As a Skip Barber “graduate” I would encourage you to check out your closest open house.  It made for a great experience, and the paid courses (I took the 1 day racing school) are well worth their cost.  The auto show was amazing, and I was definitely spoiled by the private showing.  I was a bit disappointed that Ferrari didn’t have a presence at the show, but I was more than happy to spend the extra time at the BMW and Porsche displays.

These photos were all taken with my Pentax K5 and the DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 WR kit lens.  Despite my preference to shoot in .DNG with this camera, I actually took these in jpeg format rather than raw to save room and I was very happy with the results.

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I decided earlier this year to switch camera systems, and I made what is considered an unusual move. Rather than moving from my Nikon DX system to a Nikon full format system or a Canon full format system, I switched to Pentax.

People ask me why I would switch to a system with fewer lenses and no full frame upgrade path when I shoot weddings and supplement my income with photography; to many it seems counter-intuitive. While it may seem illogical to most, I have several reasons for making such a move and I’ll detail them below.

* I’m a tinkerer; I work in IT and I love to master new systems. Learning a new, more intuitive camera system keeps me entertained. After all, most of us are into photography for that very reason: entertainment.

* Two words: weather sealing. The K5 is sealed against dust, cold, and water, which is very attractive to me as my favorite things to shoot are landscapes and surfing. Pentax actually makes reasonably priced lenses that are weather sealed, unlike Nikon or Canon where I would spend a small fortune to obtain such a lens. Now I can fully enjoy shooting at the beach and on long hikes without being constantly worried about damaging my gear.

* Commitment to the APS-C format. Pentax doesn’t currently sell any full frame cameras, so they make great lenses for the format that I actually shoot. Nikon and Canon make their best lenses with their full frame bodies in mind, which means that they are larger, heavier, and FAR more expensive than I need on an APS-C camera.

* High ISO performance. Yes, I know that the K5′s sensor is also available in the Nikon D7000 and Sony A55. I know that it still isn’t QUITE on par with the big boys like the D700 and 5DII, but it’s far better than my D300. The dynamic range is also phenomenal, which allows me to do a lot more with my raw files in post.

* In-body shake reduction. With Pentax, any lens that I buy is stabilized by my camera. This means that old film lenses and tiny primes have the benefit of shake reduction. Additionally, it makes the top-tier Pentax lenses less expensive than their Nikon and Canon counterparts while cutting down on size and weight. Sure, the best Canon and Nikon lenses with their respective IS and VR systems are marginally more effective, but the overall benefits of in-body shake reduction outweigh that minimal performance difference in my mind.

* My father shot Pentax film cameras in the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s. All Pentax lenses are compatible with their DSLR lineup, so this means that I have a handful of great lenses that I can now use with my K5. Thanks to the in-body SR system, they’re stabilized as well!

* Ergonomics. Seriously, go hold a K7 or a K5. The Pentax just feels like it was made to be comfortably held all day; it’s light, the controls are perfectly placed, and it’s small. The K5 is an absolute joy to use, and a trip to B&H where I actually held and shot with the camera was all it took to push me over the edge to order one.

I’m thrilled with the camera and its performance so far. The auto focus is fast and accurate, the lenses are great, and the images I’m getting are amazing. I can’t say enough about the K5 and I encourage anyone who’s interested to check one out.

UPDATE: See this post, K5 autofocus gremlins appeared while I was shooting a wedding and I’m back to the trusty D300 as my primary camera.

As you may know I sold my beloved BMW 330 for a Honda Civic. I know, not my proudest moment. That being said, I was shocked at how poorly the Civic drives in the snow compared to my rear wheel drive BMW. It made for a hairy ride home after taking these, but fun nonetheless.

The Tokina is a great lens, I have used it at weddings, restaurant promotions, and in a lot of my landscape work. The F/2.8 makes it a good choice for interior shots, however it sometimes had trouble focusing accurately on items less than 10 feet away. This may have been my particular example of the lens, however it exhibited the behavior on my D50, D300, and especially on my D7000.

That being said, this lens really shines when taking landscape and city shots. It’s sharp enough at F/2.8 that I had no problem shooting with it wide open at night in the city. On to the photos!