Originally posted by A H Thompson 
Any experience with this camera and or lense? Any basic setup tips will be appreciated as I am absolutely new to dslr use. Thanks
It looks like you have some lenses that you can test with and see what kind of results you can get. I have never had a K-50, but the reviews it has are five star, so it looks like it is a good camera. It has a built in flash which will get you some flash practice with, though it may not serve you as well as something like an AF360FGZ or AF360FGZII or the AF540FGZ or AF540FGZII, The built in flash will at least light your subject. One of those flashes I mentioned would probably boost your practicing options and give you a stable source of light to get results. With the 1.4 50mm and 1.4 85 mm lenses you have, that at least gives you a start where you will be able to shoot at distances that are feasible for portrait opportunities. Maybe starting with your 50mm or 85mm and using natural sunlight may give you a start, positioning your subjects the way you want to have the best lighting. If you get a stronger flash in those cases you can use it for fill flash that is more effective than the built in flash (filling in where the sunlight does not). Also you can do test things with your built in flash indoors, and when you get a more substantial flash you can implement that for more well lit results. There are so many things you can do when you start out. The available lighting is really a key in being able to get the results you need/want. When you have something like for example the Pentax AF360FGZ flash you can set your camera to manual and implement something like an F9 aperture, 200 ISO, and 200 speed exposure to test with, then adjust those settings from there to see what you really like or what is giving you the best image. There are many videos for example in "Bing" on the internet that when you type something like "portrait shooting" or "studio portrait lighting" will give you a large number of videos to select from that will give you setup and different lighting approach information. Aside from flashes, there are also strobe lights that are something like flashes but they are located on stands (usually), and constant lights that are like for one example a 400 watt light that you can use with a white umbrella or a softbox to soften the light when directed toward the subject. Constant lights are usually wall plug in or use a battery. So, you have a lot to look at right now, but just taking that nice shot for example of a family member on the lawn with the best lighting you can get is a start, and you can build on similar experiences like that indoors and outdoors which will give you experience and give you an idea of what equipment you want to advance with if you decide to.
One other thing I wanted to mention. I am not sure if your lenses are K-mount, meaning that they are made specifically for the Pentax DSLR use. If they are and they are AF (autofocus), you will most likely have the autofocus capability with them, which would be nice. If they are AF, make sure you have the camera set for AF to be on. If you have a manual with your K-50, it will tell you the different settings you can use with your AF. If the lenses are manual, then you will be using manual focus. Just be sure the lenses are made to fit your camera (K-Mount) to avoid damaging your camera mount. Also, if you are interested in using one of the flashes I mentioned (Pentax), your K-50 is capable of utilizing them when they are off camera, such as on a stand where you want them. When the camera built in flash is activated it will activate the off camera flash. That way you could use the off camera flash and also have the built in flash on your camera to provide further fill light on the subject if you needed it.
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