[sdlightingdeziner]

OK so I just bought my K10D, and the lens that came with it is a great all around lens but not for what I need to do (shooting interiors at night, and focusing on the lighting).
Anyhow................. I need a good wide angle lens, that wont give me a lot of flare whilst shooting the room at night. Any great ideas on a lens that will not kill me in the pocket book, but give me great shots of the room and its lighting?

Thanks!

[r3nx]

Do I understand correctly, that the DA 18-55 doesn't sattisfy your needs? Then you should go for the DA 12-24 or DA 14/2.8.

[Ben_Edict]

How wide? Are you photographing living rooms or restaurants or hotel lobbies or sports stadiums?

With many lenses you might encounter problems with flare - the cheaper the lens, the greater the problems, also zooms tend be more prone to flares than fixed focal length lenses. I could recommend the Pentax FA2/24 mm, which can be found second-hand for around 500 USD. If you need a wider lens, the new DA 21 mm might be a good choice, as is a A or FA 2.8/20 mm, both of which are more expensive, than the DA 21 mm I guess.

The widest option (apart from the 10-17 mm fish-eye) would be the 2.8/14 mm, which gets basically good reviews. The old 3.5/15 mm, apart from being expensive, even second-hand, is no good, as it flares heavily if you have stron light sources in the image.

regards
René

[sdlightingdeziner]

I sucked it up and and bought the DA12-24.

OUCH!

I am glad I bought the camera at a real store here in SD. Actually.......... I got my first real camera there when I was in high school, a Minolta SRT201.
But they took back the camera kit, sold me my K10D body, and gave me the DA 12-24 for 700 dollars (it list at 899.00 from them).

But what a beautiful lens!

I am going to shoot a few lighting shots tonight to get a better feel for it, but thanks for the advice guys!

[Kguru]

Since you didn't mention, just a reminder not to forget the claim for rebates.

[m8o]

I sucked it up and and bought the DA12-24.
OUCH!
I am glad I bought the camera at a real store here in SD. Actually.......... I got my first real camera there when I was in high school, a Minolta SRT201.
But they took back the camera kit, sold me my K10D body, and gave me the DA 12-24 for 700 dollars (it list at 899.00 from them).
But what a beautiful lens!
I am going to shoot a few lighting shots tonight to get a better feel for it, but thanks for the advice guys!

Interested to hear your results. I have a love/hate relationship with that lens. Still can't get over that I can't take a picture of say flowers, in direct sunlight from about 10 feet away, and get any detail; just 'blobs' of color almost. But at or near infinite focus, and/or stopped down a lot, I've had pretty good results.

[sdlightingdeziner]

Since you didn't mention, just a reminder not to forget the claim for rebates.

NO! I am actually filling out the forms tonight to post tomorrow! Thank you though.

m80 I bought this camera and lens for doing mainly inside interiors, and architecture. OH! and most of it will be at night as well.
I did shoot a residence tonight, and so far I am kinda happy with what I have now as far as a "set-up". And as soon as I feel I have some great shots I will share them.
There is still SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH I need to learn about this camera.
GOSH! I have not had a real camera in so long that, I need to re-edjamacate meself.

Cheers!

[m8o]

Since you didn't mention, just a reminder not to forget the claim for rebates.

True, don't be like me. I forgot to mail in every one. I could have got a lot off for the K10D + battery grip, for the Tamron lens, and for the Pentax wide-angle in three separate shots.

I'm an idiot!

[SpecialK]

Interested to hear your results. I have a love/hate relationship with that lens. Still can't get over that I can't take a picture of say flowers, in direct sunlight from about 10 feet away, and get any detail; just 'blobs' of color almost. But at or near infinite focus, and/or stopped down a lot, I've had pretty good results.

I have that same relationship with mine but it is about exposure. It seems to be underexposing about 1/2 to 1 stop. I think I should change the metering area to reduce the amount of sky it meters. Oh, and make sure the lens hood "clicks" into place. Otherwise it will not have rotated fully into place and will produce a rectangular vignette, offset from horizontal by a hair, at 12mm.