Christmas Present for Wife

jjmill1980

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Hello everyone!

I am new here and don't know much if anything about photography. I posted this in the Pentax forum but thought I might get some better feedback here since only a small part of my question is camera specific.

My wife has wanted to take portraits (mostly of our kids) for sometime now. A few years back I got her a Pentax K10D with some "package" lenses. Needless to say, she has not had a great experience with trying to take portraits. The lack of skill and the lack of a good portrait lens and proper lighting have squashed her motivation.


The bug that bit her a few years back has struck again (i.e. she really wants to use that big useless camera I bought her)! She showed me a youTube video of a lady taking infant portraits (this is what my wife really wants to do) that used a fixed 50mm f/1.8 lens (i think it's this one: Amazon.com: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens: CANON: Camera & Photo ) natural window light and a reflector. Her pictures were amazing!

I have been looking to buy her a set of lights and a backdrop for sometime (something similar to: Amazon.com: ePhoto K103 Studio Lighting Kit with Carrying Case with 6x9 Foot Black and White Muslin Backdrop, 2 each 7 Foot Light Stands, 32-Inch Umbrellas and 3 45 Watt Fluorescent Bulbs: Camera & Photo ). This is what I had been planning to buy her for Christmas this year. But now I am not sure.

OK, so here is what I am trying to figure out (please consider that I have a budget of about $150 for this):

  1. Will the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens fit on the Pentax K10D?
  2. If the answer to #1 is no, is there a similar lens that would fit on the K10D for similar $$$?
  3. What would be more beneficial to her portrait taking experience a good lens or lights?
  4. If the answer to #3 is lights, am I on the right track with the ones I linked above? If not, is there some other recommendation that would work for my budget?


If I am down the wrong rode entirely please point me in the right direction.

Please consider that I have a very limited budget for this and that my wife is doing this for fun but needs to see good results to stay motivated.

Thank you in advance!
 
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Hi, jjmill.

This lens might be the better for portrait photography:

[h=1]Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical Lens for Pentax K20D K10D K200D K110D K100D *ist DL Ds Digital SLR Cameras[/h]
1. The Canon lens might work with an adapter.
2. see above
3. Depends on her preference. "available light" is one style of photography, and IMO it takes quite a bit of practice to get really good at it.
4. I like a flash. I can position the flash to where it makes the best modeling light for a portrait, and I can modify the flash by bouncing it off another nearby surface, or with the use of a softbox or umbrella, either of which don't cost a lot. I recommend getting her a good portrait lens AND a flash.

BTW: those compact fluorescents are not going to make very much light, so don't get those. Go ahead and get the light stands, backdrop, umbrellas, and umbrella brackets without the lights. Another good gift suggestion is a set of portable reflectors, providing you are willing to go out and hold them for her.
 
Kudo's to you for researching and trying to get her something for her photography. As a photographer, having the right gear makes a huge difference so I'm glad to see you're looking! I'm a Nikon guy personally so I can't give specific recommendations but I can tell you that the Canon 50mm will not work on her Pentax camera. The reason for this is that the Canon lenses mount to the Canon camera's differently then Pentax lenses do to Pentax cameras. Therefore, you would probably want something more like this: Pentax smc DA 50mm f/1.8 Lens 22177 B&H Photo Video (not 100% sure about the compatibility but it's a start!).

In order for me to answer the rest of your questions though, I need you to answer some of mine first!
1) How old are your kids? what kind of "portraits" does she want to do? I found that a Pro zoom lens works better for active kids while I prefer the results from a fixed lens, such as the 50mm, when the kids are real young or older (i.e. not running around the room like crazy!)
2) How big is the space that she wants to take pictures? The 50mm on K10D might be too much of a telephoto lens if shooting indoors and trying to do a full-body shot.
3) How many windows does she have in that room? What direction do they face? If she has a lot of North-facing windows, the lighting will be ideal for natural light photography so a cheap, $20 reflector will do just fine. Otherwise, some off-camera lighting would be a good investment.

EDIT: The 85mm mentioned above would be a GREAT lens for portraits! However, it would be a manual focus lens.
 
I'm not sure about your wife, by personally, I hate having "starter" equipment or tools or whatever. Photography is a pretty expensive hobby and sometimes it's better to bite the bullet and buy the nice gear at the onset rather than buying the bargain gear, then upgrading a couple of times until you get what you wanted in the beginning. I also shoot Pentax and two of my favorite prime lenses are the 50mm f/1.4: Pentax Normal SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Autofocus Lens 20817 B&H Photo and the 77mm Limited f/1.8: Pentax Telephoto SMCP-FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited Series 27980 B&H. Now, I agree, these are both above the $150 budget, but the quality is second to none. The 50mm lens has doubled in price since I bought it just a few years ago and the 77mm is about 200 more now. So, you can generally get your money back from good glass if you want to re-sell later. You should also check ebay for these lenses our the older manual focus ones which also have some really nice image quality.

Just another way to look at things from someone who has used these lenses as well as Sigma and other lenses for Pentax.
 
Hi, jjmill.

This lens might be the better for portrait photography:

Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical Lens for Pentax K20D K10D K200D K110D K100D *ist DL Ds Digital SLR Cameras


1. The Canon lens might work with an adapter.
2. see above
3. Depends on her preference. "available light" is one style of photography, and IMO it takes quite a bit of practice to get really good at it.
4. I like a flash. I can position the flash to where it makes the best modeling light for a portrait, and I can modify the flash by bouncing it off another nearby surface, or with the use of a softbox or umbrella, either of which don't cost a lot. I recommend getting her a good portrait lens AND a flash.

BTW: those compact fluorescents are not going to make very much light, so don't get those. Go ahead and get the light stands, backdrop, umbrellas, and umbrella brackets without the lights. Another good gift suggestion is a set of portable reflectors, providing you are willing to go out and hold them for her.

Designer,

Thank you for your input here. I am leery of an adapter to make the Canon lens work, due to something I read about it changing the characteristics due to focal length. Anyhow, I am probably out the same amount of $$$ once I add in the adapter. I now nothing about flashes but a quick Amazon search produced this guy: Amazon.com: Professional TTL Power, Zoom & 270 Degree Swivel D-SLR Flash For The Pentax Q K20 K200D K10D K100D K110D Super Z-1 MZ-50 MZ-5N Z-70 ZX-M MZ-6 DL2 Z1P ZX-10 MZ-7 *ist DS2 MZ-3 ZX-5N MZ-10 MZ-5 PZ-1P MZ30 Includes 1 Wide Angle Diffuser, 1 B Would this flash give her good results? What do I need to look for when looking for a flash? What are your thoughts about using halogen work lights (the big ones that put of 1,000 + watts and get really, really hot)? I ask because I already have a few of these.

Thanks again for the info!
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Kudo's to you for researching and trying to get her something for her photography. As a photographer, having the right gear makes a huge difference so I'm glad to see you're looking! I'm a Nikon guy personally so I can't give specific recommendations but I can tell you that the Canon 50mm will not work on her Pentax camera. The reason for this is that the Canon lenses mount to the Canon camera's differently then Pentax lenses do to Pentax cameras. Therefore, you would probably want something more like this: Pentax smc DA 50mm f/1.8 Lens 22177 B&H Photo Video (not 100% sure about the compatibility but it's a start!).

In order for me to answer the rest of your questions though, I need you to answer some of mine first!
1) How old are your kids? what kind of "portraits" does she want to do? I found that a Pro zoom lens works better for active kids while I prefer the results from a fixed lens, such as the 50mm, when the kids are real young or older (i.e. not running around the room like crazy!)
2) How big is the space that she wants to take pictures? The 50mm on K10D might be too much of a telephoto lens if shooting indoors and trying to do a full-body shot.
3) How many windows does she have in that room? What direction do they face? If she has a lot of North-facing windows, the lighting will be ideal for natural light photography so a cheap, $20 reflector will do just fine. Otherwise, some off-camera lighting would be a good investment.

EDIT: The 85mm mentioned above would be a GREAT lens for portraits! However, it would be a manual focus lens.

Jaron,

I appreciate your input as well. I will do my best to answer your ???
1) Our kids are 10, 7, 4, and -11 weeks (yeah that's a minus sign, we are expecting our 4th the end of February) being that we are expecting a new little one my wife wants to focus on learning to take baby/infant pics.
2) Currently we have not nailed down a spot for her to shoot. We have a few ideas but I think the plan was to try them to see what gave the best results. I don't know if the full-body portrait would be of much concern to her at this point. However, if I should be looking at a different lens that would accommodate both close up "infant" shots as well as full-body portraits please give me a recommendation there.
3) Windows... hmmm, well the one area we were thinking of has three windows. One that faces north and two that face west. In that space she would have to shoot against the north or west wall which would probably require us to block out some of the windows. This is the only spot where she would have a north facing window. That being said, would west facing windows work at certain times of day? Or overcast days? She likes the idea of using natural light so a $20 reflector would be ideal.
 
I'm not sure about your wife, by personally, I hate having "starter" equipment or tools or whatever. Photography is a pretty expensive hobby and sometimes it's better to bite the bullet and buy the nice gear at the onset rather than buying the bargain gear, then upgrading a couple of times until you get what you wanted in the beginning. I also shoot Pentax and two of my favorite prime lenses are the 50mm f/1.4: Pentax Normal SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Autofocus Lens 20817 B&H Photo and the 77mm Limited f/1.8: Pentax Telephoto SMCP-FA 77mm f/1.8 Limited Series 27980 B&H. Now, I agree, these are both above the $150 budget, but the quality is second to none. The 50mm lens has doubled in price since I bought it just a few years ago and the 77mm is about 200 more now. So, you can generally get your money back from good glass if you want to re-sell later. You should also check ebay for these lenses our the older manual focus ones which also have some really nice image quality.

Just another way to look at things from someone who has used these lenses as well as Sigma and other lenses for Pentax.

Thank you for your recommendations. So in looking at the Pentax Normal SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 and the Pentax SMC DA 50mm f/1.8 I only see two differences: the price and the aperture. Are there other differences I overlooked? What does the SMCP-FA and SMC DA stand for?
 
Get her one of these:
IMAGE49.JPG


Put it in a real nice card and let her pick out exactly what she wants and or needs. Photography is not a cheap hobby, nor is it useful or cost effective to have a bunch of stuff lying around that you don't need or use.
 

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