[normhead]

That sounds like a real good deal. I got myself K5 for 150€ year ago. Didn't really need it, but deal was too good to pass. Been happy with it. Nowadays I like it more than my K30.

My photography skills started to improve a lot when I started to shoot with manual lenses, because it really forces you take responsibility over the controls. With automation it's easy to take shots, but you don't really gain understanding. So if you get 17-50, 18-55 or somethin similar wide zoom as your main lens, I would suggest something like M135/3.5 to have also a tele lens. It's not the sharpest, but it has nice rendition and great 3D feeling and can be bought in good condition under 50$.

K5 & M135/3.5:

For myself, and I suspect for many, I just don't like manual focus on long lenses. You can turn off the AF on an AF lens and shoot manually, and I often do especially for macros and close ups, but with an M lens, you can't turn on the AF and shoot auto-focus when applicable. I bought my *ist D to use my old lenses, then never used them. The kit and Sigma 70-300 lived on the camera.

[Motikant]

That's pretty tight! But doable.

Within those constraints, I would get:

Arizona Dave's K-5 - $180 in the forum marketplace (actually I would probably splurge on his K-5 IIs but I'm taking the budget constraint seriously)
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 - $228 at KEH, exc with caps and hood. This is not starter glass, despite the low price; it has a fixed fast aperture and produces excellent images, and you'll be able to use it for a long time.
Sandisk 32gb SD card - $11 on Amazon
Extra batteries - $25 on Amazon

Total: $444 before any tax or shipping. Put the remaining $$ to your first months of Adobe CC for Lightroom and Photoshop.

And then the next lens I'd start saving for is a $200-300 macro prime.

K-5 offering is great but Unfortunately i am not in US.

[normhead]

K-5 offering is great but Unfortunately i am not in US.

Ya, that's one of the issues with the marketplace as well. You see something you might want and it's listed as U.S. only. Amazing how many people know how to use a complicated camera, but don't know how to use a post office.

[iheiramo]

You can turn off the AF on an AF lens and shoot manually, and I often do especially for macros and close ups, but with an M lens, you can't turn on the AF and shoot auto-focus when applicable.

It was budget friendly suggestion. AF lenses typically cost more and feeling on the focusing ring isn't as good. Personally I haven't found manual tele lenses any more difficult to use than normal or wide lenses. I also use Catch In Focus a lot. It feels like semi AF to me and I get good results with it, but of course it takes time to learn to use it effectively.

[Motikant]

Ya, that's one of the issues with the marketplace as well. You see something you might want and it's listed as U.S. only. Amazing how many people know how to use a complicated camera, but don't know how to use a post office.

Lol. That's true. If i could find any used pentax in my area i would have bought it. But i only see either Canon or Nikon mostly.

[zjacreman]

K-5 offering is great but Unfortunately i am not in US.

Ah, sorry, I saw the budget quoted in USD and assumed.

Shipping is likely to eat up a lot of your budget then. As much as I love Pentax (I switched from Nikon), there's a lot to be said for systems with local options for purchase and knowledgeable service... is there a particular reason you aren't looking at Canon or Nikon?

[TER-OR]

I got good shots with the 55-300, it's a solid lens but like most longer zooms it's a bit soft at the far side. It served me well for YEARS, and for its price and weight it's really good.
I can't find any weaknesses with the DA300, though, beyond its cost. I waited until the Pentax rebates came back around.

I can say the autofocus on the K3II is better, and you get more crop potential with 24MP.
The Sony 16MP sensor on the K5, though, maybe it's the AA filter, gives a more film-like image. The output is very pleasing. I need to print some of those, and see what they do.

[mikesbike]

Since you quoted Adorama I thought you were in the US, but since you are not, it would seem eBay is your best option. It takes patience, but eventually you should be able to land a very good camera body and a DA 18-135mm lens. With your budget, I would suggest forget the added flash for the time being. For my first 6 years I shot with no flash at all, not even a built-in because there was no such thing, and just one lens.

I hesitate to recommend buying a used entry-level model, unless it is of extremely low use, because they are just not as durable under substantial use. You don't want to be facing repairs after only a few months of ownership. So the K-5 series would be the best to go for. There's the original K-5, then the K-5 II and the K-5 IIs, which has no AA filter like all current Pentax models. But the current models have a switchable special filter if needed. This lack of filter reveals fine detail in images. I have both the earliest original K-5 and also the K-5 IIs. I have rarely, if ever, encountered a need for this filter. But moire can crop up, yet it can be dealt with through post-process software. There were a few other refinements in the K-II and IIs, including improved AF performance, which is important. With the DA 18-135mm lens, I can tell you with certainty that this improvement makes no difference at all. The AF with this lens is so good, it gives top performance regardless!

However, having this improvement is still important even though you have this exceptional zoom lens. In the future, you will likely wish to expand you kit to include other lenses. For example, a "fast" wide-aperture prime (non-zoom) lens for certain uses. Like a 50mm f/1.8 (the smaller the number the larger the aperture opening so more light can come in) which is good for portraits and other subjects where you want to blur the background to diminish a busy, undesirable part of the picture and make your subject stand out from it. or just to make the subject stand out. Using a larger aperture reduces your depth-of-field (how much of the picture will be sharp) as well as increasing your shutter speed under the lighting that is present. 50mm provides a good perspective and shooting distance for portraiture on a typical APS-C DSLR camera, and for a "fast" lens does not cost much. Having the larger aperture capability is also good for low light shooting of whatever subject matter. So at this point, having the improved AF capability could very well make a difference. I noticed this difference when going from my original K-5 to the K-5 IIs with certain lenses, but not with the DA 18-135mm.

[Motikant]

Ah, sorry, I saw the budget quoted in USD and assumed.

Shipping is likely to eat up a lot of your budget then. As much as I love Pentax (I switched from Nikon), there's a lot to be said for systems with local options for purchase and knowledgeable service... is there a particular reason you aren't looking at Canon or Nikon?

it's just that the pentax cameras offer so much more for the same amount of money. So i thought i will try my luck.

---------- Post added 10-11-18 at 10:57 AM ----------

Ah, sorry, I saw the budget quoted in USD and assumed.

Shipping is likely to eat up a lot of your budget then. As much as I love Pentax (I switched from Nikon), there's a lot to be said for systems with local options for purchase and knowledgeable service... is there a particular reason you aren't looking at Canon or Nikon?

Ricoh does have shops here. But they aren't popular so no used market. Here a new K-50 with 18-55 and 50-200 is around $900 and K5II body only is more than $1000.

---------- Post added 10-11-18 at 11:01 AM ----------

Since you quoted Adorama I thought you were in the US, but since you are not, it would seem eBay is your best option. It takes patience, but eventually you should be able to land a very good camera body and a DA 18-135mm lens. With your budget, I would suggest forget the added flash for the time being. For my first 6 years I shot with no flash at all, not even a built-in because there was no such thing, and just one lens.

I hesitate to recommend buying a used entry-level model, unless it is of extremely low use, because they are just not as durable under substantial use. You don't want to be facing repairs after only a few months of ownership. So the K-5 series would be the best to go for. There's the original K-5, then the K-5 II and the K-5 IIs, which has no AA filter like all current Pentax models. But the current models have a switchable special filter if needed. This lack of filter reveals fine detail in images. I have both the earliest original K-5 and also the K-5 IIs. I have rarely, if ever, encountered a need for this filter. But moire can crop up, yet it can be dealt with through post-process software. There were a few other refinements in the K-II and IIs, including improved AF performance, which is important. With the DA 18-135mm lens, I can tell you with certainty that this improvement makes no difference at all. The AF with this lens is so good, it gives top performance regardless!

However, having this improvement is still important even though you have this exceptional zoom lens. In the future, you will likely wish to expand you kit to include other lenses. For example, a "fast" wide-aperture prime (non-zoom) lens for certain uses. Like a 50mm f/1.8 (the smaller the number the larger the aperture opening so more light can come in) which is good for portraits and other subjects where you want to blur the background to diminish a busy, undesirable part of the picture and make your subject stand out from it. or just to make the subject stand out. Using a larger aperture reduces your depth-of-field (how much of the picture will be sharp) as well as increasing your shutter speed under the lighting that is present. 50mm provides a good perspective and shooting distance for portraiture on a typical APS-C DSLR camera, and for a "fast" lens does not cost much. Having the larger aperture capability is also good for low light shooting of whatever subject matter. So at this point, having the improved AF capability could very well make a difference. I noticed this difference when going from my original K-5 to the K-5 IIs with certain lenses, but not with the DA 18-135mm.

Good info. Much appreciated.

[zjacreman]

it's just that the pentax cameras offer so much more for the same amount of money. So i thought i will try my luck.

You're right about that, Pentax bodies are incredibly good value. I don't know what international shipping to India is like. If it's very expensive, at the risk of betraying the Pentaxian Tribe, I'll say it might pay off to follow the crowds. For an easier time buying stuff in the local market, an easier time getting your gear serviced, and your own ability to resell down the road.


If you see a good deal on a well-kept first-generation EOS 5D or a D700... well, don't write them off.

[Motikant]

You're right about that, Pentax bodies are incredibly good value. I don't know what international shipping to India is like. If it's very expensive, at the risk of betraying the Pentaxian Tribe, I'll say it might pay off to follow the crowds. For an easier time buying stuff in the local market, an easier time getting your gear serviced, and your own ability to resell down the road.


If you see a good deal on a well-kept first-generation EOS 5D or a D700... well, don't write them off.

That is probably the last resort.

[kevinWE]

The funny thing about photographers - you can place 100 photographers in a room and be lucky if you can get 2 to agree on any given photography subject. :-)

Good luck in your endeavors. I'm sure which ever way you decide or have decided will be more than adequate to suite your needs.

[Motikant]

The funny thing about photographers - you can place 100 photographers in a room and be lucky if you can get 2 to agree on any given photography subject. :-)

Good luck in your endeavors. I'm sure which ever way you decide or have decided will be more than adequate to suite your needs.

That's true and thanks.

[rogerstg]

I'm a little late to this party, and there's been much good advise. IMO, if your goal is to learn photography, forget about zoom lenses for now. It's just an additional set of variables that you don't need right now. IMO, the 35mm plastic fantastic is an inexpensive but excellent lens which you are not likely to outgrow.

[tikku]

Welcome to the forum and welcome to Pentax. Some great advices in this thread. My advice would be to buy a second hand K10D body with a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. Its a great lens which is sharp and give you nice bokeh and would suit much of your needs as a beginner. Learn with it. Any spare money you could invest in a good tripod and couple of books on photography. One of the best things about Pentax is the availability of legacy lenses and you could try learning on some manual lenses too. It is like learning driving from a Manual car and an automated car. You may ultimately buy some auto focus lenses but the learning curve is very important. Take your time. All the best!