Just found 3 old lenses,Need Help!!

Can't answer all those questions.. But I'm sure any type of flash can improve whenever you need it. I don't know for sure though. I've only ever used the 430. Great find with those lenses! I prefer manual focus because the build quality is superb and that's how I learned. I can MF like it ain't no thang through my 7D's viewfinder myself. Have fun!

Back to the real problem, that combo should be able to deliver sharp results. Can you post some images with EXIF attached some we can comment? The pictures of the camera/lens that your Mother had are not good examples. Perhaps start a new thread rather than get this one side tracked.

I had Sears Equipment in the '80s. It was all made by Ricoh and featured Pentax K-mount. I wish I still had my KR-30sp. I loved that camera. Sold it to help finance growing children/family.

I think I just suck with the camera honestly.I try to rush things and use it like a point and shoot and you just cant do that.Like I said before time is money and that is my downfall.

I learned a lot in the past couple days.The main thing is to get close to the subject and move myself instead being far away and using the lens/camera zoom.

I usually use Auto focus and it just doesn't focus on what I want it to.I tried manual and it blurred to much.I turn off the flash and it is blurry and I have to be perfectly still.I use the flash and it makes the background to dark and the subject to bright lol.

Im screwed lol.

I also think I need better lighting and an off camera flash and a diffuser or 2.

My main problem is lack of focus.

I went from knowing absolutely nothing 2.5 months ago to now being an amateur, what helped me a lot was getting the three basics down.... Shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

Learn what each of those do and you'll be set to start. A TON of information is just in the manual, read it a dozen times or until it sticks.

One thing you'll need to learn is that your camera is not that smart when it comes to exposure. Once you get out of auto you'll never want to go back. Don't jump straight into full manual like I did.

Start off with AV or TV mode.

AV is aperture priority play around with that, get close to a subject go wide on the shot and set it to 3.5. Now take the same picture at 5.6 and see what happens. Experiment with it.

TV is time value aka Shutter speed, test it out with a moving subject. Set the speed to 100 and see what happens then bump it up to 250. Now down to 10. You'll begin to learn how to time you shots to capture the moment.

The focus is another story, leave it on auto. There's no need to go manual 95% of the time, you will have to under certain conditions but stick to auto for the time being.

You can manually choose which focus point to focus on, go into your manual and look that up. Choosing the center point or one off to the side is a good place to start. Then your camera will only focus on that point instead of metering the whole plane to find something with contrast to focus on.

And I know a bunch of people will disagree with this but you can learn a bunch from youtube, it's where I learned everything I know.

These two were my favorites when I first go into it(do a search on their pages for how tos):
www.youtube.com/user/J​aredPolin
www.youtube.com/user/P​hotoExtremist

And when you need to have a laugh but still learn something check these guys out:
www.youtube.com/user/D​igitalRevCom

Great points man and I really appreciate it.You mentioned all of my problems in 1 post lol.

Yes my main problems are focus and over exposure.I will try those things asap and fool around with different modes.

Most of my shoots are indoor.
Should I use flash,off camera flash or no flash?

Should I use a diffuser on the on the camera flash?

It depends on the lighting you have, I would not use the flash at all to being with. Using natural lightning is best to being with..
From a window or even adding lights from desk lamps,flood lights etc.(I know people will nitpick this because of color temps but you're a beginner so you don't need to know that right now)

A diffuser will work with the issue you're having of the subject being exposed while the background is not. Instead of a diffuser what I do is let the flash trickle down by having a slow shutter speed like 1/10th of a second. The problem with that is that it's pretty slow so you have to keep the camera steady or you'll get motion blur.

But I can do it with my crappy 20+ year old lens by just hand holding it, so you with your IS lens should be way ahead. Using a tripod will be better, if you don't have a tripod use a table or anything around the house that's level and sturdy.

I will try that.

You are the man.

Hello and welcome to the forum. If you haven't already done so, pop over to the manual lens section of the forum, link below. You will find a lot of useful information there.


https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=644277

I really want to thank everyone for the comments especially maverick.

I received my adapter today and it works perfectly.I tried it on the 50mm lens first and then the 28-85mm lens.I will try it on the 28-135mm lens later.

The 50mm lens is ok,but I don't picture myself using it much.

The 28-85mm lens is perfect and f***** amazing.I like the old school pull zoom also.Its really clear and I will definitely be using this lens on a very regular basis.

I did have a scare with the adapter lens not wanting to come off on the 50mm lens and it is kinda loose on the 28-85mm lens.It was easy to get the 50mm lens off once you see that you just have to press the metal tip up and rotate it at the same time.

This is the best $30 that I have spent in a long time.

I went straight into Manual mode and with the tips Maverick gave me,I felt right at home.The tip on minimizing the flash worked perfectly.I didn't realize how important the aperture and shutter speed were until now.Whats funny is that it is not that hard to understand and now I seriously don't think I will have use auto mode or let the camera think for me again.After about 80 pictures of trying out things I found an indoor low light setting that I really liked.

I really appreciate it and this is why forums are made.

I will be trying a test shoot soon.

Thanks

I have been taking funny test shots around the house of things in Manual mode.

I took about 300 pics so far and here is my thoughts so far.

Flash is definitely necessary indoors and in my room.No flash is great also tho.

The 50mm lens is much much better than I thought but man is it hit and miss with the focus and sharpness(It could be me,I have bad vision lol).I hate that it is fixed and you have to position yourself perfectly.

The 28-85mm lens is really letting me down.Its all over the place and I really have to figure this 1 out.

The 28-135 is really impressed me the most.Its hard as hell to use indoor bur with distance it puts out a great sharp picture.I really like this lens alot and so far its number 1 out of the 3 old lenses.

The 18-55 is a f***** mystery to me.I have used this thing over 5000 times and it has always been great and terrible at the same time.I usually use auto mode or program mode.This is the first time I used it in manual mode and it took some great picture but it feels so cheap.It is still it and miss on the focus and sharpness tho.

After trying it in manual mode,I put it in smart mode to compare things and it excelled like I have never seen it before.I mean it took the best pictures in smart mode and autofocus that I have ever took.Now granted I didn't have a real subject in front of me I was still shocked.Literally every picture come of sharp,clear and perfect focused.I was thinking of never changing it after last night.

The only thing I hate is that the flash runs out quickly when you use smart mode and auto focus and you have to wait for it to recycle.

I will do more test tonight.

lets see some of those test shots I have really been wanting to dabble in manual lenses myself.