[bigted]

Howdy all, I've been looking at all of your great pictures and want to try this for next month. How do you decide on witch lens to use? Right now I've got a few zooms like the DA 18-55, FA 18-55, Older 35mm's Sigma 28-80 Macro, Tamron 80-210, and I'm picking up this weekend a M 50mm f2 and an unknown Manual 80-210. Witch one would you guys recomend to start with?

I'm thinking that as a new photographer this will help me learn more about how to use my lenses for diffrent situations. In the past I've basicly used the Sigma with my KX-7 in auto mode just to take pictures of the kids when they were little before I went to a P&S digital.

To be honest, not a great deal of thought goes into the decision. Sometimes it's a new lens and I want to try it out. Sometimes it's a lens I haven't used for a while and I want to give it a go. Sometimes I know what my month is going to be like for shooting ops and I have a particular lens in mind to use in particular situations. Most months I am happy with my lens choice sometimes I pick something that I wish I hadn't but I usually manage to finish the month. It's important to realize that this is a fun challenge and you are free to use other lenses for other shooting situations. For your first month you might want to use a lens you are familiar with or to make it more challenging you might want to use a lens you rarely use. If I was starting out I'd use the lens I am most comfortable with, just because it would be easier.

Welcome to the challenge, I look forward to seeing your contributions.

Stevi

[Bill2849]

Howdy all, I've been looking at all of your great pictures and want to try this for next month. How do you decide on witch lens to use? Right now I've got a few zooms like the DA 18-55, FA 18-55, Older 35mm's Sigma 28-80 Macro, Tamron 80-210, and I'm picking up this weekend a M 50mm f2 and an unknown Manual 80-210. Witch one would you guys recomend to start with?

I'm thinking that as a new photographer this will help me learn more about how to use my lenses for diffrent situations. In the past I've basicly used the Sigma with my KX-7 in auto mode just to take pictures of the kids when they were little before I went to a P&S digital.

Stevi's advice is pretty much straight on. If you are fairly new to DSLR cameras and/or if you maybe are getting back into photography, you might want to start out with a zoom lens with autofocus capabilities, such as the DA 18-55 or the FA 18-55 just to become more familiar with the range of capabilities of those lenses. It may be that the Sigma 28-80 Macro will also support autofocus and the various auto exposure modes in which case that might be a good choice too, An advantage of the Sigma is its Macro capabilities which would be useful if you are wanting to do close-ups of flowers or small objects. If the Sigma is the lenses you were most happy with when you were shooting film, that might make it a natural choice to use if you are just starting out with digital SLRs.


If you feel very comfortable with having made the transition from film SLR to digital P&S to digital SLR, then one of the manual lenses might be a good choice. M lenses are more somewhat more difficult to use but they can produce very good images as well. If you have a lens you are really wanting to try, then there is much to be said about shooting the lens you are most interested in learning to use.


There will also be a thread starting up for the Single in June Challenge. Often participants will post there to announce in advance which lens they are planning to use (although there have been many instances where folks have changed their mind), but you may find it interesting (assuming you have no other preferences) to try a lens that is the same or similar to what one or more other folks are trying.


The first principle is to have fun so don't make it any more difficult than you want it to be.


Welcome and we will look forward to seeing what you choose.


Bill

[mattt]

Beyond the process of making and posting photos daily, which can be a challenge in and of itself, the higher order or meta challenge is the development of a creative eye and mastery of your equipment. Long time participants often find they are able to make better photos by responding to constructive critique, and the limitation of a lens by FoV or creative use of DoF. Were it me - i would head for the M 50mm ƒ2.0 Prime Lens hands down. If you feel lacking in inspiration, most participants have kept their Single Challenge activities archived by lens albums - I for example have my Flickr Albums and even some albums here on PF organized in Single In months.... Full of the mundane and interesting for inspiration.

Welcome aboard.

[Renzz]

Okay at 23 days into my first challenge here is what I have noticed.

• I am "seeing" my focal length better.
• I am shooting in portrait orientation much more than I usually would.
• I look for detail, colour and texture more.
• I am finding subjects / objects easier.
• I think more creatively perhaps also.

Just a few things that seem to have noticed. Also I am starting to think of a lens for next month. Maybe a M35/2, one of the 50's, Oh wait the Zenitar 16 or maybe...............


Jim

[jezza323]

I have got my C mount adapter and my $20 4.8mm c mount lens for the Q, so I am keen to try it out for next month. From the quick couple of test shots ive done, it would appear it renders a bit like the 07 shield lens, but wider when its wide open And its sharp enough in the centre when stopped down a bit

[wolfiegirl]

I have got my C mount adapter and my $20 4.8mm c mount lens for the Q, so I am keen to try it out for next month. From the quick couple of test shots ive done, it would appear it renders a bit like the 07 shield lens, but wider when its wide open And its sharp enough in the centre when stopped down a bit

I'll be interested to see what you'll do with that. I started out with big plans with my Q. But so far have mainly just used the 01 and fisheye lenses....

[kdf9511]

Thanks for your thoughts. I think I will follow your advise and try the DA 18-55 for the first month. The Sigma 28-80 has been my normal go to lens so far as I am comfortable with it from the ZX-7 days. I've only had the K200D and *istD for less than a month now and I find my self taking one of them with me every day and as I'm driving around the state at work I find myself looking for good photo opportunities and even pulling over and taking a few shots as they come along.

[Tsuken]

Beyond the process of making and posting photos daily, which can be a challenge in and of itself, the higher order or meta challenge is the development of a creative eye and mastery of your equipment. Long time participants often find they are able to make better photos by responding to constructive critique, and the limitation of a lens by FoV or creative use of DoF. Were it me - i would head for the M 50mm ƒ2.0 Prime Lens hands down. If you feel lacking in inspiration, most participants have kept their Single Challenge activities archived by lens albums - I for example have my Flickr Albums and even some albums here on PF organized in Single In months.... Full of the mundane and interesting for inspiration.

Welcome aboard.

Yep. Everything Matt said - including the recommendation of the M 50mm. That was what I used for my first and second of these, and I found it brilliant. I learnt a lot about the lens and using it.

Welcome

[OzzRod]

SINGLE IN JUNE 2014

I know this post is a tad early, but I'm going to be out of touch shortly as I fly back home to the Great South Land from the UK.

You'll find the new Discussion Thread for June here.
You'll find the June Picture thread here.

---------- Post added 24-05-14 at 05:26 AM ----------

We have been away from home for 4 weeks now with a few days to go. During that time we spent 5 days exploring Helsinki mainly on foot, and in the remaining time we have driven 4200 kilometres exploring the area between London and the Orkneys in the UK, a day trip to Brighton by train, and spent some days exploring London by public transport and on foot.

In all of that ..... we have seen three cats , three pheasants (live) , three badgers (roadkill) , hundreds of dogs and thousands of people , but apart from repaap and utak...... not one other photographer using a Pentax!

[wolfiegirl]

We have been away from home for 4 weeks now with a few days to go. During that time we spent 5 days exploring Helsinki mainly on foot, and in the remaining time we have driven 4200 kilometres exploring the area between London and the Orkneys in the UK, a day trip to Brighton by train, and spent some days exploring London by public transport and on foot.

In all of that ..... we have seen three cats , three pheasants (live) , three badgers (roadkill) , hundreds of dogs and thousands of people , but apart from repaap and utak...... not one other photographer using a Pentax!

Jeepers..... where are they?!

What about the guy you bought your helios from?

[OzzRod]

Jeepers..... where are they?!

What about the guy you bought your helios from?

He was a marketeer, selling all sorts of old cameras with lenses, not a pentaxian.

[mtux]

I just back to KL today, will try to post photos until end of this month.
Hope everyone is doing well.

My thoughts are with you John and Stevie. Keep up.

[g026r]

Just got two rolls back this afternoon, so will post some more film ones tonight.

Looks like I'm losing on average 2-3 shots per roll due to the intermittent shutter issues. Probably will cost me less to just buy a new Spotmatic than to actually get this one looked at.

[dngr]

Just got two rolls back this afternoon, so will post some more film ones tonight.

Looks like I'm losing on average 2-3 shots per roll due to the intermittent shutter issues. Probably will cost me less to just buy a new Spotmatic than to actually get this one looked at.

Keep going, I like your work. If I could afford to buy film and have it developed, I'd join you, but alas, not on this student's budget

[utak]

Its time to do a review of the three Russian screwmount 58mm f2 Helios lenses I used this month: the 44-2, 44M, 44M-4. Why buy three, you may ask? Because in total they cost me around $50 in local markets!

The 44-2 is a pre-set and wobbles a bit on the camera. It has the most swirly bokeh, no doubt. Terrible for landscapes/street scenes, where it produces rather oily, low contrast images, at all stops. Or at least mine does. The images are noticeably softer towards the edges at infinity. They can look good in B&W though. Closer up, its the real deal, and wide open at f2, the most fun lens I own by a distance...but then I am rather partial to the 50-58mm distance (not everyone is).

The 44M is a big heavy beast, not a pre-set, but with a M/A switch like Takumars. It has a different body design, with the aperture ring moved to the back, and the front lens is not so set back into the body. As a result it flares/over exposes more without a hood. Again, not great at landscapes but better than the 44-2. No wobbles.

The 44M-4 is heavy too. No pre-set or M/A switch. It has more coatings and less flare than the 44-2. Good at close ups and landscapes. Super sharp, not that the others aren't sharp too. Its one of the centre-sharpest lenses I have.

So, if you've never used a Helios 58mm f2 before, I think you'll be surprised at the sharpness, how solid it is, and how engagingly different it is to use. On many occasions you really won't know precisely what kind of images you've got until you process them up on the computer, but you'll get many pleasant surprises.

When you first look at your images, esp. from the 44-2 and 44M, you might think: they are a bit dull! Where's the vibrancy, the swirly bokeh? The key thing is that you'll have to spend a lot more time on PP to boost the colours and contrast and find the right bokeh look, but its worth it.

Conclusion: get one ASAP , they are dirt cheap....and it seems that ausmoose and OzzRod have done that this month. Really looking forward to seeing their results. My favourite photo of the month, by my personal favourite lens, the 44-2, was my very first.