[aslyfox]

First of all, thanks for the great resonance and suggestions! Really helpful as a beginner!

For now, I'll settle on the Camera with the 18-135 as Kit.

I'll be checking out what lens I could get for my "special" purpose. The Rokinon 14mm f2.8 looks pretty decent to me, and not too budget heavy. For now, I am settled on one lens, and probably get another one by the end of the year.

Thanks again!

first have some fun with your initial choice

( we all hope you chose to post some photos you take )

and take your time to decide on what to do next

there is no hurry

set your own schedule

[Atrom1810]

Will definitely post some photos, as soon as I got everything!

[Des]

Congratulations on the new camera and lens.

As a newcomer to DSLR cameras, you might benefit from these 10 tips:
1. The first thing to do is to read the camera manual and Yvon Bourque's e-book for the K-70 thoroughly. You'll be amazed at how capable it is.
2. Work with the 18-135 for a while before jumping in and getting more lenses. When you are new to DSLR photography, there's a lot to learn and it takes a little time to find out where your preferences lie. You have already expressed a preference for night shooting and astrophotography, but try other things too (landscapes, portraits, close-ups, street, architecture, abstracts, flowers, insects, cars, whatever) and you might be surprised. Once you've tried different things, you'll have a better idea of what other more specialized lenses to look for next (e.g. ultra-wide, long telephoto, portrait, street, macro, etc). For me, when I had a wide-ranging zoom I found myself shooting disproportionately at one end or the other, so I went for an ultrawide and a telephoto lens. For others, it might be a wide-aperture lens for low-light and short depth of field (DOF), or a fisheye, or a macro, or a pancake lens.
3. Good gear helps you make the most of your skills, but skills matter far more than gear. Learning about photography is like any other skill. Read widely (there's a huge body of information on this site alone) and practise, practise, practise. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.
4. Try to understand the exposure triangle (the interaction of exposure time, aperture and ISO and the effects of changing each variable). It is the basis for all photography. A good intro here: Stops, Shutter Speed, Aperture, ISO Sensitivity - PentaxForums.com A book by Bryan Peterson, "Understanding exposure", is highly recommended by PF members.
5. Learn to hold the camera and how to steady yourself for handheld shots. It sounds really basic, but most of us keep coming back to it. Great article here: Making the Most of Long Exposure Handhelds - Introduction - In-Depth Articles
6. Use a tripod whenever you can. If you haven't got a remote shutter release, user the self-timer. (It will switch off shake reduction automatically, by default.) You can even use this with bracketing. If the subject isn't moving, try pixel shift.
7. Learn how to get focus right for the subject. Scrutinize all your shots for accuracy of focus and learn from the mistakes. (There will be plenty.) If you are seeing back-focus or front-focus, calibrate the autofocus for the particular lens: Fixing front and back focus
8. Learn about hyperfocal distance and about DOF. Use a DOF calculator until you can do it from sight.
9. Shoot RAW+jpg. Post-processing RAW files with good software makes a big difference. If you have information overload, just go with the jpgs and defer learning about software for a while, but save the RAW files for processing later. (My biggest photographic regret is not shooting RAW sooner.)
10. Flash can be a great tool, but if you are already overloaded I'd suggest putting that off for a while too. (When you are ready, follow the course at Strobist 101. And look at Niel van Niekerk's videos on YouTube. Also see this excellent guide by one of our members: Comprehensive Pentax Flash Guide - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com)

[DW58]

Good choice. Now comes the fun part.

[Serkevan]

3. Good gear helps you make the most of your skills, but skills matter far more than gear. Learning about photography is like any other skill. Read widely (there's a huge body of information on this site alone) and practise, practise, practise. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

All great points with a lot of important technical information but this one, I think, is the key to avoid feeling "let down" by your gear. If it's "your fault" that a picture is not as good as you'd like it to, you have a very easy improvement: practice!


The 18-135 should keep you more than satisfied for months or years . Oh who am I kidding, my LBA started not a month into photography

Jokes aside, congrats on the setup, it's more than capable. The 14mm lens for astro might also be a very good idea once you're feeling more confident. Looking forward to your images!

[Buckeyemikie]

Great words of advice from Des. hope you follow thru.

[mikesbike]

Its fine to shoot both in JPEG +RAW. The JPEG images are from the RAW images but are processed by the camera's well-designed processing engine. When you take a shot, the exposure you get will be a result of the camera's light meter reading the available light to provide a "correct" exposure, or if shooting in Manual mode the meter reading will provide information of what settings will result in a "correct" exposure.

You'll have your hands full learning about this process and which conditions are very likely to fool the meter, and what to do about it. Learning which mode to use for what purposes. The K-70 is designed for inexperienced amateurs, but also with a full set of controls and features that are standards for advanced and professional photographers. It therefore has "SCENE" mode settings where the camera will make decisions regarding tricky lighting that would otherwise fool the meter. This feature can be used as a learning tool. Once you learn what to do under various scenarios, you will be able to make adjustments more quickly and perhaps more accurately than switching to one of the "SCENE" modes.

You will learn about the difference between linear distortion and perspective distortion and when to expect each, and even how to use distortion to achieve a positive effect.

You will learn about shooting at different focal lengths, and what the properties are like of each focal length (FL) and how to make best use of this. Your new zoom lens having a very large range of 18-135mm focal lengths will be very helpful in this education.

Depth-Of-Field (DOF) is how much within your image will be sharp within each frame or shot, and how that relates to the FL, the aperture selected, and the distance of shooting position to subject. You will learn how to control DOF to gain a desired effect.

You will learn about shutter speed, what settings are needed for various purposes, and how ISO (the light-sensitivity of the sensor) degree settings are related, and the effects from this.

Yes, you will have a fun time learning how to use all the control features of your new camera and lens to manipulate in order to produce a variety of outcomes. But this does take time and experience- so be patient!

Two important things right off the bat:

1. First of all and right away- do not use the green AUTO mode of your mode dial. It disengages and disallows many controls and adjustment capabilities. For fully automatic exposure settings of both aperture and shutter speed by your camera, set your mode dial to the "P" (Program) mode instead, which does allow you full access to adjustments, etc. as do the other more specific modes.

2. For best JPEG results out of your camera, set up "Fine Sharpening" in the Custom Image menus, especially in the most-used "Bright" category. Leave the camera set on "Bright" most of the time. The quick-link for adjustments are accessed via the "info" button, and I believe the Custom Image section will be the first one. Then the 4 buttons around the "ok" button will be for navigation for adjustments. Any trouble with this, just gives us a shout.

---

Last edited by mikesbike; 10-10-2019 at 12:04 PM.

[Buckeyemikie]

Excellent advice from mikesbike, to which I would add: just hit the green button (another great Pentax exclusive)if you get confused/frustrated trying to get the right exposure. It will give you a setting that's properly exposed as starting point. You'll be "in the Ballfield/football pitch" and you can modify the settings from there .

[mikesbike]

Yes, Buckeyemikie brought up very useful information- the green button, which is exclusive with Pentax for the Pentax Hyper system. It is just as he says for using the Manual mode (Pentax Hyper Manual mode) making this mode much faster and more efficient, and for when using the "P" mode and you have intervened to set your own choice of shutter speed or aperture (Pentax Hyper Program mode) where the green button will instantly restore fully automatic operation.

[aslyfox]

Yes, Buckeyemikie brought up very useful information- the green button, which is exclusive with Pentax for the Pentax Hyper system. It is just as he says for using the Manual mode (Pentax Hyper Manual mode) making this mode much faster and more efficient, and for when using the "P" mode and you have intervened to set your own choice of shutter speed or aperture (Pentax Hyper Program mode) where the green button will instantly restore fully automatic operation.

take a look at this:

Pentax Green Button Guide
A look at one of Pentax's secrets
By johnhilvert in Articles and Tips on Aug 15, 2016

Note how the green button carries no label

John Hilvert delves into the charms of the misunderstood "green button" on Pentax cameras.

It may not change your life. Yet with just one press it can reset your camera's exposure back to defaults, offer you a dandy spot meter for non-automatic lenses, support you when using manual mode, speed up settings adjustments in the menu, and a lot more!

Read more at: Pentax Green Button Guide - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

[Buckeyemikie]

Thx aslyfox, that link is worth revisiting for me & other long time Pentaxians!

[normhead]

The 18-135 is my most used lens over the years, it was he first Pentax lens with decent AF speed with it's DC motor.

The lenses I take out with it out most often are the DA 55-300 PLM, DFA 100 macro WR, DA* 55 1.4 and Sigma 8-16.

But for a beginner and to keep costs down, the DA 50 1.8 can replace the 55 1.4. The Rokinon 14 2.8 is great astro lens and could replace the Sigma 8-16.

I have over 21 lenses and that's what gets used. I seriously would discourage the purchase of 2.8 zooms until it's established you need them. I've been shooting 60 years and never bought one (correction, 1, because my wife wanted it.). They are expensive. On the other hand my FA 50 1.7 lived on my various cameras for a very long time. But then I have the advantage of looking back and seeing what I used and what I didn't. I do own a Tamron 17-50 2.8, it gets left home in favour of the 18-135. I've just never understood the attraction. 1.4 -1.8 prime lenses are appealing. 2.8 is great for primes that you can attach a TC to. But 2.8 zooms in my opinion are unnecessarily expensive and heavy and lack range compared to variable aperture zooms and in some cases, the IQ really isn't any better, and in some cases they are worse.