kotsu57

You can check

http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/primes/normal/index.html.

There are two 50/4 macro lenses, the K and the M-versions.

Acc. to Bojidar, both can do 1:2 (mag. 0,5x).

Ilkka,

Are you interested in the old-old-old 40 / 1:2.8 pancake?

See http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/lenses/primes/normal/M40f2.8.html

I've got one, and can sell it for a reasonable price.

It works flawlessly on my istD, but personally I mostly zoom.

You should be able retrieve my e-mail address from photo.net.

I live on the west coast, and visit Tampere and Helsinki frequently.

Markku

JIm,

I have the SMCP-FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL IF on istD, which is my std walk around lens. It is fairly compact, produces very good results to my eyes. At the extremes, there is some distortion, but it is acceptable, and no vignetting. I had the SMC-FA1:3.5-5.6 28-80mm. Its performance was decent, but I sold it after getting the 28-105.

I also had an early version of the Tamron 28-200, but it was no good in the istD. I suspect I had a bad copy. My brother-in-Law has the Tamron 28-300 (old film version), and it is totally a different thing on the istD, sharp, nice colours. Of course zooming to 300 requires a stable support, but it is there when needed. You have the K100D, so steady hand, SR ON and some luck, there you go.

Depending on your budget, I would recommend checking also the Tamron and Sigma 18-125 and 18-200 zooms. You stated wanting abt 100 equivalent. You are better off, if you do not need to push the lens to the limits, i.e. use the minimum or maximum tele and wide ends.

The FA28-105 AL IF is my favourite.

Steve,

I assume you use the Pentax Photo Lab (PBL). You also got the Photo Browser for viewing.

When you open a .pef (RAW) file with the PBL, you can convert it to jpeg or TIFF format. With the PBL you can do a multitude of adjustments, or just convert. The target format is selected from the toolbar stating either JPEG or TIFF. You can open the converted jpeg or TIFF file with Photoshop.

Note that you can do a batch conversion (this is how it goes in the PC version 3):

1) In the browser, select several files.

2) The browser toolbar has an icon for the Pentax Photo Laboratory, click it. The PBL opens.

3) Select the desired format.

4) From the menu select File - Save... (or press Ctrl-S).

Wait until the files are converted (may take a while if you selected many files).

If you wish to do all the post processing in Photoshop, I recommend saving the files in TIFF16 format to preserve the maximum post processing margin. The TIFF16 files are huge, but that is the price you pay for the possibilities.

Hope this helps a little.

Please don't drop-kick your laptop. You will need it extensively. Hopefully it is fairly new. The PBL does not run in older computers. It requires a PC with XP, or a late model MAC. For a PC, a practical minimum for RAM is 1 Gigabytes. In fact, all photo processing applications are memory hungry. My experience is that the CPU GHz is not as important as the RAM memory, an a sizable and fast hard disk.

Markku

P.C. D.

You may check this web site, too

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-99.html

And the best Season's Greetings to all readers.

Markku

Here is a quick comparison of the raw conversions.

1) Pentax Photo Lab 2

2) Photoshop imported with the Pentax Raw Plugin

3) RawShooterPremium

Not suprisingly, the 1) and 2) are identical. RawShooter produces a slightly different tone.

Markku<div></div>

Subho,

There is a free Rax-Plugin for PhotoShop you can download from Pentax support. http://www.pentaximaging.com/customer_care/show_software?softId=1

Unfortunately, as far as I know it only works for the PEF files of the original *istD (the body that I have).

The Pentax Photo Lab is only for exposure control, white balance and such. Inexpensive camera = no fancy software to go with, but will do the basic job.

I would propose the following: convert the RAW (PEF-file) to 16-bit TIFF, and continue from there with the Photoshop. The 16 bit version is needed in order not to lose image information. The file is big and takes a lot of computing power and memory.

By the way. I use the RawShooter for processing the RAW files. The free wersion RawShooter Essentials is great, especially for the price (give your e-mail address and download, it is free).

You may wish to check their web site http://www.pixmantec.com/.

I bought the premium license. In my opinion, it is well worth the money. No touch-up but great exposure, color, trimming, tilting and such features.

Markku

I have both the 16-45 and the FA28-80. The 16-45 is notably sharper than the 28-80. I sometimes use the 28-80 when I expect to need the range. It is not bad, does the job for all-around work.

Adam Maas referred to the SMC-F28-200 lens. It is supposed to be a Tamron-built 28-200 with SMC optics. I had the Tamron version, and it was "totally unusable" in the *istD, a soft s.o.b. and I sold it. I have seen the Tamron 28-300 (older version) and it is far better. When zoomed to 300, it is long like a log.

Andrea, to answer the original question 18-55 or 16-45? If you can justify the price difference, buy the 16-45. It is pricy compared to the kit lens 18-55 but I have never regretted paying the extra. It simply is an excellent lens.

Markku

Ken,

Basically the generic LR44 (I guess it is Maxell's original type) works. I also have Maxell SR44SW. The camera needs two of them. A double sized 3 V battery such as Kodak K58L is also good. To work in cold, I have used the 1,55 V silver oxide (Philips 357) batteries.

Markku

Corry,

Thanks a lot for sharing the info.

I hope to get a Nikon D200 (not for myself, but to my work). It will be a few more months. When I bought the flash, it came with the SCA3402 for Nikon, that is still in my drawer. I know from my friend that it is not compatible with the Nikon D70 advanced features. Quite likely, it is not compatible with the D200 either. I hope to eventually test which of the features work with the SCA3402+D200 combination.

Btw., you mentioned that the D200 uses the same sensor as the coming Pentax *istD2. Do you know that from somewhere? The latest variant *ist DS2 is a revamped -DS with the "old" 6 Mpx sensor.

Markku

Thanks for the updated information, Corry

I apparently was too liberal when I stated that the SCA3702 makes the Metz xxMZ-3 compatible with the Pentax DSLR's. The correct statement would be: compatible with the istD (plain old -D).

Indeed, the Metz web site recommendation page states that for the *istD, the 3702 is ok. For the *istDL and the -DS, the adapter is still "being developed".

I better take good care of the old plain -D. I have hundreds of euros invested in the gear.

Does anyone have experience about the SCA3083 digital slave adapter? According to the Metz ad, it is quite a wizard.

Markku

I have "the opposite": an F50/1:1.4 and the M40/1:2.8.

The AF40/1:2.8 SHOULD be a different beast from the old pancake, but you asked opinions.

I get OK pictures on the istD with the 40 mm, but.. I like the F50/1:1.4. It is the second best lens I've got. I would recommend the 50/1:1.4, even if it corresponds to 75 mm on the DSLR. The 40 is only "marginally wider". I would recommend the AF version. It is great in low light, two stops faster. Take an extra step backwards (assuming you're on a cliff).

I need to add some answers to Jochen on the other questions:

1st and 2nd curtain is as follows: normally, the flash is triggered immediately after the camera shutter opens. This is called the 1st curtain. The typical exposure time with the flash is 1/60....1/250 s. The flash itself lasts only about ane millisecond (1/1000 s), so the shutter is open "excessively", but in order to ensure that the shutter curtain is open, that is how it has been done. Today, the timing can be much more precise. Especially with a long exposure times and a fill-in flash you can have nice effects, if you fire the flash just before the shutter closes. This is called the 2nd curtain.

Consider a speeding car and the camera still. With the 1st curtain, you have the flash light the car in the beginning of the exposure. The remainder of the exposure time, the car moves on. This creates an effect that the car is leaving from the picture. With the 2nd curtain, the effect is reversed. The car seems to speed "into the picture". I do not have shining examples of this, but someone surely knows nice 2nd curtain photos in the net.

"SB" means spot beam mode. The flash turns the AF measuring beam on to help focusing without firing the flash.

And yes, the SCA3702 adapter is compatible with the 32MZ-3. The 32MZ-3 seemingly shares most of the features with the 54MZ-3. After checking the manual, I feel confident stating that the SCA3702 can make your 32MZ-3 compatible with the Pentax DSLR.

Markku

I cannot help with the 3701, and the http://www.metz.de/en/ did not provide any answers, does not even know the 32MZ-3, but here is what I know:

I have a 54MZ-3, and the SCA3702 adapter to go with the istD (the old orginal workhorse).

With this setup:

1) auto zoom works (with the 1.5 crop factor taken into account)

2) TTL works

3) aperture data is transmitted from the camera to the flash

4) af assist at low light (not much help though)

5) 2nd curtain

6) red eye reduction.

7) the camera viewfinder shows flash ready. That is about the main features. There are strobo possibilities, and many other gimmicks to try.

The Metz web site recommended the SCA3702, so I got that one. I am sorry that I cannot speak for the 32MZ-3. It could just be the "little brother" to the flash that I got. With the 54 on full power (power adjustable down to 1/128) I often toast the faces within two meters, so the 32 is a nice indoors.

If someone could verify that the 32- and 54MZ-3 had equal features, then it would be a go with the Pentax DSLRs with the SCA 3702.

Happy Holidays to you all

Markku

I can recommend the Metz 54MZ-3 (or later) with the SCA 3702 adapter. After searching for a while for the 360FGZ, I ran into the second hand Metz.

It is not compatible with the Pentax wireless control. It is bulky, and not cheap. It does, however provide the possibility of using several Metz flashes remotely (which I don't have, so not able to comment). It has the AF assist light (not very good, though). What is the most important in my eyes, it provides an even light distribution with the automatic zoom 28-105 mm (automatic scaling 16-75 mm in my istD). An excellent companion to the DA16-45, and FA28-80.

May I propose trying out a freebie. Pixmantec has a free Raw converter that I find quite handy to use for basic RAW.

http://www.pixmantec.com/products/rawshooter_essentials.html.

I've also got Raw Shooter Essentials, and the raw plugin that I run on PS Elements version 2. My experience is from istD, not -S. I am absolutely astonished if Pentax has gone through the trouble of making two incompatible versions of RAW. I would imagine the guts of both cameras would be identical in terms of SW.

Mark

I've got the IstD (not Ds), Metz 54-MZ3 and the SCA 3702 adapter. Everything that I've been able to check, works fine: auto zoom (the automatic 1,5x multiplier works), TTL, Strobo, ISO speed, aperture, focus assist light etc. The wireless remote that you would get with the AF360FGZ does not work (that would require the Metz devices).

I am very satisfied (also partly because I bought the flash second hand, andfor a fraction of new price). Again, mine is the IstD, not the -Ds, but I would THINK that Pentax hasn't made things worse.

--Markku