pentax newbie set ( need a bit help)

[pandasgg]

hi everyone,

i am new to reflex use, and will definitly put aside my old minolta .

i get my k100 body last week and a sigma 70-300 from my workmate
and a sigma from creampuff (thanks to him)
it will be fine for a beginning i guess.

now i got of course few questions:

1 /i like take night shots and people in situation from far, so i will need a good tripod,
considering prices starts at 100 and end up at 10.000, i am quiet lost about what brand
/type to choose.i understood that weight must be at least 1.5x the camera+lens,
but definitly it does not make me progress in a good price/value choice.
budget may be as low as it can (200-500?)

2/i am interested in converter lens to multiply the range, but as i checked, no products
are produced by pentax anymore.does any other manufacturer have for pentax?

thanks for your assistance
enjoy the day.

[fengwei]

Welcome to the Pentax family, I'm sure you'd like staying here

A good tripod is one which you are willing to carry around, and sturdy enough for your own use. There are plenty of them to choose from, you'd better go to a shop (Cathay Photo is a good one) to check them out, and see which one you like the best. Go w/ the best you can afford and once for all. Personally I went with a Slik Sprint Pro and a Benro K-0 ballhead, that's the most weight that I'm willing to carry around. Luckily this combo seems to enough for my own use

Pentax does have its own tele converters, but hard to find new nowadays. You have to search for a second hand one. There are some third party choices, the Tamron/Kenko MC4 1.4x TC and MC7 2x TC are quite good, especially the 1.4x one. Basically the Tamron and Kenko TCs are the same as far as I know. There is a 2x Kenko TC for sale at the b&s forum ...

Good luck.

[creampuff]

Hi pandasgg, hope you like the lens. As to tripods, I have used and currently use a Manfrotto matched to either a Manfrotto or Slik ballhead (190Pro). To me Manfrotto offers good value in terms of performance/price and very dependable. Several things I've come to realize regarding tripods: Make sure you find one that you can use easily, fast and fits your needs. Sounds simple enough but a tripod is only as good as when you using it, so choose one that you're likely to use often. Don't always rely on manufacturer specifications alone, there's more to choosing a tripod than specs alone. Get the best ballhead you can get.

Do you remember the place we met. Well in the same building you can find a Mr Wong on level 2 (Fotografix) and he carries Manfrotto tripods as well. Hope we can meet again.

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by creampuff Do you remember the place we met. Well in the same building you can find a Mr Wong on level 2 (Fotografix) and he carries Manfrotto tripods as well. Hope we can meet again.

Hey, did you go to that shop quite often? I like that shop too, and Mr Wong is a super nice guy. I've bought many accessories from him before. As a matter of fact, just bought 4 metal lens hoods from him a couple of days ago

[creampuff]

Originally Posted by fengwei Hey, did you go to that shop quite often? I like that shop too, and Mr Wong is a super nice guy. I've bought many accessories from him before. As a matter of fact, just bought 4 metal lens hoods from here a couple of days ago

Yeah Mr Wong is a nice fellow and very knowledgeable. Sadly he once had a treasure trove of Pentax lenses from the previous Pentax agent. If you want various lens mount adapters and Heliopan filters, he's got what you need.

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by creampuff Yeah Mr Wong is a nice fellow and very knowledgeable. Sadly he once had a treasure trove of Pentax lenses from the previous Pentax agent. If you want various lens mount adapters and Heliopan filters, he's got what you need.

Yeah, saw those filters too. But I prefer Hoya/Kenko digital filters nowadays, cheap and good. Did see some new lens hoods there, very good quality ones.