[voxxonline]

What happens if I go a bit higher - 85 + till approx 105 ?
It will take some time to read through lens rankings, but when I see sigma 85 mm with such a high review rank It is tempting to shortlist it ..
Or I should not and better be within (ok) 50 / 70 / 80 ?

[jbuck92]

Getting into the higher lengths would just depend on how much working space you generally have. A 70 will still be usable indoors for headshots and shoulder-up. A 100 will be much harder to squeeze into your average room.

[voxxonline]

But having 30 mm is not covering indoors ?
You say it is way too big gap between 30 and ~100 ?

[jbuck92]

I think having a 30mm and a 100mm would be a bit too long of a gap personally. A 30-70-100 or 30-50-100 would be a better progression in my opinion. Some others might have differing opinions also

[voxxonline]

Understood.

What do you think about 3rd party lenses and vintage primes aka russian ?

[VoiceOfReason]

If you want really cheap with decent performance keep the Sigma you have, then buy a Tamron/Sigma 70-300 Macro (they occasionally come up in the sales section for 100 -150 or so) and a Sigma 18-50 f/2.8-4.5 OS HSM (those occasionally come up for 150 or so). or, even a Pentax 55-300 DA-L which has the same optics as the DA 55-300, just a plastic mount. You could have a heck of a range for 300 or so dollars, and those really will give you somethign to work with for quite soem time.

[voxxonline]

I keep sigma.
I get ~ 70 prime
Next step is ~ 15 for landscapes

After- will see.

Does it sound right ?

[VoiceOfReason]

That's not goign to be cheap, and personally I've found primes to be too limiting. "Zoom with your feet" doesn't always work nor is it always possible. While primes are nice most people will be better served for everyday photography with zooms.

[voxxonline]

I can always move to the zooms if not fancy moving feet

BTW, is this true for wide angle lens how fast it is - less critical criteria ?

[VoiceOfReason]

It all depends on where you are shooting. It sounds like you're going to be outdoors in daylight more than anything, so speed is less of a factor. On my Tamron 10-24 I almost never have it wide open. When shooting outdoors, like for landscape, a smaller aperture is needed to get more stuff in focus. The people that like teh super fast primes are generally trying to isolate a subject. That's fine for wildlife like a bird on a limb, but not so good for wide open vistas. When shooting outdoors stuff, depending on the lens, you will find yourself near f/8 more often than not.

[voxxonline]

Oh my...
It looks like I have just got winning bid for a takumar 55 mm F 1.8 ....

[p38arover]

Some of the suggestions made here are fairly expensive. Perhaps if you told us what your budget is, we could suggest within that.

[voxxonline]

the 55 is purely for a trying out pentax legacy Just need to figure out which adapter.
It is not expensive, so I am still looking forward towards 70-80 range prime.
Later on I am thinking of getting film era wide angle lens- probably it is a good choice as it does not have to be automatically focused- just put it on a tripod, take your time , set and done ! Landscape photography does not have to be fast or rushing...I think

[voxxonline]

My budget- depends. I see it is possible to get decent pictures with da 70, but limited 77 is well worth looking into, and as long 77 is truly reference lens- I d say price of it S/H (not sure if it is still in production) is the limit. It doesnt have to be that expensive, but you get what you pay for
It will just take longer to save.

[voxxonline]

Quickly run through the lenses:
Sigma 70 F2.8 ex dg- macro but can work as a portrait/else
Samyang 85 f1.4 - a bit bigger length but reviews are great
SMC DA 70 F2.4 - good lens and cheaper than:
SMC FA 77 1.8 - which is league of its own ?

Probably missed someting , if you know alternatives please let me know