best camera for evening sports and no-flash dance competitions

[xpiotiavos]

woops. darn late-night typos...

 

**It's exactly what you need, and as I stated before, when...**

 

I think one of my other trails of thought snuck into that sentence without me knowing it ;)

[wendy_garrison]

Well, the auction is up to $40 now, but that still is a good price---If I can't get the 1.4 at a low price, I'll try to get the 1.7 at a low price----either one under $50 I think is okay. Kickoff time for this week's football game is going to be dark except for the stadium lights. It's gotten darker a lot earlier here now since it's fall.

[wendy_garrison]

okay, another simple question----what is a bayonet mount and will it work with my K100D Super? I found a lens it is a Pentax Lens A 50mm F/1.4 in it's original box. The person says they have never used it but it is used and it "looks" in excellent condition". If someone could just give me a list (even a short one) of the acceptable lens types for my camera, I won't have to keep asking questions! Thanks!

[xpiotiavos]

The K100d (you didn't mention you got the super!) will accept any lens with a Pentax "K" (also called 'bayonet') mount. Those are the only lenses that will work on your camera without an adapter.

 

All current lenses made by Pentax are k-mount (some older pentax lenses use whats called an M42 mount, which you can use with an adapter). Some third-party lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron also make k-mount lenses.

 

 

Don't give up on taking night pictures just yet. You may have to jack up the ISO as high as 3200, but you still might come out with some good (albeit noisy) shots of kickoff.

[wendy_garrison]

Sorry I forgot to mention the "super" part---I didn't realize there was a difference between the K100D and the K100D Super! Okay, so if I find a lens I like on Ebay, I need to ask the seller if it is a "K" mount or "bayonet" mount? How do I know if a lens is a "K" mount if the lens is listed as such: Pentax Lens A 50mm f/1.4 or SMC Pentax M 1.4 50mm lens? I know these sellers list these items assuming we know what we are buying----but they haven't met me yet! I'm as clueless as they come as to understanding these photography terms. I will say, you have helped me a lot and I am taking notes so when I get my camera I can practice. I asked my daughter today if I could practice on her----she used to love to have her picture taken----she said I could, half-heartedly. I have two Golden Retrievers and one of them loves to have his photo taken. You pop out the camera and he sits down and waits for you to take his picture---it is funny! Our leaves are turning the beautiful colors now around here and that would give me some more opportunities to take photos. I am really excited about my new camera----I hope it comes before the "3-5 day" shipping time. I played around on Adobe Photoshop beginner (that came with my laptop) and was actually able to make those dance photos look lighter and brighter. Most of them still had some "noise" but they looked 80% better than what they did. I've always used my Kodak or Picasa photo editing software. Maybe it's time to switch to Adobe.<div></div>

[wendy_garrison]

Here is a brighter photo of the evening football taken in the evening with very little natural light<div></div>

[wendy_garrison]

The quality of those photos is better when the photo is smaller, as on my laptop. The football photo is still blurry and "noisy", but it's not so dark now. I know the K100D is going to blow away these photos!

[xpiotiavos]

pentax K mount and pentax bayonet mount are the same thing. sorry i wasn't clear on that.

 

screw mount and M42 mount are the same thing, and to answer the question you posted on another thread, k-mount is MUCH easier to change.

 

enjoy your new camera, and don't forget to poke around on the pentax forum now that you're officially a pentaxian ;)

[wendy_garrison]

Adam, How will I know if a lens is a K-mount, bayonet mount, screw mount? Someone recommended the Pentax 50mm f/1.4 FA lens----it's expensive! How much more difficult is the manual focus lens to operate as opposed to the one they recommended? Is it worth waiting until I can get the FA 1.4, or does it make sense to go ahead and get an older used 50mm A off of Ebay? What is the difference between the FA, DG, M, etc----why do they all have different letters with them? Also, just to make 100% sure-----the 50mm f/1.4 is what I need to low-light, dance recitals with no flash, etc? Is it good for other photography as well? I see it described as good for landscapes and nature photography as well. Is it an all-around, multi-purpose lens? I read a lot on the internet yesterday and am beginning to get a slight grasp of shutter speeds, aperature, etc. Thanks for all your help!

[xpiotiavos]

again, k-mount and bayonet mount are the same thing. there's no difference. i'll post pictures of the different mounts at the end of the post.

 

Pentax lenses have different suffixes (e.g., M, FA, DA, DA*, A, etc.) to describe what kind of lens they are. you can go to http://www.photo.net/equipment/pentax/#nomenclature to get a good explanation of what all the different terms mean.

 

What you need for dance recitals is ANY lens with a max aperture wider than f/2.8. The 50mm lenses are just the cheapest and easiest to get a hold of. And yes, they're great lenses for anything, not just low-light work.

 

 

k-mount / bayonet mount lens: http://oomz.net/kadapter/p/20050908124729.JPG

 

M42 screw mount lens:

http://www.gold-camera.cz/pictures/free5/P1450832.JPG

[wendy_garrison]

Okay----I also found a bunch of f/1.7 lenses on ebay which seem to be more plentiful than the 1.4---those seem to start out at a low amount and then jump to a higher price rapidly. Someone mentioned there wasn't much difference between the 1.4 and the 1.7. Thanks again! I hope my camera comes soon!