Originally posted by Hali I take a lot of photos at gigs and doing so is one of my favourite hobbies. It is something that I would like to take professional or at least get my pictures standing out from the rest.
At the moment the two lenses I use for gigs are the 18-55mm kit lens that came with my K200D and a manual nifty 50 f 1.7. The problem I'm having at the moment is that the kit lens performs ok but doesn't quite have the aperture I'd like to be able to get the really low light shots. Also the colour and contrast just doesn't compare to my nifty 50.
However the problem with the nifty 50 is that it's a manual. At a gig, particularly the rock gigs I frequent, there are many short moments of spontaneity from a good performer which are often missed because I'm still trying to focus, or I've caught and they're out focus, rendering a fantastic energetic shot, completely worthless. Added to this is the focal length; it's just too much for a gig. If it's relatively quiet and I can stand quite far from the stage without anyone getting in my way or the venue is one of those big places with barriers between you and the stage, it's fine. I've found I often stay between 18-30mm on my kit lens during gigs.
So basically I would like something around the 20mm mark (limited or unlimited) with a low F stop, autofocus and colour/contrast to compare to a nifty 50. As I am still a bit new to the world of lenses (having spent the last couple of years trying to get technique right before anything else) I would appreciate the help as I just don't know where to start!
Oh also, budget is a bit of an issue as I am a music technology student and as such spend what little money I do have on instruments/mixers/software/controllers etc. I am more than willing to look at second hand items as well. I would say no more than £300 though...
Cheers,
Hali
Well, I guess that when you say fast, you say 2.8 and below.
Apart from the 16-50/2.8, there's not much with Pentax.
I had a look at Sigma, and they have the following :
| 20mm f/1.8 EX DG
| 24mm f/1.8 EX DG
If my memory is correct, the 20 is a good lens.
Tamron has the following :
SP AF17-35MM F/2.8-4 Di LD Aspherical (IF) which looks quite cheap.
Not sure about its reputation.
However, please keep in mind that wide angle are expensive lenses (the wider, the more expensive) and that fast lenses are expensive too, therefore, fast wide-angle tend to be very expensive (see Nikon FF offering)
Basically with new lenses, ther are very few bargains, and even then, it depends on what you call cheap...