the rest needs more light to compensate the darkness n the glory of lights to be captured.im sure u will regain ur skills from taking raw pics...Post processing(PP) nids hours of patience n ideas to generate a better raw file.what software u using for PP?

The software that comes with my package is Silkypics 4.0.

Here are some of my test shots for day time shoot

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At 55 mm

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At 300 mm, a close up The Ranger

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A three hull catamaran

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hey brO...@ 300mm u can shoot clear pic..did u use tripod?nice newbie series.

I'm still hunting a round for a tripod, the picture was taken without one, handheld. The last picture with many sail boats taken by my 12 year son.

Discussion time...

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This picture taken at:-

Focal point : 50 mm
Shutter speed : 1/50 sec
Aperture : F5.6
ISO : 1600

Notice that to the left and right of the picture, the image is blur. Would like to reshoot this with a bigger aperture and faster speed. Would that increase my DOF and a larger area of sharpness?

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Not bad, my Magnum still looks shinny and clean after nearly 2 weeks of no washing due to fine weather

COF lar bro..(Circle of Confusion)
maybe u can tell us more about that pic..
for bigger aperture will have a diff sharpness outcome.
i dun see a faster shutter speed is needed here..coz its a stationary subject and the light coverage is adequate..unless u want more light to get in into the pic.
DOF wise...im new to it..doesnt noe much.

Depth of Field (DOF), very important in photography the first basic rule you need to know. Infact I got it correct in my first picture, but due to poor lighting, my aperture is F5.6 at f1/50 speed. Perhaps at a different time of the day if I could use smaller aperture, the range of sharpness would be more than just a few planks.

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good point of technicality brO...im not it yet...
DOF makes me headache.as long i seems good pic is captured,i'll be happy lcapturing more.
colour blind u see..

Generally, if you want sharpness at all areas, you'll need to use smaller aperture opening (f8. f11, f16). You'll need to be careful that your shutter speed don't fall below 1/30 sec. unless you have very steady hands. Alternatively, use a monopod for stabilize your camera. Using bigger aperture (F5.6, f4. f3.5) will result in blurred background. This s normally used in portrait photography where the background is purposely blurred to focus on the subject, less distraction on the overall composition.
This is why, professional photographers always opt for fast tele lens. They can zoom in and yet maintain good depth on the overall composition. But fast teles cost a bomb..!

yupz...telezoom lenses cost a bomb..esp those with good optics.

starstruck96 wrote:yupz...telezoom lenses cost a bomb..esp those with good optics.

Check out Bower tele lenses, 500 mm about SGD 200 to SGD 300 Do a google on either Bower or Rokinon....