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Find your perfect Lens
Hello Pentaxians! I started my hobby in photography nearly 2yrs ago. I've always felt I have a creative desire within me, but given I can barely draw a stick man, I've lacked a medium to express it. Then I found photography and the itch had been scratched!
After much deliberating and research, I decided on Pentax as a brand due to its feature set, price and access to legacy lenses. I purchased my 2nd hand Pentax K-x off ebay and away I went. I've since had a lot of fun with my camera and I enjoy the feeling when an image comes together.
I find I now look at the world differently; I see photo opportunities in the most unlikely places. Many a conversation has been distracted as my mind wanders to how those lamp lights behind my friend, who is waffling on about football, would look awesome as a black and white with a long exposure...
The most influential item in my kit would have to be my Pentax-M 50mm F1.4 prime lens.
Being a manual lens, it has forced me to be more adventurous with my camera and to rely more on myself rather than let the camera do all the work. Its helped me to explore depth of field, focusing techniques and especially composition due to its fixed focal length.
Shooting in Manual mode has pushed me to learn about how the different aspects of photography complement each other; how aperture and shutter speed, exposure and ISO all work together to achieve a result.
That said, this lens has also caused me a few headaches, mainly due to my K-x lacking viewfinder focus lights and having a less than stellar LCD screen. Quite a few shots have been out of focus despite me thinking they were good at the time, not realising until later when I looked at the image on my computer. This can be very frustrating. For this reason, a K-30 would be a dream come true as focus peaking would be a massive help when shooting with my favourite manual lens, not to mention a fantastic upgrade to my trusty workhorse, the K-x!
Here are a couple of my favourite shots using this lens:
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| Click to enlarge |
Thanks for reading.
Rating:
Great shots! Love the post processing on both. My 50mm f/1.7 is one of my favourite lenses... thanks for sharing yours :-)
Thanks for the comments everyone!
I use this lens with my K7, originally got for my old K1000 (which I still have, and use). I very rarely take my camera out of completely manual mode. I prefer it that way. Glad to see you're enjoying one too.
I have a M50 1:1.4 from my film days that I still love to use. My solution to the manual focus issue has been to install a split screen in my camera (I first did this with my K20d with stellar results and now have one in my K-5 too which also excellent results). I purchased mine from Katzeye (with the optibright option) and installed them myself. Highly recommend if you're focusing manually. Provides complete peace of mind for, no guessing.
I use the old M 50 1:1.4 to with an K-5 as my first gear and I am learning with it,loved your article and I can say that it's a fantastic piece of glass.It's pushing you to be creative and to discover your abilities.
My favorite and most used lens as well. No matter what it always seems the most sharp and clear out of any other lens used. I only wish the Pentax had a SLR that is full framed so there would be no crop and with a K mount that's un-crippled so it would work as efficiently as it did on my Asahi K1000. At least that is what I am holding out for on my next SLR body upgrade.
Loved your article - I love that lens too. I use my father's old 50mm lens that he used with his MX, and I use it now with my K-7. It has also influenced my photography immensely. Funny that I have a shot of that lens almost exactly like the one you posted here.
Or keep the K-x and get a K-01 at the current fire sale price for your shallow DOF manual work. That's what I did.
Nice photos and technique. Get a K-30 and use your talent!
Started with MX and 40/2.8 in 78 and learn a lot by using a total manual equipment. Then went to MZ/ZX-7 and K200D before i got the K-30 with Sigma 30/1.4 from my wife this xmas. Just got it and it looks very promising!
PS: still got all my old Pentaxes and lenses. Just can't send them away......
Pande