Yellow Fever

Last weekend I walked around Soho with a yellow camera. It’s a Pentax—not one of the new ones they just announced, rather a discontinued K-01 DSLR equipped with a 21mm f3.2 AL Limited. (You have to love a company that calls their lens line “Limited.” Why not “Unlimited?” It’s a terrific lens.)

No one takes you seriously when you’re wearing a yellow camera around your neck. And that was exactly what I wanted. I always get good images in Manhattan, especially in the Soho-Chinatown-Little Italy area. If you have never been, you can’t imagine what you’re missing. But if you wearing a lustrous Nikon or Canon with a monster lens, be prepared to be looked upon with caution and a liberal dose of distrust. At least, that’s been my experience.

Possibly I could create the same disarming appearance if I had the courage to wear a Statue of Liberty tee shirt, or anything emblazoned with “I Heart NY.” Carrying a blonde camera is more my style, partly because it can disappear into my omnipresent Domke bag when I want to look, well, “regular.” Besides, there’s another benefit associated with using this Pentax K-01. It takes damn good pictures.

Can’t wait to get my paws on the new Pentax K-50. Let’s see, which of the 120 available colors do I want?

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