Pentax K100D and what lens for modelling

You can get dedicated macro lens but a cheap alternative is to get a set of close up "lenses". They usually come three to a set and will run you about $50. They look like filters and screw on to the front of your lens. They are labeled as +1, +2, +3, etc. and you can stack them up dependent on how much magnification you want.

 

Any quality Macro lens will cost you $$$$$$. True Macro lenses not the same as a zoom lens that has a macro feature. True macro lenses have fixed lens lengths. Usually, a 100mm macro (35mm film camera) is needed to give you a 1:1 maginification ratio, while longer length macro's will allow you to 2:1 to 4:1 magnafication, maybe more. Zoom lenses with a Macro feature can usually get to 1:1 or maybe 2:1. Brand name zoom/macros, like my Nikon 35-105mm f3.8 usually have excellent resolution and adequate speed. Aftermarket zoom/macro lenses may sacrafice resolution and speed. What ever lens you buy get the fastest (lowest) f-stop you can afford. When using a Macro lens, you are using a lens with a very long tube between the lens elements. This cuts back on the amount of light the lens can transfer and there for requires that the lens be able to gather as much light as possible. Large front elements and low f-stops are the only way to get this.

The third option is buying close up lenses to work with your standard 50mm lens. The screw on the front of the lens (magnification filters) or on the back of the lens (extension tubes or bellows). They work, sort of.

One thing to keep in mind no matter what option you choose, the depth of field you have to work with at macro level can be as little as 1/32". The more expensive and faster fixed lenses will give you more depth of field at the same exposure than will a zoom/macro or a fixed lens with an extension tube, belows or magnification lenses, generally.

In short, if you can afford a quality fixed length Macro, you plan on doing a lot of close up work and learning about the tricks in close up work, get the fixed macro. Pentax makes good glass so you should be able to pick up a used one at a reasonable price. Try KEH camera for used stuff.

If you only plan on the occasssional close up shot, buy a brand name zoom/macro. I prefer the shorter zooms, 30-100, 35-105, 50-135, but you will be limited the sizes made for your camera. I do not know if Pentax made a zoom/macor in this range. Avoid the bigger 70-210 zoom macros. They are nice, but too heavy to hand hold for close up work. I really can't use my 70-210 f2.8 for macro work with out a tripod, and then if I point the lens down to the subject gravity starts to pull the lens down. Good glass is heavy glass. I can hand hold my 35-105 and get great results. I do shoot a lot of floral work and most of it is in the clients garden.

Avoid extension tubs and magnification lenses. They are one of those things that once you buy it, you wonder why you didn't spend the extra cash for "the proper tools to do the job". If you are shooting "just once" the screw on magnification lenses will be adequate.

Shutterbug has usually listed the performance of each lens it has tested. The things you want are RESOLUTION and ACUTANCE. Review the lenses you are looking at before buying.

Hope that helps,
Mark

 

Thanks, Mark--that was comprehensive! I agree with everything you wrote, especially about the shorter zooms. The Nikon 35-105 is still my favorite lens for macro work, even with a 1.5X digital factor. I also find I use my 24-85 a lot. I bought a 12-24mm Nikon, figuring I'd use it a lot on my layout. It's been much more useful for nature and architecture shots, for which I love it. I haven't used it as much as I figured for the layout.

Close-up lenses can work under carefully controlled conditions. I have a set of 77mm, which I've used once on the 12-24mm. With step-down rings ($12), I've used them with the 24-85 and the 35-105. At 12mm and f/22, depth of field is from about 6 inches to infinity. But some model shots just don't work at wider field of views.

The longest I've ever shot in the train room (for anything but a demo) is about 85mm. Depth of field, even at f/22, was a problem. The Helicon Focus software is a blessing there!

 

Pete,

Thanks for covering the 1.5x zoom digi factor. I am still in silver halide land. I have used close up lenses on my Nikon 35-105 and acheived good results. It was outside on a bright overcast day. I find the close lenses work if I am not using them with a bright point light source. I have noticed some flare when I have used the close up lenses in shops or with a flash. But, they are handy in a pinch.

Colonel,
You're welcome and I hope you are having a pleasant Spring, mate!

Cheers,
Mark

PS-way off topic but I used to help sell and distibute Crumpler bags here in the States. Got to know the lads from Melbourne quite well, even scrapped a few of them off the pub floor after too many Molson XXX's. Nothin' like telling an Ozzie, "Na, you don't want to drink that stuff...it's way too strong for you". Like waving a red flag at a bull

 

Paul,

I think an 18-55 is a great all around lens. It's roughly the same as a 28-80 on a film SLR camera.

When I bought the first D100 in 2002, I decided to go with a pro 24-85 f/2.8 lens, knowing that the 12-24 would soon be available. I don't remember whether the Nikon kit lenses (18-55, 18-70) were even available then, or simply out of stock locally. On my 2003 trip to Alaska, I also brought a 28-200 Quantaray zoom--it was a yucky lens from my wife's N70. So I bought a Nikkor 70-300 before my next trip. It was less than $300, and is exceptionally sharp.

So, with gradual purchases, I now have two bodies, and good quality lenses between 12 and 300mm. I have some accessories that I consider essential: a good tripod, a good Nikon SB-800 flash, and 12-Gbytes of compact flash memory cards. The last staggers me. 12 Gbytes? Unreal!

 

Mark,

Aside from the 77mm close-ups, I also have a set of 52mm close-ups for the 35-105 that I purchased many years ago with the lens. I think that, in model railroad photography, you can avoid those troublesome point sources. I hate hanging black light blocks and white light reflectors all over a scene to get rid of them! I guess I'm not a very patient studio photographer: give me a bear any day!

 

Colonel,

I have a similar situation. I have a Pentax FA Macro 50mm F2.8 lens and am considering buying the K100D body only.

The lens was recommended by Kirk Reddie at about the time N Scale Railroading magazine was started. He used this lens for his photos at the time. Might still do so.

Being the procrastinator I am, I have not used the lens but need to get off my duff and do something. I am also considering the Lumix FZ30 from Panasonic, a cheaper camera than the K100D, that seems to rank high with some modelers.

If I decide on the Lumix I will let you know in case you are interested in this particular lens.

Ben

P.S. I notice that many dealers are offering a package deal with either of the two lenses you have mentioned. Some are offering body only but not the one from whom I bought my lens. Go figure. All Pentax lenses with bayonet mount that Pentax has ever offered are said to be usable with the K100D. Whether or not lenses by other manufacturers are usable is something that the camera knowledgeable can answer but probably will need an adapter if not bayonet mount.

 

Paul,

I think the mpixel wars are stopping. It's better to have 6 mp of good pixels than 8 mp of bad ones. It's the lens that makes most of the difference.

 

How did you get a shot of the ex-girlfriend, sans make-up, looking like she did many mornings?

-Mark

 

I'm getting ready to buy a K100D or K10D myself.

After using a friend of mine's *istDL (a predicessor to the K100D) a couple of weeks ago , I've decided If I get a lens at the same time, it will be the 18-55mm kit lens.

Of course, the reason that I'm going with a Pentax camera to replace my aging Olympus E-10 is that I already have a bunch of fully manual K-mount lenses from my film days, so I'm going to be using those lenses instead of buying a bunch of new glass. I may very well just buy a body and use the glass I already have for now.

This is actually why I'm responding on this thread... There are ton of K-mount lenses available, and some of them go for fairly reasonable prices, so you should be able to pick up some used lenses to go along with the camera regardless of what you buy with it. Not all of these lenses are fully automatic, but for controlled studio (and layout) conditions, you don't always need an autofocus lens.

Paul

 

Depends.......

If you plan on doing mostly close up work and the 18-50mm works for the subjects you will be shooting close up, start there. Personally, I like to keep my short zooms and long zooms seperate, so I would opt for the 18-50 (if it is good glass) and look for a longer lens later. Unless you are shooting sports or far away cars in a yard, you will get more use out of the wide to normal lens for a lot of "normal" shots. The long zooms are usefull for keeping you off of railroad property, but allowing you to get detailed shots (albeit through fences, around trees, and some fool always has to put that power pole in the middle of your frame!) of equipment and buidling.

One thing you did not list and it is a key part of lens terminology and that is the f-stop. The lower the f-stop number the more light that the lens can "pull in" from the subject and hence better shots and more flexibility in low light situations. The f-stop number, the size of the lens and the quality of the glass are all interelated to each other and have the most effect on your final cost. The lower the f-stop number, the better the galss/optical polymer, the better the lens, the more the cost. There may be an increase in weight, but the higher quality images produced makes the extra weight acceptable.

As Paul mentions above, used lenses are avaiable. The older manual lens mounts lose almost all digital features, and some bodies do not interact well at all with them, if memory on Pentax serves me right. You will want to check with the salesperson on the limitations with this body. I beleive the older, manual Pentax lens are called K-mount. But....Pentax galss is and has always been tack sharp. If you are doing studio shooting, and you know photography, an older lens may work. if you plan on using this lens as a general use lens, or like to keep your photography to pressing a button, buy the newer digital lens that will talk to the camera body and allow automatic and programable features. As much fun as it is for me to meter and per-visualize and experiment with my camera, its even more nice to turn it to AUTO, knowing that my trusty 60/40 Nikon split meter on my FG has never failed me in ANY situation in 17 years (My God, I have had that camera that long!!!!!!) and shoot away.

-Mark

 

I'd buy the 18-50 now. The only time I really use my 70-300mm is when I'm out shooting animals, and even then I keep a second body with the 24-85 nearby. I shoot much more stuff at the wide end than at the telephoto end--perhaps 95% between 12mm and 50mm.

 

There's an interesting page on the evolution of hte K-mount lens here: http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/technology/K-mount/index.html

If you read through the information on that page, you should get the basic idea of what you can and cannot do with any of the K-mount lenses built since the mid 1970s.

I know with the manual K-mount lenses, you can shoot in aperature priority mode with manual focus on the K100D and K10D. If you have a manual focus K-mount lens with an "A" setting, it can be used in shutter priority mode as well.

By default, the Pentax digital bodies only want to use lenses in the "A" mode, but that can be over-ridden in the custom settings menu (There are one or two options you have to change).
The newest pentax lenses actually only have the "A" setting, so they cannot be used on a camera body which can't set the aperature. (being able to do that is somewhat important to me, since I still shoot a couple rolls of film every year on my K-mount Ricoh).

And there is also a lot of good non-Pentax glass available. I actually only have one Pentax lens in my collection at the moment.

Paul

 

One other thing, If you do end up getting manual focus lenses, and start doing manual focus work on a regular basis, you probably want to invest in a new focusing screen.

One manual focus screen is available from Katz Eye optics. I haven't used one of these, but I've heard good things about them. You can see more info about the one for the K100D here:
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/item--Katz-Eye-Focusing-Screen-for-the-Pentax-K100D--prod_K100D.html

The focus confirmation of the camera can be used with a manual focus lens, but I've always prefered focusing with a split image focusing screen, like the one above.

Paul