Pentax Lenses: None Better
Fifth in a series that gently explains digital photography and makes helpful recommendations.
Buying a camera not only commits you to a body, but to an entire system of lenses and accessories. Pentax is often criticized as not having the same scope in their lens catalogue as Canon and Nikon. But in this article I'm going to show that the Pentax range is in fact distinctly superior to the competition. I should clarify here the type of photographer I'm addressing: not the sports fanatic with £10,000 to spend, not the fashion photographer whose camera never leaves a tripod, but rather the rest of us: street photographers, low light lovers, those who like intimate portraits, family photos, macro work and landscape photography, even birders and wildlife fans. For semi-pro shooters Pentax offers some singular pieces of glass in a system that provides significant advantages over the competition.
Read on for the details. To see some amazing photos, browse the Pentax Photo Gallery.
How can I claim that Pentax has a better range of lenses when a glance at a retailer like Warehouse Express1 shows the numbers quite differently?
The answer is simple. Unless your camera is never leaving a tripod, shake-reduction (SR) is the single best innovation in photography in recent years. Without SR the rule of thumb is that you need a shutter speed the reciprocal of the focal length. For example, 1/50s or faster for a 50mm lens. SR increases low light handling by three to four stops so you can get away with 1/6s or slower shutter speed in this case. This allows you to take blur-free photos that otherwise would have been impossible.2
Neither Canon nor Nikon...
