Top products from r/pentax

oh boy, might want to rethink your wording or you could get some very bad and very NSFW advice :)

So first off, WELCOME!! Tell us about your K-50. Conservative black? Shocking pink? Storm trooper white?

Resources (beside here):

/r/Photography - great place for general advice. Check out the right side for links to how to's, buying guides, etc.

PentaxForums - best source for lens data and reviews from actual Pentaxians.

Pixel Peepers - second best source about lenses. Not reviews but actual pictures taken with the lenses you might be interested in. If you think you might be interested in a lens, go here to see what it can do.

Pentax Photo Gallery - See what other Pentaxians are shooting. Post your best shots. Get feedback.

The Strobist - All things off camera flash. Lots of great photography advice here too.

Ok so all of those are general resources and with the exception of Strobist won't really teach you how to shoot. My recommendation? Shoot a lot. You learn by doing…..up to a point. When you get to that point, get some help. Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set, Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is a great place to start. Its on sale right now for $63 which is an incredible deal - $12.60 a book. They are more like cookbooks than traditional photography books. One or two pages to teach one technique to get a certain picture. I bought them one at a time from 1-4 and by the time I got to 4 I wasn't learning much but I was at about 40K on my shutter count by then.

As for /r/Pentax - I think I can safely say we work more on a "got a question, ask a question" basis than a "todays tutorial" basis. If there is something you need help with, ask and someone will answer.

Again, WELCOME and good shooting!! Cant wait to see what you pick for your first subjects!

K-70 is a great camera and honestly Pentax cameras are easier to learn than others.

This guy writes E-Books for Pentax and I got one for my K50 and it helped a lot.

https://ebooks4cameras.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fk-70-book

Also check out this book by Tony Northrop

How to Create Stunning Digital Photography https://www.amazon.com/dp/0988263408/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_I3WWDb2CDSHXJ

There are lots of photography videos on YT for beginners and plenty of good books and I can recommend this one. The make of camera should not make any difference as they all have the same basic functions.

The K70 is a great camera as I have the same model bought it a few years ago and it's pretty damn good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Read-This-Want-Great-Photographs/dp/1780673353/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2LGKL8ZRUGMS0&keywords=read+this+if+you+want+to+take+great+photographs&qid=1573052581&sprefix=read+this+%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-1

Most if not all of your example images could have been taken with a 18-55 lens - the kit lens. The main difference between the kit lens and "better" lenses in its focal length range is the last 5 to 10% increase in image quality (IQ) will cost an additional $400 to $1000.

Here is a link to some images from the kit lens.

• http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/122-lens-clubs/45425-kit-lens-club.html
  
  Here is a link to a lens focal length simulator
  
  
• http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/simulator/
  
  In your example images, I am going to guess that a lot of them were taken at around 24 to 28mm.
  
  I am going to go out on a limb here a bit and say the only two lenses you are going to need (for quite a while - several years), are the DA 18-55 WR and the DA 55-300 WR. Between the two, you can cover everything. They are as small as you can go and as light weight as possible, and both WR (need to have the WR or AW designation as there are non WR models also available). Using stitching will give you wide angle shots. Long exposures will give you low light shots (the longer the exposure the greater the need for a tripod).
  
  Tripods can induce sticker shock too. Removing the last ounce becomes VERY expensive. Here is a good overview.
  
  
• http://hikeitlikeit.com/2014/lightweight-tripods-for-the-hiker/
  
  
• http://www.jmpeltier.com/2015/02/24/5-lightweight-backpacking-tips-for-photographers/
  
  Note - all tripods usually come with a center column. The shake that the legs remove, if you use the center column up - it will put back in. So, keep the center column down, and since you have the tilt screen on your camera body, use it in LiveView to frame the shot and shoot the image.
  
  I took a look at the Ks2 user manual, and it does not support a cabled external shutter release. You have your choice of an IR shutter release, or a WiFi (smart phone) app tethered capability. See pages 61 and 91 of the manual.
  
  
• http://us.ricoh-imaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/KS2-OPM-EN.pdf
  
  The Pentax OEM battery is very good. It takes about 6 hours to charge and is good for about 600 shots. A good third party battery costs 1/4 and is good for 3/4 of the shots and charges in a bit over an hour or so. Check out a Wasabi battery on Amazon.
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Wasabi-Power-Battery-Charger-D-LI109/dp/B00598PMY2
  
  

I'm not doing professional work, I'm a hobbyist, but without a way to change the flash settings remotely I'm hindering my creativity on where I can place the flash and how many flashes I can use at once.

As a hobbyist I regretted buying the RF603 once I was limited and I now recommend the TX over it because of the frustration of limitations with it for creative lighting.

Again though, I've done self-portraits and used a cheap $10 wireless trigger. I have this one specifically and it works well enough.

I'm not looking to gouge anybody. I provided links for each item to substantiate where I got that price from, mostly the "Average Price" cited in the PentaxForums review, where I could find it.

That said, it does look like the trend on the Sigma 10-20 was downward where their graph leaves off two years ago. Amazon lists it today at $245 for "Acceptable", $417 for "Very Good"; this copy is somewhere between those, probably a bit closer to the low side.

If you've got an interest, make me an offer. Getting something reasonable is better than nothing.

Edit - fix a link

What are you going to be using it for. I just bought a cheap one to start out with and it has done great for me so far. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001D60LG8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wasabi power lithium batteries from Amazon. Paid something like $12 each versus $45 for OEM ones.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00598PMY2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421866704&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=51z1%2BRCBmHL&ref=plSrch

I don't mean to be a party pooper, but amazon has it for $94..
http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-70-300mm-Telephoto-Pentax-Cameras/dp/B000B8T6E2

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001G4LOCC/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_puEPAbAZPDAMN

You take the screw and the lil mount off the product, and then mount it on the lens itself, you just coverted your m42 to a k-mount.

I have 3 M42s using this method... never stuck, up to infiry all good.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071SLM8R9/ref=dra_a_rv_bb_ho_xx_P1400_1000?psc=1 Amazon has this offer right now, if I was looking to get into Pentax this would be worth it.

Like this for instance?? Or no?
https://www.amazon.com/Pentax-55-300mm-4-5-6-3-PLM-Lens/dp/B01GVYHK42?keywords=pentax+lens&qid=1536844353&sr=8-11&ref=mp_s_a_1_11

This $7 3rd-party remote has been working fine for the last month.

When putting my k-5 in a bigger pack, I use a domke 19" wrap . Flexible with different lenses. Not perfect but it works, is light, and gets out of the way when not in use.

The Pentax-branded one is only about $300.

http://www.amazon.com/10-17mm-3-5-4-5-Fish-Eye-Pentax-Digital/dp/B000CNI016/

The K-1 and the Sigma 12-24 f/4.5-5.6 would be around $2600, almost exactly what the D750 and the Tokina 16-28 f/2.8 would cost.

I use the 18-135 wr and the 40mm pancake len on my ks2. you can get both used for about 400$

Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Ultra Compact Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00077KMXG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.FoEAbPGPJ0ZH

Pentax 21977 DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL (IF) DC WR Lens for Pentax Digital SLR cameras https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0043RTLA6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_SGoEAb9WTF6HF

https://www.amazon.com/Sigma-17-50mm-Aperture-Standard-Digital/dp/B003A6NTIG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1491585413&sr=8-3&keywords=17-50+pentax

$369, but used ones can be in mid $200s

KatzEye used to make high quality split prism focusing screens but they closed down unfortunately.

You can still find some cheap ones on ebay.

Also, consider getting the magnifying eyepiece as well.

Autofocus speed makes me want this lens badly.

The Photodiox isn't a bad adapter - definitely not on the same level as the Pentax adapter, but not as bad as the horrible ones that get stuck or cause you to lose infinity focus. I do recommend buying the official Pentax adapter for people who really want to use M42 lenses a lot, but if you're just trying out a few lenses before committing I think this one isn't the end of the world: https://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adapter-Pentax-Camera-K-5IIs/dp/B001G4LOCC