Over the years, the biggest improvements in lens design have been to do with zoom lenses. Most modern zooms, even cheap ones, are streets ahead of most of those from thirty years ago. As ever, of course, there are exceptions.

Prime (fixed focal length) lenses haven't changed so much, so that a good prime from thirty years ago is still fairly good today. The difference between M and A is one of convenience more than quality.

This is a good resource for second-hand lens buyers:

http://stans-photography.info/

And this for general information:

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/

Cheers

G

Sorry about the macro confusion. I don't know where I got that from.

G

Welcome,

Ebay is the best place to find lenses, especially if you don't have deep pockets (that's most of us), and live at the end of the universe (just joking).

Put your camera in Manual mode when using the M lens, and make sure you have changed the settings to allow use of the aperture ring (P107 in manual). Then press the AE-L button to meter the scene before you press the shutter.

You do know you have to focus it yourself, presumably?

By the way, the macro lens is best for macro (close-up) work (the clue is in the name, as they say), but it's fine for protraits provided you like to see every wrinkle and pimple. If not, you will have to learn how to soften the image. But that can come later.

Good luck.

G

Well, it seems that you are shooting in rather dull conditions, which means that straight out of the camera the pictures look flat. However, you seem to have learned how to brighten them up a bit, though with experience you will learn to do it more subtly.

The dreary lighting has generally necessitated the use of a fairly wide aperture, and you often seem to use the zoom at the long end. As a result, depth of field is narrow (in the bird and dog pics) , and much of the picture will indeed be out of focus - you can't change the laws of optics. However, the subjects (as far as I can see from these very small pictures) generally appear to be in focus.

So this is entirely normal. If you want the whole scene to be in focus, you will have to use an aperture of f11 or f16. Put the camera on a tripod and switch to Av mode.

Don't worry that your pictures need tweaking in Photoshop. This is normal for pictures taken on serious cameras. It means that you have more latitude in producing the final picture.

Remember that the word photography means creating images using light. It's the light that is "crap" in some of these pictures, and learning to choose the right light will make a big difference. Early morning or late afternoon is generally best.

Keep trying.

G
PS: Where are you? Presumably it's not Wigan. It's good to put your location in your profile.

Thank you, Spider. Much appreciated. Would you care for a little of my powdered rhino horn for your, ahem, problem?

G

I have to confess that when people blame Pentax (or whoever the manufacturer might be) for their problems, I tend to see red. Occasionally, the manufacturer is indeed to blame, but generally it is a matter of poor technique or lack of understanding on the part of the user.

The most egregious example of this, which I may have mentioned before, was a self-styled "professional" who announced he was going to send his *istDS back because of poor metering.

It transpired that he was using spot-metering to photograph a boy dressed in white shirt and black jeans jumping out of a tree in a forest glade which was bathed in strong, dappled sunlight against a very sombre background. He was panning the camera vertically as the boy fell. Sometimes the centre of the image was the shirt, sometimes the trousers, sometimes a piece of illuminated bark, sometimes the boy's face, sometimes the dark forest.

The camera didn't have a hope in hell in these conditions, and for a man who called himself a pro it was quite unbelievable that he couldn't see where the problem lay.

G

Logic is clearly not your strong suit. In asking about an upgrade, Zeta was quite clearly laying the blame on the equipment for his unsatisfactory results.

Anyway, enough. What he now needs to do is find a way to upload a few pictures so that we can tear those to shreds. Just joking! We need to see pictures in order to be able to identify the problems and suggest solutions.

I suggest Zeta that you join our sister site:

http://www.ephotozine.com/

where you will be able to upload some pictures for consideration.

G

It's because you're new that you should suspect yourself first, rather than the equipment, when the results aren't up to expectation.

But it appears you still don't accept this.

G

It's not a harsh comment, in this context. The poster, who is obviously new to photography, has a problem, and, instead of wondering whether he might be the cause, he immediately blames the equipment.

Contrast this with the attitude of the Aussie who has just posted in Lenses:

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5024

G

That's the solution to most alleged equipment problems!

And ALL the rest.

G