Various suggestion

Hi guys,

I'm a happy and proud owner of a Pentax Mz-5 and an MX with some manual and AF lenses:

Pentax K 28mm f/3,5
Pentax AF 50mm f/1,4
Pentax K 125mm f/2,5
Pentax AF 28-70 f/4
Pentax AF 80-200 f/4-5,6 (now with some focusing problems).

I'm looking forward to look to some hands on preview of the upcoming K10D that really impressed me and makes me begin to think of buying a digital pentax camera.

Apart from that I still think I would like to have some other good lenses especially wides and tele. Planning to have the K10d sooner or later do you have some suggestion for lenses?

I would have thinking for example those old lenses:

-- Pentax K 18 f/3,5
-- Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20/2,8 mc
-- Pentax A*200 f/2,8 ED or Pentax M*300 f/4

Any other suggestion? Maybe some quite nice wide zoom or tele with AF? I would look for some lens that would be compatible with all my "three" cameras (MZ-5, MX and K10D) ...

Then I would look for a more powerful flash to use with my cameras. This would be compatible with all three, in TTL when it should and manual or meter controlled when needed (I have a Sekonic L-358 flash meter). Any suggestion? The Sigma 500 Super? Pentax 540? Metz?

Thanks a lot in advance!!

Bye

mario

The 18-55mm that is packaged with the body is very low cost and worth having. Don't forget that the small sensor means a 1.5x magnification to the focal length. A 50mm lens acts like a 75mm would on a 35mm body.

The 16-45mm is much better quality and thoroughly recommended. The 12-24mm extends well into ultra-wide territory and is another superb lens.

Well, honestly I don't find the packaged lens very useful for me as I already have a 24mm a 50mm and a 24-70mm. I would personally look for some really wide lenses.

Those lenses are for digital? I mean I know that there are some lenses out that are designed only for new digital cameras that won't be useful with old film cameras. Those lenses are like these ones?

Thanks in advance

SMC FA 17-28 Semi-fisheye?

If you want the width for both film and digital then Sigma do the EX 15-30 mm lens, I have one and it's very good. But as it's so wide and big it doesn't come out very often....

My reply was assuming you were considering lenses for your proposed new K10D. The lenses suggested are for digital DSLRs only.

The 18-55mm is equivalent to roughly a 28-80mm lens on a 35mm SLR, focuses very close and performs very well. As such, it is, at the very modest cost as part of a package, very useful. Your K and M series lenses will not be quite so convenient on the digital bodies as you will have to use them in stop-down mode.

Of course, whatever anyone suggests, you always need to consider your own particuar style of photography and requirements.

Are you sure about that? Because what I know is that you have to use stop-down only with M42 screw mount not K and M... for example with my Pentax Mz-5 I can use K and M mount without any problem (I just don't see the lens aperture in the display) even reading the exposure correctly ... why with the digital I have to use the stop-down?
Can anybody confirm this?
It would be a very bad thing as some of the best pentax lenses are K and M ..

Thanks

mario

I'm absolutely sure, and you will find various threads on the subject on this forum. The reason is that there are no electronic contacts on these lenses and the digital bodies have dropped the mechanical linkage so are electronic only.

Digital has turned many preconceptions upside-down, and the current digital lenses can be better than the traditionally highly regarded ones. Technology has seriously moved on.

This does not mean that older lenses are inferior, but their design can mean they are less suitable for digital. However, some are still superb and they are also well documented on various threads.

Just to confirm what John says - the DSLRs have no mechanical "finger" that picks up where the lens aperture ring is. If the lens isn't set to "A" (or doesn't have "A" then it's stop-down-metering.

However, it's not that compllicated as the digital bodies handle the stopping down and metering at the press of a button - but it's still something you have to remember to do!

Matt