About two months ago, I purchased a Pentax Kx with the two kit lenses. I joined the Pentax Cult against the advise of my photoclub members who are Nikon worshipers. Immediately, and without giving the kit lenses a chance, I started buying cheap Pentax-M lenses guided by the advise of forum members and by every single forum I googled.
After two months, I have invested enough money in buying lenses that I could have purchased the Pentax K5 body with two nice expensive lenses, or a Nikon D90 with other two lenses. First, it was tough to learn to shoot manually with those little lenses, especially if you have 20 of them around and you are trying to figure out which one does what.
Finally, Christmas came and parties came, and I was not ready for the M-lenses, or any lens at all. That is when I took my kit lenses to the parties and shot everything in automatic. The result? Wonderful, all my pictures came great, and my family and friends thought I had won the Lotto because of the expensive look of the kit lenses with the hoods that I also purchased. Honestly, the photographs came really nice. My advise, do not neglect your kit lenses, they are WONDERFUL.
Now, the second part of the story: I decided to read all the stop down, green button, AE/L +/-, relationship between aperture, sensor, and shutter, etc. and have become literate in those things. Literate is not enough, so I decided to take every day ONE lens with me for a walk and take up to 50 photos in all possible combinations. EUREKA!!! I finally discovered why the Pentax Cult adores the Pentax-M lenses, the primes. They are wonderful, the image is much better than the already great image the kit lenses provide. The colors are wonderful in some of the lenses. Some of the lenses are soft yet neat, such as the M-50mm f1.7, making it ideal for portraits. My wife loves the pics I took of her, it minimizes the wrinkles. Isn't it great? In general, I have learned to use the M-lenses very well, all I need now is practice.
I will never shoot automatic if I can avoid it. I will reserve the kit lenses for the parties where posing is not an option. If there is time for a pose, then I will go manual. I also purchased some A, F and FA lenses. They add one easy step in the easiness to shoot, but it is not worth the extra money. It could be me, by I prefer the construction and the image of the M-lenses. The image from the M lenses are wonderful. Thanks Pentax for creating those. I am now an official member of the cult, ready to demonstrate they are the best lenses, and members the best community.
Last edited by Pepe Guitarra; 12-28-2010 at 10:49 PM.