Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Pentax

Confused about a Sigma lens for Pentax

GuyZero — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:44:49 -0800

This new lens from Sigma (18-250 zoom) comes in a Pentax mount. Pentax puts their DSLR image stabilization in the camera body and not in the lens like Nikon or Canon. Yet the description for all the lenses is the same - image stabilization in the lens. Is this a case of cut&paste product descriptions or would using this lens on a Pentax camera have double image stabilization (both lens & camera body)? The Amazon description seems to indicate it's in the lens but the English is a bit wonky. I'm also curious whether this lens is worth the higher price versus the similar Pentax & Tamron lenses.

Pentax DSLR vs Nikon vs Canon

mikepop — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:21:07 -0800

Digital SLR - does anyone have experience with the Pentax K2000 (comparing with the Nikon D40) This recent DSLR question was timely, as I'm looking to buy one as a gift soon and I was looking at entry-level Canons and Nikons.

However, the giftee has a Pentax film SLR and along with it a couple of lenses - a basic lens and a telephoto/zoom lens (sorry, I don't know what they are exactly). From what I'm reading in the other thread, it makes sense to buy the camera you already have lenses for, so I'm taking a look at the Pentax K2000.

A lot of people I know have a Nikon or Canon, but I don't know anyone with a Pentax DSLR. Is it just as good, generally speaking, as an entry-level DSLR? Any warnings?

And if I do decide to go with the Pentax, would it make sense to buy just the camera body (vs a kit) and save some money, since she already has a couple of lenses?

Is my Sigma lens dead?

stackhaus23 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 06:50:50 -0800

Is my Sigma lens dead? Well... in short no it's not. However, whilst cleaning it today I had a look down through the glass and noticed tiny bubbles of condensation on one of the glass elements.

It's an autofocus lens for a Pentax film camera and I've never had a film through using this lens – it's been in a camera bag for a couple of years so I don't know how long the condensation has been there, it's definitely not progressed into fungus and all the mechanisms are working fine.

I'm going away to shoot some indoor live photography in tiny dirty venues and will more than likely not use it again afterwards, it's just got such a great wide angle. I can't really afford to buy another one right now, so I'd like to use it but I obviously don't want to run 20 rolls of film through the camera and they all turn out to be totally useless.

So really, I'm asking – will I notice the condensation in photographs or will it work out just fine? They're most likely going to be lo-fi black and white indoor shots with the built in flash – people doing stagedives and dancing in the crowd.

understanding lens on a Pentax DSLR

bystander — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:45:36 -0800

Lens 101 for new Pentax K100d DSLR owner. I was lucky enough to get a new camera for Christmas, and it replaces point and shoot compacts.
I need to understand a bit about lenses for it, and hope askme can teach me.
My last SLR was before eBay existed, and the listings there confuse me.
Basically, I would like a wide, fast lens for portraits with big depth of field.
My camera came with a f3.5-5.6 18-50mm, and it is nice, but could use more depth of field.
So, how to get this inexpensively?
I would be happy with an old manual focus lens, but I gather the smaller sensor in the DSLR means a film lens is not as "wide" as it would be with a film camera. Does this also impact the aperature?
Are f1.4 or f2.0 all going to cost the earth?
Also, can you help me decode eBay listings to understand which mountings are compatible?
I saw this but could use a bit more clarity.

How can I get a macintosh to recognize a digital camera again?

humannaire — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:19:35 -0800

What can I do to have a Macintosh G4 laptop to recognize a Pentax Optio 33WR digital camera? It once did, but it has since stopped. After downloading photos from a Pentax Optio 33WR into iPhoto on my friend's Macintosh G4 (1.67 GHz PowerPC running 10.4.11), I pulled the USB cord out without properly ejecting the disk. A warning message came up. ("You have improperly ejected a disk...") Now when I plug it in, it's invisible to the computer (iPhoto or otherwise.)

What I have done so far with no success: I zapped pram, re-booted; repaired disk permissions, re-booted; and re-formatted the camera's memory card.

Anyone have any insight? I'm sorry I improperly ejected the disk, and I promise to do better in the future.

Best walkaround zoom for Pentax K100D

blue shadows — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:04:39 -0800

I bought the Pentax K100D dSLR, partly on recommendations from here, and I love it. I have the 18-55 kit lens and the 50-200 zoom lens, which I mostly use. Now I would like to buy a faster in-between zoom, somewhere from 24-28 at the low end to 75-135 at the high end. I am trying to figure out whether to buy a Pentax, Tamron, or Sigma lens and am getting confused with all the contradictory reviews. The Tamron 24-135 is praised to the skies by some and trashed by others. I am leaning towards the Tamron 28-75 but would like something closer to 100 mm. Any advice?

Help a photgraphy n00b use a fully manual film camera.

MadamM — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 20:49:05 -0800

My grandfather is letting me borrow his old fully manual SLR camera to mess around with. It's a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 1000, in OK condition. I've googled around, but I still feel like I don't really know what I'm doing. I want to take the best pictures I can, and I also want to avoid damaging the camera through ignorance. I know very little about photography and especially little about film cameras. Help! I'm interested in photography and would really like to learn how to take pictures that are at least technically competent. I know virtually nothing about exposures, aperture settings, ISOs, f stops, lenses, uhh... yeah. I know these things exist and have a fuzzy idea about what they do but very little experience with them, having never really taken photos with anything but a point and shoot.

Additionally, I have a more specific question about lenses, just to give you an idea about the depth of my ignorance: the camera has a "Sigma Mini-Wide 1:2.8 f= 28mm" lens attached to it. I have no idea what these numbers mean or whether this lens will let me take just... normal pictures. I have a manual for the lens but it makes very little sense to me.

I actually (just) found a manual for this camera which will help a bunch, but like I said, I have no frame of reference. Please explain film photography to me like I've never seen a camera before and if you have any tips for this specific camera I will be very appreciative.

Finish my work for me

AnyGuelmann — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:31:42 -0800

Help me find the perfect digital SLR camera to substitute my Minolta Maxxum 300si I have already done research and read reviews, now I need to be influenced towards one of my available choices.
Biased photographers, influence me away.

Myself as a photographer:
- Totally amateur
- Totally pretentious
- Not quite there as far as technique goes, but eager to improve

My preferences:
- 8x plus zoom
- 6 Mpx at least, but no real need to go beyond that
- Fast startup
- Manual focus, or an auto focus that gives me choices and lets me choose
- Possibly a stabilization feature, as long as somebody tells me it really works
- $500 - $800 range, lens included

My targets:
- Architecture and art - wide angle just important as good zoom (right?)
- Close ups of "step by step" DIY projects, Instructables style
- Pets, lots of close ups
- Travel and vacation, with a flare for those (pretentious) artsy shots

The selection so far:
- Pentax K100D / 18-55 mm
- Nikon D70s / 18-70 mm
- Canon Digital Rebel XT / 18-55 mm
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50s / 12x zoom

My doubts:
- Will I be able to screw in filters on all of these? I like filters.
- Should I buy separate body and lens?
- Btw, what are the basic filters I should have? I currently have the somewhat tacky fog and four-point star
- I guess a couple of these are not really SLRs, but will that make a difference, based on I told you above?
- The Maxxum 300si was discontinued, but did Minolta substitute it with any equivalent digital camera I might take a look at?

Pentax or another digital SLR?

Rothko — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 23:00:56 -0800

I'm looking for a new digital SLR that I can use with my existing lenses, which works well in general and low-light situations... I do photography of electronic music shows with a 35mm SLR camera (Pentax ZX-10), and there is often little or no light to work with.

I'd like to move to a digital SLR that works well under low light (i.e. pictures have low noise, and the camera can take pictures in this condition without requiring a flash). I'll explain why below. If necessary, I'd like to buy the SLR with a 28-80 range lens that works well under low light (decently "fast" lens?).

I'm a bit of an amateur so bear with me as I describe my problem and what I have been trying to do to solve it with my current gear.

I've tried using a large flash (Pentax AF210T) but what ends up happening is that the subject gets all the light, and the background gets nothing. Not good.

I've also tried using more expensive and faster film, but the grain is noticeably large that often the pictures are very "noisy" when they are used for publication, if they can be used at all. I also tried B+W film to get more contrast and detail, and less offending noise, but its not much of an improvement.

I've also tried going without the flash and living with the long shutter times that are required, but I can't carry around a tripod to these shows, and so I end up with great, interesting compositions (i.e. good reproduction of lighting details) with blurred foreground subjects (i.e. the musician). I also have the problem that my camera simply refuses to take pictures in low light. I don't know enough about how much time I need to leave the shutter open in low light to do things manually.

Many of the photographers I see at these shows use digital cameras and do not need a flash or tripod (or light meter).

Developing film is getting more expensive, and sending images in digital form for publication adds to the cost and hassle. Since I work for free, I need to move to digital before the film dev costs send me to the poorhouse.

I'd like the camera (and optional lens) to not need a flash to take decent pictures, as permission to use flash is occasionally forbidden at the events I visit.

I've been reading reviews about the Pentax "*ist D" and "*ist DS" cameras. They look small, lightweight, and will work with my small lens collection.

I'd like to know if either of these cameras will work well for my needs, as I have three Pentax lenses I bought for use with my ZX-10, a slow, cheap telephoto lens, a macro lens, and a really expensive fisheye lens that I'd prefer not to have to replace. I have a 28-80 lens that came bundled with the ZX-10, as well. I suspect it's not a fast lens.

Failing that, are there other brands of digital SLR cameras in the $1000-$1500 range that are better suited to this, and will be compatible with my Pentax lenses? Or should I sell the old camera and lenses and start over?

Personal usage experiences of these cameras are greatly appreciated, as well as general photography advice for this application.

(I'm skeptical of online reviews, which are either geared to professionals who know the vocabulary that I don't, or the review simply trumps up the quality of the product.)

Pentax 35mm with jammed shutter release. Worth saving?

mwhybark — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 18:01:05 -0800

Pentax K1000, with a jammed shutter release button. I hardly ever use film any more, but have a soft spot for the 35mm format and this camera in particular. It's been jammed for at least ten years. Repair, replace, or junk and move on?

Find me a different body for my Pentax ME super lenses

crush-onastick — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 13:16:53 -0800

i have a pentax ME super and about a dozen lenses for it. however, it has the defective gasket. since most of the ME supers around have the defective gasket, i'd rather replace it with a fully manual SLR that does not run the risk of a defective part.

i know that sears sold a SLR that fit the same lenses, but i'm having trouble tracking down the name, body style, &c. anyone know? or have suggestions of another camera which will take my lenses? or know a good used camera dealer in or around chicago, illinois?