Hello one and all!

I'm keen to purchase a (used) pentax camera set up to shoot portrait/landscape. The portrait is the tricky part because it would be in situ, ranging from cycling events (mechanics, cyclists off their bikes - on would be fab too) to craft workshops (woodwork, glass - poor or variable lighting). Getting some macro in would be great fun too, but I don't want to push my budget too far.

My thinking is at a minimum I need: a body, a 50mm prime (on a aps-c body, so 75mm), some cards and a portable flash. Ideally I'd also get a wide lens (18mm) but I'd rather limit the lens and buy a quality one - after all taking 'tight' landscapes is totally achievable!

My Budget is around £600, I can and am willing to push this 'a bit' but it has to be large improvements rather than incremental. Otherwise it's just feature creep.

I'm currently thinking (all used):
Excellent condition 8000 shots K3 (mk1) - £350
Pentax-FA smc 50mm f1.4 Lens - £150
Cards - £50
Remote Flash - Unsure whats good here!

I've gone round and round in circles, building myself up to more expensive cameras and back down again. The classic bind: spend enough to ensure it's me and not the kit, but beyond that work on my skills and have fun. I've had cheaper canikons in the past, and borrowing more expensive cameras/lenses has resulted in a totally different experience (much improved). But I don't have enough experience to know where the line is.

Thanks for reading!

[Sandy Hancock]

The K-3 is an excellent camera, with great ergonomics and a decent burst speed if you want to shoot those cyclists in action!

As a portrait lens, I would suggest looking at the DA* 55/1.4. It will cost you a bit more second hand, but for the money you'll get much better IQ wide open, much better build quality, weather sealing, accurate and silent autofocus, quick shift manual focus, and a hood.

If you don't feel the need for a super-wide lens for landscapes, the DA 18-135/3.5-5.6 is pretty cheap, weather sealed, has silent AF and performs remarkably well.

Hi Sandy,

Thank you for that insight! I'll go have a look around for the lens.

[C_Jones]

I used to have the Pentax 18-55 AL II lens (not weather sealed) before I got the Pentax 16-85 lens (weather sealed). The AL II was capable of excellent images, but I had wanted something with more of a telephoto range and the 16-85 was weather sealed. But as I said the AL II is capable of excellent images and has a good range. I was careful with it, so I never had any weather contamination. As was already mentioned, the Pentax 18-135 is also a nice lens with a good range and weather sealing. Below is a listing for the AL II on Amazon in case you are interested.

https://www.amazon.com/Pentax-18-55mm-3-5-5-6-Samsung-Digital/dp/B0012QE4DK

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Last edited by C_Jones; 01-19-2023 at 03:19 PM.

[UncleVanya]

The k-3 is excellent. The fa* 50 is very good stopped down and a bit dreamy wide open. As long as f1.4 edge to edge sharp isn’t your expectation it should work. The F or FA 50/1.7 lenses not as soft wide open and might be sharper until about f2.8. The DA* 55 is a better lens, but likely out of your budget. The DA 50-135 converted to screwdrive mode is another option but it is also just a touch too expensive for your budget.

I’d probably go with what you found. Describe your ideas of how you want to use the remote flash.

[UncleVanya]

Maybe this will help:

IMGP1136_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (DA35 macro)

IMGP9089_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (F 50/1.7)

IMGP8215_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (DA 18-135)

IMGP59252_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (DA 50-135)

IMGP5112_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (DA 40)

IMGP3162_DxO by -vanya_42nd- (FA 77)

IMGP0639 by -vanya_42nd- (DA* 200)

IMGP0093 by -vanya_42nd- (DA 40)

I can’t find any portraits with the DA 70 right now, but the point is that many many lenses can do portraits. I realize you indicated a desire for more environmental context. I’ll look later for examples like that. The shorter focal lengths will make that easier. The 35mm macro or even the 35mm plastic fantastic might be your best option.

[normhead]

If you really want cyclists on their bikes, you probably want a zoom. If you want shots of people active, but not in a studio, you probably also want a zoom. Places where people are busy, is not the place for a photographer with a fixed lens. An older used Sigma or. Tamron 17-50 2.8 the Sigma being the more reliable. Also one of the older 17-70s might work. I'd look for the best deal on one of those lenses and buy the one that's the best price. The FA 50-1.7 or DA 50 1.8 are also good choices if you want to stay around 50mm with a DA 50 1.8 also being options. But 50 is telephoto on APS-c so not the best for tight spaces.

The Plastic DA 35 2.4 might be your best option if you can find one cheap. For what you want to do, I'd just take my DA 18-135.... it's the lens I always take when I'm only taking one lens.

I'd look for the best deal on one of those lenses and buy the one that's the best price to try and stay within your budget.

Thank you both for the further insights!

I'm definitely after weather sealing (for events, the workshops and because I like to be outdoors to take photos!), so I appreciate you flagging which lenses that features on.

Good to know the k3 is a solid choice, it can be hard to escape the 'the later models are technically better' feature creep and one ends up mired in a loss of perspective.


My intention for the flash would be to use it as a light source for portraits under poor lighting conditions, (night action shots) and creativity! The best photos I've enjoyed seeing have always had an intentional control of the light, whether in composition or provision. I'd be happy to sacrifice the night time action shots if I'm better acquiring a 'light source' rather than a remote flash..

[ChristianRock]

I'm with you on the use of flash - it does stimulate creativity, and it can be used with great effect in portraits. If you can, get one with high speed sync. It really helps with outdoor portraits.

In regards to camera and lens - I used the K-3 with the DA*16-50mm f/2.8 as my main combo for about a year, a couple years ago. I have since switched the K-3 for the K-S2 because I like the output of that sensor a bit more and 20MP vs 24MP to me is not that important (I still shoot regularly with a 10MP camera, the K200D). With the K-S2 I can use ISO 3200 with no problems - whatever noise is there cleans up well as long as I expose properly, and I might also leave the noise there - it's pleasing noise. Plus, the files are - to me - more manageable in terms of how I can push the colors. But I got very pleasing pictures with the K-3 as well, especially with the DA*16-50mm.

Which is why the SMC DA*16-50mm f/2.8 is my recommendation, if you can find one used like I did, that was converted to screwdrive autofocus... I paid about 230 dollars shipped for mine if I recall correctly. It's a totally professional lens, weather sealed. To me it's a perfect all-around lens for what you need:
. The 16mm end is very sharp stopped down a bit which is what you want with wide angle shots anyway. At f5.6-f11 it's bitingly sharp with superb colors and microcontrast.
. The 50mm gives me portraits that are as good and as pleasing as any lens I have, including primes. f/2.8 softens the image a bit in a very pleasing way, from f3.2 to smaller, it's very sharp throughout the lens range.
. Having f2.8 (or a very sharp f/3.2) available at 50mm means you can get high shutter speeds on your cycling shots. It just makes the lens very versatile. And you'll use the 16mm end more than you think you would, in your workshops and events where you have to be close to avoid having people between you and what you're shooting.
. As I said it's professional grade weather sealed
. Most importantly, the images it produces are extremely pleasing and professional looking (I know it's personal, so I'm talking about my experience). The textures in particular, whether it be hair, skin, sand, wood, leaves etc... just have this pleasing and natural quality to them.
- It focuses fairly close, not a macro but it can get quite a bit closer than a 50mm prime would.

The Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 and the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 might be slightly sharper wide open but they don't go to 16mm, they don't have SMC coatings, they don't render nearly as nicely (in my opinion) and most importantly, they're not as ruggedly built, and (most importantly) they're not weather sealed.

I often pair it (or the HD DA 18-50mm f/4-5.6 when I want to go very light and have good light to work with) with the SMC DA 70mm Limited or the SMC-M 100mm f/2.8 - this lens in particular is very affordable and I find it underrated. It's a manual focus lens but it's got - at least my copy does - very good contrast wide open. Which makes it quite easy to get sharp pictures from it even wide open, at medium to longer distances.

Now just find the body that you can afford for it - the K-3, the K-S2 or a K-70 would all pair very nicely and are either in or close to your budget. A KP would give you a bit faster autofocus and better low light shooting, you can probably shoot ISO 6400 with that one with no fear - but it'll cost you a bit more.

Hope that helps.

[mlag]

If you find a 2ndhand sigma 17-70 mm f2.8 f4 HSM that will do quite a good mix for you. Wide + small tele, surprisingly sharp zoomlens, fast focus with hsm motor, f2,8 in low light... or a 18-50 f2.8.
Such a zoom is much better than the standard zoom kit lens, allows you to appreciate the different focus lengths and shooting styles, while you can keep an eye on the web and add a lens when the budget allows.

I am not a big flash user , but godox brand has nice flashes for pentax at attractive prices, even new....goes from small to wireless coupled sets. The tt350 is quite universal...

And the K-3 is definitely a good starting point...

[rvandenbrink]

You should be able to get a used K70 or KP with an 18-135 lens for that budget, if you’re willing to wait for the right price.
K3 m1 is also a nice machine, just a fixed screen on that one though

[JensE]

UncleVanya already gave excellent advice on the prime options, especially with respect to the 50/1.4 AF lenses. If you don't go with one of the f/2.8 zoom lenses, there is another excellent low-budget choice in addition to the F or FA 50mm/1.7: The lightweight DA 50mm/1.8 has the same optical design and similar smc coatings, but nicer rounded aperture blades. It's using a lot of plastic, but does not feel fragile (in contrast to the also mentioned DA18-50mm) and manual focus actually feels a lot better. AF is more decisive and precise than on the FA50/1.4 because of better contrast wide open and the absence of focus shift.

Apologies for the delay, and thank you all for your time and contributions!

Final scouting of prices this week and purchases to follow - I'll update once they've been done.. maybe even with a photo!

[bdery]

Remote Flash - Unsure whats good here!

With a tight budget, by far the best option is to look at Godox flashes. They are TTL, easy to control wirelessly, less expensive than competitors.

If you can justify it, their V860 ii or iii are powerful, with Li-Ion batteries so they never die, can be mounted on camera and controlled remotely. They have similar options which take NiMH AA batteries and are adequate also.

Have a look here:

V1 :https://www.lightandmatter.org/2022/equipment-reviews/godox-v1-versatile-and-dependable/

V860iii: https://www.lightandmatter.org/2021/equipment-reviews/godox-v860-iii/

This one discusses the remote controller: https://www.lightandmatter.org/2021/equipment-reviews/godox-ad100pro/

[aizatk]

A manual lens for portrait works is no issue (for me), but if you somehow intend to shoot fast-paced sporting events, autofocus and zoom lenses will make your life much easier