Gryphon Studios

My equipment.

My first SLR was a Pentax KM - the first Pentax bayonet cameras. This I bought with a 50mm f1.4, perfect lens! I added a K2 a year later and got a 135mm f3.5 telephoto lens. Shortly after I got myself a 28mm f3.5 shift lens - a rare piece of equipment I still own.

Not long after I sold the KM and bought myself an MX, one of the smallest and lightest SLRs ever, with a 50mm f1.7 lens. I added a 500mm f8 mirror lens the same year. A 28-80mm f3.5-4.5 zoom lens soon followed.

The years took their toll on the cameras. The K2 got stolen in Spain and the MX bounced down the Spanish Steps in Rome. This prompted a shopping spree which resulted in an MZ-5n with a 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 zoom. I still have it somewhere. I also bought a 70-200mm f4-5.6 autozoom.

The next few years I toyed with digital photography. I travelled with my SLR and a compact digital. After two or so years I realised I was sold on digitals so I bought a K100D with an 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 and kept it for over a year. I sold it to a friend and bought myself a K20D with an 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 zoom quickly followed by a 10-17mm f3.5-4.5 zoom and an AF-360FGZ flash, an AF-540GZ flash followed months after. I was set for life… or so I thought! A friend sold me his unused Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3, a great sports lens, something I tend to do a bit of! Still not happy I sent off for a FA 50mm f1.4 – beautiful bokeh - and something I had never owned, a macro lens, the DFA 100mm f2.8 WR macro.

Fast forward to September 2012 when I decided to buy a K5 body with battery grip. This was closely followed by a 'Weather Resistant' Pentax DA 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 lens. This should have kept me happy for a while... till June 2016 when the K5 was sold, replaced by a new K3 with battery grip, happy days!

However, life is never easy, the K3 with the 18-135 lens had an unfortunate accident and were promptly succeeded by the K3 II, DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR lens and the DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED WR lens. 

I thought I was set, but then into my life walked a fellow photographer and we got speaking and the upshot was I ended up buying a mirror-less, Pentax Q-S1 with the 02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm F2.8-4.5 (equivalent to 27.5 to 83mm in 35mm) and the 06 Telephoto Zoom 15-45mm F2.8 (equivalent to 83mm to 249mm in the 35mm format) a nice kit I take with me almost everywhere! Finally in June I bought  a DA 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 ED SDM Lens, just for when I want to travel with an all-rounder lens. Seems to be good so far... however the saga continues!