PBase

I just acquired a Pentax K1000 35mm camera and was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on what type of flash and/or lenses I could use with it?

Without wanting to be facetious, I'm betting Pentax lenses and flashes with work superbly, in addition to other brands that have been designed with Pentax in mind

Can you expand your thoughts on what your expectations are, you're budget and what you enjoy taking pictures of, otherwise you'll get a myriad of responses, which may not be close to what you want.

ah, well I suppose I am looking for advice on the best type of lenses and flashes . . . model numbers and such. I really don't know what I'm looking for or even where to find it. I'm new to the 35mm camera.

i use my camera mainly for portrait photography and some landscape work. as for budget . . . I have a middle of the road thought process. I want to invest money into my camera, but I also still wanna be able to pay my electric bill. if that makes any sense anyways.

I don't know much about Pentax, but I gather you should be able to find a 50mm F2.0 lens which should be great for portraits and should also work well for some tight landscapes on a 35mm. Another option to look at might be the Tamron 17-55 F2.8 - but it's designed for APS-C size sensor so you might want to do some research on whether there is a similar option available for 35mm. Note, that I'm suggesting quick lenses, i.e. F2.0/F2.8 - if you can afford them now then make the most now rather than getting a cheaper slower lens. Another suggestion would be do avoid a do it all lens. 28-300mm sounds appealing but the results may be less than ideal. Prime lenses or a lens with a wide angle a 4th or less than the telephoto end should be ideal way to go. The longer the zoom range, then generally the more the lens will be a compromise from one end to the other.

Coincidentally I've just started using a K1000 for the first time. I've just received my first three rolls back and I'm delighted with the results; far better than I had hoped for. Unfortunately I don't have much equipment myself either at the moment, so can't really recommend flashes etc., but mine came with a Vivitar 35-70mm 2.8 lens and I like it a lot. Straight away it's my favourite lens by a mile.

I'm not sure but I think that type of Vivitar lens was mainly made in the 80s; I would imagine you could pick one up on ebay for around $30 upwards depending on condition. I am thinking of buying a couple more lenses myself (wide angle, probably), so perhaps if you like what you end up with yourself you could give some feedback here?

Cheers,

Stu

I still own a K1000 as it was the camera I first used for learning..it actually sits alongside my classic camera collection on show!

I would have to disagree that the 50mm lens is suitable for portraiture, look for a Pentax K mount 135mm. Portraiture requires lenses of longer focoal lengths to help keep the proportions of the fave intact. A zoom lens will be suitable for street photography.

As your camera is totally manual, I would look into a second hand Metz CL4. A little bit overkill for your camera as it's a professional flashgun, but the main advantage is that it will have a large range of aperture dial settings to give you freedom over fill-in flash options. Butif you are using the flash as a main light source (indoors at night) set your pentax to f8 and your flashgun manually to f8 and you can't really go wrong.

cambridge_photographer wrote:I would have to disagree that the 50mm lens is suitable for portraiture, look for a Pentax K mount 135mm. Portraiture requires lenses of longer focoal lengths to help keep the proportions of the fave intact. A zoom lens will be suitable for street photography.

Agreed - I only mentioned it as in the Nikon/Canon world it's a fantastic lens for the money, and a quick google showed the F2 as a similar option in the Pentax world. Personally I love my 85mm F1.8 (on a DX), but I think for the price you can't do much better than the 50mm if you want something cheap, but sharp with great dof control.

all of these are portraits made on a film body at 50mm











here's one with a 135mm lens



clcik the photo for a larger view

Mary in SW Florida

Around 85mm is generally accepted as optimum for portraits. The Tamron 90mm is also one of the best macro lenses.

A soft/diffuser filter, to flatter the ladies' skin texture might be usful.