[campdog]

Hi.
Thought I might see if I can get a better idea of where to head lens wise.Im just starting to show a bit more interest in portrait, wedding and event photography.Im also planning to organise my kit for the time that Pentax release a full format senor DSLR.
My lens kit is made up of the following

Sigma 10-20mm, landscape and pano work.
Pentax FA*28-70 2.8. general walk aroung, people and landscape.
Pentax FA* 80-200 f/2.8 for wildlife, sport landscape and people.
Pentx SMC 100 f/2.8 macro- macro work,people and general walk around.
What I would like to do is set up a few lights etc and try a bit of studio work as well. Does anyone think a Sigma 30mm or Pentax limited 31mm fit into this kit or do I have it covered with these. I fell in love with the shallow depth of field and focusing of the limited.
Im not sure as whether to get rid of the 10-20mm and get something a bit better for pano work.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Im not sure whether to get a new lens of a bit of lighting gear.

John

[TOUGEFC]

Sure they would both fit in your kit fine, you have all the main focal lenghts covered by your zooms, but you lacking in speed, your fastest lens is only f/2.8,
a fast prime would surely fit in there and will be very handy to have at a wedding for low light, not too mention a whole new world of DOF control

[dlacouture]

I have nearly the same kit:
- sigma 8-16
- tamron 28-75/2.8
- tamron 70-200/2.8

and I also have the holy f/1.4 trinity:
- sigma 30/1.4
- Pentax FA 50/1.4
- Samyang 85/1.4

And every one gets it fair share of use! The f/1.4 are really helpful for weddings, and I can do a whole wedding with only the 30/1.4 and the 85/1.4 (except for very large groups) and be happy...

The FA50/1.4 is the least used of my kit, though...

[campdog]

Thanks for the replies. Now the tough choice.The shallow depth of field produced by Pentax is amazing but the price puts me off a bit,The Pentax or the Sigma.

John

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Last edited by campdog; 09-29-2011 at 04:11 AM.

[TOUGEFC]

Thanks for the replies. Now the tough choice.The shallow depth of field produced by Penax is amazing but the price puts me off a bit,The Pentax or the Sigma.

John

For the price of the FA31 , I bought the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 and DA*55 f/1.4 instead

[Rondec]

I own the Sigma 30mm and it is really very nice, but I do think the FA 31 is a notch above. Particularly when it comes to rendering out of focus areas. That said, I am in Simon's camp, I just couldn't pay 900 dollars for a (non-telephoto) lens. However, only you can put a value on the differences between the Sigma and the FA 31.

[Spotmatic]

Go for the lighting gear if YOU are not sure about 'needing' a lens. The worst thing you can do, IMHO, is to ask this type of question on an internet forum.

[campdog]

Hi.
Thought I might see if I can get a better idea of where to head lens wise.Im just starting to show a bit more interest in portrait, wedding and event photography.Im also planning to organise my kit for the time that Pentax release a full format senor DSLR.
My lens kit is made up of the following

Sigma 10-20mm, landscape and pano work.
Pentax FA*28-70 2.8. general walk aroung, people and landscape.
Pentax FA* 80-200 f/2.8 for wildlife, sport landscape and people.
Pentx SMC 100 f/2.8 macro- macro work,people and general walk around.
What I would like to do is set up a few lights etc and try a bit of studio work as well. Does anyone think a Sigma 30mm or Pentax limited 31mm fit into this kit or do I have it covered with these. I fell in love with the shallow depth of field and focusing of the limited.
Im not sure as whether to get rid of the 10-20mm and get something a bit better for pano work.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Im not sure whether to get a new lens of a bit of lighting gear.

John

Still thinking aout which way to go but would a Pentax FA* 85 1.4 fit in my current kit rather than a Pentax 31 or sigma.
John

[Rondec]

Still thinking aout which way to go but would a Pentax FA* 85 1.4 fit in my current kit rather than a Pentax 31 or sigma.
John

A lot depends one what focal length you like and what you want to shoot. For me, 85mm would be a bit long. If you want speed and a longer focal length, the FA 77 would work nicely, or the DA *55. Both are considerably cheaper than the FA 85. It's just that on an APS-C sensor, you end up pretty far away from the person you are shooting just to get a head and shoulders shot...