Hi, I just wanted to say hello, as a brand-new subscriber to the list. Being a Pentax user from day one (my father has Pentax SLRs that I've kind of inherited), I'm looking to add to my current equipment so that I can effectively use what I have available to me as well as increase my equipment.
My primary SLR is a Pentax Super-A, but I only have one lens for it- a 35-70 SMC-A f/4. I obviously need some more lenses- a wide angle and a telephoto to start off with and could use some help in selecting lenses. I'm not a serious photographer, so please bear with me and the newbie/idiot questions. What would be a good 24mm wide angle lens that isn't ultra-expensive? I'm on a budget and would like to keep the lens at $200 or less, if possible, used, in excellent condition. I don't know if this is possible at that budget. Also, I'm looking for something like a 80-200mm zoom or 100-300mm. Any suggestions for a decent inexpensive zoom, again hopefully under $200? I couldn't find a whole lot of info on winders, but seeing that I could use either the Motor Drive A or the Winder ME-II w/ the Super-A, which one would you suggest I try to find and purchase and why? My primary interest is motorsports photography, which is why I'd like the motor drive as my conception is that the motor drive will allow me to shoot more photographs more quickly than by manually winding each frame. Another thing I'm not too clear on is whether I need to purchase a battery pack separately from the Motor Drive or whether that is included as it would seem to me that you need a power source for the motor drive, right? I'd also like to get a TTL flash and am thinking about getting the AF280- is that a good choice or should I look at something else? Anything I should be careful of in terms of compatibility- it seems as though this flash should work, but I'm not sure if there were variations in the model over the years. One last thing- I have an old screw-mount Spotmatic that doesn't work properly- the shutter speed is inaccurate. The local camera shop said it's not worth fixing, as it could cost quite a bit to fix and that doesn't guarantee that it will last- he mentioned that the meters on these cameras go bad quite often and that the batteries that power the meter are no longer made and the new equivalent doesn't work as well? I'm thinking that if it's no good to repair, I'll just retire the Spotmatic and use the screw mount adapter on my Super A, possibly buy another Super A or something similar as a backup body so I can use the nice screwmount lenses that I already have. Or I could get a new ZX-M to use, but I'm not sure if that's a good choice, considering that something like a ZX-5n or ZX-L isn't that expensive. The autofocus isn't critical for me as I'm used to manual-focus cameras and AF in the cheaper cameras doesn't always work well, IME. Thanks for listening, Taka - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
