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I just noticed on Pentax Forums that Nikon allegedly posted this message: A photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses, and a good lens is essential to taking good pictures! Do any of our Facebook fans use any of the NIKKOR lenses? Which is your favorite and what types of situations do you use it for? Basically implying that photographers are only good if they are sporting expensive Nikon SLR equipment. Everyone and their brother who thinks their a photographer will take offense to that statement because they think everything about producing a quality image is up to the photographer and always use the debating point that the great photographer can use a Holga or some other junk camera to produce amazing works of art. Now, I don’t really disagree with saying it’s the photographer, however… I think both sides of the argument are full of BS. The smart and skilled photographer will get the best gear they can manage. Things like control, ease of use (ergonomics), rendering qu...

The Pentax FA 31mm f1.8 Limited was first offered in 2001 and is still in production as of this writing in 2011. It’s one of three FA Limited prime lenses. FA is the designator for full-frame lenses that are not specifically designed for digital cameras.  FA Limited lenses come with film-era features like an aperture ring and all metal casings with an emphasis on a hand-assembled feel of quality. There aren’t many lenses offered these days that have such properties. Look for the Pentax FA 31mm f/1.8 AL Limited Lens through my links: B&H , Amazon , Used on KEH , and eBay .  As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases!  Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: PENTAX K AF Lens Construction: 7 groups 9 elements Angle of View: 70 degrees Aperture: F1.8 Number of Diaphragm Blades: 9 Minimum Aperture: 22 Minimum Focusing Distance: 12 inches Filter Diameter: 58mm Maximum Magnification: 0.16X Dimensions: 2.6 x 2.7″ Weight: 12.2 oz. Case: N/A Obj...

This lens was available from 2004 until around 2008 as the primary kit lens for Pentax DSLRs. Currently you can find it around at used camera lens sites like KEH or auction sites like eBay. It’s easy to find and very cheap. This is actually my second AL lens as I sold my first and acquired this one when I bought a used *ist D camera body recently.  The 18-55mm AL fits the standard kit lens properties well, with a few positive exceptions as I’ll go over later. I’ve never been too impressed with kit lenses in general and was not fond of my first 18-55mm AL. Let’s see how this one is… Technical specifications for the lens: Lens Mount: PENTAX KAF2 Lens Construction: 12 elements in 9 groups (1 aspherical element) Angle of View: 76-29 degrees Aperture: F3.5-5.6 Number of Diaphragm Blades: 6 Minimum Aperture: F22-40 Minimum Focusing Distance: 9.84 inches (0.25m) Filter Diameter: 52mm Maximum Magnification: 0.34X Dimensions: 2.7 x 2.7″ (68.0 x 67.5mm) Weight: 7.8 oz. (220g) Case: S80-120...

The full details can be seen on their site .  As well as a multitude of other sites . Nikon 1 I’ll throw in my two cents along with a few facts about the cameras. The first thing I noticed was this engadget photo showing the J1 next to a Sony e-mount camera and thinking to myself… It’s the same size, but Sony’s sensor is a lot larger. There is a little bad and good to be seen. While the new Nikons appear to be unappealing from a comparative size standpoint, their lenses should be smaller than most mirrorless systems out there (excluding the Pentax Q that has the smallest system and lenses). All that said, the Nikon might be slightly more pocket-able, but I’m not sure the smaller sensor is worth the very slightly smaller size. I’ll be curious to see how the image quality of the new Nikons stack up against the Pentax Q’s digicam sized sensor… The initial lens offerings seem very odd given the sensor size. The fastest is a prime at f2.8 and the slowest zoom is a f/4.5-5.6. You ...

Today I’ll be trying to compare one of the cheapest lenses available for Pentax cameras to one of the most expensive. My spin on the article will be that I used the 18-55mm lens at around 31mm throughout the review to give some equality to the lenses. So let’s find out if the 31mm lens earns its reputation as one of the best lenses available in the Pentax mount. Pentax FA 31mm f1.8 Limited vs. Pentax DA 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 The 18-55mm I’m using for this test is the original version, not the AL II or AL WR. This lens came with a used camera (*ist D) I bought recently and seems like a pretty good copy for an original AL lens. As you can see, these lenses are pretty similar in size. The kit lens might be a bit easier to manage due to the small front lens element, but otherwise very similar in handling as both focus rings rotate when auto-focus is being used.  Nature photo analysis: I went to a local park and took a few photos with each lens. My main goal was to keep the lenses arou...

Quite the title, eh? It’s well known that the DA* 55mm f1.4 SDM lens is the successor to the FA* 85mm f1.4 lens. The difference is that the DA* 55mm lens is designed to take the crop factor into account to give the user an equivalent of 85mm on all current Pentax cameras. So I was thinking today, why not compare the two lenses, but instead of a direct comparison, let’s consider things like crop factor (focal length multiplier), sensor size, and equivalence. What do we really lose with using lenses on crop sensors and how are things affected with additional tools like a teleconverter (TC).  I don’t have a full-frame camera to test with, so I can only give you so much data here in regards to how crop factor affects output. I’m going to speculate and measure example photos to give you (and myself) a better understanding of what type of lens these two would be like if we had Equivalent full-frame lenses. Equivalence is a touchy topic with some photographers. Some say it doesn’t e...

As I mentioned in my previous post, the K-5 was returned from service. For my initial test I took some macro photos and also too a few photos of two cats. The conditions in this case were dark with tungsten lights, so ISO was pretty high at 2000-3200. It’s funny how quickly I start taxing the K-5 in situations I usually wouldn’t bother trying with the K-7. The gray one is a female and the black one is a male. They were born in the wild and spent a good deal of time as feral cats until it got too cold the winter they were born.

The Pentax K-5 camera body was returned from being serviced at C.R.I.S. on the 14th. This time it only took them about a week instead of 2 months, which was much more manageable. So far the camera seems 100% functional. I’ll be trying to test it as much as possible for a few weeks to make sure though.  Here are a few more macro photos, this time with the K-5 instead of the K-7. I also used my standard setup where the flash was mounted directly above the lens instead of to the side.  Making sure the camera is solid for a trip in late October is a good excuse to get out there and take photos anyways.

I needed to get some fresh air, so I took some macro photos around the house today. My favorite thing about macro photography is that you can find interesting things everywhere because the small world isn’t seen with our naked eyes. I might be trying to make this a consistent effort moving forward. This time I used a slightly different setup. The Sigma flash was used in wireless mode in tandem with the built-in flash to trigger the Sigma. I positioned the flash to the left and as close to the fully extended lens as possible to maximize light on the subject. The Ant buffet. They were snacking on some cat food. What that exactly is I don’t know, but it’s interesting. The lens and teleconverter setup can produce very pleasing results. This fly allowed me to have a little photo session. It even appeared to mimic my movements as I bobbed up and down trying to get it in focus.