Any Pentax DSLR users here?

[Tan Zhi Qi]

Hi everyone, 

I'm looking into getting a DSLR to attach it to my SW 130pds to do AP. Currently I've looked into the Pentax 5k-iis and Pentax ks-2. Can't decide which one to get. Perhaps anyone here have any good suggestions? 

TIA and clear skies!

[astroenthusiast]

Nice! Hope to see astroimages from you soon!

[Tan Zhi Qi]

@astroenthusiast sure! Thanks! 

[happy-kat]

Any particular reason for looking at Pentax

[Marvin Jenkins]

Back in the day I use to look at Pentax with envious eyes. As far as Astro is concerned I feel a little handicapped in that I started the Astro journey already owning Nikon.

It seems that for AP the whole sport is based around Canon. Before people start shouting at me, I know some great images have been taken with non Canon DSLRs. However the main infrastructure of DSLR AP is Canon.

If Canon were a planet, then it would be Jupiter. You may get great results, but if the solar system analogy stands up to scrutiny, why pick Mars. 

Marv

[Gfamily]

Yes, I've used Pentax dSLRs for astro imaging and I reckon they're pretty good. I have a K5 that I'm pleased with - though I'm not a great astro imager.  

The principle reason I would give to support anyone going for Pentax would be the longevity of the design - any K mount camera will be able to take almost any K mount lens from the last 45-50 years, and for much nightscape imaging, you don't need auto anything, so good old glass can be used, and they can often be bought for very keen prices.  

Other than that, I really appreciate the ergonomics, and the sensors are pretty good too (particularly those that are ISO invariant).

I would say that if you are looking to do imaging straight onto the camera, then a Pentax with an intervalometer is an ideal set up - though it has to be said that if you are looking to integrate your camera with a laptop, you probably would be better going with Canon, as the software environment is far better for that brand. 

Declaration of interest: I started with a K1000 in the 1970s, progressed to the absolutely superb ME Super, and the P30 as film cameras. 

Following this, the K100 D was my first digital SLR, which was followed by the K5 (this after a recommendation by Ian Morison from Jodrell Bank). What is nice is that the K5 works very well with the original 50mm f/2 lens that came with the K1000, as well as a lovely 200mm f/4 lens that I got for a song on ebay. 

So I am a bit of a classic Pentaxian - it's a nice place to be.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Gfamily

[Tan Zhi Qi]

@happy-kat a friend suggested that. He used Pentax for AP and got pretty good results. The astro tracker features also seems quite useful.

 

[Tan Zhi Qi]

@Marvin Jenkins What Canon DSLR would you recommend, I'm tight with budget 😅

[Marvin Jenkins]

I am probably not the person to ask as I use a Nikon. Great cameras and I have had some great results, however I use it in it’s simplest form, ie not connected to a computer.

I have been looking at a future move to Canon and the 6D seems to be very popular. When I do make the jump I will get mine Astro modded by a professional.

Marv

[happy-kat]

Second hand the canon 600d is quite popular and the articulated screen is useful. Depends what the budget range is.

Talking of k mount lenses I have one I use of my canon 1100d plus several old m42 mount lenses.

[dmki]

I have a Pentax 3ii and i really like it... as a DSLR camera, it is amazing value for money particularly is you value water resistance and being able to take low light indoor photos without flash,  Iit has a sensor sensitivity few canons come near. In principle it is very good for astrophotography, even comes with a built in, but temperamental, star tracker and i got some really nice beginners photos this jan/feb with a sw 80ed using an intervalometer.  And if this is all you want pentax is not  a bad choice.

However the problems start when you want to go beyond using an intervalometer and start to make use of all that software thats out there, EKOS and kstars in my case. the software support for pentax is almost non-existent as pentax seem to want it that way. there are reverse engineered drivers but i have yet to get the to work my k3 and to be honest I am not willing to put the time in as i am going over to dedicated astrocams.

I would personally say if you want to do astrophotography with dslr, go for canon its got the best software and hardware support and at the end of the day that is more important than the quality of the sensor because  if you have to constantly fight it to get it working, you won't use it

Edited July 10, 2021 by dmki

[GeoffM54]

On 24/06/2021 at 23:18, Gfamily said:

Yes, I've used Pentax dSLRs for astro imaging and I reckon they're pretty good. I have a K5 that I'm pleased with - though I'm not a great astro imager.  

The principle reason I would give to support anyone going for Pentax would be the longevity of the design - any K mount camera will be able to take almost any K mount lens from the last 45-50 years, and for much nightscape imaging, you don't need auto anything, so good old glass can be used, and they can often be bought for very keen prices.  

Other than that, I really appreciate the ergonomics, and the sensors are pretty good too (particularly those that are ISO invariant).

I would say that if you are looking to do imaging straight onto the camera, then a Pentax with an intervalometer is an ideal set up - though it has to be said that if you are looking to integrate your camera with a laptop, you probably would be better going with Canon, as the software environment is far better for that brand. 

Declaration of interest: I started with a K1000 in the 1970s, progressed to the absolutely superb ME Super, and the P30 as film cameras. 

Following this, the K100 D was my first digital SLR, which was followed by the K5 (this after a recommendation by Ian Morison from Jodrell Bank). What is nice is that the K5 works very well with the original 50mm f/2 lens that came with the K1000, as well as a lovely 200mm f/4 lens that I got for a song on ebay. 

So I am a bit of a classic Pentaxian - it's a nice place to be.

I Have been down the same route, k1000, me super, p30, K5.  I have used my k5 on a 80mm helios spotting scope for terrestrial stuff, the scope has a t-threaded eyepiece, decent results.  I've just got back in to astronomy after a long spell without any equipment, but picked up a used celestron 130slt for a great price, and will be looking to do some imaging with it, although I will probably have to get an equatorial mount to replace the slt goto mount at some point when funds allow.

[wimvb]

I too am a Pentax fan. I used a pentax dslr (k20 d) up until a few years ago. I found that the unmodded camera had decent Ha sensitivity, compared to many Canon models. But as others have said already, there's not much software wise that you can use to control the camera. There used to be a generic driver for INDI, but I'm not sure that is supported or maintained any longer.

As a side note, I had to hack the camera firmware in order to shut off the automatic dark subtraction which turned on for longer exposures, in principle doubling the exposure time. Also, intervalometers have batteries that don't last very long (at least not in the cold). Finally, my camera had amp glow that couldn't be calibrated out. That, and the lack of software made the switch to a cooled astro camera very easy (I never really considered Canon).