Pentax k100D

[greewe]

I'm thinking about buying a Pentax K100D to take pictures of my son running indoor track meets and outdoor meets at night. I'm hoping that those of you who have this camera can help me with a few questions.

Can I get shots without using flash (don't want to distract the runners) with the lens kit? In the future I can buy new lenses, but not yet.

I've been using a point and shoot and haven't been able to talk pictures at all!

Thanks everyone.

 

[Master Mason]

your probably going to have some problems with the kit lens, you can pump the ISO as high as you can, but your probably not going to get more than 4 or so as an appeture and that is wide open.

This is not a funtion of the camera having problems, as it is you need the right lens for the job.

 

[ukcatfan]

I agree that the kit is not the right lens for the job, but it will be better than your p&s. Another option to improve the situation is to get a used prime lens. I have a used 50mm f/2 for my K100D and it is useful for low light shots. It is a manual focus, so that may cause a problem with action shots, but with track, it might not be that hard.

You can get decent results with the kit, but it can be dependant on how close you can get to the action. If you can get close enough, you could go with ~24mm(36mm in 35mm equiv.) at f/4 with a high ISO and do decent. The Pentax kit is really not bad, so it still has respectable resolution wide open as long as it is not at the widest focal length.

Kevin

P.S. Forgot to mention that the used prime was only $45

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm thinking about buying a Pentax K100D to take pictures of my son running indoor track meets and outdoor meets at night. I'm hoping that those of you who have this camera can help me with a few questions.

Be aware that this camera has a very small buffer. If you want to fire off a lot of shots in a hurry, you'll run into trouble. You might want to consider the K10D instead.

I agree that the kit is not the right lens for the job, but it will be better than your p&s. Another option to improve the situation is to get a used prime lens. I have a used 50mm f/2 for my K100D and it is useful for low light shots. It is a manual focus, so that may cause a problem with action shots, but with track, it might not be that hard.

You can get decent results with the kit, but it can be dependant on how close you can get to the action. If you can get close enough, you could go with ~24mm(36mm in 35mm equiv.) at f/4 with a high ISO and do decent. The Pentax kit is really not bad, so it still has respectable resolution wide open as long as it is not at the widest focal length.

Kevin

P.S. Forgot to mention that the used prime was only $45

I would think that a 50mm would be too short for track. I guess it depends on where you are relative to the runners and whether you want a shot of all of them or just one.

 

[greewe]

Thanks for the help! I have some older lenses that were from my Dad's film camera. I understand that I can use those on this camera. Is that right? What do I do differently with these lenses? I beleive that they auto focused on his camera. But I don't know about a digital camera.

As you can tell, I've never had a camera with different lenses!

 

[greewe]

I forgot to say that during indoor track, I usually can get up very close to the runners. But in outdoor track I have to stay in the stands. But usually the first row.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Thanks for the help! I have some older lenses that were from my Dad's film camera. I understand that I can use those on this camera. Is that right? What do I do differently with these lenses? I beleive that they auto focused on his camera. But I don't know about a digital camera.

As you can tell, I've never had a camera with different lenses!

If you dad used a Pentax SLR, then you should probably be OK.

 

[iggbees]

i have this camera and go to my boyfriend's hockey games to try and get some action shots. i have to stay behind the glass, but i'm usually as close as i can get to the ice. i have found that my old 300 mm f/2.8 is ok, if i'm focused directly on him (which i'm lucky, because he's the goalie and doesn't move all that much). granted track probably moves a bit slower than hockey. trying to get the players in action though is next to impossible for me, because of the fact that the lens is a manual focus. the kit lens does not get me close enough to the action, i like the zoom. i have absolutely no problem, however, with the brightness. i usually manually set the white balance and the iso. i'd like to get an automatic zoom lens, because i think it might have a better time catching quicker motion (i'm not too fast with the lens). i'm a novice at this, so i really don't have the camera down yet (most of these problems i have could probably be solved if i was better at this whole camera thing). i've been practicing though testing out all the bells and whistles.

here are some examples of my shots:

 

[handicap18]

What do I do differently with these lenses? I beleive that they auto focused on his camera. But I don't know about a digital camera.

Nothing to be done differently

If they auto focused on a film SLR then they will auto focus on the digital SLR.

Let us know what kind of lenses they are and we'll be able to give the info on which ones if any would work best for your situation.

2 things about the kit lens, 1 its not very long, maxing out at 55mm and 2 its not very fast (aperture wise), though for indoor track the 55mm length might be ok as they come running by where you are. IIRC from my High School days, the gyms for indoor track were lit pretty well. You might be able to get away with using it, though you'd be better off with a similar focal length range that has an f/2.8 throughout the range or even the 50mm f/1.4 that goes for around $250.

For outdoor track at night, you probably wont get very good results with the kit lens, lighting at high school tracks isn't very good. You'd definately want a longer zoom or prime with a wide aperture like f/2.8.

 

[greewe]

Thanks so much everyone. You are so helpful! I have a Promaster spectrum 7 zoom that goes to 210. I'm trying to find the rest of his equipment. I stored it somewhere so I wouldn't lose it and now can't remember where!!

 

[Groucho]

Yeah, if you already have some lenses, that makes the buying decision much easier. Pentax places a lot of importance on backwards compatibility and any Pentax lens will work on any Pentax DSLR will full functionality. I just picked up an old screw-mount Vivitar 55mm macro lens that I'm already very fond of.

The lighting questions have pretty much been answered already. A fast lens helps but ISO 1600 helps a lot, too, and is certainly very usable. You can also look for fast, telephoto prime lenses. I'd love to get my hands on a Pentax 85mm F1.4 but they're discontinued and going for about $1k on the used market... but supposedly just amazing quality. Unfortunately, their 135mm F2.5 and F2.8 are not great (one of the few Pentax primes that isn't top-notch) but their F3.5 is nice - I actually shot a few with both yesterday at a photo shop and the F3.5 was noticably sharper, but its slowness cuts into its desirability.

The 50mm F1.4 is a no-brainer but you probably won't get as close as you like with it.

Like Mark says, the K100D does have a small buffer; if you have interest in taking a lot of photos at full 3 fps continuously, you may want to consider the K10D instead.