One last splurge - what to consider?

[McBrian]

Well, with retirement imminent I'm allowing myself one last splurge (£6K) that will hopefully last me till I'm too old and decrepit to bother what I have or have not.

My gear shelf at the moment is pretty decent with a K1 and a good choice of FX lenses including 15-30; 24-70, 55-300,50, 77, 100macro and and a very good screw drive Sigma 70-200 f2.8, I sold my 150-450 as I found it a bit on the heavy side which made it a bit cumbersome for hand holding, but I miss the AW capability so I may have to consider a re-purchase. I also have a D500 with a decent set of lenses covering 8mm to 500mm of which a few are FX.

Now looking at that lot it would appear that I have all I need - I know - but this is one last indulgence with everthing under consideration, D850? add a KP/K3ii? a new system with a Sony a7xxx/a9 with some sony fit lenses and adaptors? Should I consider the kit weight going forward in to my latter years?

I need some sounding boards :-)

I would have cross posted this on the "other" board but I don't think it would last long

[Smeggypants]

I'd get a Sony A7s and adaptor for K mount, and save the rest for the future when a new Pentax comes out. No reason to spend it all at once.

[petrochemist]

One limit you still have is in the extremes.
In the wide angle department, nothing wider than a 111° FOV. Quite a niche field but a fisheye might be worth considering if that money burning a hole in your pocket
If you fancy trying starfield photography an UWA prime might be useful, though the 15-30 will do a pretty good job of it. Is the sigma 10mm/2.8 full frame in Pentax mount???
I've often found seriously long focal lengths useful, without having the weight of the 150-450 you could play with a 500mm or 600mm mirror lens The Tamron adaptall SP 500 is one I know has a good reputation & is readily available. A longer macro might be an option too.

Another thing that keeps me amused is adapting lenses - Your Pentax will be much better than a Nikon for this, but neither comes close to the majority of mirrorless cameras. On my MFT cameras I use a wide range of SLR lens as well as c-mount, projector lenses, enlarger lenses, telescopes... giving ridiculous focal lengths, bokeh effects, seriously fast lenses, and even perspective control options at amounts many pensions could manage together with a potential challenge of getting them working (my 50/1.2 needed the rear trimmed of so it didn't foul on the mount- the perspective control lens is awaiting a unusual size stepping ring before it's use is finalized...)

I suspect I'm somewhat crazier than most, but these things have to be tried - ideally in IR as well as visible!

[Matty]

Have you ever owned/used a Leica? My personal believe is if you truly love photography at some point you must succumb to the brand in one form or another,
I’ve owned a M6 with a 28 & 50mm for many years now which I inherited from my grandad, and I have used it, Not a lot but sometimes it’s nice just to hold, touch and to look at,
Last year when I was recovering from a long term illness that one camera gave me the willingness to get up, and not give up on photography all together to the point where I rented a Leica Q for a week, unfortunately I had to give it back, but now I have something to work for, because I will own one it was that good and I can see it being the only camera I ever need, but then again this suits me as I own a few fixed FL compact cameras from Fuji, RICOH and Nikon, something very pure just having one focal length at your disposal, but that’s just me, maybe?

So for your splurge or my imagery one I would go for high end fixed focal length camera, Leica Q, Fuji X100f or the new Sony RX1, adds a new twist to what you could call your very comprehensive kit.

[MrB]

No-one can know what the future holds so perhaps consider retaining a fraction of the fund for the next APS-C flagship (which presumably will be smaller and lighter than the K-1 system - an advantage as you get older), and use the rest of your fund for trips/holidays to places that would be interesting to photograph while you are still young and mobile!

[Mannesty]

Hi Brian, as you already have some decent kit, I'd suggest using your money to travel and use what you have. I'm in a similar situation to you, albeit a bit further advanced probably as I'm 69 in a few months. I have K20D, K-5, K-5 II, MX-1, and a Canon 30D with a Pentax-A 28mm lens on it but the best camera is always the one you have with you. For me nowadays that's my phone, a Samsung S6 Edge +, and it's awesome because it's always with me. If only I could remember to use it

Whatever you choose, good luck.

[Judderman62]

As you are getting older .. downsize and go for a Fuji system. If someone gave me £6K I reckon that's what I'd do

[Smeggypants]

Hi Brian, as you already have some decent kit, I'd suggest using your money to travel and use what you have. I'm in a similar situation to you, albeit a bit further advanced probably as I'm 69 in a few months. I have K20D, K-5, K-5 II, MX-1, and a Canon 30D with a Pentax-A 28mm lens on it but the best camera is always the one you have with you. For me nowadays that's my phone, a Samsung S6 Edge +, and it's awesome because it's always with me. If only I could remember to use it

Whatever you choose, good luck.

That's a superb suggestion. And you'll get some fantastic pics you wouldn't have got by buying new kit and not travelling.

[MrB]

That's a superb suggestion.
:

That's what I thought (which is why I wrote something similar above!).

[McBrian]

Apologies for the late reply, lots happened in the last few weeks, some good and some bad - that's life!

Thank's for all the replies, some of which were in my mind also.

With regards to using the pot to travel, this will be covered by a seperate pot

After lots of reading and research I've pretty well made up my mind that it will be a Sony a7 but still to decide if it will be a iii or Riii. one ofthe main reasons being focus assit as my eyes are to at their best now and can only deteriate the more senior I get :-)

[aliengrove]

I would recommend the Sony A7rii, or the A7riii. The A7rii is an amazing camera, though I have just had mine repaired for water damage. They are not as hardy as Pentax cameras. 42mp is great. The low light performance is pretty good too. The A7rii probably loses 2 to 3 stops to the A7s if you downsize the images to the 12mp of the A7s, at least from my experiments, but I have printable images shot at ISO64000 (yep 3 zeros there) from the A7s.

However, I mainly use adapted lenses (many of them Pk or M42) , and this loses me any advantage with longer lenses with the A7s being unstabilised. So if you get an A series camera, I would definitely get a mark 2 or 3 version with ibis. As far as adapter's go, get K&F ones, which are cheap and work just as well as more expensive ones.

The A7 and A7ii never really appealed to me, they seem a bit bog standard in terms of resolution and low light performance.

[Smeggypants]

Is there an A7SIII yet?

[aliengrove]

Is there an A7SIII yet?

No, not yet. I believe it will be released soon. Rumours are it will be 24mp, 8k, and some rumours suggest it may have IR capabilities built in, something I suggested to Sony about two years ago. Buggers still didn't make me an ambassador though.

[petrochemist]

Is there an A7SIII yet?

No, not yet. I believe it will be released soon. Rumours are it will be 24mp, 8k, and some rumours suggest it may have IR capabilities built in, something I suggested to Sony about two years ago. Buggers still didn't make me an ambassador though.

I think IR is very doubtful.
They initially made cameras with 'Nightshot' via IR, and then tied the system down increasingly once they found people were using them for daylight IR...
Reports of X-ray vision are probably responsible but this is not something I've seen in the real world (other than seeing through inks etc.).

[Smeggypants]

24mp would be disappointing. The whole point of the "S" model is big pixels, high ISO performance