Recommended Pentax Gear 2014

Some of the best Pentax equipment currently available

By PF Staff in Gear Guides on Jan 10, 2014

Our writers and editors have handled every Pentax DSLR ever made as well as virtually every lens and peripheral currently available for Pentax cameras.  Each piece of equipment found on this page has been carefully-selected as something that delivers the best in terms of performance and value.  So, if you're looking to expand your Pentax kit or upgrade to a new camera, we're confident that you'll be very happy with our recommendations!

If you live in the US, shop with confidence at B&H Photo and Adorama: the two largest Pentax retailers that stock the entire Pentax lineup year round.  Links to learn more and order are included alongside each item in this guide. Also, don't overlook our in-depth reviews, which are also linked in the listings below.

Beginner Portrait Lens Guide

What lenses to choose, and why- with a video demo!

By PF Staff in Gear Guides on Jun 11, 2013

Today, we would like to discuss what types of lenses you should look at if you're interested in portrait photography.

Those of you who are just starting out likely own the DA or DA L 18-55mm kit lens that comes with most Pentax DSLRs.  The kit lens is like a swiss army knife, as it can be used for a variety of purposes, but it doesn't shine in any particular area except for versatility.

When it comes to portraiture, one can do much better than the 18-55mm.  A good portrait lens should have the following characteristics:

1. Smooth Out-Of-Focus Background Rendering

When shooting portraits, most of the time you are interested in isolating just the face of your subject.  Details in the background can prove to be distracting and thus ruin the overall appeal of the photograph.  Therefore, the ideal portrait lens should feature a fast aperture such that the background can be blurred nicely.  The maximum aperture of the kit lens isn't large enough to accomplish this, but lenses with maximum apertures anywhere between F1.2 and F2.8 should work wonders.

Lenses are never as sharp at their widest aperture setting as when stopped-down.  However, while some lenses are very poor wide-open, others actually hold their ground quite well.  When choosing a kit lens, you should therefore look for one that is acceptably-sharp when used wide-open.

It is also important to keep in mind that each lens renders out-of-focus areas (also known as bokeh) differently.  This can be attributed to a number of factors, including the optical design and number of aperture blades.  Bokeh is a highly-subjective matter, so if the first lens you pick up doesn't work for you, simply try another.

2. Low Distortion

Distortion occurs when lines that are straight in real life are not portrayed as such in a photograph.  It is difficult to design lenses that are distortion-free, as complex optical designs are needed to accurately project the image onto the flat surface of the camera's sensor.  Zoom lenses generally exhibit much more distortion than prime lenses, so your best bet it so pick a fixed focal length lens for portraiture.

To make matters worse, there exists a second type of distortion called perspective distortion.  Have you ever taken a photo of a skyscraper and noticed that the base appeared much wider than the rest?  This phenomenon happens simply because objects that are closer to you appear larger when projected onto a plane, even if they're same size in real life.  How does this apply to portrait photography?  Well, if try shooting portraits with a wide-angle lens, you will have to stand very close to your subject in order to get a smooth background.  This proximity will introduce perspective distortion that would affect the appearance of facial features and even the overall shape of the face.  Therefore, the focal length of your portrait lens should be long enough to allow you to keep your distance while still being able to obtain smooth backgrounds.  On APS-C cameras, focal lengths of 50mm - 60mm are ideal for this purpose.  On film or full-frame cameras, the traditional portrait lens is an 85mm.

Pentax K-30 Lens Guide

Recommended lens selection for Pentax's new outdoor DSLR

By PF Staff in Gear Guides on Jul 31, 2012

Now that our Pentax K-30 review has been posted, we'd like to take this opportunity to recommend a few lenses which we think suit this camera particularly well!

First, let's begin with the Pentax K-30 kit options.  While they do vary from country to country, chances are that one of more of these are offered in your area:

Recommended Kits

Pentax 18-135mm WR
Of these five kits, we recommend that you either get the 18-135mm WR bundle, or stick with just the body and then buy your lenses separately.  The 18-135mm is the only kit lens to offer weather sealing, and it's a great lens regardless, as it offers a very handy zoom range and fast, quiet DC autofocus while delivering better image quality than the 18-55mm kit lens (see our in-depth review of the 18-135mm for more).  Plus, the 18-135mm kit will save you a good chunk of money, as the MSRP of the lens is $529- $180 higher than its price in the bundle.  If you don't think that you'll be using this lens much as a walkaround, however, then we recommend that you pick up the K-30 body and buy the weather sealed version of the 18-55mm in order to be able to take advantage of the outdoor capabilities of the K-30 (note that in certain European countries, the 18-55mm WR is actually offered in K-30 a bundle).  Then, you'll be able to add other lenses individually as needed.

Pentax 18-55mm WR

Pentax Lens Series Overview

So why do we not favor the three other lens kits?  Well, in order to answer that question, we need to take a look at the difference between the Pentax DA and DA L lens series.  The DA lens series is Pentax's current digital lineup.  With two exceptions*, all current DA lenses feature a metal lens mount, come with lens hoods, and allow you to manually override the focus setting at any time (have "Quick Shift").  Some DA lenses have the "WR" designation, which means that they are weather sealed, or the "SDM" designation, which means they have silent autofocus. DA L lenses are optically identical to their DA-series counterparts, but they have plastic mounts, no Quick Shift, and don't come with lens hoods.  DA L lenses cannot be purchased separately from retailers as they are meant to be affordable kit lenses.  Two other lens series exist: D FA, and DA*.  The former includes current digital lenses which also cover the full-frame image circle, and the latter is Pentax's premium/professional lineup, in which all lenses feature top-of-the-line image quality, improved build quality, weather sealing, and silent focusing.  Read more about the different Pentax lens series here.

Pentax DA L 55-300mm

Going back to the DA L K-30 kits: we think that the only DA L lens worth getting is the 55-300mm, as it's simply a more affordable version of the regular DA 55-300mm.  The DA L 50-200mm isn't an exceptional lens, as it has less reach and slightly worse image quality compared to the 55-300mm. As far as the DA L 18-55mm goes, we would have liked to see it replaced by the weather-sealed version in the K-30 kits.  If you end up getting the K-30 body and would like to add the DA L 55-300mm to your lineup, second-hand copies are frequently available in the Pentax Marketplace.  While the dual-lens kits can be quite versatile overall, we feel that it wasn't right for Pentax to bundle so many non-weather-sealed lenses with the K-30.

Recommended Lenses

Now, let's take a look at other lenses that we recommend for the K-30.  For each lens category, we include both weather-sealed and non-weather-sealed lenses, so that you can come up with a kit that's tailored to fit your needs and your budget.  We're not going to mention the 18-135mm or 18-55mm WR lenses below, but you may assume that they fall under the walkaround category.

Pentax K-01 Lens Guide

Choose the lenses that fit the K-01 best!

By PF Staff in Gear Guides on Feb 7, 2012

Have you decided to get a Pentax K-01?  If so, then we hope that through this guide, you will be able to pick out a selection of lenses that will not only allow you to get the most out of your camera, but also make it stylish and compact!

Normally, when a new user buys a Pentax DSLR, he or she is at first confused by the Pentax lens lineup.  Current Pentax K-mount lenses fall into many different sub-categories: some are weather-sealed, some support full-frame cameras, some are designated as "Limited", some have plastic mounts, and some have SDM autofocus, yet only a few are "normal" in the sense that they're part of a run-of-the mill consumer lineup.  On top of that, there are gaps left and right, so not only are the sub-series incomplete, but so is the entire lineup as a whole (but as the goal of this post is neither to provide an overview nor to provide a criticism of current Pentax lenses, we'll let the interested reader do his or her research in the lens database).

Now that the K-01 is entering the market, however, everything is different.  It seems that for the K-01, the natural companion is the Pentax Limited lens.  And that means that in addition to the ultra-compact 40mm kit lens that is bundled with the K-01, there are at least 5 other lenses that go along perfectly with the K-01.  In the remainder of this article, we will share with you what be believe will be the ultimate Pentax K-01 kit.

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