[Fl_Gulfer]

Looking for a great lens for car shows, Need a Prime for close use since people tend to walk between you and the shot allot.
Not sure of the length or speed that would be the best for this.
Any Help?

[alamo5000]

Looking for a great lens for car shows, Need a Prime for close use since people tend to walk between you and the shot allot.
Not sure of the length or speed that would be the best for this.
Any Help?

On a crop sensor maybe the 15mm? On FF there are some 20mm primes out there.

[SpecialK]

Looking for a great lens for car shows, Need a Prime for close use since people tend to walk between you and the shot allot.
Not sure of the length or speed that would be the best for this.
Any Help?

This thread may help.

What lens size would one recommend for a car show with my K-X - PentaxForums.com

[stevebrot]

I like to photograph cars and enjoy the auto show, hot rod cruises, and serious car shows when I get the chance. I did a quick survey of my Flickr "car" album and came up with this short list of the lenses used ...

• Sigma 17-70/2.8-4 (C)
• Pentax FA 35/2
• KMZ MC Zenitar 16/2.8 Fisheye
• Samsung smartphone
• LZOS Jupiter-12 35/2.8 (Contax/Kiev mount on 35mm film)
• Pentax DA 18-55/3.5-5.6 v1.0

Cars...Classic and Otherwise | Flickr


Steve

[Na Horuk]

Yeah, I suggest you look at good photos of car shows, and then check their Exif. Most websites keep some of this info, so you can see the focal length or lens ID that was used for that shot.
I would go with DA 21mm and DA 35mm, or a zoom like Tamron 17-50mm, Pentax DA 20-40mm limited, Pentax 18-135mm..
But there are many options depending on your style. If you want dramatic "fish eye" photos, you need a fish eye lens. If you want macro closeups of details, you need a macro lens (DA 35mm f2.8 macro is great btw), if you want portraits of car babes, its better to have 50-135mm, and so on

[bm75]

what kind of car show are you going to visit? If there's a showroom I suggest a really fast lens , or a lens that's not so fast but sharp wide open. For FL, it really depends on the distance from your subject. Cars are objects of design so it's difficoult to photograph them without distorting those lines. Wides distort much more but if you want to exxaggerate the lines , 17-15 mm is wide enough in tight sapces. Longer lenses are good if there's much more space. Lst year I visited Museo Ferrari in Modena with K5 and DA 17-70. The showroom wasn't dark but I never had the possibility to use lower Isos than 3200. Most of my shots were from 17-30 mm FL and 70 mm for close ups of detail . I wished I had a much faster lens (1,8-1,4) to blur out the background. My 2 cents.

Edit: a side note: take with you a circular PL filter it's really useful .

[89Y49Si]

I typically use 50mm on FF and 28-35mm primes on crop for car shows.

[camyum]

AFAIK, as a photojournalist, you may want to use a 20-35mm lens at events that are overrun by the masses and in rooms where people are piled up to the ceiling.


Since there is no zoom lens with the exact same range with a PK mount and silent drive...
You may want to use what comes closest to that range, what would work out to be
either the

"FA J 18-35mm F4-5.6" (possibly cheap to have... if you find one, though for sure no "top notch IQ"-lens)

or the more costy
"DFA 15-30mm F2.8 ED WR SDM"

if you work with full frame...


if you have an APS-C body --->

Sigma 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM would be a nice (not so wide)and though fast, not so costy option.(if bought used)
Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM "Art" -- will cost you a bit more, but that lens is darn fast.

Others may tell you that zoom range is not right for what you want, but actually its up to you to decide.

[mikesbike]

I found in auto shows a while back when working with 35mm film, the prime lens I found most useful was my FA 35mm f/2 because it was wide enough, and I could get close enough to eliminate much of the crowd, but not so wide that perspective distortion comes a problem. This translates to 24mm for your K-5. Unfortunately, Pentax no longer has a 24mm prime in the lineup, but the DA 21mm Limited should fill the need quite well, and its rendering is very fine indeed. I've had this lens for some years.

As to a fast 24mm lens, virtually none will deliver sharp corners wide open, according to tests by Photozone. I've long had the Sigma 24mm f/1.8 (which actually reads out at f/1.7) and have found it improves significantly with stopping down just a click or so. If you don't need faster than f/2.8, a really good zoom lens might serve this need and a lot more. There's a lot to choose from here, including the DA 12-24mm f/4 (an outstanding WA zoom lens). The DA 20-40mm f/2.8-4 WR Limited is also an outstanding general- purpose lens, which would serve very well for this need. I have both, and would not part with either.