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12-17-2014, 06:03 PM   #1
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Whoa . . . Hello All (Soon to be a K-50 owner)

Hi to everyone. I feel like I'm late in the game by finally delving into the world of photography at the ripe old age of 40! What finally pushed me over the edge, or at least into the DSLR realm, is my frustration with the lag in point and shoot cameras -- which caused many blurry or missed shots of my daughter, who is now 2 y.o. I'd have to take many burst shots in the hopes of getting a couple of decent photos. Anyway, I've been doing a lot research/reading on Canon, Nikon, and Pentax cameras and I'm happy to say I'm just about to pull about the trigger on a Pentax K-50.

1) Can't decide on the black or white body. The white body looks cool but I'm sure it gets dirty easily and wonder how easy it is to clean.

2) While I'm definitely on a budget as a dad on a fixed income, I understand value of a good quality lens. I am leaning towards purchasing the SMC Pentax-DA* 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL [IF] SDM, but I wonder if it's too crazy/ridiculous even thinking about pairing with an entry-level DSLR like the K-50. Can the K-50 take full advantage of this lens' quality?

Thanks for reading and any advice you nice folks can provide!

Cheers!

Ed

12-17-2014, 06:47 PM   #2
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I can't comment on either the K-50 or the DA*16-50, but I've gotten decent action shots with the normal K-5 and the DA 18-135 (albiet in bright sun light). Since it sounds like you're a beginner, personally, I would say go the 18-135 route, or even the normal kit lens before you drop that kind of money on a lens. Just in case you find you don't use it as much as you thought ($500 hit is a little easier to swallow than a $1300 hit). Though other people here probably have more insightly advice than me
12-17-2014, 06:52 PM   #3
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Hello Ed and welcome to the Forums.
At 40 you are still a youngun.
1) I am not sure about how dirty the white one would get. I have a blue K-30 that never looks any dirtier than my black cameras.
2) Not silly at all A good lens can last a live time A body will not. Either you will out grow it , it will die, or you will just want to upgrade for the new features available which is usually the case. I would rather have a good lens on an average body, than an average lens on a top of the line body.
Pentaxe"s kit lenses are not bad . I still use my 18-55 kit lens quite a bit. Just a thought. I have never gotten around to the 18-135 but I have seen some really nice shots with it.
12-17-2014, 07:26 PM   #4
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Welcome to the forum... I am sure you will enjoy your k-50 once you get it... (I can tell you that would be many times better when I first bought into DSLR with my k100D).

Getting a good DA*16-50 is a good choice (bypassing the kit lens), although as a beginner, you may miss the long zoom part which as someone suggested the DA18-135 WR would be good.

12-17-2014, 07:45 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Echo.Delta Quote
I am leaning towards purchasing the SMC Pentax-DA* 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL [IF] SDM, but I wonder if it's too crazy/ridiculous even thinking about pairing with an entry-level DSLR like the K-50. Can the K-50 take full advantage of this lens' quality?
Certainly it can.

However, one thing to bear in mind with that lens
is that it has had a history of failure of the rather weak motor
that drives the AF mechanism internally.

The internal motor in the DA 18-135 is not so advanced technologically,
but seems to be more robust.

There is also a new 16-85 lens which may not be as good optically as the DA * 16-50,
but which will give you a bigger range, and which has the more robust internal AF drive.
12-17-2014, 08:32 PM   #6
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There is nothing wrong with the 18/55 kit lens, it will take splendid pictures. (there is a thread here devoted to pictures from it) I doubt you will ever feel a photo suffered from poor quality of the lens. As long as you have the light, it will do you proud, and save you enough money to get an old manual focus 1.4 or 1.8 lens for low light.
12-18-2014, 07:06 AM   #7
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Another option if you're indoors with decent lighting is the 16-45. The kit lens isn't bad though, and does give you WR which is reassuring.
A decent investment is the 360 flash and a diffuser. You can bounce off the ceiling as well. I haven't mastered flash, but if I had kids, I'd sure practice.

And yes, the shutter lag was one big reason I first investigated getting back into SLR territory as well.

12-18-2014, 11:17 AM   #8
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Welcome, Ed! I guess you have never had a white car? They stay cleaner looking way longer than a black car. Still, can't say as I've ever had a camera that even got dirty enough to really need cleaning on a regular basis, and I do a lot of hiking and camping with them. Between white and black, I'd go for white, but I do like to be different. My understanding is that the K-50 is more of a mid-level camera (K-X, K-R, and now K-500 below it). It's only the crazy low current pricing that makes it seem entry level, IMHO. Don't think you'd ever find an entry level camera from another maker with full weather sealing, which is one big reason I went with Pentax for my first DSLR, a K-30 I just ordered a few days ago. Can't wait! I don't have your lens budget though at the moment, so I'm going the used route. If I had the money, I'd definitely spring for an 18-135WR and get a few primes for the low light stuff.
12-20-2014, 10:38 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Echo.Delta Quote
1) Can't decide on the black or white body. The white body looks cool but I'm sure it gets dirty easily and wonder how easy it is to clean.

2)
Ed

My wife has the white body K-50. No issues with cleanliness.
12-20-2014, 10:46 AM   #10
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I got blood on my yellow K-01 once (don't ask!),
but it wiped clean enough with alcohol,
so long as they don't do that CSI thing with the blue light!
12-20-2014, 11:18 AM   #11
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Welcome Aboard!!

I think that in order to catch a 2 year with no blur you need a flash that gives off a 1 one billionth of a second flash pulse. Right now my favorite photo of my grandson is a setting where all is nice and sharp except for the blur moving across the photo. It actually catches him perfectly. So now my nickname for him is.............. "The Blur".
12-21-2014, 04:41 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Echo.Delta Quote
at the ripe old age of 40!
Welcome, your just a youngster compared to some of us around here, myself included.
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