[MC333]

Hello, a complete novice here...

I'm thinking of getting this lens and adding close-up filters.

Will these work with this lens?

Amazon.com : NEW 52mm Digital High-Resolution Close-Up Macro Filter Set with Pouch For The Pentax K-01, K50, K500, K-30, K2000, K200D, K20D, K10D, K100D, K100D SUPER, K110D, *ist DL2, *ist DS2, *ist DL, *ist DS Digital Cameras Which Have Any Of These

[Rimfiredude]

Yes, they will work on the DA 50

[MC333]

Super! Thank you.

Off to spend some $. Again.

[Adam]

You might also want to try reverse-mounting the lens. Could give you better results for macro (as could extension tubes).

Adam
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[MC333]

You might also want to try reverse-mounting the lens. Could give you better results for macro (as could extension tubes).

Reverse mounting? extension tubes?

Oh, wow. I have so much to learn...

[robthebloke]

Don't bother reverse mounting the da 50. You'll have no aperture control.

There are the kooka auto focus extension tubes, which will work with the da 50 (and all other lenses you may have). I've got some, and I think they aren't that great (image quality is fine, but if you need to manually focus, you really need lenses with quick shift - eg da limiteds). A close up filter is probably the best bet in your case!

[Daertu]

You can also reverse the DA50 on top of the 18-55 kit lens if you have one. I shot my firsts macro picture with a M50/1.7 duct-taped on the kit lens (but a male to male coupling ring works better).

Some samples, just to help more! All the mistake in these two pictures (bad focus, overexposed areas) are mine, the lenses have nothing to do with them

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[MC333]

You can also reverse the DA50 on top of the 18-55 kit lens if you have one. I shot my firsts macro picture with a M50/1.7 duct-taped on the kit lens (but a male to male coupling ring works better).

Some samples, just to help more! All the mistake in these two pictures (bad focus, overexposed areas) are mine, the lenses have nothing to do with them

Hmmm... more new terminology to google - "male to male coupling ring" (we are still discussing photography, right? : lol: )

Got it.

[Na Horuk]

Hey, here is the thing. Macro is about close focusing! You need to focus as near as possible with a given lens to get its maximum magnification. You can try that with the kit lens, it has slightly above average close focusing abilities. Just switch AF to MF, then twist the focus ring all the way to nearest focus (opposite of far, infinity focus). Now simply move closer to an object until it appears sharp, in focus. The minimum focus distance depends on the lens design. Macro lenses allow a really really near focus (relative to their focal length), which means high magnification. Other ways to achieve high magnification is by using extension tubes or bellows. These basically move the lens farther away from the camera, giving you higher magnification. But mans of these extension tubes are fully manual (you lose AF and aperture control). Bellows is similar to extension tubes, but more flexible and slower to use.
The next thing you can do is use macro filters. These are the easiest to use, you just screw them on the front. But the problem is that low quality filters can have rather poor image quality. Raynox is a good brand for such filters, giving basically pro-level quality.
Then you have reversing a lens. This will give you a high magnification because the distance from the lens to the focus on the inside of the camera is generally shorter than the minimum focus distance on the other side (otherwise cameras would be huge, like those old bellows cameras). You can also do this by mounting a lens normally, and reverse mounting a lens on top of it - male male, get it? because the filter has to have male on both sides, to be screwed into both lenses. The problem with reverse mounting is that you lose some of the automation, especially if the lens doesn't have an aperture ring.
You need to control the aperture, because in macro range, the DoF is very shallow. You can make it wider by making the aperture narrower (but making it too narrow makes the photo fuzzy, less sharp - but with large DoF. Its a balancing act. f8 to f12 is okay, maybe even f14 or pushing it to f16).
The final way to get macro is by using an actual macro lens. These natively go down to a really close minimum focus distance and thus high magnification. The modern Pentax macro lenses go to true 1:1 magnification! If you buy Sigma zoom lenses that say "macro", they do not go anywhere near that. The Pentax macro lenses also have other advantages, like long focus throw, great image quality, and flat field of focus. So I recommend you think about buying a macro lens down the road, it is much better than filters. Tamron 90mm is the most affordable and has great image quality, Pentax DA 35mm, DFA 50mm, DFA 100mm and Sigma 105mm are other options. All of these deliver amazing image quality.
The final problem with macro is light! You need a lot of light, it shouldn't be the wrong colour, and you mustn't cast shade on your subject with your body and camera. Good luck!

[Des]

Welcome to the forums @MC333.

You see what happens here. You ask a simple, specific question (how do I get to the post office?) and you get taken to far flung corners of Pentaxland that you didn't know existed! It's part of the charm.

Some great answers. @Na Horuk has summed up a wealth of learning and experience.

Let me just add my experience. I fiddled with a manual focus lens (Pentax-A 50mm f1.7, one of the ancestors of the DA 50) and extension tubes. For me, it was more trouble than it was worth - but then I'm not keen on stop-down (manual) exposure metering. I ended up with a dedicated macro lens (DFA 100 WR). It does double duty as an excellent fast medium telephoto prime. The only downside of them is cost (although I have seen some of the excellent Sigma 105mm macros sell secondhand for about $200 recently).

For low cost and uncomplicated dabbling, I think your original idea was right - a close focus filter on your DA 50. I would suggest getting a Raynox 150 (about $70) rather than the $20 set. Much better optically, and you can use it on a variety of lenses. People get some amazing results with it: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/122-lens-clubs/74221-raynox-macro-club.html The Raynox pairs particularly well with the very popular DA 55-300 (lots of thread about this), which is about the best value telephoto zoom available.