What lenses to buy

Cjoseph01 · 01-23-2011, 05:02 PM

I'm looking for some help in determening which lens to buy. I have a K20D and I'm looking for two lenses. I'm looking for a standard lens for portraits, and I'm looking for a zoom lens.
What I'm looking for is for something fast, and great quality. I want the lenses to last me a long time, and want them to take great pictures.
Please advise.
CJ

twitch · 01-23-2011, 05:45 PM

Originally posted by Cjoseph01

I'm looking for some help in determening which lens to buy. I have a K20D and I'm looking for two lenses. I'm looking for a standard lens for portraits, and I'm looking for a zoom lens.
What I'm looking for is for something fast, and great quality. I want the lenses to last me a long time, and want them to take great pictures.
Please advise.
CJ

It would help if you could state a budget, and what you want to shoot with the zoom lens.

I'll suggest a few prime lenses though for portraits, all with first class image quality; ranging from ~ $500 to ~$750. It doesn't get better than these in Pentax land....

1) FA77mm f1.8 limited
2) DA70mm f2.4 limited
3) DA*55mm f1.4

Do a search on these lenses and you'll find many many threads.

RioRico · 01-23-2011, 06:05 PM

Buy every lens you can. You can never own too many lenses. I'm only at 180 now. A poll at the Manual Lens forum [ http://forum.mflenses.com/ ] shows AVERAGE ownership of 100 lenses, with one member owning 1500+. So my 180 are just a good start.

More seriously: When I bought myK20D I'd asked myself, "What do I want to do that I can't do with my advanced P&S?" and the answers were ultrawide, ultralong, low light, and macro. So I started with a DA10-17 fisheye zoom, a DA18-250 walkaround superzoom, a FA50/1.4 fast fifty, and a Raynox DCR-250 for closeups. Since then I've mostly bought old manual primes but those early lenses are still my most-used.

What kind of zoom(s) to get depends on the range(s) you want to cover. My few other zooms include the F35-70, FA100-300, Tamron 10-24, and Lil'Bigma 170-500. All these have their preferred situations.

We have many discussions here about 'portrait' lenses -- it depends on what you mean by 'portrait'. Formal sittings, grabbed impromptu snaps, head & shoulders, tight facials, full-body, what? Shots in controlled settings don't require autofocus; a manual 50/1.7 and 90/2.8 and 135/2.8 make a good cheap set for portraiture. The 75-100mm range is about best for 'roundness' with minimal distortion, but portraits can be shot with anything from 10mm to 1000mm, depending on circumstances.

Nah, just go ahead and buy every lens you can. You'll be glad you did.

sterretje · 01-23-2011, 06:49 PM

Advice on the portrait lens is given; if those are outside your budget, consider manual focus lenses.

You have to be more specific regarding the zoom lens. A 12-24 is a zoom lens as is a 60-250; both however serve totally different purposes.

01-23-2011, 05:02 PM	#1
Cjoseph01 New Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: FL Posts: 3	What lenses to buy I'm looking for some help in determening which lens to buy. I have a K20D and I'm looking for two lenses. I'm looking for a standard lens for portraits, and I'm looking for a zoom lens. What I'm looking for is for something fast, and great quality. I want the lenses to last me a long time, and want them to take great pictures. Please advise. CJ

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01-23-2011, 05:45 PM	#2
twitch Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 4,571	Originally posted by Cjoseph01 I'm looking for some help in determening which lens to buy. I have a K20D and I'm looking for two lenses. I'm looking for a standard lens for portraits, and I'm looking for a zoom lens. What I'm looking for is for something fast, and great quality. I want the lenses to last me a long time, and want them to take great pictures. Please advise. CJ It would help if you could state a budget, and what you want to shoot with the zoom lens. I'll suggest a few prime lenses though for portraits, all with first class image quality; ranging from ~ $500 to ~$750. It doesn't get better than these in Pentax land.... 1) FA77mm f1.8 limited 2) DA70mm f2.4 limited 3) DA*55mm f1.4 Do a search on these lenses and you'll find many many threads.

01-23-2011, 06:05 PM	#3
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	Buy every lens you can. You can never own too many lenses. I'm only at 180 now. A poll at the Manual Lens forum [ http://forum.mflenses.com/ ] shows AVERAGE ownership of 100 lenses, with one member owning 1500+. So my 180 are just a good start. More seriously: When I bought myK20D I'd asked myself, "What do I want to do that I can't do with my advanced P&S?" and the answers were ultrawide, ultralong, low light, and macro. So I started with a DA10-17 fisheye zoom, a DA18-250 walkaround superzoom, a FA50/1.4 fast fifty, and a Raynox DCR-250 for closeups. Since then I've mostly bought old manual primes but those early lenses are still my most-used. What kind of zoom(s) to get depends on the range(s) you want to cover. My few other zooms include the F35-70, FA100-300, Tamron 10-24, and Lil'Bigma 170-500. All these have their preferred situations. We have many discussions here about 'portrait' lenses -- it depends on what you mean by 'portrait'. Formal sittings, grabbed impromptu snaps, head & shoulders, tight facials, full-body, what? Shots in controlled settings don't require autofocus; a manual 50/1.7 and 90/2.8 and 135/2.8 make a good cheap set for portraiture. The 75-100mm range is about best for 'roundness' with minimal distortion, but portraits can be shot with anything from 10mm to 1000mm, depending on circumstances. Nah, just go ahead and buy every lens you can. You'll be glad you did.

01-23-2011, 06:49 PM	#4
sterretje Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Roodepoort, South Africa Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,561	Advice on the portrait lens is given; if those are outside your budget, consider manual focus lenses. You have to be more specific regarding the zoom lens. A 12-24 is a zoom lens as is a 60-250; both however serve totally different purposes.