There’s a beautiful new photo book out shot entirely with the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. Cleveland Indie Bookstores was written and shot by Roberta Kulber, better known around these parts as Loyal Site Supporter BertieK. And the e-book is free! Go check it out.

While I was enjoying Cleveland Indie Bookstores, I realized that it has been a hot minute since I bought a photo book. How about you? Are you still buying photo books in print? Or do you do all your viewing these days on screens? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know in the comments how you do the voodoo you do so well!

Elsewhere this week, Pentaxian kypfer puts a Helios 44M 58mm F2 through its paces; Senior Member Ray-uk reviews the Carl Zeiss Ultron 50mm F1.8; and Senior Member woody54 returns to the forums after a hiatus that ended when he performed CPR on his Pentax K-r.

If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please take a moment to join the almost 1,600 Pentaxians who have subscribed to our free curated compendium of the hundreds of great images and post shared each week in our Pentax community. Please let us know your thoughts here in the comments and on our Pentax Forums, and have a perfect Pentaxian week!

Threads of the Week:

A patch of Light

July 8, 2026 • Photo Critique • 4 replies • 246 views

K2 to K50 said — A tiny break in the rainforest canopy allowed the sun to catch this patch of new growth. Read more »

Alt Cameras - my new YouTube channel

July 13, 2026 • General Photography • 10 replies • 338 views

filmamigo said — Hi folks, I am starting a YouTube channel and just posted my first full episode. Thought it might be of interest to fellow Pentaxians. Please take a look, and let me know what you think :) Read more »

I was on PhotowalksTV with my K-3 III Monochrome

July 13, 2026 • Pentax K-3 III Monochrome • 4 replies • 158 views

OldFashionedDonut said — I was on PhotowalksTV with Jefferson Graham when he came up to Juneau, Alaska where I live. I was carrying and shooting with my K-3 III Monochrome during the filming and you can see me with it and my trusty 18-135mm lens in the rain. Read more »

Pentaxian User Reviews

Third-Party Pentax Lenses

Helios - 44M 58mm F2

Reviewed by Pentaxian kypfer

Review Date: July 3, 2026 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 10

Pros: Cost price - £5 with OEM cap and camera! Cons: nope
Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 10 Value: 10 Camera Used: K-1

I first became aware of the Helios-44 in the late ‘60s as the “de-luxe” option for the Zenit 3m ... I had to make do with the Industar-50 at that time, but a dream was born

At some point in the early 2000s I acquired a Helios-44-2 for use with my first Pentax DSLR, the *istDS, but it never inspired me, so it sat in the drawer.
Fast-forward to 2026 and I became the optimistic owner of a s/h K-1 ... time to break out all that old glass and my OEM M42-PK adaptor

With a full-frame sensor I can finally recognize what all the fuss is about. When used on an APS-C camera the outer field of the image, (the area with all the “character”), is cropped away, and, of course, the perspective is different! Of course, the Helios-44-2 has a manual stop-down aperture operated by two rings ... quite usable, with practice, but just a little “clunky by todays standards, but worth the effort for the 8-blade aperture (early lenses have even more blades).
Later model lenses, 44M4, 44M6 etc (and 44K, yes it was available in K-mount), have only 6 blades, so possibly just a little bit “samey”, and the M42 lenses have only a fully automatic aperture, so either use it wide open or “make provision”, by jamming the pin in. Hiding in the middle of all these variants lies the 44M (no number), with an A/M switch and an 8-blade aperture.
Set the required aperture with the switch in A and the aperture stays open.
Focus in the normal way, then, with no fumbling or fiddling or counting clicks, with the eye still at the viewfinder, switch from A to M and the aperture closes down.
Take the picture in Av Mode and bingo, correctly exposed image

My first 44M is on “permanent loan” to my brother, who uses it on his EOS 5D Mk4 to great effect, so when I spied another in a local charity shop, complete with OEM lens-cap and non-functioning camera in an original leather case for £5 ... no argument!
It’s hardly any more clumsy to use than a K lens with the ‘green button’ in manual - (yes I know, the K-3iii can use a K lens in Av, but that’s an APS-C sensor and we’ve yet to see the K-1iii) If you’ve got a full-frame camera, try a Helios-44M, you’ll not regret it

Carl Zeiss Ultron 50mm F1.8

Reviewed by Senior Member Ray-uk

Review Date: July 15, 2026 Recommended | Price: $400.00 | Rating: 10

Pros: Cons: clickless aperture control
Sharpness: 10 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 8 Value: 9 Camera Used: Canon R7

I have had 3 different copies of this lens, all superb. Equal and superior to a lot of modern lenses but having a unique character. Having a crop camera I don’t find 50mm lenses are a particularly useful length so they don’t get as much use as they should. Consequently they were all resold to finance other ventures. Having said that I have just ordered another one.
A few words of warning. I bought my second copy at a knock down price because of internal dust. Having cleaned one before I didn’t consider that to be a problem, however once dismantled I proceeded to clean the internal glass surfaces with a cloth moistened with isopropanol to find that the dust wiped off easily together with most of the lens coating. It didn’t look nice but still performed quite well once reassembled, obviously time had had not been kind to this lens.

Pentax Cameras

Pentax K-r

Reviewed by Senior Member woody54

Review Date: July 13, 2026 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 9

Pros: Compact DSLR size, Menu, IQ, Durability Ease of Use
Cons: None comes to mind
Ergonomics: 10 Build Quality: 9 User Interface: 9 Autofocus: 8 Features: 9 Value: 9 Image Quality: 10 Noise: 7 New or Used: New

Celebrating my return to Pentax Forums. After multiple attempts have managed to reset password and rejoin the forum. After the near extinction of Pentax in my photographic life. Miraculously my Kr has been retrieved from the condemned box, given some CPR (camera revival practice) and appears to have resume functionality. Got the AF to work with the aid of a cotton bud and mentholated spirits. What has piqued my interest was a recent acquisition of a K-01. After a deep cull of camera gear l could no longer use some old favourites K and screw mount lenses.The PF in house K-01 review made mention of the Kr. Lemony Snickets may apply.

Comment of the Week:

Pentaxian jcdoss on What’s your fav thing about the Forums? The Best of Pentax Forums July 9 Poll: Definitely, it's the high quality membership here. Great people, a lot of whom I'd love to meet in person and tip an elbow with. Also special mention goes to the gear reviews (both official and user reviews), the K-1 images thread, the speculative banter threads, and especially the Daily-In Challenge. What a great exercise that Daily-In is, getting you out to use your Pentax gear every day and sharing images with other superb photographers. It's never too late tojoin... I recommend it to you all!

Do you collect photo books?

The Best of Pentax Forums July 16 Poll

As I was enjoying Roberta Kulber's beautiful new photo book, Cleveland Indie Bookstores, shot entirely with the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome, I realized that it has been a hot minute since I bought a photo book. I’ve lived in Dallas/Fort Worth since the 1990s, and used to regularly drop by the Half Price Books headquarters store and raid their photo book section.

Can’t remember the last time I did that.

How about you? Are you still buying photo books in print? Or do you do all your viewing these days on screens? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know in the comments how you do the voodoo you do so well!

This poll closes July 22.

And here's this week's PentaxForums YouTube video:

And here are the results of last week’s poll:

Weekly Photo Challenges

#746 Starburst effect / sunstars

Posted By: CristiC: Thanks to BertieK for choosing my image as the winner for Challenge #745. Next week’s theme is the starburst effect from point-sources of light, may that be from the sun during daylight or from artificial light sources at night. Count your aperture blades, dust off that gem of a SMC Pentax 15mm, if you have one, stop down to f/11 or f/16 and almost hide the sun behind some dark edge. Let it sparkle! This challenge will run until midnight next Friday, July 17th, 2026. That’s Friday midnight wherever your time zone is. The judging will hopefully take place until Sunday, July 19th.

And here’s the entry from Veteran Member Wylie:

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Pentaxian Profile - Giovanni Corona

By jphotography in Pentaxian Profiles on Sep 17, 2017

My name is Giovanni Corona. I was born in Carbonia, Sardinia (Italy) in the last days of 1982 and my passion for photography was born in 2009 with a series of basic old compact digital cameras (Nikon, Olympus, then Panasonic). In the middle of 2013 I switched to a bridge format camera, a Fujifilm Finepix HS30 EXR. This was a camera that introduced me to the more serious side of photography.

In the middle of 2014 I finally defined the kind of photography that I want to focus on: Landscape, in particular low light and macro photography. For this kind of photography I’ve made my choice of camera brand, namely Pentax. The choice had many reasons, but especially the build quality and the right feature set for this kind of photography stand out.

PentaxForum Front page stories July 9-15:

30th Anniversary Ricoh GR Coming Soon

Production run limited to 6000 units

By PF Staff in Pentax Announcements on Jul 11, 2026

Ricoh Imaging has announced the Ricoh GR IV 30th Anniversary Edition, a limited-quantity special edition camera commemorating 30 years since the launch of the original film compact camera RICOH GR1 in October 1996. The announcement was made on July 9, 2026, with a planned release of autumn 2026 and just 6,000 units available worldwide.

June “Pets and Other Animals” Contest Finalists Announced

Vote for the overall winner!

By PF Staff in Photo Contests on Jul 15, 2026

After the end of the nomination phase of last month’s official Pets or other Animals photo contest, we’re now ready to announce our top 15 finalists! Click on the link below to view the photos in full size and cast your vote in the poll:

Vote for your favorite photo in the poll

As usual for our monthly photo contests, voting closes in a week, and then we’ll announce the winners.

An excellent photo book shot with the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome

Book Review: Cleveland Indie Bookstores by Roberta Kulber

By cjfeola in Columns on July 16, 2026

Roberta Kulber's new book, Cleveland Indie Bookstores, is evidence that black & white photography is more powerful than ever in this neon age, and that bookstores and the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome go together like peanut butter and jelly.

On September 6, 2026—in just less than two months—PentaxForums.com will officially turn 20 years old. Soon, it will be time to celebrate! To mark this milestone, we are planning an extravaganza of giveaways, forum events, contests, deals, and special merch throughout the rest the year. In line with the occasion, our goal is to mak…

Read more

We’re in firework season, with the 250th Independence Day celebration in the United States and the World Cup…well, all over the world! Are you photographing fireworks? Loading up a camera with film and hope? Hand holding a digicam set to a crazy ISO? Vote in this week’s poll, and tell us in the comments how you do that vo…

Read more

Do you have an everyday carry camera setup? More than one? Or do you just grab whatever catches your fancy on the way out the door? I have three setups, each packed in a little sling bag with extra batteries and lens wipes and such. Overly complicated? Maybe. But it suits me; I’m an overly complicated gu…

Read more

Photography is all about the light. And the light is about to change. Sunday is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year. Every day in 2026 has been a little longer. Come Monday, every day will be a little shorter. The reverse is true south of the Equator. Every day in 2026 has been a little shorter…

Read more

It took Ansel Adams a decade of processing and printing to turn his one frame of film into the Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico into the seminal image we all know. Adams wrote and taught that photography was like classical music: the negative — these days, the RAW file — is the score, and the print is the performance.

Read more

A New York gallery has colorized Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, one of the seminal works for black & white photography. Lots of photographers are outraged.

I’m not.

The colorized version only proves the power of black & white photography. Without the connection to Adams’ masterpiece you’d n…

Read more

And then there were 4. We had 18 lenses last week in Round 2 of our little tournament; only 4 attracted votes in the double digits: SMC Pentax 28mm F2 “Hollywood;” SMC Pentax-A* 200mm F4 Macro ED; SMC Pentax-M 35mm F1.4; and the SMC Pentax 20mm F1.4. Frankly, I’d buy any and all of th…

Read more

One of my fav things about Pentax Forums is that I still learn stuff about Pentax here despite shooting Pentaxes since 1979. Last week I mentioned a unicorn, the almost mythical SMC Pentax 20mm F1.4, of which only seven prototypes were ever made.

Turns out there was another unicorn. …

Read more

I have a 7artisans 50mm F0.95. It’s a Leica Noctilux knockoff that marries modern CAD/CAM manufacturing techniques with half-century old classic designs like the Noctilux that were prohibitively expensive back in the day. For example aspherical elements that used to require painstaking hand…

Read more

The Pentax K-3 III Monochrome is an amazing camera. It’s also a complicated machine. I’ve daily driven one since it first came out. But Site Supporter Fenwoodian says in his review of the Pentax K-3 III Monochrome I really wanted to love this camera; but it’s the most complex and complicated camera I’ve ever owned (I …

Read more

Digital photographers trade JPEG film emulation recipes like contestants in a chili cookoff. Pentax being Pentax, the company has taken its own path rather than following old film emulsions. So while there are some common ones like the K-3 III’s Reversal Film and Monochrome Custom Image modes, the interesting on…

Read more

I’ve been using Photoshop since its early days on Fat Macs; newspapers were early adapters of digital darkrooms. And for years I’ve tweaked every single RAW file in Photoshop before using it; it was a reflex. These days I still keep my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome set to RAW+JPEG, but after a lot of tweaking of t…

Read more

I’ve just picked up an SMC PENTAX DA 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fish-Eye for my Pentax K-3 III Monochrome. Interestingly, while the 10mm end of things is suitably fishy, I find myself using it at 17mm quite a bit. It’s not really fishy, but it’s quite funky, what with the rectilinear distortion.

Maybe funky old lenses…

Read more

We have new hope for another Pentax dSLR after an interview with Kazunobu Saiki the head of the camera division at Pentax and Ricoh. It sure sounds like a new Pentax dSLR is on the way! But no hints as to whether it would be full frame or APS-C.

Do you care? Are you ride or die with full frame? APS-C? Or are you ride or die w…

Read more

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Diane Arbus’ Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, NYC. On the one hand, it’s a great photo that captures the intense emotions of childhood and the war like nature of boys. On the other hand, that didn’t happen. Arbus’ contact sheet shows she followed the boy around the p…

Read more

I’ve long been a fan of the great portraitists: Richard Avendon’s In the American West; Edward Weston’s nudes; Annie Leibovitz’s magazine covers; and most especially Diane Arbus’ work.

But I like Weston’s peppers even better than his nudes. And when I’m out seriously shooting I almost never point my camer…

Read more

Do you love your digicam? Do you have everything set ‘just so?’ Does it just fit your eye? Then should you buy a backup? You can argue that a new camera is better than your old broken model. Is that what you want? You can argue that the image quality of the K-3 III Colour is better – or worse, depending …

Read more

Site supporter markduq walks us through the creation of this award-winning photo with his Pentax K-1 Mark II and an HD Pentax-D FA 150 - 450mm F4.5-5.6 lens.

Elsewhere this week, JoelA let’s us know a sandstorm is coming; Loyal Site Supporter Henrico reviews the Sigma EX DG APO 500mm F4.5; and gatorguy shares a c…

Read more

There’s always a lot of talk here on the Forums about when Pentax cameras will be upgraded. Perhaps a better question is has digicam technology plateaued?

There was a time early in the digital camera age when each new model was a revelation. Hasn’t that time passed? The Pentax K-3 III is an amazing camera — I own the Monochrome…

Read more