Wanting to start

[driscolls]

I decided to try photography but i don't know where to start, I found some of my parents old stuff i have a pentax k1000, pentax me super, and two lenses; vivitar 28-80mm 1:3.5-4.5, vivitar 300mm 1:5.6 ( i dont know what the numbers mean ). What else do i need? any tips or advice

 

[SrBiscuit]

if youre just starting out, digital is the way to go...personal opinion of course...but i think youre going to burn up a lot of cash and patience on film and developing.
you can easily get an entry level dslr for cheap...you have a couple lenses already. i would do some research and see what (pentax) bodies those lenses will work on and see what you can find on the cheap.
do you have a budget?
what kind of photography are you looking to get into?

 

[driscolls]

not a specific type of photography, im not on a budget i just don't want to spend too much

 

[Hexanon]

Just curious..what are the serial #s on the Vivitars? This IDs who made them.

 

[driscolls]

no.77500729 and no.37805866. i dont know if those are the numbers you were asking for

 

[Hexanon]

Thanks. Vivitar were a design consortium that contracted various firms to make their products. 37 is Tokina which can be good/excellent sometimes. 77 is Kobori. I have a 37/Tokina serial 5/100-300 which is a keeper and had a couple of 77/Koburi made 28-200s which were not bad either. My Tokina *zoom* is much better than my 28/Komine serial 200mm *prime* lens, both branded Vivitar. Both are heavy/well built.

 

[Hexanon]

If you stick with those film bodies or switch to a Pentax DSLR, you'd benefit from owning a flash that has a bounceable, tilt lighthead and also a reasonable quality tripod. Both can be aquired second-hand. Make sure any flash puts out the correct voltage to the camera's flash shoe (i.e buy a dedicated one for Pentax K series is the easiest way to be sure).

 

[KmH]

I decided to try photography but i don't know where to start, I found some of my parents old stuff i have a pentax k1000, pentax me super, and two lenses; vivitar 28-80mm 1:3.5-4.5, vivitar 300mm 1:5.6 ( i dont know what the numbers mean ). What else do i need? any tips or advice

28-80mm means the focal length can be varied (zoomed) between 28 mm to 80 mm.

The 1:3.5-4.5 means the maximum lens aperture at 24 mm is f/3.5 and as the lens is zoomed the maximum aperture will automatically change until it is f/4.5 at the 80 mm focal length. Smaller apertures can be set. Note: f/4.5 is a smaller aperture than f/3.5 is.

The 300 mm has a fixed focal length, also known as a prime lens. It's maximum aperture is f/5.6.

Vivitar didn't make the lenses, some other company did and branded them for Vivitar.