Originally posted by Talanath So I'm guessing that if I'm looking to go wider than 28m, then the DA35, although a brilliant lens by the sounds of it, may not actually be what I'm currently looking for. Any ideas how long this will remain in production?
Probably quite a while. Don't expect it to go away anytime soon.
Quote: In terms of the 24s, it sounds like there should be plenty of good options. What's the highest one would go for when looking at a 24mm/2.8? I'm aware that 2.5 aperture and below can raise the price a lot.
Why, I would pay up to US$25 for a Lentar-Tokina 25/3.5!! I almost did a few weeks ago but blew my budget on dental work instead. Bummer. Anyway, you should be able to find a 24/2.8 marked Vivitar or Sigma or even Pentax in the US$50-100 range. Search eBay for 24MM PENTAX, then click on COMPLETED LISTINGS to see the real-world prices.
I must say that except for taking my (not cheap) Vivitar-Kiron 24/2 to shoot my grandkids, I mostly don't use 21-25mm primes now, doing very well there with the afore-mentioned Cosina-made Vivitar Series 1 19-35, or my Tamron 10-24. The slower primes mostly get
pity focks irregular usage in my LOTD (lens of the day) strategy.
Quote: I may definitely look at getting a couple of cheap replacement kit lenses as well to cover those situations when composition is really important and I can't move to gt in position. I hate the idea of post processing (cropping etc), purely because I am quite lazy, so I always find it important to get it right then and there. But I love the image quality of primes!
I still recommend the Vivitar 19-35 and the F35-70. Except for speed, these two are nearly as good as primes. Short focal ranges can be like that. One member here just bought the Cosina AF version of the 19-35 for just US$70 plus shipping, a great deal! And others here justifiably recommend the Tamron 17-50/2.8, a bargain for what it does.
In focal ranges where I have very good zooms, my main justifications for primes are mainly speed and IQ, and secondarily character (ie old slow lenses). So I'll carry the 19-35 and 35-70, supplemented by f/2 lenses at 24-28-35mm, and some tiny 35-40mm primes at f/4.5-f/11. Stopped down to f/11, IQ may be nearly indistinguishable across many different lenses. But an f/4.5 lens wide-open has different qualities than a f/2 lens stopped-down to f/4.5. Uh oh, LBA bites again!
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About shooting perfect pictures: How are the results to be seen? On a computer screen only? Or will they be printed? It's very tempting to get the composition EXACTLY RIGHT and snap the shutter. Now you have a perfect picture... in 3:2 aspect. So you go a frame shop... and find that most affordable frames+mattes are in 5:4 aspect. So now you have a choice: crop the picture, or matte it screwy?
One reason 6x7 MF was popular with pros (and Pentax ruled the roost!) is that only the slightest cropping is needed to fit a 7:6 image into a 5:4 frame. Many P&S cams output 5:4, and most dSLRs output 3:2, and they take more trimming. I think you'll find that many toggers shooting for prints leave croppable margins around their subjects. It's along tradition: compose in the darkroom, not in the camera.