Do you keep buying gear you’ll never use?
When Ricoh announced the GR III/x HDFs with their newly developed Highlight Diffusion Filters 18 months ago, I had a genius idea: instead of blowing a grand on Yet Another Camera I’d get a $39.99 K&F Concept 58mm Black Diffusion 1/8 Filter Mist Cinematic Effect Lens Filter! Genius! So I ordered it and put it in my bag and…I’m sure I’ll give it a try Real Soon Now (TM).
Or I can just accept the inevitable and put it in the bag with my complete set of never-used high-end round filters. Or the other bag with my complete never-used Cokin Filter System.
I keep buying filters because I like them in theory. I just don’t like actually using them. Do you use all the gear you buy, or do you have a closet jammed with unused light stands and tripods? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know why you do that voodoo you do so well in the comments!
Elsewhere in this week’s newsletter, Loyal Site Supporter Sholom objects to last week’s dueling reviews of the HD Pentax-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 Limited DC WR, and responds with a review of his own; New Member TrondA is enthused about the S-M-C/Super Takumar 28mm F3.5; and New Member 999999999 takes us lo-fi with his Qlomo approach, shooting the Pentax Q with the 03 Fisheye lens.
If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please take a moment to join the more than 1,500 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:
October 2, 2025 • Pentax Q • 3 replies • 410 views
999999999 said — As any Q aficionado knows, despite the camera’s diminutive stature, it can produce some beautiful imagery (especially if you know how to edit the raws!). That is nice and all, but what has interested me lately has been taking “advantage” of the Q’s teeny tiny sensor to produce the “worst” possible photos.
What does this mean? and what does it look like? I will share some example photos attached to this post to illustrate my point. My preferred lens for this look is the 03 FISHEYE lens. Read more »
Race to bottom in creative photography: many of us are loaded with money
October 4, 2025 • General Photography • 51 replies • 1674 views
bittertruth said — Curse of being rich and corporations fully aware of our impulse to buy something new, different, irrespective whether we will use them or not. They introduce new gears after every six months. We just jump to buy them, without evaluating pros and cons. Hardly ask ourselves, how many images I have taken lately? How many images I have printed and showed to others? How many of them I shared in social media? Read more »
LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE! Nikon Ai 28mm f2.8 VS Olympus G.Zuiko 28mm f3.5
October 5, 2025 • Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras • 14 replies • 465 views
Driline said — Ok so not quite a wrestling match but I was bored. I decided to see if there was any real life non scientific appreciable difference between my Nikon and Olympus 28mm lenses. Yes the Olympus sports a 3.5 f stop compared to Nikons 2.8 but those are the lenses I own so I decided to compare them anyway. Read more »
Pentaxian User Reviews
Pentax Lenses
S-M-C/Super Takumar 28mm F3.5
Reviewed by New Member TrondA
Review Date: October 2, 2025 Recommended | Price: $60.00 | Rating: 9
Pros: Solidly built. Good color reproduction. Very sharp stopped down. Minimal chromatic aberration and coma.
Cons: Typical old wide-angle lens with very visible vignetting on a digital camera with an adapter. (MUCH better on a film camera as it was intended to be used.)
Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 8 Bokeh: 8 Handling: 10 Value: 9
M42 Takumar are legendary lenses almost anyhow. The build quality is the best I’ve found on any old lens. As for the 28/3.5, there’s little point in paying extra or spending a lot of time finding SMC versions. I have both versions. Regular Super-Takumar is plenty good enough!
HD Pentax-DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 Limited DC WR
Reviewed by Loyal Site Supporter Sholom
Review Date: October 1, 2025 Recommended | Rating: 9
Pros: Colors, Build Quality, Style, Weather Sealing, IQ
Cons: Limited Focal Range, Weight
Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 9 Autofocus: 8 Handling: 10 Value: 10 New or Used: New Camera Used: K-5
I feel like two recent reviews are writing about a completely different lens than my 20-40, perhaps because my reference point is the old 16-50 SDM, but I also own the 43, 70 SMC, and 100 so I know what good primes are. I own and regularly use both the 20-40 and 16-50 SDM. The 20-40 runs rings around the 16-50 in contrasty light situations, especially tree branches against a bright blue sky. The 20-40 has fewer abberations than the 16-50 and is better behaved than the 70 SMC in slightly overexposed areas of images. I bought it as a travel lens to replace the 16-50 when my shoulders started complaining about the weight of my kit and have no regrets about that purchase. My copy is sharpest in the 20-30mm range, but is still quite good at 40, albeit with the same slight loss of contrast that my 16-50 has at 50. I don’t own the 18-135, but the copy of that lens that I got to try out came nowhere close to the sharpness, contrast, and colors of the 20-40. Compared to the 16-50 or the 55-300 WR that I also own, the 20-40 on the K-5 weighs nothing in comparison.The WR alone would make this lens a better choice for me than the 21 and 40 combined. These reviews make me wonder if there have been quality control problems lately. My copy easily earns the Limited designation.
Third-Party Pentax Lenses
MIR-47M / 47K 20mm F2.5
Reviewed by Junior Member Landscape_with_K1
Review Date: October 4, 2025 Recommended | Price: None indicated | Rating: 9
Pros: image quality, bokeh when focused close Cons: flares
Sharpness: 9 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 9 Handling: 8 Value: 9 Camera Used: K-1
Noticed that there are not many reviews of this rare lens so wanted to add my first experience from using this lens for a few days. This lens is not without quirks! You have not really experienced flare before you have used this lens. Also the focusing is a bit of a pain, but using the zoomed live view, still quite doable.
However, the lens is suprisingly good IQ-wise. Stopped down, You can get extremely sharp images comparable to those of modern, more expensive lenses. Where it really shines is separating foreground and background when used wide open.
Giving a mark for a lens like this is difficult. My number 9 means it is very good in its own category, and can produce images which are on par with modern glass.
Comment of the Week:
Site Supporter ramseybuckeye on What happens to your photos when you’re gone? The Best of Pentax Forums Oct 1 Poll: Is it me or are these polls getting a little morbid, I’m getting a little scared to carry my Pentax pointed stick thinking I may fall on it and be impaled.
Do you keep buying closet queen gear?
The Best of Pentax Forums October 8 Poll
I keep buying filters. I just never seem to use them. When Ricoh announced the GR III/x HDFs with their newly developed Highlight Diffusion Filters 18 months ago, I had a genius idea: instead of blowing a grand on Yet Another Camera I’d get a $39.99 K&F Concept 58mm Black Diffusion 1/8 Filter Mist Cinematic Effect Lens Filter! Genius! So I ordered it and put it in my bag and…I’m sure I’ll give it a try Real Soon Now (TM).
Or I can just accept the inevitable and put it in the bag with my complete set of never-used high-end round filters. Or the other bag with my complete never-used Cokin Filter System.
I keep buying filters because I like them in theory. I just don’t like actually using them. It made sense at first when I was a young photojournalist. All my more experienced colleagues carried filters, so I bought them, too. Then I decided that a zillion round filters in a million sizes plus a kajillion step up/step down adapters was just too much fuss, and bought a whole Cokin system. Which I also didn’t use.
I DID use the solar eclipse filters during the solar eclipse, mainly because I couldn’t figure out how to otherwise photograph the event without setting my head on fire. I’m sure I’ll use them again during the next North American solar eclipse.
On August 23, 2044.
Do you have this problem too? Do you only buy gear you use? Or do you have a million monopods new in box? A phalanx of fisheyes? A belfry stuffed with bags? Vote in this week’s poll, and let us know why you do that voodoo you do so well in the comments!
This poll closes October 14.
And here are the results of last week’s poll:
Weekly Photo Challenges
Project 52-13-41: Backlighting, 10/5 - 10/12 (Sunday):
This week we’re putting the light behind the star of the show. Backlighting can turn hair into halos, leaves into stained glass, and everyday objects into glowing works of art. Play with silhouettes, flares, and that magical rim of light that makes everything look a little cinematic… and most of all, have fun!
And here’s the entry from Site Supporter ramseybuckeye: I was unavailabler to shoot last week, but this week I’ll get in early. I only shot for this challenge today with the K-3III and DA 35/2.4
A Walk Down Memory Lane
Pentax 17 First Impressions Review
744 images. 11 rolls of film. 8 film stocks. 1 great camera
By cjfeola in Hands-On Tests on Sep 6, 2024
This June, Pentax announced its first new film camera in decades, and began shipping the Pentax 17 half-frame 35mm camera a few weeks later. The camera has been such a hit that Pentax has struggled to meet the demand for, with backorders world-wide. The 17 already has a Top Seller badge at B&H. Just want the bottom line? Here it is: When it came time to return the review unit I bought my own Pentax 17.
PentaxForum Front page stories Oct 1-7:
Announcing “Panorama” - Our Oct 2025 Photo Contest
Win prizes in our official monthly photo contests
By PF Staff in Photo Contests on Oct 1, 2025
We’re herewith announcing our monthly photo contest for October. The theme for this month is Panorama.
Submit photographs that capture expansive scenes with a wide-angle perspective. Entries should have a minimum aspect ratio of 2:1 and convey a sense of scale, depth, or grandeur. Subjects may include landscapes, cityscapes, architecture, or any wide-format composition that immerses the viewer in the scene. Creativity in framing, stitching, or presentation is encouraged. Good luck!
First prize is a $50 gift card to B&H Photo, second prize is a one year forum account upgrade, and third prize is a box of photo paper form Red River.
The official contest rules are found here. Click here to submit a photo for the contest.
In-depth Review of the Pentax 17 Film Camera
Film makes a unique comeback!
By bdery in Review Announcements on Oct 5, 2025
Today, we’re happy to present our in-depth review of the Pentax 17 camera!
The Pentax 17 marks a modern return to film photography and is the first release of a film camera from any of the main manufacturers in nearly two decades. With its compact, solid body, half-frame vertical images, and limited controls, the Pentax 17 lets the user focus on the experience rather than the technical aspects of film photography.
Therefore, testing such a camera cannot be done exactly as we normally do at PentaxForums. Still, we tackled this review with the same rigor and thoughtfulness as always. Read the Pentax 17 Review for our thoughts on this unique film camera!