im new and need some help

hi everybody. new member of the pentax club. i have a GX10 with the twin lens package. got it at the end of december and so far ive had tooo much fun with the camera.

http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=47734&highlight=birmingham

all the pictures i took are totally unedited.

my main reason for joining this forum is to get myself some lenses. lets just say i have no idea how to go about this and need all your help and if you have some quality lenses for sale im willing to buy.

thanks all

il put this another way. what are the necessary items i need for this camera. there has to be some things that i just have to have.

Hi,

WELCOME!

You've come to the right place.

But!

We have to know more about you and what you want to do with your gear.

Portraits? Landscapes? Sports? Nature? Macro?

All of the above?

Your starter kit will take you pretty far as you figure out all the possibilities.

Maybe a flash?

Cheers

Hello and welcome to the forum - that's a nice collection of pics on that thread!

Like Mac says, recommending lenses is only possible when we know what it is you want them for (and what your budget is of course ) but I would probably suggest that as a starter you should look to buy the Pentax FA50 1.4 - this is a "standard" lens that acts like a mild telephoto on a digital camera. It will have a distinct advantage over your two kit lenses in that it is lightening fast in comparison (excellent for low-light work such as the show in your pictures) and it's also pretty cheap (usually around the £150 mark). Picture quality is fantastic and it's one of those lenses that will always find a home in most photographers' kit bags.

Once we go past this lens we'll really need to know a bit more about what you want to achieve before anyone can advise you on what you'll need.

SRS Microsystems have them in stock at the moment: http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/index3.asp?id=65&Page=3# (Second one down, listed as PENTAX SMC 50mm F1.4 FA)

Chris from SRS is a forum member here and will often do free postage for other forum members if you ask him. Happy shopping!

Hi and welcome before rushing out to buy new kit, I would recommend taking at least a few months to get used to the kit you have.

Make a habit of recording EXIF data (focal length, aperture, shutter speed ect) and you will then begin to understand the limitations of your current setup.

Then you will be in a much better position to make a decision regarding your next bit of kit.

Steve

stevejcoe: you are talking absolute sense. i should begin to understand how far i can go with the current setup, but i feel i need atleast one more lens with a large aperture. the 1.4 50mm lens is always where ive ended at when shopping for a lens. now that 2 other people have recommended it i think it would be the best choice as a beginner lens.

i will spend the money where it needs to be spent. i am a firm believer in quality over price. i can spend something additional if it is truly worth the money.

Mac: in answer to your question All of the above. its a far reach but i will eventually want to go that far.

any recommendations are totally welcome.

now has anyone got a second hand PENTAX SMC 50mm F1.4 FA for sale

The FA 50mm F1.4 is a very good lens, even used they usually sell for well over £100. Just a thought but you might want to consider a the A F1.7. It is manual focus,but very highly regarded and can often be found on Ebay. Expect to pay up to £50 for a good example

Steve

You have a fantastic range in the two lenses that you have and as others have said dont rush out and buy anything until you've established where a hole lies. The 50/1.4 is great of course but if cars are your thing it might be a little on the tight side.

Looking at your picures I wondered if you were using auto white balance, if so you might be better switching to Tungsten white balance for these indoor shots or even better taking a custom balance where there is a mixture of light sources as their often is in these exhibition halls.

Decide on focal lengths first of all, then budget and speed. "Faster" zoom lenses (with a larger maximum aperture) tend to be more expensive - but can provide a narrower depth of field (to blur the background for example) or allow faster shutter speeds to freeze motion.

You might be interested in something like the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 - which will be coming out this spring, I think. Or if F4 will do, the Pentax or Samsung 16-45mm is a general improvement over the 18-55mm kit lens. Also, for more money, there's the Pentax 16-50mm F2.8 and the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8.

And/or you might enjoy the more dramatic effects of an ultra wide angle lens, such as the Pentax 12-24mm or Sigma 10-20mm.

If 200mm isn't enough at the long end for you, or you want a larger aperture than you can get from your 50-200mm lens at 200mm, and you don't want to spend too much, consder a Tamron 70-300mm Di LD.

An A 50mm F1.7 is definitely worth having anyway - as you can get one so very cheaply.

gartmore: i realised about that problem in the white balance when i got home. photoshop didnt help much when trying to correct it. i think next time i will have to use your advice and just custom the whitebalance.

iceblinker: i would definately like to have one lens that would do well for potrait photography i know it would be a bit foolish to use when taking close up pics of cars but i do have the original kit lens for those so its not a problem.

one of the other things that have baffled me is that on the GX10 i can use older pentax lens. but im completely lost on this adapter things such as the M42 etc. can someone help me out with that.

one more thing (may be a stupid question). i have an old chinon 1.7 55mm lens. is it of any use or should i just dump it?

An adapter is needed for the really old lenses that have an M42 screw thread rather than a bayonet mount.

All the old Pentax bayonet (K mount) lenses will go straight on the camera. Those with an "A" setting will work with the camera's Auto exposure settings. The older K and M ranges are manual exposure jobs.

Info:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/index.html#data
http://stans-photography.info/LongComments.html#50%20mm%20Lenses

A 50mm 1.7 or 1.4 will be great for portraits - at fairly close range at least. If you don't want to spend much then just get a second-hand A 1.7. Otherwise the autofocus FA F1.4 is convenient and super quality - for about 150 quid new.

I don't know how good the Chinon is.

iceblinker: so you are saying the A1.7 will be a direct fit on the K10d? if this is so then i think i will try sourcing that for temporary use.

Absolutely. The only thing it won't do is autofocus.