How does this lens kit sound?

aweir · 04-05-2009, 05:07 PM

Finally, after almost two weeks of researching online till 4 am, buying, returning, comparing reviews, ect., I have a kit for me. I might have seemed a little restless lately but I wanted a decision before the holiday week began to avoid shipping delays. I wanted to stick with fast lenses as I have been plagued by focusing issues with my Pentax ist DS and slow kit lens performance. Here it is, about $2000 later

Pentax K20D
Pentax 10-17mm fisheye (might return it and save up for a rectilinear wide angle prime)
Pentax 18-250mm (will definitely be returning this P.O.S. Monday)
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Pentax FA35mm f/2.0 (I can't wait for those night scenes)
Pentax D FA100mm Macro f/2.8 (I wanted a REAL macro lens for once)
Pentax 55-300mm 3.5-5.6 (to replace my Tamron 70-300 which has annoying PF and bad color/detail)

*gokenin* · 04-05-2009, 05:40 PM

curious what didnt you like about the 18-250? have seen some reviews that said it was a good lens and others have said its bad

jsherman999 · 04-05-2009, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by gokenin

curious what didnt you like about the 18-250? have seen some reviews that said it was a good lens and others have said its bad

I used to own one (Tamron version,) and it was a pretty good lens, it's just that it was too slow on the long end for me. For what it is, it's a good lens and compares favorably to the Nikon 18-200 VR.

aweir · 04-05-2009, 06:50 PM

Lens creep. I found it very annoying while I was trying to take THIS picture. The lens kept sliding out. I had to move around more than the dog was just to keep him in the frame at 18mm.

And when it focuses, it focuses twice! The camera focuses, pauses, then focuses completely.

*ivoire* · 04-06-2009, 07:43 AM

Looks like you have all the bases covered. I agree with your decision on the 18-250. As for the fisheye , they are fun and offer something very different. You may want to keep it and add the 12-24mm pentax. I had the 10-20mm sigma and it worked great on the K10, but not so well on the K20. Oddly, shooting at 10mpx on the K20 produced images as good as the K10. I suspect the K20s sensor exposed its' flaws

aweir · 04-06-2009, 10:12 AM

About the sensors flaws, they would only be noticable when viewing the image at actual pixels, right? And even when printed at 8.5"X10" that would not even be close to actual pixels. Right?

*ivoire* · 04-06-2009, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by aweir

About the sensors flaws, they would only be noticable when viewing the image at actual pixels, right? And even when printed at 8.5"X10" that would not even be close to actual pixels. Right?

Poorly worded on my part. It appeared to me that the Sigma 10-20mm images were not as sharp when the K20D was set at 14mpx. If I compared the same image taken from a tripod with all settings the same, the 10mpx image looked fine but at 14mpx there was a noticeable blur/lack of sharpness to the image. I tried this with the Pentax 12-24mm and didn't notice any difference between 10 and 14mpx images. I sent the Sigma back for repair, stating this and when it was returned it was slightly better, but still noticeable. It was not just my eye that found this. I shoot real estate for cash and the guy I contract with noticed it also when I sent him a batch of Sigma pics shot at 14mpx. When I sent him a batch of images shot at 10mpx on the K20D, he asked how I was able to improve the image quality. So my only available conclusion is that the Sigmas flaws (for lack of a better term) are more pronounced when using a 14mpx sensor. I have no idea if this is experienced by anyone else using the 10-20mm Sigma on a K20D. I should point that I shot tons of real estate pics with the K10D and the Sigma 10-20mm and the guy never questioned the image quality. As soon as I started shooting with the K20D and the 10-20mm, he mentioned 'soft' images.

I only mentioned this as you indicated shooting with a K20D and are thinking of a rectilinear lens. Having owned both, the 12-24mm is definitely sharper.

beaumont · 04-06-2009, 12:30 PM

Re "Lens creep. I found it very annoying while I was trying to take THIS picture. The lens kept sliding out. I had to move around more than the dog was just to keep him in the frame at 18mm."... Definately a limitation of the 18-250 as it doesn't seem to be a great lens when the camera is being held face down, possibly with one hand while holding the other end of the dogs rope. (Under the same criteria, we can confirm that the Bigma is also a P.O.S....

)
While I definately wish my 18-250 was faster, I wouldn't consider it a P.O.S. at it does fit as a very good multipurpose outdoor lens. For the rest, I use my 10-17, 31ltd and 77ltd.

aweir · 04-07-2009, 01:40 AM

I forgot about the zoom lock.

quickiekuchen · 04-07-2009, 02:51 AM

The Pentax/Tamron 18-250 is one of the better Superzoom-Lenses, but not comparable with the Nikkor 18-200 VR!

My "Always-Mounted" ist the Pentax DA 40 Limited.

Quality over Quantity!

SpecialK · 04-07-2009, 10:25 PM

As for the fisheye , they are fun and offer something very different. You may want to keep it and add the 12-24mm pentax.

Ditto. The 12-24 is a nice range.

SpecialK · 04-07-2009, 10:25 PM

As for the fisheye , they are fun and offer something very different. You may want to keep it and add the 12-24mm pentax.

Ditto. The 12-24 is a nice range. Would not think of getting rid of the fisheye.