Which Pentax lens should I buy?

[Stuarrt]

Hello
I'm repetitively new to photography (just got my first DSLR in the summer) and as of now I only have the kit lens which is 18-55mm and a 135mm lens that I got at a thrift store for like $2.
I would really like to start getting into portraits, but I tend to do a lot of landscape photos as well.

I've been looking at the DA 35mm F2.4 or the 55mm F1.8
Pentax-DA 35mm F2.4 AL Lens 21987: Amazon.ca: Camera & Photo
Pentax DA 50mm f1.8 lens for Pentax DSLR Cameras: Amazon.ca: Camera & Photo

Which one should I get? Will I be able to see a difference from the kit lens?
Any help on this would be great
I'm also cool with buying older, manual focus lenses.

 

[petrochemist]

The 35mm is highly rated but I find I very rarely use mine. There's something about the older M50 lenses that means I tend to go with them when I need a fast lens. I started out with just a M50/1.7 ~30 years ago, perhaps it's just nostalgia that brings me back to it. I've never tried the DA50 having more than enough 50's from family systems I've been given.

On APS-C the 50mm is great for portraits, it's fast & approaching the 'ideal' field of view. Your 135 can also work reasonably well for portraits, it quite good for head & shoulder shots - though it's longer than usually used for these shots.

IMO the 35 is more suited to landscapes, though many would want a wider view. My Pentax kit lens is rather good so I use that much of the time. Being my only WR lens can encourage it's use too!

Both the focal lengths your considering are covered by your zoom. Try going out with your zoom taped to 50mm and just shooting that focal length, then repeat with it tapes at 35mm. You may find one view suits your style better, and that might be the better one to go for.

There are a plentiful supply of older lenses in both focal lengths out there for very little money. I think the DA35 is significantly better than most if not all the legacy 35's you're likely to find. The legacy 50s are generally great despite the budget prices. Despite the kit lenses quality if you need a faster lens it should be easy to gain advantages from either.

Among my oversize collection I have far too many older manual focus lenses, and get pleasing results from them when I can spare the time to play with them.

 

[Stuarrt]

The 35mm is highly rated but I find I very rarely use mine. There's something about the older M50 lenses that means I tend to go with them when I need a fast lens. I started out with just a M50/1.7 ~30 years ago, perhaps it's just nostalgia that brings me back to it. I've never tried the DA50 having more than enough 50's from family systems I've been given.

On APS-C the 50mm is great for portraits, it's fast & approaching the 'ideal' field of view. Your 135 can also work reasonably well for portraits, it quite good for head & shoulder shots - though it's longer than usually used for these shots.

IMO the 35 is more suited to landscapes, though many would want a wider view. My Pentax kit lens is rather good so I use that much of the time. Being my only WR lens can encourage it's use too!

Both the focal lengths your considering are covered by your zoom. Try going out with your zoom taped to 50mm and just shooting that focal length, then repeat with it tapes at 35mm. You may find one view suits your style better, and that might be the better one to go for.

There are a plentiful supply of older lenses in both focal lengths out there for very little money. I think the DA35 is significantly better than most if not all the legacy 35's you're likely to find. The legacy 50s are generally great despite the budget prices. Despite the kit lenses quality if you need a faster lens it should be easy to gain advantages from either.

Among my oversize collection I have far too many older manual focus lenses, and get pleasing results from them when I can spare the time to play with them.

Thanks for telling me about the M50 It actually has a higher rating than the 35mm on PentaxForums.com, and there is one for sale on ebay for $30 CAD I might just have to place a bid for it
I actually tend to usually shoot at 18mm on my kit lens and crop it to how I like.
There's also a Pentax M SMC 50mm f1.4 for around $150 CAD. Is there much of a difference between the 2?

 

[Derrel]

I think for most people, an autofocusing 35mm lens and an autofocusing 50mm lens makes a good pairing for portraiture. Autofocusing lenses allow you to shoot in poorer lighting conditions, with a pretty high success rate. Adding a speedlight to the camera and using AF-single mode focusing, which has a focus-priority, can help get focus in really bad lighting if the focus assist system is turned to on. If the lens has trouble focusing, it will send out a quick AF assist light pattern, and get a lock-on.

I've used a three different examples of the pretty common couple Pentax manual focus 50mm f/1.7 lenses from the 1980's, and owned one for a time on a full 24-35-50-85-135-300 Pentax MX kit I had, then flipped. I really love the build quality of Pentax manual focus lenses from the 1980's era. As petrochemist wrote above, "On APS-C the 50mm is great for portraits, it's fast & approaching the 'ideal' field of view".

Approaching the idea...meaning it's a bit shorter and wider in angle of view than some people consider idea...but I think that's actually handier to have a wider lens, that can be used from a bit CLOSER RANGE, so you get a bit shallower DOF than you would by moving back, farther away. With the 50mm lens, and the 1.53x FOV factor, the 50mm as 75mm e-FOV makes a lot of practical sense.

I do NOT think manual focusing is a good idea with a d-slr, and that goes double for people without 20,25,30+ years' worth of experience. I do not see much value in a 50mm f/1.4 lens either.

 

[Stuarrt]

I think for most people, an autofocusing 35mm lens and an autofocusing 50mm lens makes a good pairing for portraiture. Autofocusing lenses allow you to shoot in poorer lighting conditions, with a pretty high success rate. Adding a speedlight to the camera and using AF-single mode focusing, which has a focus-priority, can help get focus in really bad lighting if the focus assist system is turned to on. If the lens has trouble focusing, it will send out a quick AF assist light pattern, and get a lock-on.

I've used a three different examples of the pretty common couple Pentax manual focus 50mm f/1.7 lenses from the 1980's, and owned one for a time on a full 24-35-50-85-135-300 Pentax MX kit I had, then flipped. I really love the build quality of Pentax manual focus lenses from the 1980's era. As petrochemist wrote above, "On APS-C the 50mm is great for portraits, it's fast & approaching the 'ideal' field of view".

Approaching the idea...meaning it's a bit shorter and wider in angle of view than some people consider idea...but I think that's actually handier to have a wider lens, that can be used from a bit CLOSER RANGE, so you get a bit shallower DOF than you would by moving back, farther away. With the 50mm lens, and the 1.53x FOV factor, the 50mm as 75mm e-FOV makes a lot of practical sense.

I do NOT think manual focusing is a good idea with a d-slr, and that goes double for people without 20,25,30+ years' worth of experience. I do not see much value in a 50mm f/1.4 lens either.

How do autofocusing lenses allow me to shoot in bad lighting conditions better?
And, I usually manually focus my lens on my DSLR anyway unless if I'm feeling lazy.
So you think I should go with the 35 or 50mm lenses rather than the 50mm 1/7 manual lens?

 

[Stuarrt]

I also have the option to buy a SMC PENTAX-M 28mm f2.8 lens for quite cheap

 

[Derrel]

"How do autofocusing lenses allow me to shoot in bad lighting conditions better?"

Better focusing. Focus AF assist if a flash is on the camera and the AF assist is on in single-focus focusing mode. Pentax and other brand d-slr cameras have crummy focusing screens for manually determining focus. Trust me...a 50mm AFG lens in marginal light will NAIL focus 90% of the time...a manual focus one, with an inexperiences user? You'd be lucky to get 25% in-focus in dim light.

28mm f/2.8 lens on a d-slr that gives an approximate DOF of f/4.8 at the focus screen...very tricky to focus a 28 in poor light. But yeah...28/2.8 MF Pentax lenses, not very high in price.

 

[Stuarrt]

"How do autofocusing lenses allow me to shoot in bad lighting conditions better?"

Better focusing. Focus AF assist if a flash is on the camera and the AF assist is on in single-focus focusing mode. Pentax and other brand d-slr cameras have crummy focusing screens for manually determining focus. Trust me...a 50mm AFG lens in marginal light will NAIL focus 90% of the time...a manual focus one, with an inexperiences user? You'd be lucky to get 25% in-focus in dim light.

28mm f/2.8 lens on a d-slr that gives an approximate DOF of f/4.8 at the focus screen...very tricky to focus a 28 in poor light. But yeah...28/2.8 MF Pentax lenses, not very high in price.

What's the difference between using it on a film camera vs a DSLR though?

 

[jaomul]

A film camera is 35mm format with a big bright view through the viewfinder.

Unless you but a full frame dslr the view is normally smaller, coupled by the fact dslr are not really set up for manual focussing on the way an slr would have been

Also you can't generally zoom into a photo taken with film to see faults that would only manifest when you print photos the size of a ship, like you can with digital files.

 

[Stuarrt]

A film camera is 35mm format with a big bright view through the viewfinder.

Unless you but a full frame dslr the view is normally smaller, coupled by the fact dslr are not really set up for manual focussing on the way an slr would have been

Also you can't generally zoom into a photo taken with film to see faults that would only manifest when you print photos the size of a ship, like you can with digital files.

Alright good to know. I think I'll still buy the 50mm f1/7 as I do still use film so if it doesn't work out on my DSLR I can still use it