[hangman43]

I was playing around with my kit lens today, inside the house, in decently lit rooms, and even at ISO1600 I was getting quite a bit of noise. I can correct some of it, but if you have to correct it too much, you end up with a very fake plastic looking picture because it is smoothed out too much and you start losing detail & sharpness. With that much noise, I wouldn't consider a photo to be print quality, even at a 4x6 (I guess I am a lot pickier than others when it comes to noise lol). I know I am probably asking for a miracle to get a clean sharp image in low light conditions without the use of flash or an outside light source, but any time I have used flash it has gone very bad. (Keep in mind I've only had my DSLR since March of this year.) I've used my art programs for 15 years, but only this year started to learn more things directed toward photography. Photoshop, Lightroom, I know the basics... I always used Paint Shop Pro 9 for my digital art needs but that doesn't seem to be geared toward photography as much so I'm using it less and less now. Oh and an FYI, I picked up the OLD manual 50mm 1.7 lens on ebay a while back to experiment with, and I do love the manual focus, no issues with that. That one, I don't know if it's the age of the lens or what, just doesn't give good pics at all in low light, and the color is always washed out.

ANYWAY, I am leading up to something with my rambling... my friend asked me to take some pics at their xmas party next month, which surprise surprise is at a dark bar, UGH. I think I am going to RENT a lens. I know the greatest possible lenses I could use probably aren't up for rental. From what I can find online, I've kind of narrowed it down to these. What do you think??
1. Pentax 43mm f/1.9 Limited -- SMC Pentax-FA 43mm F1.9 Limited Reviews - FA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
2. Pentax 55mm f/1.4 DA SDM -- SMC Pentax-DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
3. Pentax 50mm f/1.4 smcP-FA --
4. Pentax 14mm f/2.8 ED AL (IF) smcP-DA -- SMC Pentax-DA 14mm F2.8 ED [IF] Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
5. Sigma 28MM f/1.8 -- Sigma 28mm F1.8 EX DG Aspherical DG DF Macro Lens Reviews - Sigma Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

I kind of figured I was just going to get the 50mm 1.4 and be done with it, but then I started looking through some of the others that were available, I'm kind of afraid the 50mm will be difficult for me to get all of the pictures I want because I might not be able to stand that far back for all my shots... but my number one concern is getting a decent quality photo. WHAT DO YOU THINK?? Thanks!!!

These were shot at ISO 10,000 and PP with Topaz Denoise it is not perfect but more than acceptable I lost some detail but not to the extent that it looks unnatural to me.

[DaveHolmes]

Before you go for the big event, try playing with the Tav-mode.

+1 on this...

A fast(ish) 35mm lens is bloody useful though... I quite often shoot in low light in Tav mode with the FA35 at f3.2 and 1/100th and get great results...