Testing...

I finally gave in and replaced my 7-year-old entry-level DSLR (Pentax K200D)!

This might be the darkest part of my yard

The replacement arrived yesterday, so this morning I went outside early to give the new entry-level DSLR (Pentax K-50) a bit of a workout. It's cloudy (of course) and dark, so I wanted to see how this model would perform.



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I'm not familiar with all of the modern settings yet (much higher ISOs, HDR, different autofocus and metering algorithms), so these photos will be pretty rough. I thought though that it might be a good opportunity to show you a few views of the garden that I don't show too often -- or at least haven't for a while. Mixed in with some familiar views as well of course.

My first impression of the camera: modern cameras are fast! Also, the kit lens isn't the best I have.


Through the front window (while it was raining):


The camera and lens are weather-sealed so technically I could take them out in the rain, but I wasn't chancing it on the first day.

I only took a few shots with my vintage macro lens...




...sticking mainly to the lens included with the camera.



Anybody who visited my garden last weekend would recognize all of this -- I literally have not done a thing in the garden since Saturday.



The pond is to the left in this shot, which I rarely show:


Turn to the left...




Turn a bit more to the left, past the pond:


That's my partially deer-trimmed cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) at the right of that last image. This would make a nice, big specimen in a yard that was not visited by hungry animals all day long.

Kit lens not as sharp as my macro lens

It did a pretty good job of exposing the dark, shadowy bamboo correctly:


Just a few more shots for fun:




I'll be learning more about this camera over the weekend, so hopefully next week's posts start looking better.

Have a great weekend!

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Mark and Gaz  – (June 19, 2015 at 11:06 AM)  

It seems to be coping brilliantly with lower light levels? Enjoy your new toy :)

Hoover Boo  – (June 19, 2015 at 2:32 PM)  

Yes, they look pretty good to me, too. Enjoy your new camera!

Rock rose  – (June 21, 2015 at 2:45 PM)  

Low light levels are a problem for my camera too. Why is that? My Iphone does a better job. Your new camera seems to have overcome that issue judging by your photos. enjoy your new garden tool!

Alan  – (June 22, 2015 at 4:53 PM)  

All: changing cameras is tough even when staying with the same brand. Buttons are in different places, there are different capabilities (some gained, some lost), loads of settings to transfer from the old camera to the new, and there is a period of learning. Still, I hope it was worth it (I wish I could have gotten a top-of-the-line model...)

Mark/Gaz: it's a tool, not a toy! ;)

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