The K5 in low light at a wedding

By now its eems the K5 is a bit of a all time great in terms of low light performance. I am taking some photos of the evening do at a colleagues wedding this Sunday(the pro wedding photographer will have gone home by then). I am under no real pressure as expectations are low (!) but I would like to get some good shots to show off.

I was just wondering how I will fare with the new 35mm 2.4 lens- will it be fast enough to capture revellers in low light? My other option would be to buy a faster 50mm either the Sigma 50mm 1.4 (seems very bulky though) or the Pentax 50mm SMC 1.4 (now superceded by the 55mm DA* I think- that just seems hugely expensive). I would like to get a 50mm at some point but having bought the 35mm2.4 and a Sigma 10-20mm in the last 6 weeks I could do with a bit of time to save.

Advice from all would be great- BTW I will not be using a flash as this may annoy the sozzled congregation

You will get much better atmosphere without flash, so that's a good choice. Don't forget that sometimes swirling dancers with lots of coloured lighting can look pretty good, so maybe don't try to stop the action all the time.

The 35mm f2.4 should be quite versatile, just up the ISO setting with confidence. I'd try ISO3200 to start with and then just go higher if it's needed.

You may need to switch to manual focus if the light is very low, but leave the camera on Av and select a wide or open aperture as a starting point.

Thankyou John- I think you just saved me £300+ . Should I give the sensitivity mode a go on the k5?, I think this means I can set the aperture and shutter speed and the camera sets the ISO?

Good idea.

I use TAv mode a lot, but in Av mode I also have ISO assigned to the rear wheel (Av front wheel) so it's easy to tweak ISO to adjust shutter speed in this mode as well. In some ways that's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Don't forget to take a few low light action shots at very low shutter speeds even down to 1/10 and below. You'll get less keepers but when they work they look great

Buy the SMC 1.4 50mm FA and be done with it, it's a superb lens, probably best of the 50mm bunch IMO. Love mine and well worth shelling out for and combined with the K-5 it's just awesome.