[Oldbayrunner]

Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here.

---

Those Op/Tech type bags are a PITA, your better off using a plastic shopping bag and rubber bands...LOL Used them for years. Enjoy your K-r it will be fine for your journey into dslr photography. Then when and if you find it doesn't do what you want for certain photography on a consistent basis then think about upgrading.

---

Last edited by Oldbayrunner; 05-02-2014 at 06:46 AM.

[Zealex]

Yes I can't wait to play with it! Better I use this because it's cheaper...pretty sure if I got the k-50 I'd have to pay for sales tax anyways.

I want to make sure I know how the camera body works and then I want to learn how to manual focus because I'm seeing some nice pieces of glass that are manual for sale...for cheap!

This weekend should be warm and dry so I should be able to take a few good shots!

[Oldbayrunner]

Yes I can't wait to play with it! Better I use this because it's cheaper...pretty sure if I got the k-50 I'd have to pay for sales tax anyways.

I want to make sure I know how the camera body works and then I want to learn how to manual focus because I'm seeing some nice pieces of glass that are manual for sale...for cheap!

This weekend should be warm and dry should I be able to take a few good shots!

Just don't be too critical of your photos or camera at first while your learning your camera and establishing workable techniques for yourself.

[clackers]

Just don't be too critical of your photos or camera at first while your learning your camera and establishing workable techniques for yourself.

Yeah, I think one of the professionals here said something like your first thousand photos are sh_t, whoever you are.

So experiment widely, check the results, modify methods as a result, and get 'em out of the way! :-)

And to become excellent at an activity requires ten thousand hours, according to polarizing author Malcolm Gladwell.

Still want 'in' on this, Zealex? :-D

[boriscleto]

I spent 2 years with a K-x before moving up to the K-5. It made me appreciate the things a K-5 can do all the more.

Just be careful about buying manual glass. You can quickly end up with almost 70 lenses and more film bodies than you know what to do with

[Zealex]

Yeah I bet it will take a while...let's see how it goes! I still want in! If anything was easy, wouldn't everybody do it?

But I will need some self control I can imagine myself going crazy over some of these lens deals...

---------- Post added 05-02-14 at 11:11 AM ----------

Do love the quality of photos on this lens, and would LOVE to take shots like that!

SMC Pentax-M 100mm F4 Macro Reviews - M Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database


Good to know "odd" colors are harder to sell... Maybe when I need a new one I'll buy a color body to save some money. A red body would be really cool, it's like a red corvette!

[Oldbayrunner]

You want red here you go How to paint your dslr

[DSims]

Yeah I bet it will take a while...let's see how it goes! I still want in! If anything was easy, wouldn't everybody do it?

But I will need some self control I can imagine myself going crazy over some of these lens deals...

---------- Post added 05-02-14 at 11:11 AM ----------

Do love the quality of photos on this lens, and would LOVE to take shots like that!

SMC Pentax-M 100mm F4 Macro Reviews - M Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database


Good to know "odd" colors are harder to sell... Maybe when I need a new one I'll buy a color body to save some money. A red body would be really cool, it's like a red corvette!

That looks like a good one - I haven't used it. The non-macro M or A 100/2.8 lenses are also quite good. This is the lens that changed the way I think about photography. I still have mine.

[Zealex]

When I look through my viewfinder I see like a piece of fuzz...changed lenses so it's somewhere inside my body...err how do I get this out? lol

---------- Post added 05-03-14 at 02:33 PM ----------

I really like the 55-300mm! Funny thing, just noticed I was using manual focus instead of auto....whoops!

I think the biggest confusion I'm dealing with at the moment is really the different modes.. AUTO PICT, P, Sv, Tv, Av and M. Rereading the manual but all just a lot of info. Always been a hands on learner.

For the mean time, I've been shooting on Tv with a shutter speed of 1/1000 and iso level of 800.

[Zealex]

Also, I tried shooting a photo of something indoors at 400iso and it's practically black. Tried using my galaxy s3 at 400 ISO and it was able to take the photo. The only way my DSLR can take the photo is if the flash is up. I'm a bit confused by this.

[clackers]

Also, I tried shooting a photo of something indoors at 400iso and it's practically black. Tried using my galaxy s3 at 400 ISO and it was able to take the photo. The only way my DSLR can take the photo is if the flash is up. I'm a bit confused by this.

You've been studying aperture, Zealex?

The S3 has one of 2.6, which is wider than the two beginners' lenses you have.

Another advantage of your phone is that it will be easier to focus, because it's almost a pinhole camera WRT to DoF.

But zooming its fixed focal length to be equivalent to anything your lenses can do means cropping and killing pixels (and it has less than your K-r to start with!).

Also, that tiny lens and tiny sensor means in low light many of the pixels are noise, which the phone attempts to cover up in its software JPEG noise reduction along with serious distortion, so you lose even more detail compared to your DSLR once corrected.

The phone's depth of field also make it very difficult to do a professional-looking portrait or shot of an interesting object where the distracting background has been put out of focus.

[Zealex]

Yeah I was practicing on my brother's car outside...increased aperture and boom! Could shoot at a lower iso.

There's so much factors...guess I just need practice.

Here is one of the "best" shots I took today..



Any advice you could offer just from looking at this photo? I kind of just played with random settings haha

1/800 exposure time, 400 ISO, F 7.1.

[VisualDarkness]

I think you nailed both the settings and the composition on that one, nice shot! You learn by taking photos so just continue taking good shots like that.

[Zealex]

I think you nailed both the settings and the composition on that one, nice shot! You learn by taking photos so just continue taking good shots like that.

Thank you sir! That one was luck haha.

I really just need practice that's all. I wasn't even aware how good some shots were until I looked through them!

---------- Post added 05-03-14 at 08:23 PM ----------

Would this work for my camera?

D BH109 Lithium Battery Holder AA Battery Holder for Pentax K R KR K 30 Camera | eBay

And this hood for my 55-300mm...

58mm Lens Hood Ph RBG for Pentax SMCP Da 55 300mm F 4 5 8 Ed | eBay

I know they're knockoffs, but I can't imagine the AA battery holder be damaging or the knock off hood being "not effective"

[boriscleto]

Thank you sir! That one was luck haha.

I really just need practice that's all. I wasn't even aware how good some shots were until I looked through them!

---------- Post added 05-03-14 at 08:23 PM ----------

Would this work for my camera?

D BH109 Lithium Battery Holder AA Battery Holder for Pentax K R KR K 30 Camera | eBay

And this hood for my 55-300mm...

58mm Lens Hood Ph RBG for Pentax SMCP Da 55 300mm F 4 5 8 Ed | eBay

I know they're knockoffs, but I can't imagine the AA battery holder be damaging or the knock off hood being "not effective"

I've never had any problem with the knock off RBG hood. Get a RBA hood for the 18-55 too. I don't know about the battery holder because the K-x didn't need one.