Round One

So maybe more than a day has passed since I started yakking about getting a real camera. Things happen, especially this time of year.

But now that you've had a chance to think about it I am sure you have come to the same conclusion, you need a real camera.

So where to start?

The good news is digital cameras are changing faster than a chameleon on a paisley tie, what was new yesterday is obsolete today, unless you actually want to take photographs.

If you want a camera to impress your neighbors and expose yourself to break-ins and snatch and grab in the streets go ahead and buy that brand new Nikon or Canon. Then make sure your insurance is up to date.

But if you are serious about taking pictures then you don't need a brand new camera.

Here's an important fact, electronics work or they don't. Now a car with a hundred and fifty thousand miles has had a lot of wear and tear, but camera with forty or fifty thousand shutter activations is just settling in. (Shutter activations are the miles on the odometer for a camera) If it works when you get it the odds are it will continue to work for longer than you will have it or maybe even live.

When I got my first DSLR I didn't know these things so I bought a camera with forty thousand shutter activations on the clock. That's not bad and my Pentax K-x is doing just fine thank you very much, but when I bought the second K-x for the Long Sufferin I got one with four thousand activations and it will probably outlive both of us. In the meantime my old camera now has forty-seven thousand clicks on the shutter and is showing no signs of breaking down.

So buying a used two or three generations old camera is not risky, it's just good economics.

Why did I chose a Pentax and not a Nikon or Canon?

The number one reason was the K-x is powered by four AA batteries. There is nothing more annoying or defeating than grabbing your camera only to find out that the battery is dead. This usually happens when you are far away from home and the charger. No charger, no camera, but you can buy double A's at any 7-11. So when the power goes dead, you can be back up in a flash.

Now there were other reasons. Pentax is an old establish name in cameras but it has never achieved the public recognition which Nikon and Canon enjoy. Not good for Pentax stockholders but very good for you. The average cost of a Pentax at any level is forty to sixty percent less than the high priced spread and the camera takes pictures of equal or superior quality. (Also it is built like a tank, I took a header and hit my front porch with the camera between me and the porch. The camera never missed a lick. The porch was fine too but I had a very sore rib or two for a coupla weeks. I don't recommend this method of testing ruggedness. Just take my word for it the Pentax can take a licking and keep on ticking.)

And Pentax has been in the business of making cameras and lenses since the fifties so there is a whole world of compatible lenses for the camera. Sure you won't want to have a flock of lenses hanging around but you will want to be able to try one or two out to see where your eye fits. (Yes, eyes fit. Mine has always been specific so I like long lenses but many people like wide angle views. They are great for landscapes, sunsets and cheating the focus. {Yes, you can cheat the focus. A wide angle lens will keep everything in focus most of the time so you won't have to fight the autofocus to get the image sharp. Course I like long lenses cause they wash out most everything but the object you focus on, so you takes your pick})

There are many more reasons for choosing a Pentax, but lets just keep things simple. You can get a camera for under two hundred dollars, lenses are wildly available and they are cheap and the cameras are rugged. I found a 28-70mm wide-angle for twelve dollars so try that with a Nikon.

And even though the K-x is a few generation old, it is a twelve megapixel camera and that is more than enough if you have the big, fat megapixels in a DSLR and not the sad, sorry and tiny megapixels in your phone. You can make mural sized prints if need be and 11x14's will look like a professional photographer shot them so when you take the picture of the Thing on the Couch being eaten by the bear he surprised taking out the trash Sunday night you could get a full page in National Geographic.

And you do know that now is the time to look but not to buy? It's Christmas! People are screaming and waving money and fighting with teeth and toenails to get the goodies for Aunt Martha even though Aunt Martha has a boy-toy in Aruba and is sunbathing nekkid so that the expensive breast augmentation she treated herself to gets lots of attention and she doesn't have all those pesky tan lines and what if she can land a younger island guy with dark curly hair and a body tight enough to bounce quarters off and no Facebook page to tell the PTA back home what she has been doing over the holiday.

So leave Aunt Martha alone, she's paid her dues and deserves some recreation in her golden years and so what if she comes home with a new tattoo and her navel pierced. Grandma Harriet isn't going to see her in that micro bikini at the family Christmas party unless those missing tan lines turn out really good and Martha decides to throw caution to the wind and dance the marimba in nothing but her ugly Christmas sweater but then you'd really need a new camera to catch the evidence which you would have if you had paid attention to me last Christmas and now there's Martha in nothing but two yards of wool and a smile and you have nothing to capture the image with except your phone which you don't actually have cause the kid swiped it when the battery in his phone died cause he was bored spitless and talked all through the Christmas dinner and annoyed Uncle Bosco who was trying to watch the USC vs Slippery Rock game on the wide screen so there you have it why miss a chance to catch Aunt Martha in the all togethers?

Don't be caught empty handed, research that camera now and when the holiday is over and all of the sales come singing their siren song you'll know just which camera you want!