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10-17-2013, 09:26 AM   #1
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lens suggestions for fall foliage shots

hi Im puchasing a k30 and have these lenses already standard 18-55, 18-200, and 50 1.4 ...any suggestions for a good walkabout lens to shoot the fall leaves both landscape and maybe some macro as well?

10-17-2013, 09:40 AM - 1 Like   #2
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The kit lens until you are sure it isn't good enough.

F8 is great. Use a hood. Chinese copies are cheap and work as well as the Pentax version.
10-17-2013, 09:47 AM - 1 Like   #3
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I'd try some CPL with lens too, or GND filters. With your present lenses.
10-17-2013, 09:57 AM   #4
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The above advice is good. There's no reason you need a new lens for foliage. A halfway decent polarizer will be a lot of good, though.

If you're really looking for another foliage lens, consider a wide-angle. It really depends on what you're after though. At distance the 18mm is wide enough for most work. Getting significantly wider will be a bit pricey. The 16-45 is inexpensive but probably doesn't give you much advantage over the kit lens. Others like the Sigma 8-16, or the various 10-20 range lenses are significantly more expensive.

10-17-2013, 10:08 AM   #5
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18-55mm should work great.
10-17-2013, 10:08 AM   #6
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The 50/1.4 should serve you well... Take a look at this amazing shots done by @tessfully with the humble 50/1.7
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/238651-nature-perception...in-leaves.html
10-17-2013, 10:48 AM   #7
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I'll be using my 18-135 for my leaf shots. When they get to turning real good that is.

The 18-55 should be good to cover getting leaves. I know that's all I used for the first 6 months when I first had my Kx.

10-17-2013, 11:08 AM   #8
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I've shifted over to the Bright custom-picture setting which is great this time of year. Film Reversal will emphasize the colors also if your camera has that. Another trick is to use WB bracketing and throw out the bluest one; the bias toward warm is usually quite appealing.

As to lenses, I agree the 18-55 is excellent and has very good close focus skills too, so you can get a close shot with beautiful out-of-focus color all around.

film reversal in its glory - DA16-45
10-17-2013, 11:21 AM   #9
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Just to keep hammering on it - your lens are fine for foliage.

The best enhancer for fall foliage is a polarizer (circular), which will enable you to remove much of the blue sky glare from those red/orange/yellow leaves. Post processing cannot do that effectively.

And use your lens hood to keep the sky off your lens front as much as possible. That blue sky is the enemy of fall foliage when it strays to the non-sky parts of your image, but contrasts nicely with foliage when it is kept to the sky portion of the image.
10-17-2013, 11:27 AM   #10
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I try to show contrast and perspective in my fall shots, so I try to use early or late sunlight when there are shadows, and longer focal lengths. Because fall colours have more contrast than the greens of summer, you can use small apertures to get lots of depth of field and sharp photos. So unless you have a reason to not use the 18-200, that would be my suggestion. As for a macro, you will need another lens. Coming from the world of film photography, I can't believe how good the K-30 at setting white balance, and the shots I just did have much truer colour than what I've done in the past on Ektachrome.
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10-17-2013, 01:48 PM   #11
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Fall is one reason I got WR lenses. I read here a few years ago about taking fall foliage shots on rainy or misty days, and whoever that was, they were right. My first choice would be 18-55 WR. It can do 1:3 magnification so a macro is optional. A dedicated macro might see some use too.
10-17-2013, 05:48 PM   #12
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The DA35 is a great macro for leaves. Terrible for bugs!





This one has some silly post processing on it because I was experimenting, but it gives you some idea about what a really close leaf shot can look like:


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