Pentax have announced that they are building a new lens factory that will increase their capacity by 60%.

It will be opened later this year.

http://www.pentax.co.jp/english/news/2006/200604.html

Very good news, and one in the eye for the idiots who think Pentax is about to shut up shop.

G

What you need is a Vivitar 1:3.5 19mm in Ka mount. I say this with confidence because I just happen to have one for sale.

However, the Pentax FA 1:2.8 20mm is a good lens, and I got mine for about £200. Nowadays they often go for a bit less, but at that time the new wide Pentax lenses hadn't appeared.

To match the AOV of your 24mm (on film), you would have to pay more, or choose Sigma or another independent (my advice: start saving).

G

In studio photography, one usually uses large studio flash heads on heavy tripods, and these are fired by wire or camera flash or infra-red trigger. You adjust their light output to give correct exposure at say f11 or f8, and then shoot at your flash speed.

I was suggesting you do the same with your flashgun. Set it to manual, and find the correct aperture to use, either with a flash meter, or by experiment using the DSLR.

To trigger the flash, you can buy little flash triggers which operate when they sense the flash on your camera. If you don't want to use the on-camera flash, tape a bit of white card over it to divert the light away from the subject and towards the flash trigger.

http://tinyurl.com/chuft

Obviously this suits fairly static subjects best, like someone sitting for a portrait. Some movement is OK, provided it is within the circle of light provided by the flash gun, and at a more or less constant distance from the gun (or the exposure will be out).

G

Steve,

I fully agree. Nice pic.

No doubt if John enjoys this aspect of the game, that's the route he'll take (buying studio flash).

Meanwhile, in the interests of economy, it's worth pointing out the value of reflectors.

A reflector placed on the other side of the face, so that the flash, the subject, and the reflector form a shallow V, will act as a second (weaker) flash unit, and will fill the shadows on that side. You can use almost anything as a reflector, including white paper, a sheet, and aluminium foil.

And of course, you can use several.

G

You can use all of the features of the flash by connecting it with 5P cables and connectors. You need the hotshoe adapter Fg, the cable itself (they came in various lengths, one of which is three meters, and the off-camera adapter F for the gun (or a hotshoe adapter F).

It works fine, but you often wish for a longer cable, and the total cost is not inconsiderable.

Since by its nature a set-up using cables is fairly static, you might just as well use a bog-standard remote trigger and manual exposure setting like a normal studio set-up. Cheaper, and, given the problems with digital cameras and flash, probably better.

G

Yes, McBrian, the clue is in the subject title.

G

Judging by the number of replies, this must be a rare lens indeed. I have seen a couple for sale on Ebay in the last year or two, and they went for more than I could justify spending, having two 28s and a 31 already.

By all accounts it's pretty good, though. At the time this was made, optical designers had pretty much perfected the design of moderate focal length lenses, and construction standards were very high. They weren't building down to a price in those days before Canon became pre-eminent and dragged down standards.

So there's no reason for it not to be excellent. Enjoy it.

G

I don't have either lens you mention, but both are "new" compared to the 30mm prime which first saw the light of day in 1975.

By 1996, when the 28-70 came out, cheap computing power had revolutionised lens design.

How many samples of the 18-55 have you tried? Most people seem to think it is OK, especially considering the price. But I do concede that the 28-70 was relatively cheap, too, and a very fine performer. Of course, it has a more limited zoom range.

G

I meant to say that designers had pretty much perfected the design of moderate focal length PRIME lenses.

Zooms, of course, have got much better, thanks to computer power.

G

Easier to copy the slide directly using the DSLR.

G