As I said in my last post, the Astron 35-70 is one noisy and very lazy lens! In full blown sunlight this lens had a lot of trouble finding a focus point in all AF modes, very, very frustrating. Switching to manual is just as difficult as the focusing ring is pretty thin, therefore difficult to control.

Optically, it's not bad for amateur use and since I don't have a high quality zoom lens to compare it to it's hard for me to judge. Many of my test shots were a little overexposed (lenses fault, of course not mine). The lens isn't very sharp but hard to tell because of the focusing issues. Because the rendered shots are somewhat acceptable it's disappointing that this lens just can't be trusted to perform in the field.

So, will I ever really be using this lens on an outing? No way, the Astron has been banished to the back of my camera closet never to see the light of day again.

35mm, f/11, 1/60, ISO 100

70mm, f/4.5, 1/750, ISO 200

I currently have a few lenses for my Pentax K10D, some are pretty shitty, some O.K and some I really like, but all my lenses are not expensive Limiteds or anything over $250 for that matter, but for me and my level of expertise coupled with a frugal wife, they'll have to do.

What I want to do is spend a day out shooting with a different lens to really see what they're made of and what I can produce with some fairly cheap lenses. My mission here is to understand the lenses I don't use that often before I write them off. The following statements are my experiences with them so far.

Pentax DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
Good walk around lens but lacking distance, 18mm is a decent wide angle and the 55mm is O.K for portraits, although not the sharpest at either end. In low light, the lens is too slow for for a good exposure and the AF function searches like a carrier Pigeon without a destination. I find that colour and contrast are a little flat but nothing that can't be fixed in post. I have a 2x Tele Converter which I may attach to this lens and use it as a makeshift macro, maybe giving the lens a new life.

Current usage - Rarely
Project - My friend works at a lab which houses many different insects, I'll beg him to let me go and take some macro shots of his creepies.

Pentax FA 70-200mm f4-5.6
Not the wisest purchase I've made but I'm sure it has a purpose in life. From my limited experience with this lens, it seems that it's only going to perform when full lighting is available, anything less and this lens will fail you like the English Cricket team. It has the power zoom function which I hate, it sounds like a pimped car with hydrolics so I tend to disable it, unless I want to impress a girl. The few times I used this lens was in Osaka when I bought it and I realized it was a pretty shit street lens as I had to stand back about 15 meters to get a decent shot of my brother staring at J Girls.

Current usage - Rarely
Project - Sit on my balcony and shoot anything that dares fly past, it will also let me experiment with high shutter speeds, something that I haven't really toyed with yet.

Astron 35-70mm f3.5/4
This was a pass me down along with the 2x tele converter from my old dad, he used to take macro shots of his orchids and from what I remember it did the job. I don't know where he bought this from but it's pretty hard to find info on Astron lenses, all I know that it was made in Japan. It has a nice zoom range, especially for portraits and may do fine as a basic walk around too. I really can't comment too much on it as I've yet to really use it outside. One thing I do remember (and the main reason that I don't use it) is it's AF is really noisy and searches a long time to find a focus point.

Current usage - None
Project - Put it on the damn camera for once and take some pictures!

SMC Takumar 28mm f3.5
I don't really shoot at 28mm that often so when I do, I just use my FA 28-105 3.2/4. For some reason I don't ever feel the need to shoot that wide as I like to get in close and personal. This 28mm has really nice colour and contrast and looks nice when converted to B&W.

Current usage - Sometimes
Project - Hit the streets of Kyoto during the Winter holidays and test it out.

Super Takumar 135 f3.5
I don't tend to shoot my zoom shot as I said before, I like to get in close to my subjects hence the reason I don't use the 135 too often. On the occasion I have used it, I was taking photos of bridges in the distance but unfortunately it was dusk so I wasn't using the lens to it's full potential.

Current Usage - Sometimes
Project - Go to Tomonoura (a small fishing village near Fukuyama) or to Onomichi City and take some photos from the mountains as well as the local flora.

Lensbaby 2.0
This lens is just fun to use and when you feel in a photographic rut, thats why every now and then I use my Lensbaby and force myself to see the world differently. The problem is, I don't take this lens seriously and I should, therefore I swear on baby jesus that I'll use this lens with the respect it deserves.

Current Usage - Occasionally
Project - Portraits baby, portraits. I'm in Kyoto for a few days and the wife is dressing up as a Maiko for a few hours, should hopefully get some nice shots with the Lensbaby.

So, hopefully after the holidays I'll have a few test results, nothing technical, no numbers, just words and photos.

As much fun as film photography is, film is expensive so I decided to buy a DSLR. I won't go through the pros and cons of buying a DSLR, but a few things of course is that they're not cheap and extra lenses aren't cheap either but it would give me a chance to learn photography and also stay within the digital realm.

Here are some cameras in the market at that time in Japan that I was looking at.

Canon Kiss (Digital Rebel XTi)

Pentax K100D, K110D, K10D

Nikon D200, D80, D70s, D50, D40

Sony A100

My basic minimum requirements were the camera had to be 8mp or higher, have a solid back catalog of lenses, good fit in my hands and to be up to date enough in a good 5 years or so. The rest was up to user reviews and process of elimination. Also, I wanted a camera that wasn't as easy as point and shoot but with some manual features if you want them. I wanted to be challenged by the camera, learn to take photos myself, I didn't want to credit the camera for taking great photos for me.

In Japan, the Canon Kiss was huge, it was the highest seller of any entry level DSLR, so it was tempting. Here's the thing, I like Canon. I have a CanoScan 8600F, iP1500 printer and a PowerShot A85, all quality products in their own right but because the Kiss was getting so popular, it put me off, I didn't want to follow the crowd. After deciding not to get the Kiss on pure gut feeling, I held a friend of mines and it was a little too light for me anyway.

Next was the Pentax K110D which was a plain NO, for a little extra, the K100D had in camera shake reduction. The K100D seemed pretty good for the price but the 6.1 mp put me off. Yeah, yeah, I know that mega pixels don't mean everything and are overrated but what would 6.1 mp do for me in 4 to 5 years? So the K100D was half way out the door but the K10D was just released at the time and it looked bad ass, pretty much everything I wanted except the price tag, it was nearly 40,000 yen dearer than the K100D which could have been put towards a new lens. So far we have the K100D (not ecstatic about but affordable) and the K10D (the girl of my dreams with a hefty price tag).

The Nikon D70s & the D50 were pretty much discarded as a contender as they were early 2005 releases and a little aging and wouldn't hold up to my 5 year plan. The same goes for the D200 as it sized up pretty well but it was a little above my level, aimed at the semi-pro and the price tag hurt my stomach. The D80 however reminded me of the Pentax K10D in price and features but lacked two major points the K10D had, shake reduction and dust removal. The Nikon D40 which was about a month out was pretty popular too like the Canon Kiss but I just couldn't get the K10D out of my head, she was taunting all other cameras in her league.

At the same time, Sony was releasing it's first DSLR after devouring Minolta. In theory, the A100 looked pretty sweet with a reasonable price tag (cheaper than the K10D and D80), solid lens catalog thanks to Minolta, shake reduction, anti dust and a few other perks. I think the K10D just found a challenger for my heart.

After researching for about a month and annoying floor staff with my bad Japanese, I had settled on two cameras. The Nikon D40 went, along with the Pentax K100D, both fine cameras but I'm a snob and if I'm going to spend a bunch of cash, I want the best for how much I could spend, and at the time I could afford more than the above mentioned so I was left with the Pentax K10D, Nikon D80 and the Sony A100. Next to go was the D80, a little more expensive and lacking the two semi-pro features the the K10D and the A100 offered.

Lenses were the next issue, after about a month finding the perfect camera I remembered (duh) my trusty old dad had a Pentax SLR, that means he has some lenses...sweet. In his arsenal he had the following, an Astron 35-70 mm, a 2x macro teleplus and a bunch of Hoya macro filters. Hey, not much but better than a kick in the balls he said. So I saved a little extra, said goodbye to the Sony A100 and bought the K10D with the 18-55mm kit lens as it got some pretty good reviews. About a month later, I got the package from my dad and I had a half decent set up.

My Pentax K10D with 18-55 mm kit lens

Astron 35-70 mm, 2x teleplus converter, Hoya & Marumi macro filters - Thanks Dad!