Suggested lenses for Italy trip?

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I'll be visiting Italy in the spring and will be taking my Pentax K1000, I only have 50mm and 28mm lenses and was wondering if this will be suitable for the trip? I'll be taking a mix of landscapes, architecture and people so are there any other lenses I may need? I'll be using Ilford XP2 400 film if that helps? Thank you in advance for your recommendations.
 
Personally I reckon you'll be OK with the two lenses that you already have….certainly for landscapes and architecture anyway.
The 50mm will likely be OK for portraits too but if you REALLY felt the need then mabe something a tad longer such as 85 or 105mm could prove to be more practical but imo it's not worth forking out for another lens if it's jsut / predominantly for a one off holiday.

As for fthe film, there may be times that 400 asa speed will be advantageous such as evenings/ indoors, but given that you will be down on the Med, the light is rarely carp, even if winter and come spring it's generally very good.

Fair enough this particular season , autumn, brings a moderate amount of rain but even with that the daylight brightness is still sufficient for 100 speed ( I know as I live not far from Italy!)

Perhaps take a mixture of speeds. I would defo use 100 for the landscapes and architecture, even if the speed drops down slow and you don't have a tripod, there are usually fence posts etc or walls to pose the camera on / against to avoid camera shake.

Above all enjoy your time out there and be sure to post some of your photos in here.
 
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You can certainly get by with a 50mm and 28mm lens...maybe before next spring you could buy a 70-150 mm zoom, so all those lenses should cover nearly all situations.
For one lens only maybe a 28mm-105 zoom
.............have a nice holiday
 
Just my two cents but why xp2 B&W film? The colours of spring warrant a colour film to capture them. You could always scan and convert to b&w at a later stage. Whilst I have only used this film a few occasions I find most places don’t do a good job of developing and printing this film.
 
I used just a 50 for years and years, got some lovely shots in all sorts of situations. The 28mm will work better in tighter corners. Which ones have you got?

If you did want to splash out, try a Vivitar 35-70 2.8-3.5. It's smaller, lighter and cheaper than the Pentax-M SMC 35-70, but IMHO very nearly as good. Starts at 70 and then you push out to get to 35. It's a lovely walkaround lens; the only annoying thing is the 55mm thread, which might mean another yellow filter...
 
28mm and 50mm is a perfectly fine combination for what you want to shoot, no need to make your kit any heavier than necessary.

Agreed with the above posters - shoot some colour! It is processed the same way as XP2 (C-41 process), so you can shoot a mix of XP2 and colour film.
 
Thirded!! I shot some Portra 400 in Sorrento earlier in the year, also some Provia 100. There are some lovely colours to capture!! I did shoot a variety of B&W film too.

I mainly shot the Portra at 200, metered for shadows.
 
They should cover off a lot of situations, but a 70-200 might be useful, and will probably not be at all expensive.
 
For many years 28mm and 50mm (or their equivalents in medium and large format) have accounted for 90-95% of the photos I have taken, which are mainly landscapes and architecture. As the others have said, a longer lens might be useful on occasion, and bearing in mind that 35mm kit isn't that heavy, shouldn't be too much of a burden.

My only caution is that if you choose to buy a zoom, let it be a better quality model, probably from Pentax themselves, and avoid really cheap lenses such as Clubman, Sirius, etc. A fixed focal length will normally give better image quality and a faster aperture.

Personally I reckon you'll be fine with 28mm and 50mm. Just don't worry about possibly missing the occasional shot and spend the money you will save on ice cream and pizza.:)
 
Well if you want names for a 70-150mm zoom...good lenses are the Pentax M f4 and Vivitar 70-150mm f3.5..the Vivitar is sometimes sold with the 2xs matched converter. Beginning of the serial number tells you who made it, mine starts with 22 (Kiron) another good one would start with 28 (Komine)
Just want one lens? Although quite large the Kiron 28-105mm f3.5-f4.5 is good esp at 28mm.
But as said 50mm and 28mm are good enough if you don't want to buy anymore lenses, maybe later you could get a 24mm, since I bought my 24mm I rarely use 28mm and would only use my 50mm f1.4 if I knew it was a low light situation where I couldn't use flash.
 
My advice? Don't try and cover all the focal lengths! Take a lens or two, like the ones you mentioned and make your photos from your travels. Carrying too much will often make you overthink, make your bag too heavy and make you miss some things. Put a lens on a camera and make photos.
 
My advice? Don't try and cover all the focal lengths! Take a lens or two, like the ones you mentioned and make your photos from your travels. Carrying too much will often make you overthink, make your bag too heavy and make you miss some things. Put a lens on a camera and make photos.

Worth repeating.

I don't think it is.... Ah, damn it....:D:D
 
Just my two cents but why xp2 B&W film? The colours of spring warrant a colour film to capture them. You could always scan and convert to b&w at a later stage. Whilst I have only used this film a few occasions I find most places don’t do a good job of developing and printing this film.

I'll be using XP2 as I've ended up with three rolls of the stuff so want to get rid of it and may as well use it for practicing. I'm only using B&W film as I will be using my DSLR for colour shots.
 
, but given that you will be down on the Med, the light is rarely carp, even if winter and come spring it's generally very good.

As there can't be much more to say on all above maybe a slight deviation o_O As New York where Kodak is situated, who invented sunny 16, are on the same latitude as Madrid and Naples, well Ok you are a bit north of that..so it would be interesting if you took an incident light reading at say midday in summer on a clear sunny day and someone in England or Scotland did the same. Why? to see if there is any large differences and should it be sunny 12 in the UK.
 
As there can't be much more to say on all above maybe a slight deviation o_O As New York where Kodak is situated, who invented sunny 16, are on the same latitude as Madrid and Naples, well Ok you are a bit north of that..so it would be interesting if you took an incident light reading at say midday in summer on a clear sunny day and someone in England or Scotland did the same. Why? to see if there is any large differences and should it be sunny 12 in the UK.

I think "clear sunny day" is susceptible to pretty high variation in light, without a bit more careful specification, to make this experiment convincing. But I've certainly seen folk on here claim that "Sunny 11" is a better idea in the UK.
 
I'll be using XP2 as I've ended up with three rolls of the stuff so want to get rid of it and may as well use it for practicing. I'm only using B&W film as I will be using my DSLR for colour shots.

LOL and most of us thinking you were only taking a film camera :D
 
I think "clear sunny day" is susceptible to pretty high variation in light, without a bit more careful specification, to make this experiment convincing. But I've certainly seen folk on here claim that "Sunny 11" is a better idea in the UK.

Well someone going to Egypt and taking an incident light reading would be better...but it would knock on the head that you can use sunny16 anywhere in the world even on mountain tops or the north\south pole....... if stuck without a light meter.
 
As with other figures regarding exposure, f16 is nothing more than a guideline.
I use it most of thé time but in thé UK it often gives under exposed results ans hère it often gives over exposed results.
In summer in full sun i can have somtimes more than two stops différent to what a similar scène would give un thé Uk.
Hence using thé f16 rule as a guide and nothing more is the only practical way to incorporate it into obtaining exposure times.
Dont forger un winter thé light from thé sun is less powerful that brings thé UK down to a possible sunny f8
Imo expérimenté like this are futile as one simple adjusts any given rule to their personal location and light conditions.
 
If anyone cares to download an old copy of the BJP Almanac from the internet, it should be possible to check this. When I got my first camera that let me adjust exposure, I didn't have a meter (too expensive) and used the exposure tables in the BJP Almanac 1961. Before you got to the state of the sun (cloudy bright, well defined shadows etc.) you have to find the appropriate set to use; the full variables before reaching the state of the shadows took into account latitude, time of year and time of day. A simple check of the tables should show any relevant deviations from Sunny 16.
 
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Loads of typos there ....sorry!
Typing on a tablet with a prédictive french text si typing in english is a tad difficult

All the reverences to tea mean I'm now going to make a mug...:pint:
 
If anyone cares to download an old copy of the BJP Almanac from the internet, it should be possible to check this. When I got my first camera that let me adjust exposure, I didn't have a meter (too expensive) and used the exposure tables in the BJP Almanac 1961. Before you got to the state of the sun (cloudy bright, well defined shadows etc.) you have to find the appropriate set to use; the full variables before reaching the state of the shadows took into account latitude, time of year and time of day. A simple check of the tables should show any relevant deviations from Sunny 16.

Well for joe public in the old days the exposure settings on the box were incorrect unless when Kodak supplied their films to different countries they altered them to suit the country....I can't remember in the old days whether it was mentioned or was done. Anyway in the UK I've never agreed with sunny 16 but some here do.
 
I’ve been interested to find out more about sunny 16. Never found it a great help here in the UK, more like sunny 8 and at times sunny 4 :D

A sunny day in polluted London could be different to say the highlands in Scotland or Lands end with a westerly breeze (to keep pollution away) :D
 
I would try and pick up a 135mm lens, plenty out there. There's a Pentax 135mm f3.5 that is quite highly regarded, higher than the f2.5 I believe or maybe something like a Tamron Adaptall 2 135mm f2.5.
 
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I would try and pick up a 135mm lens, plenty out there. There's a Pentax 135mm f3.5 that is quite highly regarded, higher than the f2.5 I believe or maybe something like a Tamron Adaptall 2 135mm f2.5.

That PentaxM SMC 135/3.5 is a lovely, light lens, and shares it's 49mm thread with the M 50 and 28 lenses. Personally I find it either too long or not long enough, so it rarely comes out. Now the M 85/2, also 49mm, that's a cracker... and rather a steep price to go with it, sadly!
 
As the 135mm f2.8 and f3.5 were common lenses (like the 50mm) the makers got the lens formulae right and there aren't many crappy 135mms around....even my pre auto Galaxy 135mm f3.5 surprised me even wide open...cos the digi guys like pixel peeping with very large crops to show the differences but for us filmies it's more difficult to see.
 
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