Gear
As a photographer I am always being asked what cameras and lenses I use and the question I am asked the most is:- 'Do you use Canon or Nikon?' Well, the answer to that is neither, I use Pentax! This answer always seems to spark debate and the most common response is 'why?' When I bought my first DSLR in 2007 my two main choices were either a Nikon D40 or a Canon 40D with the budget I had at the time, and the little research I had done combined with owning a Coolpix led me to believe that I would buy the Nikon. After handling both of these cameras and finding that they both felt tacky, plasticky and could break in my hand if I squeezed them too hard (!) I picked up the Pentax K10D off the display and it just felt right. It was solidly built and felt reassuringly tough in my hands, had shake reduction built in and was fully weather sealed. Not to mention that it was cheaper than the other 2 with lens options being cheaper as well. Having no photographic knowledge, the choice was obvious! Very quickly I was hooked. Fiona, my beautiful wife, also rekindled her love for photography that she gained in college and became hooked too, so another K10D was bought. The lens collection quickly grew, the camera bodies were traded in for K20Ds then K-7s and recently with the addition of the F*250-600mm F5.6 lens a K-5 was added to the collection. There are many other reasons since I made my initial choice that keep me with Pentax including the quality and colour rendition of the lenses, the backwards compatibility of all their old lenses going back decades & the ergonomics and ease of use of the cameras themselves. Our current kit list consists of... Pentax K-5 & D-BG4 Grip x2 Pentax F* 250-600mm Pentax DA* 60-250mm Pentax DA* 16-50mm Pentax DA 10-17mm Fisheye Pentax DA 35mm Limited Macro Pentax DA* 55mm f1.4 Pentax D-FA 100mm Macro WR Metz 58-AF1 Flash Gun x2 Pentax AF160 Ring Flash Macro Extension Tubes Pentax A 2X-S Converter Gitzo GM5541 Monopod Manfrotto 468 MG Ball Head Manfrotto 405 Geared Head Tamrac Expedition 9X 2008 8 Core MacPro & 30" Apple Cinema Display 2010 17" Unibody MacBook Pro 64GB, 3G Retina iPad Aperture 3 CS6 Creative Cloud I will be adding reviews of some of the kit that we use, so do keep an eye out for them. Below is my usual setup, so should you see this out and about around Bucks and beyond there is a good chance it will be me so please do say hello!
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Linda Gardner
Danny – just to thank you for showing me that red kite fishing photo this morning when we were watching the waxwings. it might not surprise you that since I had not heard of them doing this, I just got round to googling “red kite fishing” and almost immediately found my way to your website and seeing the sequence of photos, including the one you showed me, was very interesting and I am going to show your web page to a few friends who birdwatch. Also saw your waxwing pic on your Facebook page from this morning. Hope you see lots more over the coming weeks – we (husband Simon in hat with Canon) hope to. Kind regards, Linda
PS We once watched (some years ago, at College Lake) a heron catch a young coot, drown it, and swallow it whole (not without some difficulty) – but we were in a hide full of birdwatchers with just optics and no cameras – although frankly we were all so aghast at the spectacle I am not sure we would have photographed it then (we would now!)
No need to reply – just wanted to thank you for informing me about red kites and fishing.