[kulucriss]

Hi everyone, just joined the site and would like to ask what basic lenses should I have for my Pentax K100D. I will be mainly shooting landscape and portrait shots.

[Barbara G.]

Hello,

Welcome to the forums! It is nice to meet you and others will be along soon to give their opinions on the type of lens desired! Glad to have you here!

[vlad]

Hi!
I higly recommend a 50 mm lens. Pentax has a good selectiion of these lenses, both old and new.
There's the Pentax M 50mm f/1.7 wich is the best price/value (about 50 bucks?)
The Pentax M f/1.4, more light, shallower depth of field
Both of these also have autofocus versions.

There's also some new AF Pentax 50mm f 1.8 and 35mm 2.4.
I cannot really comment on these, as i haven't had none, but they must be good. Especially the 50mm one.

The Pentax 18-55 kit lens is also a high quality lens! Don't let anyone tell you different!

[kulucriss]

hanks, I have the kit lens 18-55mm and have just bought off Ebay a Pentax AF 35-80 F4-5.6 and a
SIGMA UC ZOOM LENS 70-210 AF PENTAX K MOUNT, got these two for £30 so am open to suggestions for any more at reasonable prices?

[vlad]

Fixed lenses usually provide plenty of light and image quality. You can find 135mm f2.8 lenses for peanuts. If they're m42 you can use them with an adapter. I recommend you get an adapter anyway, it'll prove usefull in the long run.

[kulucriss]

Many thanks for that Vlad,
watching a Hanimex 135mm f 2.8 PK lens, in good clean condition and very cheap. Also bought an old Prinzflex 70-162mm F1:3.5 Pentax PK Fit Manual Focus Zoom Lens + Hard Case, in pristine condition for £10.
I think I should wait now before I waste anymore money for the camera to arrive then I can have a good play with all the lenses and see which ones to keep. My mate says to get a 28mm F1;4 prime, any thoughts on this one?
Cheers
Chris

[vlad]

Could you provide a link to the exact 28mm lens you're talking about? Usually you can find 28mm lenses with an aperture of 2.8. While the focal length is good for all purpose photography (close to the eye field of view), the f 2/8 isn't much better then the kit lens' f 4 at the same focal length. I recommend you start with a 135mm and a 50mm lens. You could also look for a Jupiter 85 mm f2. It's one of the best portrait lenses you can find.

[samyshah]

Hands down prime lenses: 50mm or even a 85mm are excellent for portraits to get blurred backgrounds, excellent bokehs and overall crisp quality of images with a good control over DOF.

For landscapes, you can use the regular kit lens 18-55mm or maybe just another prime lens of 35mm.

Cheers
Samy