Originally posted by Wombat Just to throw another option into the ring; it seems you're going to have a bit of a struggle deciding on focal length for starters. May I suggest you experiment before you settle on spending big dollars. Browse around second-hand camera shops or Ebay and sample some old K, M or A lenses in the focal lengths you're interested in. You can pick up some superb older lenses for next to nothing, try out the whole gamut of focal lengths you're interested in at your leisure and have a lot of fun in the process. You'll also learn a lot and who knows, you might decide to keep them or trade them in once you've settled on what you want.
My 2c.
Thanks for that, Wombat; sound advice, for sure.
There's been three factors spurring me on to a (relatively early, given my experience) new lens purchase.
- Lack of sharpness in landscaping shooting with my 18-55mm kit lens.
- Beautiful wildlife at the local reservoir that is significantly beyond my reach.
- Kind parents looking to put £400 ($650) towards a new lens as a birthday gift.
Regarding point 1, I suspect there are a gambit of factors at work here, not least of which could be general lack of experience/competence on my part. I also find it hard to gauge expectations realistically; I guess I just had high expectations for my K-7, kit lens or otherwise.
As for the "wildlife", I've always loved nature, and birds in particular; although that is not why I decided to get into photography and I did not think that I would be so interested in capturing wildlife shots. But a couple of afternoons at the local reservoir, sitting just 50-80ft away from pelicans and herons, and osprey dropping into the water less than 200 feet away, I was instantly frustrated with the limited range of my 55mm.
So with a gift in the offering, I decided that I should maybe push the boat out and get a couple of lenses; one at each end of the spectrum.
The 200/2.8 versus 300/4 choice I thought would be easy, and it is at least proving easier than the choice of shorter FL. Of course, more choice always creates more indecision, that's why I've gotten into choosing the first thing on a menu that calls out to me -- I hate indecision. That said, $20 for a sub-par steak is hardly the same as $1000 for a lens that doesn't excite, and so I find myself procrastinating horribly (or perhaps, rightly so).
Perhaps I should focus on the easier choice of the 200 vs 300, ignoring adding the 60-250 into the mix, and leave the <55mm prime choice to sit for a while until I have more experience shooting at different FL in that range? We'll see ... but the lure of a faster, sharper short prime may prove too much to ignore! After 41 years, I know myself pretty well...