[rawr]

I'll sure appreciate that extra stop and a half for some of my concert work.

I just wish they made it to cover a longer focal length = eg for my purposes a 35-70 f1.8 would be more useful.

Maybe they could do another few lenses to cover all the gaps from 18-105mm - so they would have 18-35, 35-70, 70-105. All at 1.8. Would be awesome.

[Sandy Hancock]

Maybe they could do another few lenses to cover all the gaps from 18-105mm - so they would have 18-35, 35-70, 70-105. All at 1.8. Would be awesome.

You can wish for whatever you want. I prefer to deal with reality.
Anyway, Pentax already makes what you are looking for; the FA limited shoe leather zooms cover that range beautifully

[Kozlok]

You can wish for whatever you want. I prefer to deal with reality.
Anyway, Pentax already makes what you are looking for; the FA limited shoe leather zooms cover that range beautifully

I just wish it came with a pony.

[normhead]

Thanks for sharing. Looks really good this lens. I like the range, even though I agree that 16-30 would have been even better.

But it seems I'm gravitating towards small and light so I guess it won't be for me.

OK, now why would 30 instead of 35 have been better? To state the obvious, you can set an 18-35 to 30, but you can't set an 18-30 to 35. Given that distinct advantage, I'm not getting what you're talking about? What am I missing?

[rawr]

the FA limited shoe leather zooms cover that range beautifully

True. I have indeed been tempted by those recently.

[VoiceOfReason]

OK, now why would 30 instead of 35 have been better? To state the obvious, you can set an 18-35 to 30, but you can't set an 18-30 to 35. Given that distinct advantage, I'm not getting what you're talking about? What am I missing?

He wanted to give up 5 on the long side for 2 more on the wide side, 16-30 rather than 18-35. Of course the 18-35 will be absolutely perfect for me.

[savoche]

OK, now why would 30 instead of 35 have been better? To state the obvious, you can set an 18-35 to 30, but you can't set an 18-30 to 35. Given that distinct advantage, I'm not getting what you're talking about? What am I missing?

He wanted to give up 5 on the long side for 2 more on the wide side, 16-30 rather than 18-35. Of course the 18-35 will be absolutely perfect for me.

Exactly.16-35 would be even better, of course, but Sigma set out to make a 2x zoom so that would be out of their scope.

[normhead]

Exactly.16-35 would be even better, of course, but Sigma set out to make a 2x zoom so that would be out of their scope.

I have to work on my reading comprehension skills.... I have the Sigma 8-16 so I'd want a 17-35... consensus can be hard to come by. It does beg the question, 1.8 seems quite achievable in a 50mm lens so why not an 18-50. 1.8 in a 16mm lens... 1.8 on a 16mm lens, or even an 18... is pretty rare. I'm sure the lens experts will jump in and point out a bunch of 18 mm (or wider) ƒ1.8 lenses but the closest I see here is a Canon and Nikon 24mm 1.4s and a SOny 16 2.8. There must be technical issues producing a 16 sub ƒ2 lens, or maybe just no market.

[savoche]

I have to work on my reading comprehension skills.... I have the Sigma 8-16 so I'd want a 17-35... consensus can be hard to come by. It does beg the question, 1.8 seems quite achievable in a 50mm lens so why not an 18-50. 1.8 in a 16mm lens... 1.8 on a 16mm lens, or even an 18... is pretty rare. I'm sure the lens experts will jump in and point out a bunch of 18 mm (or wider) ƒ1.8 lenses but the closest I see here is a Canon and Nikon 24mm 1.4s and a SOny 16 2.8. There must be technical issues producing a 16 sub ƒ2 lens, or maybe just no market.

Yes , I suspect there are technical reasons why there aren't any (or at least not many) wide lenses that fast.

So I guess 18-35 is a good compromise. Still a bit on the heavy side for me, though.

[Cannikin]

I wish they had gone with 16-35 f/2.0 instead as a compromise. Some extra wide angle is quite a bit more useful than an extra 1/3 stop IMO, except for Sigma to say they beat the previous record set by the Olympus SHG lenses.

[TrueFocus]

Every lens can be improved, somehow. But from what I have seen around, the 18-35 will be just amazing. Especially combined with Pentax SR it just kills indoor event work. I cannot think of anything like it.

[Sandy Hancock]

Every lens can be improved, somehow. But from what I have seen around, the 18-35 will be just amazing. Especially combined with Pentax SR it just kills indoor event work. I cannot think of anything like it.

What he said.

[Kozlok]

Every lens can be improved, somehow.

Not to beat a dead horse, but ALL lenses can be improved by including a free pony. Why doesn't somebody at Pentax marketing listen to me, don't they know that the thing I want is more important than all the crazy stuff everyone else wants? Wh cares if it's 16mm or 18mm or f1.8 vs f2, as long as there's a pony in the box. And a bigger box.

Sarcasm, my favorite.

[thornburg]

Every lens can be improved, somehow. But from what I have seen around, the 18-35 will be just amazing. Especially combined with Pentax SR it just kills indoor event work. I cannot think of anything like it.

There's nothing like it, that's true.

But if you really want great indoor/low light work, then go Full Frame. A real pro camera (e.g. Nikon D4) will give you more than a full f-stop improvement over the top camera in Pentax's current line, as well as wider field of view. So a typical 24-70/2.8 lens on a pro body will give you a larger zoom range and similar exposure values. Using a fast prime on the Pro DSLR will outdo anything any Pentax is capable of.

OTOH, a Pentax K-5 ii (or ii s) + Sigma 18-35/1.8 will run less than half the cost of a Pro DSLR + 24-70/2.8.

You could buy two sets, plus two 70-200/2.8's (or similar) and be ready for weddings.

[sam-joseph]

Kozlok, it's completely nonsensical to expect a pony with every new lens. As Thornburg pointed out, Pentax camera equipment is already cheaper than the competition's high-end stuff. So the best you could realistically hope for might be a stray dog. Packaging might be a problem though.

Regards