A new macro lens for my Pentax K10D

[archonofdeath]

Alright, so I have to see how this whole moving thing pans out (a coworker is possibly moving and I am desperately seeking freedom from my current drug using roomy and my end up living with the co-worker in an apartment) as well as paying bills and buying new Ball Pythons....

BUUUUUT

I need a new lens for my camera, something on the Macro side of things for snake and miniature photography, and I was wondering if anyone here has experience in the field of DSLRs.

So far the only lenses I have found that I really am interested in has been:

Pentax | Normal smc P-D FA 50mm f/2.8 Macro Autofocus | 21530
Pentax | SMCP-DA 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited Autofocus Lens | 21730

The obvious difference in the two are the magnification and the actual working distances for them. The cheaper, more zoomed in one has a further working distance, which is still close and still very effective especially given that it will magnify the image. Where as the other one has an even closer range to work at with a lot less zoom, bu it's over a hundred dollars more. Both of them have the same nighttime abilities, and aside possibly from picture quality there will probably be little other difference between the lenses (mind that picture quality will only become an issue if I am using my camera at the max pixel settings and then blowing up the image to 10 feet).

Although this does bring up an interesting point... I should also be looking at a larger aperture lens, which neither of these have. But for the moment I am more focused on macro lenses for Miniature and snake work, a night time lens can come later.

And as I mention I need a nighttime lens I come across a 50mm f/1.4 lens for 200 dollars. Huh well that solves that problem fairly well.

[Deadstar_MRC]

Well, how odd!

I posted a question about Macro lenses for DSLRs just yesterday... I didn't ever realise yours was here! I guess mine's a little more general, though...

Anyway, if I may ask, did you end up getting one of these lenses?

If not... well, I guess I can attempt to offer some advice, although it would only be based on stuff I've read and not any actual experience!

[archonofdeath]

Nah, not yet. I can't afford it right now. Building a warhammer army and saving about 1500 dollars for a couple male snakes is taking precedence.

[Deadstar_MRC]

I can understand that! I thought Warhammer was an expensive hobby until I started looking into camera gear!

Then again, it doesn't sound like keeping snakes is particularly cheap either... damn this consumerism!

[archonofdeath]

The more you spend on a snake now the more you can sell it's offspring off for. I got to pick up a fire and a lesser, totaling 1200 after shipping, and then I have to get another rack system for 300 more since I only have one more tub and my females will probably need something larger to live in.

And yeah, camera gear is really expensive. Warhammer is like 22 to 100 dollars every 2 weeks based on what you can really build and paint in that time as well as how much the item costs. While Photography, Snakes, Cars, etc all are like hundreds to thousands of dollars as one time investments, and some of them even have other expenses.