[Wheatfield]

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Can anyone suggest a very good portrait lens for use on the k20d. I would like great sharpness and bokeh and also a lens that wont break the bank.

Not sure if this lens exists but any advise please ?.

Jason

Either the FA50/1.4 or 70f/2.4LTD would be a good choice.
And don't listen to the garbage talk about crop factors. There is no such thing, it's mindspeak for people too lazy to learn their format.

Thanks for all the advise.

I have gone for the FA 50mm 1.4 lens. I think I will get a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 in time as a general walkabout/shooting the kids lens.

I have just done some tests on the 50mm shooting newspaper on the wall ( I know this isn't real photography testing for the lens but I just wanted to get some idea of where the best sharpness in centre and corners cut in)

My findings were:

f1.4 soft centre/corner
f2.0 improvement centre/ soft corner
f2.8 very sharp centre/ softish corners
f4.0 sharp all over

Is this about right for this lens ?

Thanks for the advise.

ps. I know at a big aperture the corners wont really matter for most photos as they will be out of focus anyway but will the bokeh be affected with softness in the corners ? or am I being over worried ?

Thanks again

That sounds like my FA 50... bokeh will not be affected in a negative way, at least I have not noticed it on mine.
The softness at F 1.4 - F2 is why I end up using my 28-75 more often. The 2.8 thru the zoom range makes for some quick framing when taking shots of the ever-moving kids.

But.... There are low-light times when a fast 50 is the one I grab.

PS... there are some used 28-75's in the forum market place right now! Welcome to LBA...

[Marc Sabatella]

And don't listen to the garbage talk about crop factors. There is no such thing, it's mindspeak for people too lazy to learn their format.

I agree it's much better to simply leanr your own format and not worry about the focal lengths that produce equivalent fields of view on other formats.

But still, given tht much of the available literature is dealing with the 35mm format, you do still need to know about the difference in order to translate what someone says about that format into the APS-C domain. If a book written in the 1970's discusses using a 100mm lens for a particular subject distance in order to get a particular angle of view, you need to know what kind of lens will give the equivalent results on your camera.

[IBICO]

I might dig up a grave here, but still. Hope some could answer me.


More pictures made with K20d and Jupiter 9 85mm?


I might get myself an Pentax K20d, and looking for a good fixed zoom lens for it. I want to take portrait photos, pictures of my children.. most might be indoor with poor lighting.

Or does anyone have another lens that they would swear is the best?

[paperbag846]

More pictures made with K20d and Jupiter 9 85mm?

This lens would be great for outdoors, or staged portraiture. The focal length is useful, and the quality of that lens is really great. Very flattering headshots, but it will be tight indoors for candids (unless you have a huge home).

If you can swing it, I would second the DA 70 2.4 suggestion. Good dof control, but the auto-focusing speed is also very impressive.

[IBICO]

Like this one then? NEW PENTAX DA 70mm F2.4 F/2.4 Limited LENS 4 K-7 K-20D - eBay (item 200557356143 end time Jan-21-11 00:58:44 PST)

It was a bit over what I was intended to spend, but is this a lens I could also use on full frame lens or "DX" type? I am not familiar with Pentax yet.
I could justify the spending if I could use this lens later for a full frame camera

Does Pentax use a specific fitment for the lenses, or are they similar to other brand like Nikon or Canon?

[paperbag846]

I could justify the spending if I could use this lens later for a full frame camera

you can, but it's not a great portrait length on a full frame camera.

[Cambo]

hard to beat the little kit lens these days, the DA 50-200, for about $150.00 brand new, or under 100 used. Fantastic zoomed out a bit, in the 100mm range wide open.

And I'm an FA*85 owner.

Cheers,
Cameron