I'm going to be taking my first photography course this fall and i am looking to purchase a macro lens and some good filters for black and white shooting, i have a pentax P30-Tcamera and i'm interested in close-up photos. Is it a macro lens i need for this??? Please suggest your favorite filters for B&W too. Thanks

-- Lori Hafner (catjam3@javanet.com), July 07, 2001

Answers

I am sure that Pentax makes a 50mm Macro lens. Most manufacturers have excellent quality 50mm macro,s at reasonable prices. Don't get carried away with filters. A light yellow is about all you will need for B&W. If you have deep pockets I am sure you can find a more expensive solution but this is a cheap & easy way to find out if you really like B&W macro photography.

-- Melvin Bramley (bramley@nanaimo.ark.com), July 07, 2001.

Most people prefer the extra working distance a 90mm or 100mm macro lens provides, but they are more expensive.

You have a lot of other options as well, since you are using a Pentax camera. Any lens that uses a K mount will work directly on it. That includes KR, KA, KM, KF and a bunch of other "K" derivitives. That includes auto foucus lenses for newer Pentax cameras. You can also mount any of the older 42mm screw mount lenses with a simple adapter, but you won't be able to use them in full auto mode. Your instructor probably wont allow that anyway, so there's no good reason not to use one.

You can find very good old screw mount 50mm or 55mm macro lenses at online auctions for very good prices. 90mm to 105mm screw mount macro lenses aren't that much more. Used K mount lenses are priced somewhat higher but are easier to use since you don't need the adapter.

You can also use close up filters that screw into the end of your lens or use lens extensions that fit between your lens and camera body. They are a cheaper solution but the quality of the image suffers a bit. Still it's the low cost way that most people get started into macro photography.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), July 08, 2001.

I agree. You're probably better off first getting a decent 50mm prime lens, and using a cheap set of macro lenses that screw on the front. The Pentax K lenses use 49mm filter sizes for many focal lengths, so you'll be able to experiment with new combinations as you expand your lens selection. Then, you might spring for a purpose-built macro lens.

I have a 50mm f/1.4 M prime lens for my ME-Super, and have taken pretty darned good closeups without any other macro equipment.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), July 10, 2001.

Macro lens of 50-60mm is the best bet. Unless you specialized in insect or flower macro, then 100mm macro lens gives you longer working distance.

If your macro photography covers not only insects, flowers, but also antique books, collector plates, then 50-60mm macro gives you working distance within arm length, convenient for flipping over to next page, minor adjustment of subjects etc, if you have only 100mm macro, then the working distance is out of arm length, annoying.

A 50-60mm/f2.8 macro lens also double as your standard lens.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 10, 2001.

I have a Leica 60mm/f2.8 lens, I use it much more often then my standard Summicron 50/2; the 60mm macro lens has become my standard lens.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 10, 2001.

For B&W, there are a few popular filters (in order of what I use most): Red Polarizer Yellow Green Orange Polarizer

-- Dave Mueller (dmueller@bellatlantic.net), July 11, 2001.