Like many computer geeks with a passion for photography (and a limited budget) I’ve been lusting for a DSLR camera. Don’t get me wrong, I really like my little Canon Powershot. I just want the ability to use multiple lenses again. Like I could when I was taking photography courses back in college and used my Pentax K1000 SE. That’s a 100% manual, 35mm, SLR. And that thing is rock solid. Heck, my high school art teacher recommended that camera because even a whole school of high school students taking photography classes wasn’t able to destroy them. And with only 1 item in the camera being battery powered (the light meter) you don’t have to worry about running out of juice when you’re taking a photo. Plus it’s total lack of auto-anything forces you to learn how a camera works, which should teach you to take better pictures. The thing is I’m getting older and cannot focus the all manual camera quick enough to get the shots I want. Not to mention, I’m cheap and would rather have digital snaps which I then choose which ones are worth printing out vs. shooting a roll and hoping I got something that the photolab won’t screw up in the processing.
Then today, I’m catching on my the news in my RSS reader when I come across this article from Engadget. Apparently, Pentax is coming out with a new line of DSLR cameras this summer. And the extra kicker is Each camera remains compatible with Pentax K-mount lenses
. How sweet is that? I mean I don’t have greatest of lenses for my old Pentax but I love my 17mm lens and to be able to slap that baby on a DSLR? Schweet. 😀
I got my first digital camera (Casio z750, a really versatile compact digital) recently, and I love it.
I thought it was neat, though, that someone got creative — they made a lens adapter to add regular camera lenses to the digital Casio (see their demo and how-to at above link).
The parts for the adapter are cheap … except the lenses themselves. How much do those tend to cost?
The cost for lenses varies greatly depending on: the manufacturer, what camera it’s for, what the focal length is, manual vs. automatic, etc…
But to give you an idea, I bought my 17mm probably 8 years ago for $200. That was the used price and it’s some off brand rather than a company you would have heard of (e.g. it’s not a Canon/Nikon/whatever).