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Lens for K100D

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Shayt

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Hi,

i am seriously thinking to buy the Pentax K100D as my FIRST DSLR.

i am newbie on lens !, so sorry for asking the following questions -

in pentax site it says -

Type - PENTAX KAF mount compatible with PENTAX KAF2, KAF and KA mount lenses; Power zoom function - Not available; K-mount lenses - usable with restrictions; S-mount lenses - usable with adapter and restrictions; 67/645 lenses - usable with adapter and restrictions

i want my lens to be fully compatible, and all features will be available between the les & body.

so -
1. can i use any SIGMA, TAMRON, ... lens on the K100D ?

2. what do i need to look for in those companies for lens that suitable on the K100D

3. and the important question -
which lens are YOU thinking to buy for your K100D ?

thanks,
Shay
 
Hi Shay,
For full exposure connectivity you will want to look for:

Manual focus - Pentax A lenses
Auto Focus - Pentax F, FA, FA-J, DFA, DA
Any current 3rd party lens with a Pentax mount will work on your K100.

Manual Focus K and M lenses also work very well. All you need do is set a custom menu option ( and leave it) and Push the AE-L button to set exposure. There are some very fine Pentax K and M lenses out there at bargain prices.

As to my choises, well.... I'm just about done, not that I'm cured of LBA, the desire for more is always there. You can check out my choises in my profile.
--
Rosco
Terminal Stage LBA
http://www.pbase.com/roscot
 
If you don't have old lenses from Grandpa or the like, I really recommend the DA 18-55mm kit lens and also the DA 50-200mm lens if you can afford both. Extremely priceworthy and good for the money. Alternatively, if you can only afford one lens in the beginning, you might consider the new Sigma 17-70.

--
Best regards,
Lars ( http://www.pbase.com/larugl )
 
Shayt said:
Hi,

i am seriously thinking to buy the Pentax K100D as my FIRST DSLR.

i am newbie on lens !, so sorry for asking the following questions -

in pentax site it says -
Type - PENTAX KAF mount compatible with PENTAX KAF2, KAF and KA
mount lenses; Power zoom function - Not available; K-mount lenses -
usable with restrictions; S-mount lenses - usable with adapter and
restrictions; 67/645 lenses - usable with adapter and restrictions

i want my lens to be fully compatible, and all features will be
available between the les & body.

so -
1. can i use any SIGMA, TAMRON, ... lens on the K100D ?
2. what do i need to look for in those companies for lens that
suitable on the K100D
Click to expand...
Yes, if they are made for Pentax K mount. They has Pentax versions for most of their lenses. If You buying a second-hand lens - just make sure it is AF. If yes - it will support most of the camera's functions.
Shayt said:
3. and the important question -
which lens are YOU thinking to buy for your K100D ?
Click to expand...
Economic choices - Pentax 18-55/3.5-5.6 kit or Sigma 18-125
More expensive - Pentax 16-45/4.0

--



http://www.z00m.us
 
i don't have any lens from the past.

and i would like an allaround.

so 17-70 will be kind of ok (i prefer longer tele)...

what about TAMRON ?
are there any all around lens for the pentax that you think will be good ?

Thanks,
Shay
 
Sigma 18-125 will be great for all around,
but it's just F3.5-5.6
which i find problematic...

ooooo...i will not find a good all around ...

Thanks,
Shay
 
Shayt said:
what about TAMRON ?
are there any all around lens for the pentax that you think will be
good ?
Click to expand...
Both Tamron and Sigma has 18-200mm all-round lenses that are light and compact and not very expensive. I think that most lean slightly towards the Tamron beeing the better of the two. But packing such an extensive zoom range comes at the expense of less sharpness.

Here in Sweden the Tamron 18-200 actually costs almost the same as the 18-55 and 50-200 together! You should seriously consider buying these two wonderful Pentax DA lenses.

Still, if you only want one, consider:

Sigma 17-70mm
Sigma 18-125mm
Tamron 18-200mm
Sigma 18-200mm

in that order of preference...

Over at PBase ( http://www.pbase.com/cameras ) you can look them all up and see what photographers have managed to do with all of them, and decide for yourself if you think one of them may live up to your expectations.

Best of luck!

--
Best regards,
Lars ( http://www.pbase.com/larugl )
 
you are right.
i will definitely think on the 18-125 or 18-200

i am used to my old P&S where i shot mainly on 2.8
so i thought the higher numbers will be problematic.

but i need to stop comparing DSLR with P&S.

thanks !

Shay
 
Shayt said:
i am used to my old P&S where i shot mainly on 2.8
so i thought the higher numbers will be problematic.
Click to expand...
The APS sized sensor in a K100D is more sensitive than the sensor in our pocket cameras; therefore you will often manager just as well or better with a K100D at f/5.6 than with a pocket camera at f/2.8. Add to the fact that Pentax DSLR's are very good at high ISO values - combined with the help from the SR in a K100D, I really don't think you well ever have any problems with a 18-200 even under poor lighting conditions.

However, you may find at some time that a 18-200 isn't quite as sharp (optically) as for example a 17-70. And SR and other tricks won't help that. However, redicuing images for web publication (and applying sharpening) improves things quite a bit...

--
Best regards,
Lars ( http://www.pbase.com/larugl )
 
Shayt said:
don't you find F3.5-6.3 problematic ???
Click to expand...
Never. I leave my DS in P-mode and let it decide proper shutter times for the focal length I set with the zoom ring on the lens. I know that the viewfinder gets darker at 5.6 than at 3.5 but I never really notice the difference.

I like taking pictures in dark places and have found that going from my P&S (Optio 555) to the DS expanded my possibilities very much.

From discussion with more experienced people than myself, I get the impression that using fast lenses (2.8) usually has more to do with depth-of-field or capturing fast action (sports) than with shooting in low light.

--
Best regards,
Lars ( http://www.pbase.com/larugl )
 
Here are som examples of low-light high-ISO images...

1/20s f/3.5 at 18.0mm iso1600



1/30s f/3.5 at 18.0mm iso400



1/30s f/3.5 at 18.0mm iso3200



1/30s f/4.0 at 26.0mm iso1600



1/2000s f/9.5 at 18.0mm iso3200



The last one was taken on an overcast cloudy day before I noticed that the DS was still set on ISO 3200, but the images wasn't particularly noisy and looks sharp after PP.

--
Best regards,
Lars ( http://www.pbase.com/larugl )
 
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