Hello!
I'm a newbie from central Europe, just bought a first DSLR a few weeks back and making first attempt to some "serious" photography. I have got myself a nice Pentax K-3 with a Tamron 90mm macro, and having not so much left in my pocket I chose to pick some "Golden Oldies". I picked two -
SMC Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 and
SMC Pentax-F 70-210 f/4-5.6. I found some "issues" in them and would like to know if it's typical and safe for further use.
1. In 50mm the aperature ring is really hard to rotate, but as long as I can get it back to "A" position it's ok. I did some reading and found that this is actually very common - one or two positioning metal pieces underneath the ring are detached from the body, and causing the ring to jam. It works fine, so this is not a big deal, I will probably fix it by myself.
2. The zoom lens is also working fine (at least judging after a few test shots), but it has some problems that I couldn't came across on the web. First goes the focus ring - it's incredibly loose, I can move it in and out (parallel to the lens axis) by around 0.5mm and the same amount on the sides (perpendicular to the lens axis). It is probably just loose, beacuse I can't remove it with such ease as I move it. Rotating this ring is so light, that only the weight of rotating elements is the only resistance i feel. The last issue is moving tube inside. When I tilt this son of a rock I see, that the inside part, that extends move just a little back and forth (when I hold it in place there is a minimum rattle). Is this normal? Should I be afraid, that shortly this lens will be unusable due to "dysregulation" of the optics elements inside?
Other lenses
I would like to buy a UWA and at the moment I see two options -
Pentax HD / SMC 15mm f/4.0 Limited and
Samyang 16mm f/2.0 ED AS UMC CS. Both have very good opinions and similar prices. I need it for landscape fotography obviously
, but I wonder which would be better at IQ overall. I don't care for the weight, size, abberations (as long as they are easily corrected in Lightroom). The Pentax Limited is very tempting - probably better QC (compared to Samyang), bult-in hood, cheaper filters, the size and weight, but can't see a good direct comparison of IQ for these two guys.
Speedlight
I think I'll need one for shadow lightning. I will probably using it most of the time on the camera in the field, but I don't exclude off camera use. I'm thinking of using it wide-angle shots (like in the middle of the forest), some portraits, product photography, and (if possible) macro. The Combo Cactus RF60X + V6II seems very nice, and price for only the speedlight in my case is 110$ (new). I know that it doesn't have TTL by itself (you need to stack it on the camera to have TTL and HSS), but I have heard, that manual flash isn't so hard to master (I would buy V6 II later). I don't know a much about flashes, but this setup sounds nice (when adding extra RF60X flashes I will have no problem with using the wirelessly).
Other stuff
Grip! I have a knock-off grip with metal rods and DOF preview, but I find it somehow uncomfortable. The e-dials are really shallowly set (especially the thumb one) and feels a bit "plasticky" (I don't have extra battery so far, so it enchances this feeling). Another problem is battery level - camera have problem to display it accuratly. Do somebody has a good in-person comparison between knock-offs and the original (I'm looking for one)? Is it feels more sturdy and more durable? Are the e-dials are placed better?
Any other recommendations? I will be gratefull to see your opinions on what I have in mind.
Last edited by Coven; 09-12-2019 at 01:20 PM.