[Primes4ever]

I use both the 15 and 21 limiters for street photography. Both allow a low profile due to their small size and great IQ from f5.6. I also use the 40 as well, depends on the situation. You can't go wrong with either, and AF is fast as well.

[alamo5000]

Thx Part of my Single in September album using the M28.

The colors really pop!

[Phillean]

Thanks for the great comments and photos. They have given me some useful things to think about. I will take some more photos with the older 35 mm film lenses I already have - 28 and 35. I also have two zooms, the kit Pentax 18 to 55 and a Sigma 17 - 125 (that one is arriving next week). They don't have the characteristics/quality I want for street photos but they will give me more idea of the framing. The range that I think will suit is between 15 and 35 mm, I would consider a short range zoom but so far I have not found one that fits my criteria.

alamoo5000 - You might not miss Australia today, in Adelaide where the Adelaide Mall photo was taken it is 44c today 111F, and very hot across most of the Southern part of Australia.

[alamo5000]

Lets just say I have a jumbo tub of vegemite in my pantry right now.

I love the warm. Its hot in Texas in summer but for a few weeks its been rainy and dreary and cold.

I lived in OZ almost 3 years... the people make the place

I never made it down there... I was around Sydney the whole time...I still plan to visit Taz though.

[Sandy Hancock]

I would lean toward the DA21 as well: smaller, slightly faster and not *too* wide compared to the DA15.
Pair it with a K-01 and you have a fabulously small and unobtrusive street set-up.

[Phillean]

The DA 21 does look like it would be a good starting point. There are two photos on SMC Pentax-DA 21mm F3.2 Limited Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database I am assuming that silver one shows the lens extended ?

[alamo5000]

The DA 21 does look like it would be a good starting point. There are two photos on SMC Pentax-DA 21mm F3.2 Limited Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database I am assuming that silver one shows the lens extended ?

No. One shows the lens with the hood on and one with it off. The whole lens is tiny.

[Phillean]

I would lean toward the DA21 as well: smaller, slightly faster and not *too* wide compared to the DA15.
Pair it with a K-01 and you have a fabulously small and unobtrusive street set-up.

The K-01 a very interesting camera, and relatively cheap here, I am tempted to buy it, the colors it produces are fantastic, but I am concerned about its low light focusing. I really like the K-x --- K-5 series low light ability, the reviews on the K-01 indicate it is not as good in that area.

[Phillean]

Here is a real newbie night shot with my K-x , not taken by me but I don't think I would have done better with a quick shot.

K-x and the kit 18-55mm lens. Shot in raw and converted to jpeg, scaled and cropped.

A sharper lens here would have been useful.

1/15 sec F3.5 18mm ISO 400

Sorry but I have removed the original image and replaced it with one taken in the same location, this one at 1/8 sec.

[crewl1]

Here is a real newbie night shot with my K-x , not taken by me but I don't think I would have done better with a quick shot.

K-x and the kit 18-55mm lens. Shot in raw and converted to jpeg, scaled and cropped.

A sharper lens here would have been useful.

Perhaps but id also suggest a higher ISO to get shutter speed up. 1/15 is a bit slow if you or the subject moves.
Or use flash. DA21



DA40 no flash but ISO 6400

[Phillean]

id also suggest a higher ISO to get shutter speed up. 1/15 is a bit slow if you or the subject moves.
Or use flash. DA21

Good points but the look I am after is no flash, absolute minimum digital noise, maybe up to ISO 1200 would be ok.

[Phillean]

DA40 no flash but ISO 6400

Aaah, interesting, closer to the look I am after.

[crewl1]

The K-x can handle high ISO really well, with a little noise reduction you should be in good shape.
Also a black and white conversion hides a lot of noise.

[johnyates]

Sigma 24mm f2.8

[Na Horuk]

The K-01 a very interesting camera, and relatively cheap here, I am tempted to buy it, the colors it produces are fantastic, but I am concerned about its low light focusing.

The thing with the K-01's AF is that its not worse, its just different. In my experience, it locks focus pretty well in the dark, it just needs a longer time. I also think its focus peaking is very useful in dark places. But if the subject is moving and the light is poor.. or if you are using a certain lens.. the AF may be just too slow. On the other hand, if you have a UWA lens and focus peaking, you can manually focus pretty quickly.
And the other good thing about the K-01 is that it doesn't suffer from focusing problems under tungsten. It focuses equally well in any temperature of light, as long as the subject is contrasty.