GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

Here a semi-long explanation for a simple question.

I've got two Pentax cameras with black bodies, the older has a Pentax battery grip, BG, and works great to this day. The younger body has a 3rd party BG. After a year and 1/2, it failed on me. I guess the quality just isn't in some 3rd party things.

I took the BG off the newer body and have been having problems since missing a few shots here and there. *(If you remember, I just asked about a glue so I could add a "cap" on the shutter button. That was in attempts to remedy my problem.) Yes, I do have large hands, (size 2X gloves).

Without the BG a major problem has been lining up my index finger to the shutter button. You might think that is crazy although it's not. When I held the camera with the BG, I could hold it completely with three fingers and thumb all lined up and ready to push the button. Without the BG, I end up holding the body with only about 2 fingers plus thumb with the little finger only able to go under everything. For about less than a couple hours, no problems. Needless to say, after a few hours, my fingers gets weaker and sags a touch. That is why I miss some shots when I push on the ring around the shutter button.

In the near future I hope to obtain a Pentax K-1 and get a BG for it. Now I'm wondering about the Pentax K-1 Limited Silver DSLR Camera with Battery Grip. They're both fairly close to the same overall price.

The Silver Limited model is something I've never seen in person so I can't tell about the quality of the finish.


My questions:

Can anyone tell me if the new Silver limited models are built with the same finish as the older analog cameras?

Is the finish durable and not something like the cheap plastic silver that wears out after a year or two?

or

Should I just go for the black body and add a BG on it?

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

I haven’t seen one, either, but I suggest calling the sales department at B&H Photo and asking them the question in a diplomatic fashion. You’d be pretty sure to get a straight answer.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Go to Walmart or your sporting goods store and buy a tube of rubber handballs. Then at night while you are watching TV or listening to your stereo, spend an hour or so sqeezing a handball to strengthen your hands. Its easy, it’s very inexpensive and it is helpful.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Good idea - and it helps with arthritic joints.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

I have the black K-1 but have never seen the silver edition. I haven't been able to find a lot of detail about the finish except the following statement by Ricoh, the current owner of Pentax:

"We applied a luxurious silver paint to the camera body and battery grip. In addition, the camera comes with specially designed details, including a limited metal hot shoe cover with a logo attached."

That's from an announcement on Pentaxforums: https://www.pentaxforums.com/articles/pentax-news/pentax-k-1-limited-silver-officially-announced.html#ixzz4vlhxFPqM

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

I can not answer for Pentax but I have bought "silver" lenses in the past from other manufacturers and no more. They scratch easily and lose value in the resale because of it. It's hard to convince buyers that the lenses weren't abused. The "silver" cameras that I have purchased scratched too but less so. The Pentax silver version is beautiful but I would not be tempted because of my previous experiences. One could argue that black lenses scratch too but at least you can't see it.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

When you talk about "older analog" cameras, I'm guessing you're talking about the style that was common through the mid-1980's, as exemplified by the camera on the left in the picture below; even before the auto-focus age, Canon had hired a professional, whose T-90 changed camera design, perhaps forever. In the picture below, the middle camera is my last film camera, one I purchased in 1995, but stylistically it has much more in common with the {blue} digital camera I purchased in 2015 than with the film camera that preceded it by only eleven years.

In the older design, the entire body is made of metal, but some of it is covered by something. The camera on the left was my primary camera for eleven years; the metal shows some "brassing", and I really ought to clean it, but it is in relatively good shape. I should mention that neither the middle camera {used eleven years} nor the blue camera {on its third year} shows scratching unless you look for it, so I also have no problem with the "space age plastics" used in recent years.

I'm not quite sure what material is used for the "silver" {really silver-and-black} variant of the KP; I'm thinking that in both the case of my blue K-30 and the KP, they added color to the material before they formed the body, so the color would go more than skin deep.

The K-1 may be a completely different thing. I am hearing that the special "silver" editions of Pentax "flagship" cameras are collector items in Japan; people purchase them for display, not for use, so the silver well could be paint that could wear unpleasantly.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

I've had several silver finished analog cameras and they get used. With exception of wearing out two different Nikon shutters, all of them never really went bad or indicated having allot of wear.

The silver colored cameras and lenses for that matter, look good but I use my equipment for sports, nature, events, and being "creative". It depends on the reason but I only average about 300 shots a week.

I want durable. Pentax has always been known for that internally and the black on the outside. I don't want a camera that is mainly a collector's piece if you catch my drift. Black would be the safer choice.