P30T Lenses

Hello what lenses do i need for my newly purchased P30T
Thankyou

If you want to use Program mode you'll need A series lenses, if you are happy to use manual/aperture priority you can use "K" and M series lenses too. "A" series lenses are usually more expensive than the earlier M and K series. Autofocus F and FA lenses can be used too, manually, but you are paying a premium for the AF but it does mean you could use them on your dSLR too (I think you said you had one?)

Personally, I would go for the trio of 28mm, 50mm and 135mm primes. There are various zooms available of differing quality. I rather like my M series 28-50mm and 40-80mm for example. Of the 135mm offerings the M series f/3.5 is plentiful, cheap, small and light. The K series f/2.5 is heavier but better IQ. With 28mm lenses the f/3.5 lenses are reputed to be sharper than the more common f/2.8 but are obviously slower. For 50mm you cannot go wrong with the f/1.7. The f/1.4 is faster, but more expensive, the f/2 cheap but still sharp.

HTH. K.

Thanks for replying Kris i actually prefer the manual focus lenses more hands on so i could use my lenses i have for my Samsung GX-10 and also M series :

You can use all Pentax lenses on your GX10. You just need to set the menu item "allow use of aperture ring" to on for M and K series lenses. "A" series lenses you can set the aperture ring to A and use the camera body to set the aperture.

The only problem is that the metering on the K10 (and I assume the GX10) is a bit whacky with the older lenses and so you need to check the histogram and reshoot if necessary. OK for static subjects, obviously!

K.

I would use a Pentax-A 50mm as a standard lens. The Tamron 70-300mm that you have already will be good for telephoto.

Your 18-55 lens is designed for digital only (has a smaller image circle than full frame lenses), but I think it might be ok for film also if you avoid the first few milimeters at the wide end. So you could give that a go for wide angle. A Pentax-A 28mm might be better, though.

ems82.
If you want a free instruction manual for your P30T, I have one that's about to go in the bin!

ps. Don't forget that focal lengths have to be divided by 1.5 to give the same view on film that you get on digital. So 50mm on film is like 75mm on digital.

Isn't that back-to-front, 'Iceblinker'?

50mm, a standard lens on film is like ~34mm on digital.

So the 18-55 K10D/GX10 kit lens gives the same Field of View (FOV) as a 27-82.5mm on film.

Emma, the 50 & 135 lenses you have already sound ideal.

I have already tried what Pete/Iceblinker suggested, putting the 18-55 digital lens on my recently acquired MZ6 film body and was pleasantly surprised that the image it casts fills the viewfinder. Below about 20mm there is some darkening in the corners.

I am not familiar with the P30T, but it would need to be able to set the lens aperture from the camera body to work with the kit lens (or any other without aperture ring).

Good luck with the 'new' camera.


Peter

OK thanks cant wait to get my grubby hands on it and go and experiemnet

Yes, sorry I got it the wrong way round above.

The P30T's Program mode should work lenses without an aperture ring. I'm not sure about its Av mode. I only had a P30 (not T or n) that didn't have Av mode at all.

I keep saying this, try your standard 18-55 to get going.

Yes it is a digital lens but highly use-able above 20mm(ish).see this thread.

Any vignetting can be seen in the view finder.

I seem to recall the 'standard' lens for the P30T is this one.

The 28mm f3.5 is definitely sharper than the f2.8 in my experience, well worth seeking out.

Do not buy the non-SMC Pentax-A 28-80mm (this one), it's terrible and you're better off putting the money to something better like an M or A series prime. To be honest I'd probably use the P30T in aperture priority anyway as it doesn't display the aperture in Program mode so you've no idea what it's doing. Depth of field is much simpler with these old lenses as you have a scale on the lens to help you decide what aperture to use.

The old Pentax-M 40-80mm is a decent lens and often seems to go fairly cheap - an influential forum and review site gives it an unjustified poor reputation, my example has proved to be commendably sharp. You can see a sample image taken using the Macro/close up function of the lens here.

I have some nice macros of a wild orchid taken with the 40-80mm using an LX and Kodachrome 64 and they seem pretty sharp. I haven't scanned them yet.

K.

Nope, you were right the first time!

Thanks to the crop factor caused by the DSLR using an APS-C sized sensor a 50mm lens on a DSLR is equivalent to a 75mm lens on a film SLR. This is why wide angle primes are now very sought-after.

As for the P30T modes:

With the lens set to A the camera is in Program mode (turning the shutter dial does nothing).
With the lens set to an aperture and the shutter dial set to A, the camera is in Av mode.
With the lens set to an aperture and the shutter dial set to a speed, the camera is in M mode.