NEW CAMERA - OLD LENSES

Hi JWK, the "A" series will be able to use the focus indicator but the "M" SMC series won't and,in fact, if you get an "M" series rather than an "A" series you will also have to go into the camera menu and go to "Using aperture ring" and choose "permitted" otherwise the camera shutter won't release and you get a flashing "F" in the information monitor. Having said that I like the "M" series as the glass is as good, if not better, as the "A" series, and it's not much of a problem setting the camera. We have over 35 years of great lenses to call on if we want them, I think we're pretty lucky. We can even use M42 lenses if we want by using an adapter. My two manual focusing Tamron lenses also are able to use the focus indicator which can be handy in low light conditions.
I've bought 5 lenses off E-Bay since I've bought the camera and only one didn't have a UV filter on it and all had protective caps front and rear. I've booked a f2.8 135mmm Pentax lens to buy off a dealer after the New Year and I will be getting a f1.4 50mm "M" or "A series after that.......but that's it then!!,..........well maybe! I will buy a couple of cheap lenses that the dealer has marked up as having fungus and clean them up for fun.

I've used the 2 kit lenses that came with the camera, an AF 18-55mm and a AF 55-200mm, and although people tend to be a bit denigrating about them, I find them to be fairly sharp and tending to give a good saturated pic so, to me, they're a good set of lenses. But I like being in manual mode and having such a great range of super sharp lenses going at a cheap price is too good to resist.

 

I have to do the same thing with the "A" series, but once that's done the camera has control of the aperture if you stick it in the 'A' position. I'm still learning how to use it, hoping to take some nice portrait photos over christmas so I'm practising right now with my new flash gun.

 

I'm not sure, JWK, but I think you'll find if you put the aperture on "A" in the first place before putting the lens on you won't have to go into the Menu for the aperture permission setting. I've got a Sigma "A" 24mm wide angle lens and if I have it on the "A" setting when putting it on the camera it works straight away.
A new Flash?!, that sounds good!! If you get the hang of it let me know, as I haven't got around to doing flash with the K5 yet I've resuscitated two old flashes from my old collection and they work fine, although the K5 flash synch is 1/180 sec and these old flashes work at 1/60 sec. I just set the shutter speed manually to 1/60 sec and they work as they should do. Happy Flashing!!!

 

Ah yes you are right Armandii! I just tried fitting it with the aperture on "A" and it doesn't need that menu setting

My new flash is a Metz 52 AF-1 bought from Jessops (effectively half price thanks to a Scrungeee tip off about Tesco Clucard vouchers). It's simple to use on the hotshoe and takes much nicer piccies than the on-camera flash. It's been another steep learning curve getting to know how to to work it as a wireless slave and use the on-camera flash as a fill in. I'm not sure how much I'll use the wireless feature but it's there to play with.

 

Good 'ole Scrungee, he certainly comes up with the goods regarding vouchers and tip offs
My two flashes are a Hanimex [Multi-dedicated] TZ325 and a Canon Speedlite 244T which really belong in a Museum!!, but they work just fine and, to be honest, I don't use flash a lot anyway but it's always nice to reach into a bag and place a hand on something you can use for the moment. I've have bought a hot shoe wire extension that I have used in Macro shots, and I've got the Pentax WP wireless remote control. But the last only has a range of around one and a half metres so I bought a wireless remote that has a hundred metre range so I can stand out of a bird's alarm range when taking a shot.

 

, I've been trying to be a "good boy" and not buy any more lenses other than that I'd set myself a wishlist for......but looking through e-Bay there was a Pentax 80mm-320mm AF Lens [which is rarely up for sale as owners hang on to them] in mint condition going fairly cheap, so I weakened and bought it. It arrived finally today [the post seemed to have jammed up and everything arrived at once today].
Anyway, it is in Mint condition and so far the quick test shots look good. One of the advantages of using it with my Pentax K5 is that the 320mm is turned into the equivalent of a 480mm because the camera has a APS-C stabilised CMOS sensor, so that is a bonus. I've bought it as I do want to have a crack at some proper wildlife shots and there are a lot of Bird Watching sites around Cheshire. I have to confess that I have also bought the Pentax f2.8 135mm lens, which is in the post, but I have to plead that it was on my Wish List.....with mitigation for insanity.
I'll post pics of them when the 135mm arrives next week

 

Here's the two new lenses that I bought after a relapse of fortitude and sanity over the Christmas and New Year period. The smaller 135mm lens arrived today so I've only been able to take a few test shots but they show it's a nice sharp lens and works well with the Pentax K5. The bigger 320mm lens I've bought for use in attempting some Wildlife shots has the bonus of being in effect a 480mm lens due to the type of sensor I have in the K5. I have used it and again it's a nice sharp lens and I now have to learn how to use all the lenses properly.....it's like being back at School, only nicer.





The only other lenses that I have on my Wish List are rarely up for sale at a practicable price so I'll just watch and wait for something to come along. I will though be buying some cheap good class lenses with fungus and dust in them from E-Bay during the year just to clean, repair and breathing new life into them.

 

Yep, I been lucky so far, Jack. But i do have a bit of a natter with the sellers before I buy and you can tell by the way they answer if they're good or bad. I must admit I had nothing but good experiences in buying lenses on E-Bay so far. Also with Pentax lens they were built to last and the older the lens the better the glass!!

 

Here's the ebay lens I got just before Christmas. There is a little fungus inside, barely visible and I can't see any effect on the photos so far. It is much sharper than the kit lens that came with my Pentax, I've been using it to take family photos over the holiday period with the new flash I'm very pleased with it, best of all it was only a few quid (plus it came with a second lens and an SLR Pentax camera which should re-coup most of my money back on ebay).

 

That's a nice looking lens, JWK, and as you know it's a well sought after lens because of the quality of the glass. I've got the f2 as well and if you see one going at a reasonable price I would buy one. If you got it in job lot of another lens and a camera you should definitely get a profit on it all. Well done that man!!

 

I very nearly had one of the Sods Law, too much of a good thing today!! . As I said earlier I've had the F1.4 50mm Pentax lens on my wish list for months but the price of a second hand one on E-Bay was too high to be justifiable or sensible. The lowest quote was £95 and the highest was £136 with about another two in between, and one for sale in the USA for £79 but the postal cost brought it up to around £90 when you were done. So a few owners/sellers of the F1.4 lens were trying to command an artificially [to me] high price because they knew the lens was much sought after and there weren't all that many on the Market.
However, two new sellers of the f.1.4 turned up a few days ago asking for bids on their lens starting at a low price. I left it until the final hours expecting to see some reasonable bidding. I also had a maximum price I was prepared to pay which I considered to be fair to me and the seller if he accepted. Anyway, when I looked at the bidding level the highest bid on one was £33 and on the other £21, which I couldn't really get my head around. So, going from previous experience of bidding for, and consistently losing, previous bids for other lens I gambled and bid for both lens I kept going back today to see how my bids were doing entirely confident that as per usual someone would out bid me. You know what's coming next don't you??? The first lens bidding ended before the second one by about 5 hours......and I won the bid for the lens at a price of £50 , although I was prepared to go to £75. My bid for the second lens was still the highest at that time and with 30 minutes to go it still was . So by now I'm thinking, Sod's Law, after all this time of waiting for one at reasonable price and winning the bid I'm about to become the owner of a second one!!! So with 3 minutes to go I was resigned for too much of a good thing and another £50 out of the account when somebody bid £52!!! I didn't think I would be happy about losing a bid for such a lens but I was!! So that's my wish list complete and apart from the fungus and dust ridden lens that I'll buy now and then to clean them up, and also to keep my mind and fingers busy, that's it. Really, honest, that's it, I'm not buying another lens, No, Honest, Really.

 

Errrrrrr..........No!!

 

I've just learnt from the Seller of the F1.4 Pentax lens that even though I bid £50 for the lens in a bidding session on E-Bay I only have to pay £40 "as I was the highest bidder". Now while I don't understand the logic of that I'm very happy that I've got even more of a bargain