Hello

Hi i am new here i have have just bought a *istD for £160 on ebay and it should be delivered any time now i currently have a Miranda MS-3 35mm camera and my brother as a Pentax MX he some times uses. Does any one have any ideas on what i should get to go with the *ist.

I am also doing A level photography next year!

David

2 2GB SD cards.
Silkypix
Lenses to suit your shooting preferences.

G

The *istD takes Compact Flash cards (as George well knows, he's just getting on a bit now ), so don't buy SD cards.

As he also says, lenses to suit your shooting preferences! Without knowing what sort of shots you're hoping to take, no-one can advise what lenses you might need. However, a general set would be the 18-55mm standard zoom lens (the Mark 2 variant is apparantly even better than the well respected mark 1), and perhaps the Pentax 50-200mm, which would give you a good basic kit, covering focal length from wide angle to telephoto (the equivalent range of 28mm - 300mm for your Miranda).

Let us know what your budget is, and any particular area of interest to you, and advice can be more specific.

Dan

Welcome to the forum.

There is not much more to be added, pending information from you on what sort of photographs you expect to take.

Some, such as Clarky, take everything from macro shots of insects to shots of the moon - quite a wide range by anyone's standards

You mention doing photography A level
Does the college your going to have a studio?

You might consider a good portrait lens. A fast lens like the 50mm F/1.4 is a good idea, its inexpensive, incredible quality, provides shallow dpeth of field, and is a nice length.

It all depends on the course
Try and find out what direction they push you towards with the photography (if any)

Did it come with a kit lens?
You might look for a standard walkabout lens.

Also, ask your bother to have a playround with some of his lenses, see which focal legnths you like!

a good lightmeter (sekonic has nice ones)
try for a set of lenses with constant apertures (having to re-calculate your exposure everytime you zoom your lens sucks when using studio strobes.
since you have access to both film and digital bodies...
it would be nice if you had lenses covering the same feild of view (ie 1.5 crop factor on the *istd) so you can PROOF your shots on the digital, before committing your shot to film (film being harder to find and more expensive...get the twelve exp rolls of film, unlike your film only students, you'll be wasting alot less shots).

I like the idea of brothers being known as bother

Whoops.

G

The Miranda MS-3 used the PK mount for its lenses (It was a rebadged Cosina sold through Dixons), which means any lenses for your Miranda should work on the *istD (though be careful, some non Pentax manual focus PK mount lenses won't go on the later Pentax bodies - so don't try to force it if it won't go on).

See http://www.mirandacamera.com/_modelinfo/_dixons/dixons.htm

Hi thanks for the advice it came with a 2gb cf card and came with some crv3 batterys. I may try the 50mm lens from my brothers mx on it i tried the 38-70 from the miranda on it wich worked.
I have two questions:
1. Can I use my miranda 700 CD multi dedicated fash gunhttp://www.mirandacamera.com/_service/_inst_books/_700CD_flash/700CD_flash.htm on it.
2. Can I change the foucusing screen on it to a split style such as on my miranda and it think on the mx.

Thanks
David

Yes - you can get them from a company in China called Virtual Village via ebay - they seem to be a reliable firm

www.katzeyeoptics.com/cat--Pentax-DSLRs--cat_pentax.html

Being the cheap skate that I am I will probably go for the chinnese ones! Also can anyone sudjest a macro lens.

Thanks David

Well, Pentax, Sigma, Tamron and Tokina all make very good macro lenses - but none of them are that cheap new or even second hand.

So given that your budget is probably small you have the following options.

It has been said that there is no such thing as a bad macro lens - even the cheap and plasticy Cosina 100 3.5 (which also exists rebadged in Vivitar and even I think Pentax livery) is a pretty decent performer - though it needs an adaptor (which came with some of the versions) to do true 1:1. Otherwise it is 1:2

Alternatively, get a set of extension tubes to use with the 50mm lens. Or get some close up filters - they can produce quite decent results.

Or look for a used Pentax manual macro - though they are generally 1:2 rather than 1:1 (there is is 1:1 SMC A 100 but they are rare and fetch similar prices to the autofocus versions. There is also a 50mm extension tube which turnes the 50 1:2 into a 1:1) I have the SMC A 50 f2.8 (which is 1:2) and it is a very useful lens.

The standard SMCP-A 50mm 1:1.7 mounted on an inexpensive set of extension tubes makes a very good introduction to macro work.

You will not need AF for macro work.