A bit of a misconception. APS is basically the same film as 35mm, but smaller. Its the same c-41 processing for color. So actually if you develop your own color film and had an APS reel you could do it yourself. (as long as you know how to open the cannister.)
However, most high school photography classes put an emphasis on black and white processing, which uses different chemicals then the c-41 B&W APS film.
Hayabusa Rider
Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
- Jan 26, 2000
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So I got a Pentax MZ-30 with a pair of some Tamron lenses (28-80mm and 70mm-300mm). I heard Pentax is alright, but Tamron lenses are ghetto. Any opinions?
I wouldn't say Tamron lenses are necessarily "ghetto". I have used a few tamrons and the picture quality has seemed fine to me (never blown anything up past 8x10 though). Although some brands are better than others to some degree, I think you'd find more variation in quality within each brand then between the different ones (i.e. high end sigmas ~ high end tamrons, low end tamrons ~ low end XXXXX's, etc)
Tamron does make some good optics comparable to brand name ones.
Tamron aspherics lens tend to be construct in 2 layers one layer of glass & the other of plastic to cut down the cost of grinding multiple curves on the lens. This 2 layers setup has been frowned upon by pros & enthusiasts, but I haven?t heard of any complain by Tamron users. I personally don?t like the Tamron colour reproduction, because it is not as true compare to Canon, Nikon, Pentax or Sigma lenses. But, the colour reproduction doesn?t apply when uses for B/W.
Your 28-80mm lens is a great lens for general photography, but you may want to purchase a additional standard Pentax 50mm f:1.7 or f:1.4. You will get more use out of your 50mm more than any focal length, and it will be the sharpest lens, fastest & best colour reproduction that you can get for your Pentax body.
It is very likely that the 70-300mm will not leave your bag that often, because you will need high-speed lens at long focal length. ANd, to negate the long focal lenght & slow aperature you will need fast & grainy film.
IMHO, most shooting situation & focal length:
40-50mm will very likely be use between 50-80% in normal shooting situation.
70-80mm likely to take up about 10-30% of the shooting situation.
24-35mm is very likely be use at about 10-30% of the time.
150-200mm is seldomly be use at 5% or less, unless you are a sport photographer.
Beyond 200mm is unlikely ever use unless you are a sport, nature & astronomer photographer.
End rant.
this is your first time doing photography? If so, the teacher should have also stated to only use a 50mm lens.. don't fool around w/ zoom until you get the basics down.
have fun and good luck
have fun and good luck
Originally posted by: lnguyen
this is your first time doing photography? If so, the teacher should have also stated to only use a 50mm lens.. don't fool around w/ zoom until you get the basics down.
have fun and good luck
So, what's wrong with just using the zoom lens set to 50mm?
If I was to buy a Pentax brand 50mm only lens, how much poorer would I be then?
Hayabusa Rider
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Originally posted by: NeoPTLD
So, what's wrong with just using the zoom lens set to 50mm? If I was to buy a Pentax brand 50mm only lens, how much poorer would I be then?Originally posted by: lnguyen this is your first time doing photography? If so, the teacher should have also stated to only use a 50mm lens.. don't fool around w/ zoom until you get the basics down. have fun and good luck
Nice setup. There is no reason why you cannot set a lens at 50mm. I think the only reason to recommend against it is because the temptation use it otherwise is there. One of the standard learning techniques is to pick a fixed lens and learn just what you can do with it. You get a better idea of what depth of field is like to work with, as well as perspective and conposition. Working with variable focal length lenses adds another variable and you have so many to keep track of that you might never get any really down well.
Edit- You will eventually want a separate flash and you want a tripod and cable release, like now. You can do a whole lot with a tripod. You want something sturdy though. I have a Bogen that can support a very heavy load. You dont need to spend hundred, but beware the walmart specials, at least not without setting the camera with the zoom on it first.
I'm taking photo in school too and had the same problem. That is, until my brother in law offered to let me borrow his old camera. It's a few years old, it's a Pentax XK50 or something with 3rd party 80-100 lens or some such thing. This was really nice of him - now I can learn to use a camera and not have to pay (and have my parents pay) a lot of $...I mean, what happens if I don't like photo? Heh, we're stuck with a $300 camera.
yeah, getting a fixed focal length does keep the temptation away... also, they generally have a better apeture rating, at least that's what I seemed to find anyway. My dad's old minolta i used had a 50/1.4 lens and i got spoiled by that.. when ever i used another point and shoot or digital, i'd be stuck having to use the flash when I didn't want to (especially for digital... holding out for a higher end camera when I actually have more time/motivation/money to go take some pictures ).
).Used is around $50.00 or about $100.00 new.
Here is the rule of of thumb: Try to keep your shutter speed at least 2X the focal lenght for hand held (ie. 50mm @ 1/90~125s, 300mm @ 1/500~750s)
ISO 100 - f:16 @ 1/125s - Sunny in open blue sky, speed drop 2 to 3 stop in slightly shade area.
ISO 100 - f:8 @ 1/125 - Slightly cloudy little shadow.
ISO 100 - f:4 @ 1/125 - Heavily cloud or in shaded area on sunny day.
As you can see the ideal shooting shuter speed & f-stop drop drastically, therefore a zoom lens isn't ideal for shooting unless you load it with fast/grainny film with poor contrast.
Unless you have an expensive heavy pro lens, your 28~80mm is very likely a varible aperature lens that have a minimum aperature of f:3.5~5.6 (ideal sharpness for your lens is very likely somewhere around f:11~22) that will limit you to shootting fast film & mostly outdoor, unless you uses crappy flash or heavy & combersome tripod.
The standard 50mm have the best sharpness range of f:5.6~22, and even at f:2.8 or f:1.8 it is very likely that it match or sharper than the 28~80mm zoom at f:8. Not only it is sharper & faster, it let you experiment with the critical depth of fields that is a requierment in your photo class. The 50mm will be the lens that have the least compromise that you have to make therefore you will have a greater choice of film range & shooting condition.
You can live with the 28-80mm but your shooting will be limited, therefore a $50.00 investment isn't a bad deal when it will ease your understanding in photography in your class.
crabbyman
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I bought a Pentax ZX-30 and have a 28-80mm Pentax lense. I have been using it for a couple of years now. It is very nice. You can get the body for like $150 now and that lense I have for $90 or less. It is good for basic shooting. Tamrons are good too..at least the new ones..they give you like a 6 yr. warranty while 1st party only give you a year!...that says something to me!
How important is it that you can observe the effect of aperture on depth of field through the finder? My lenses has an aperture ring, but the camera will not work if it's set to anything but "A"(automatic). To adjust aperture manually, you can't use the aperture ring, but you do it through buttons while looking at the LCD. Aperture remains wide open until the shutter is actually released and you can't see the effect of aperture through the finder. With a traditional mechaincal SLR camera, you can actually see things get darker and darker and somewhat sharper as you close the aperture.
Some older cameras close its aperture & dim the light as you close the ring, but newer cameras apertures are wide open until you press the shutter. It helps with focusing when you have more light thought the lens even for auto focus.
I haven?t tried out every camera that ever made, but the every single SLR that I have use close the aperture as I depress the shutter half way or press the aperture check button on the lens. And, some newer auto focus camera may need to have the aperture check function turn on to use it.
You can get a book on photography depth of field guide from the 70s of your local library & photocopy or memorize the 50mm, 28mm, 80mm & 200mm focal length, if for some odd chance your camera doesn?t have it. And, another thing that you can do is set the shutter speed to get the aperture that you want.
The best thing to do is get a 50mm manual focus lens that have the depth of field guide engrave or paint on the lens barrel.
A manual focus lens is much better on depth of field control than an auto focus because most auto focus lens lack the depth of field scale, and the auto focus have to be focus twice to set the exact depth of field. Auto focus depth of field it is very cumbersome when you use it on a tripod, but the manual focus with depth scale takes no time to setup.
I haven?t tried out every camera that ever made, but the every single SLR that I have use close the aperture as I depress the shutter half way or press the aperture check button on the lens. And, some newer auto focus camera may need to have the aperture check function turn on to use it.
You can get a book on photography depth of field guide from the 70s of your local library & photocopy or memorize the 50mm, 28mm, 80mm & 200mm focal length, if for some odd chance your camera doesn?t have it. And, another thing that you can do is set the shutter speed to get the aperture that you want.
The best thing to do is get a 50mm manual focus lens that have the depth of field guide engrave or paint on the lens barrel.
A manual focus lens is much better on depth of field control than an auto focus because most auto focus lens lack the depth of field scale, and the auto focus have to be focus twice to set the exact depth of field. Auto focus depth of field it is very cumbersome when you use it on a tripod, but the manual focus with depth scale takes no time to setup.
What 50mm fixed focal lenth lens will work with my Pentax MZ-30? When I set the aperture on lens to anything other than "automatic" it won't let me release the shutter, so it's gonna have to be a lens capable of auto aperture. You can set the aperture manually but you have to do it through camera settings and camera changes aperture on lens through automatic access. It doesn't have to have auto focus.
I looked on eBay and am not sure which one will work...
I'm not sure if Pentax have depth check buttons on their lenses, but most if not all fixed focus lens sport the depth scale. It it an unfortunate that camera makers drop the depth scale on their consumer autofocus zooms, but lucky most if not all manual lenses have the depth scale feature. Pentax is great with legacy support, because their lens mount is universal therefor Pentax autofocus & manual lens are interchangeable.
The FA 50mm f:1.7 is your best bet at $50.00 used, other wise you can get the f:1.4 at around $200.00 or more that isn't any sharper but slightly faster aperature & heavier.
Standard Pentax 50mm lenses
Maximises the lens picture in the link & you will see that the 50mm scale indicated at f:22 the lens will be infocus from 6' to infinity.
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