Cracks in the Facade

And so a scant few days after posting the rumored Pentax K-3, I find myself wondering it it's time to move away from the Pentax K-mount. A number of things have happened in the last six months to bring me to this point. One, I've really grown to like the Nikon V1 and am considering further investment in the Nikon 1 system. At first, I bought it as a rig camera, taking some nice intervalometer photos in Maine. Then I promoted it to second camera on my trip to Ontario. And it did well. I shoot with a very flat picture profile, which makes out of the camera RAW files looks kind of "meh", but the files handle pretty aggressive post processing without falling to pieces.

And then the big test came; I brought it on my last VT dual sport trip as the first camera (I also had a Panasonic GH2 along for video and backup). And the V1 did great. No, the image quality isn't at the level of the Pentax K-5, particularly when you push even a smidge beyond ISO400. And it doesn't have much DOF. And the zooms are on the slow end. And so on and so on. But I know that I can get magazine worthy files from this little machines, and I know that the platform will only improve as sensor technology improves and Nikon sees fit to develop more interesting lenses. To that end I've looked at second bodies and just purchased the SB-N7 Speedlight. If I just add the 6.7-13mm wide angle zoom, I'll have the ultimate small camera motorcycle travel kit.

So where does that leave the Pentax K-5 or the upcoming K-3? I'm not shooting events as much as I used to, so a DSLR is not high on my priority list. I'm using smaller sensor cameras to give me telephoto reach, and as I wrote recently, I'm enjoying the small zooms of the smaller formats. I don't think that I'll ever give up having a DSLR completely as they are such good workhorses, but they seem to be moving to the back of the shelf in terms of getting used.

And if I'm going to keep one, maybe I should get one whose lenses can be shared. Maybe I should go back to....Nikon. I started shooting more seriously with a D70 back in 2004 after all. And if I choose my lenses well, I can use them on a Nikon DSLR and on the Nikon 1 with the adapter and also on the GH2 with another adapter. A tri-fecta if there ever was one.

In a perfect, rational world, that is what I should do. Then why do I hesitate?