MY PHOTO EQUIPMENT:

I started using Pentax cameras and lenses in high school, beginning with the famous K-1000 and a 55mm lens. After falling out of photography for many years, I began my comeback with a second-hand ME-Super. At that point I was buying Pentax gear mostly out of habit, because that's what I had always known, so it was really just a coincidence when Pentax, coming relatively late to the digital game, produced a camera better suited to my personal needs than anything else on the market.

The ist-D 6-megapixel DSLR could almost have been designed for me. It's small and light by DSLR standards. Its 6-megapixel resolution was standard for the day and its image quality is still more than good enough for most applications. Given my love of mountains and hiking, its ruggendess is a necessity for my photography, and its use of ubiquitous AA batteries for power has saved me on many an occasion. (For example, when my rechargable NiMH batteries died in the middle of a bicycling trip in France I was able to pick up some AA lithium batteries at the first village shop I came to — way out in the countryside with nothing but farms around.)

Now I'm using the K10D as my main camera, with 10-megapixel resolution and built in image stabilization (or shake reduction, as Pentax calls their version) that works even on my 30-year-old manual-focus lenses.

Most of my cameras and lenses are Pentax. Their lenses are of the highest optical quality though I do use a couple of third-party lenses for specific needs.

Pentax's compatibility of new and old cameras and lenses is unequalled in the photo industry: My 15mm f/3.5 lens from 1975 works on the latest digital cameras and I often use the legendary 43mm f/1.9 and 31mm f/1.8 Limited lenses (two of the finest lenses made for any 35mm camera) on my ~1978 Pentax MX.

Below are thumbnail images and brief descriptions of my photo gear. Of course, this page is out of date at the moment — I've added and changed quite a bit of equipment and haven't had time to update this page. (Soon, I promise.) I'm using the Pentax K10D as my main camera now and I've added three more Pentax Limited lenses.
Click the first image to start a detailed tour or just scroll down and read the basics.

Pentax K10D

Pentax ist-D

I'm shooting a lot of my work digitally now and The Pentax ist-D has an odd name but produces first-rate images with its 6-megapixel sensor. I like to go to wild, hard-to-reach places for nature photography so this camera has a number of appealing characteristics: It's small, light, ruggedly built and doesn't require special, proprietary batteries that you can only find at specialty photo stores.

Medium Format: Pentax 645

I wanted the benefits of larger film without excessive size and weight, but without sacrificing durability and reliability. The Pentax 645 proved to be just the ticket. It's shown here with the 45mm f/2.8 lens but I also have the 75mm f/2.8 and the 200mm f/4.0 (a pack with a 645 body and these 3 lenses can still hold a 35mm camera and a couple of lenses without being too heavy). I do all my black & white film shooting with this camera, using Ilford film.

Lenses

Pentax FA*80-200 f/2.8 This is one of my most-used lenses. Optically the equal of many top-quality primes.		Pentax FA*28-70 f/2.8 The "little brother" of the 80-200/2.8.
Pentax FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited Quite simply the finest lens I have ever used, bar none.		Pentax 77mm f/1.8 Limited .
Pentax 43mm f/1.9 Limited Pentax's Limited series of lenses boast the finest optics and mechanical construction of any autofocus lenses made.		Pentax 21mm f/3.2 Limited
Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 A modern day classic, the 50mm f/1.4 is very sharp, fast and supremely versatile.		Pentax FA28 f/2.8AL This lens is probably Pentax's best-kept secret: It's very sharp, reasonably fast and not very expensive. Sadly, it's out of production now. If you see one for sale buy it!
Pentax FA*24 f/2.0 One of my favorite wide angles. The wide maximum aperture makes framing & focusing easy, even in low-light conditions.		Pentax FA20 f/2.8 This lens is available in optically-identical autofocus and manual focus versions. I have the autofocus lens. Startlingly high resolution.
Pentax 15 f/3.5 A superb ultra-wide lens. Good on a digital SLR, amazing on film! 15mm is really wide and lots of fun to use :-)		Pentax F100 f/2.8 Macro Ultra-sharp and capable of life-size (1:1) reproduction without extension tubes or supplementary lenses.
Sigma EX300/2.8 APO A great fast telephoto that's fairly small and light for a 300/2.8. Teriffic for motorsports and wildlife photography.		Pentax FA 24-90/3.5-4.5 One of those lenses that does the job of many. Not particularly fast, but very good optics for a lens in its class. Makes a great package with a film or digital camera.
Pentax DA*16-50 f/2.8 A fast, sharp, ultra-wide zoom that's weather sealed for use in harsh conditions.		Pentax DA10-17 f/3.5-4.5 Fisheye What a great idea: A fisheye zoom! The angle of view at its extremes changes much more than you would expect from the focal length limits. And the barrel distoryion for which fisheyes are known gets significantly less pronounced towards the longer end. This really lets you dial in the amount of "fisheye effect" to suite your needs.
Pentax 50 f/1.4 One of the all-time great 50mm lenses. Beautiful metal and glass construction with superbly-machined focusing helicoid. Still the standard for sharpness and bokeh. Wonderful on my K2 and a great portrait lens on my ist-D.		Vivitar 70-210 f/2.8-4 Series 1 One of the legendary lenses that really is as good as its legend. Because Pentax DSLR's are compatible with older manual focus lenses this zoom is still highly sought after by Pentax users. Details on my Vivitar 70-210 page.
Old But Not in the Way: Classic Film Cameras
Pentax MX One of my all-time favorite cameras. Small, light and solid (one of the last of the all-metal, mechanical SLR's), it was the first Pentax camera built specifically for professionals. There is a wide variety of accessories available: A 2 fps winder, 5 fps motor drive, many different focusing screens (which are easily user-interchangable), etc. Despite its manual-focus, manual-exposure limitations, I'll never part with mine! It even inspired me to start my Pentax service manual page.		Pentax K2 The Pentax K2 represents a blast from the past but still turns out great images. It's built like a tank and is simple and easy to operate, with a minimum of frills. It has autoexposure (aperture-preferred), depth-of-field preview and a manual mirror lock-up (for sharper images at low shutter speeds).
Flash
Sigma EF-500 DG Super A high-power flash with full P-TTL metering compatibility - useful on the MZ-S and essential on the ist-D. The wireless off-camera flash sync is a real treat to use and a lot of fun. Flash heas swivels and tilts and zooms for coverage of lenses out to 17mm. An outstanding product.		Pentax AF280-T This flash has been in Pentax's line-up for years and is still worth getting. It uses the older analog-protocol for TTL metering (so it works with my 645 medium format camera) and can be switched into manual or standard auto-flash mode (for my MX and K2 film cameras). The MZ-S is backward compatible with it, too :-)

Filters, etc.

   I have a variety ofselection of filters, but in this digital age, the only ones I use with any frequency are the polarizer and the split neutral-density filters (ND grad). (I use Hi-Tech ND grads in a Cokin holder.) Most of my filters are in the 77mm thread size: they will attach directly to my 17-35 and 80-200 zooms and to my other lenses with a filter adapter.

   There are those who will tell you that there's no need for a split neutral density filter with digital because you can combine two or more different exposures of the same scene in Photoshop. Personally, I always prefer to get as close as possible to the finished image in camera as I can. This is expecially true when taking shots which I'm going to combine in a multi-image panorama.

   I also usually carry a short extension tube (upper left in the photo) when I don't have the macro lens with me.

You Can Take it With You

   How do I carry all this stuff? Well, I don't ever have everything listed above but I can haul a lot of it with my Lowe Pro Photo Trekker AW backpack. I've done hikes with most of the 35mm gear above except the Vivitar 70-210 and the K2. Occasionally I leave out the 300/2.8 and one 35mm body and add the 645 and a couple of lenses. I keep a Gore-Tex jacket bungeed to one side of the pack and carry the tripod on the other. Sometimes I'll reduce the amount of gear inside the pack to accommodate food, water and rain pants.

Small and Light

When I'm packing light I have a lightweight kit that sacrifices no quality and little versatility for most of the work I do. It's built around the Pentax ist-D (without the optional battery grip) and the 43mm f/1.9 Limited lens described above. For a wide angle I use the Pentax 21mm f/3.2 Limited. The telephoto is an old Vivitar 70-210 f/2.8-4.0 Macro Zoom which has become something of a cult item - very expensive when first made and still much sought after. It also serves as a macro lens, offering magnification ratios up to 1:2.5: extremely useful in this compact kit and a two-element close-up diopter takes it to around 1:1. (For more information, see my Vivitar 70-210 Series 1 page.) To carry this kit, I love the Tamrac Velocity 7 camera bag: They call it a "sling pack" because it's sort of a cross between a normal camera bag and a back pack.

   An strong, light Gitzo Mountaineer G1127 Mk II carbon fiber tripod rounds out the kit.

   Other essentials: Good quality hiking boots and socks. Don't leave home without them!

Computer Gear

   A lot of my photography is done digitally now, but the overwhelming majority of my color printing has been done done digitally for many years now. Ordinary chemical printing offers nowhere near the tonal control of paper selection of digital and just doesn't compare in my book (at least as far as color photography is concerned; I'm still a big fan of silver gelatin printing for black & white).

My prints are made on an Epson 2200, using archival, wide-gamut Ultrachrome inks. My favorite paper is Hahnemuhle William Turner Fine Art Paper (formerly Ilford Fine Art), which is a 100% acid-free, cotton-rag paper with a beautiful matte surface almost like watercolor paper. I also use Epson Enhanced Matte paper, for a lot of prints. It's much less expensive than the Hahnemuhle fine art paper, but still 100% cotton rag and completely acid-free, for excellent archival properties.

   My 35mm slides are scanned on a Kodak RFS 3600 film scanner (it can also scan color negative film, but I always shoot slides when I'm using film). I usually scan its highest resolution, 3600 dpi, in 48-bit color mode. Scanning at 16-bits per color (48 bit RGB color) offers the greatest latitude and yields prints without visible artifacts, even if extensive level and color adjustments are necessary. After adjustments in Adobe Photoshop are complete, the image is converted to 24-bit mode for archiving and printing.

   My medium format work is scanned on a Minolta Dimage Scan-Multi II. It's limited to 1125 dpi resolution with medium format, but I can scale up to about double the file's original dimensions with Genuine Fractals and produce excellent results at print sizes up to 12 x 16 inches. When I need larger print and file sizes I send medium format slides out for individual drum scanning.