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11-24-2010, 09:53 PM   #1
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Photos of our new baby K10D

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We are having a baby in a month or so.

Sadly we are terribly skint. I would, however, love to get a lens for our K10D to enable some better baby photos.

Currently just working with the kit 18-55, which isn't great, but does the job.

I'm thinking a 50mm prime, as fast as possible, for the low light.

My question is, what would be a couple of good models to look for secondhand online? There's a million on ebay - the question is which?

Really hoping not to spend more than £100 due to financial constraints, happy to go secondhand, without AF if necessary.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks!
Chris

11-24-2010, 11:10 PM   #2
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Strongly recommend the A 50mm 1.7 for ease of use. The K55 1.8 is better if you are considering an all manual lens, but the A is great if you want to use AV, TV, or any other automatic mode. Either should be quite a bit less than 100 pounds.

These lenses were released as kit lenses back in the day, so they are plentiful. The K55 2.0 is supposed to be good as well.
11-25-2010, 06:01 AM   #3
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Are they better than a 1.4?
11-25-2010, 07:19 AM   #4
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It should be quite easy to get an A or M 50mm 1.7 or 1.4, they´re quite common. The A will cost more but the M will be better built, and the 1.4 will cost more, but the 1.7 will be sharper wide open. Just avoid any of the F2 variants as they are much poorer (however, if you find a K 55/F2 then that´s a good one).

Good luck.

11-25-2010, 08:14 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by bigonroad Quote
Are they better than a 1.4?
This may help you decide. With the exception of 2 macro lenses, these are every one of the 50ish mm lenses I have. They were done with a K5 but in terms of sharpness I would expect to be able to do the same with a K10d.

Index of /Photos/50mmShootout

You can also browse my flickr in which I have most photos separated out by lens used. A faster zoom may be just your ticket. One not in there (I think) is a Pentax A 35-105 f3.5. Arguably one of the best Pentax Manual focus zooms ever made.

Collection: Lenses

I have not done a direct compare between the K55 and the A50 f1.7 aside from the above link. I would readily recommend either one but the A50 f1.7, you may find easier to use.

Congrats on the impending arrival.

11-25-2010, 09:06 AM   #6
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Mind you, the kitlens is *not bad* at all.
Perhaps your camera is suffering from front or back focusing.
You can easily find out (Jeffrey Friedl's Blog Jeffrey’s Autofocus Test Chart)
In case that is the problem, try manual focusing.

On the other hand, primes are generally beter...
The A 50mm primes can come very cheap, $26 this one: SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7 Lens - Like New Condition - eBay (item 230553152595 end time Nov-27-10 11:09:02 PST)
And there is plenty like that.

Good luck with the baby!

- Bert
11-25-2010, 09:13 AM   #7
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Hi Chris,

I'm also from Sheffield and my Wife and I are expecting our first child around Boxing Day. I've recently been fortunate to get some more expensive glass for my K200D, which I will use to capture those special early moments, along with my existing M 50 F1.7. From experience of capturing early images of my baby niece and nephew, which I did mainly with the M 50, I would say depending on how you are with manual focusing, you could be good with this lens or one of the other variants mentioned for several months until their crawls pick up pace! I picked mine up for £30 on ebay.

Thanks
Dave

11-25-2010, 09:40 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by bigonroad Quote
We are having a baby in a month or so.

Sadly we are terribly skint. I would, however, love to get a lens for our K10D to enable some better baby photos.

Currently just working with the kit 18-55, which isn't great, but does the job.

I'm thinking a 50mm prime, as fast as possible, for the low light.

My question is, what would be a couple of good models to look for secondhand online? There's a million on ebay - the question is which?

Really hoping not to spend more than £100 due to financial constraints, happy to go secondhand, without AF if necessary.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks!
Chris
I would go for an A lens or later.

While there is nothing wrong with K series lenses, the K10D has a metering issue with non A lenses. I have posted the behavior many times, This can be very frustrating, expecially considering the importance of the shots/subject.

The second reason for going for an A lens is that you can use P-TTL flash. Since many of the new baby shots will be indoors, use of a reliable flash system is very important. The ability, when flash is needed, to just pop up th ein camera flash and shoot will be greatly appreciated.

If you are going to go down the road of manual aperture lenses at some point, consider getting an *istD as a second body, because the *istD supports both TTL and P-TTL with the built in and external flashes
11-25-2010, 10:23 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by bigonroad Quote
Are they better than a 1.4?
No, for the most part, the 1.4 is better but you can decide how much better:

Nifty 50 Shootout ERPhotoReview

For me, the price difference led me to select the more bargain 50 1.7, which I do not regret.

Keep in mind that the A, M, FA, and F lenses are the same optically for the 1.7's, and 1.4s.
11-25-2010, 09:22 PM   #10
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Wow, thanks for all the help.

I think the 1.4 sounds pretty nice. For autofocus, I need FA? or A?

@bickrs where is Sheffield are you? I live in Crookes - would love a change to try out for lens for ten mins before I buy one. Any chance?

Thanks!
Chris
11-25-2010, 10:45 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by bigonroad Quote
Wow, thanks for all the help.

I think the 1.4 sounds pretty nice. For autofocus, I need FA? or A?

@bickrs where is Sheffield are you? I live in Crookes - would love a change to try out for lens for ten mins before I buy one. Any chance?

Thanks!
Chris
For Auto-focus, you need either F or FA (on a film lens). With just A, the lens does everything the FA does Except auto focus.

11-26-2010, 12:03 AM   #12
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Sorry, so above someone said A would do the autofocus. But actually I need F?
11-26-2010, 12:13 AM   #13
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This is an A 50 f1:1.4 and it is a Manual focus lens.



This, is an FA50 f1:1.4 (borrowed photo from an Ebay auction) and is an Auto focus lens. It will also do manual focus but the focus ring is so tiny and the travel is so short that manual focusing with it isn't a very pleasant experience in my opinion. Optically, they are practically the same, if not identical. Not 100% certain but the coatings may be a little different.

11-26-2010, 12:28 AM   #14
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By Far, THE best bang for the buck in a 50mm K mount lens, is this guy..



I've seen these go for as little as $25 for the M version. The A version can easily be had (with a Little patience) for around $50 and it's worth every penny. The FA50 f1:1.4, New, is currently a rip-off as far as I'm concerned (your opinion may vary). The M and A (as well as K) versions of these lenses are simply a joy to use. If you don't want to fool around with stop down metering, get the A version and you can use it in all modes. You'll just have to put your hand on the focus ring and turn it until junior comes into focus. On the K10d, in many cases, especially indoors with tungsten (regular light bulbs) you'll be far better off anyway. The FA50 is somewhat notoriously bad at auto focus (in my experience) in that situation, especially with the camera set to AWB (Auto White Balance).

The top 4 photos in this directory were taken with the lens I'm showing you (on a K7)..

Index of /Photos/ForSale/Payfor85/TakenWith

The photos in the link below were taken with the 1:1.4 version of that lens (typically around $85 - $100)..

http://www.rolleiman.com/Photos/ForSale/Payfor85/TakenWith/M50f14/

11-26-2010, 12:34 AM   #15
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A sounds great then! Thanks for all your help. Its been a very encouraging first foray into the Pentax Forums. I'll be honest, I've been flirting with the idea of shifting to another brand at some point, since Pentax seems to be super undersold in the UK.

However, I have high hopes for the K5 (and my being able to afford one at some point). If I'm gonna start building up some new lenses, looks like I'll be sticking with Pentax...
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