[macrogrl06]

Hello, I am new to the forum and fairly new to the photography world. I prefer to shoot insects, reptiles well pretty much anything that creeps and crawls. So the macro shooting comes into play with my chosen subjects often. I now find myself targeting larger forms of wildlife and landscapes. I have recently relocated to Maine and wow I am in the right place for finding all the above to shoot till my hearts content. I am finishing up a BFA with a concentration in photography then off to graduate school in Boston. I started off with the Pentax kx and now am looking to upgrade to? I am looking at the K 5. If anyone has any suggestions please direct me to the correct platform or suggestions.

Best to all,

Macrogrl

[eaglem]

Welcome to the forum, we are always happy to welcome another Macro shooter.

[patrick9]

Welcome to the Forums. Be sure to post some shots

[macrogrl06]

Thank you for the warm reception. I will get some pics up shortly

[ivanvernon]

Welcome to the forum. I shoot some macro too, esp. with my Pentax 50mm macro 2.8 lens. Great lens, but shooting macro might with it might get you a little too close if you are shooting rattlesnakes! Looking forward to your posts.

[rbefly]

Hello Macrogrl, welcome to the Forum!
There's lots of macro shooters here, and this is a thread you might enjoy;
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/lens-clubs/129563-macro-lens-club.html
Not only are there some fine photos, but you get to see a wide selection of different lenses at work.
I think the K-5 would be a good choice. I use a K10D and K-7 for macro, but regardless of the body, have found that switching to a split-prism focusing screen was the most helpful upgrade. Even with an auto-focus lens, many times I have to manually tweak the final focus a bit, to get things just right.
Also, a magnifying eyepiece (the Seagull version is pretty good, about $40.00-$50.00) helps in some tricky situations.
What len(ses) are you using?
Ron

[macrogrl06]

Thank you for the welcome and tips Ron! I think I am pretty set on the K5 and also checking out the Pentax 100mm 2.8 Macro lens to go along with it. I have been shooting with Pentax DA 50-200mm f/4-5.8 and the kit lens. But I have pulled some off with these two lenses but not as well as I would like. I am learning how to stack and looking at some of the programs out there.

Cheers,
Wendy

[ASheffield]

Welcome to Pentax Forums! I joined on November 4th and by the next day I had spent over five hours on it. I think you'll enjoy it.

[macrogrl06]

I am glad I joined. I have found more information on equipment and shooting tips then I have from any other sources that I used. Plus there are some amazing photographs to view!

[macrogrl06]

Ivanvernon, that's one snake I haven't ran into but have caught a few more harmless relatives. Thank you for the welcome

[TER-OR]

You won't go wrong with the 100mm macros of any flavor. I have an FA100 which is great. Was great on the K-10 and is great on the K-5.
I'd love to use the K5 IIs in macro, that added detail without the AA filter would be welcome.

Eventually I'll investigate image stacking as well, but that's pretty much a studio technique.