[edl]

What about this kit:

1. Sigma or Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8. Fast lens, good walk around and portrait lens. Primes are better but more expansive if you want to cover a lot of focal ranges.

2. Cheap thyristor flash.

3. Sigma or Tamron 70-300mm for telephoto and macro.

4. Kit lens for wide angle.

5. Fast 50 for low light.


If I'd start allover from the beginning I'd keep this sequence.

I think this would be too expensive for the OP. Maybe he should rename the thread to "Ultimate IQ for $ line-up"

I would go with the following:

M28/3.5
M50/1.7 (since the OP has this already)
either M135/3.5 and M200/4, or Tamron 70-300.

I have all these lenses - overall I feel Pentax primes give better contrast, color, and dimensionality, but the Tamron is light, AF, zoom and exposes properly on the k10d. OP didn't mention what body he's using but the exposure can be a PITA if you're trying to work quickly with the K10D.

[hinman]

I suggest to start small with three primes or 2 primes + 1 zoom and go from there. Keep your kit's lens to explore on 18-55. I had my K100D for about a year and LBA has costed me buying a lot of lens and hence less time for the passion in photo taking. Once you get a good prime, you will use less on zoom but you may still want to have a zoom to cover a useful range for convenience.

You hear many people going after the trio with something like the limited in 21mm/43mm/70mm or 77mm.. But those are way out of my budget for hobby. And I find the cheap quality gear to make up my own trio. And you already have your 50mm f/1.7, please hold yourself from buying another 50mm and stick with what you have, the f/1.7 is a good one and in general f/2.0 is plenty even for night time shooting.

I have my cheapo trio costing a small fraction with the ultimate trio in limited lens. I get what I paid for but I am just as satisfied with cheaper gear and learn to concur the obstacles in the pitfalls of cheaper gear. Nothing beats the joy of shooting great pictures with inexpensive gear. But the opposite is also true, it sucks life when you swear on your gear.

• Spiratone 20mm f/2.8 (bought used for $70)
• Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 (new $175 after rebate)
• Jupieter 85mm f/2.0 (bought used $100 with lens hood)

I don't recommend my Spiratone 20mm f/2.8 as yet as I am not satisfied on the sharpness and color. And I have other not-so-wide fixed prime to recommend.

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Wider end:
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• Vivitar 24mm f/2.8 with serial 9 (I paid $5.0)
• Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 (need modification, I paid $20)
• Vivitar 28mm f/2.8 from Komine (serial starts 28, roughly $50)
• Pentax M 28mm f/2.8 (around $50)
• Tokina 19-35 f/3.5-4.5 (around $100 used)

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50mm is covered
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I like my FA 50 f/1.4 for the AF with my boys

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mid-tele (zoom)
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I recommend a zoom instead of a prime as the 70/77/85 are all expensive unless you don't mind something that is hard to use like my Jupiter9 85mm f.2.0.

I recommend these few zooms to study based on your budget

• Pentax DA 50-200 f/4.0-5.6 (about $130 used)
• Pentax SMC FA 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 (about $209 new)
• Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (about $330 new)
• Vivitar 70-150 f/3.8 from Kiron (used, I paid $50 + shipping)

If you are willing to go with manual focus gear, you have a lot of options. But be extremely picky on your purchase.

[gokenin]

Hi Hinman I have to agree with you on this zoom i picked one up off ebay and have to admit that it is rapidly becoming my favorite zoom. The range covers everything I tend to shot and think with the Tamron 1.4x convertor this will be my travel lens along with my 10-17 and probably my fa 50 1.4. Starting to think of maybe selling the tamron and just keeping this as its replacement

[deudeu]

OP didn't mention what body he's using but the exposure can be a PITA if you're trying to work quickly with the K10D.

I have a GX-10 and exposure is a bit of a problem.... It makes it fun and chalenging.

As far as money is concerned, i would really like to stay under the $500 mark for three lenses.
I am pretty set on the zenitar 16mm as a wide angle, and that's $180.
that leaves me with a little over $300 for something longer and something fairly fast in the 25 to 35mm range.

[Deni]

A lot of people have got excellent results out of the kit lens. Are you sure you haven't got a dud?

As for the expenses, I first thiught I'd buy "cheap" stuff but ended with buying a lot of stuff I don't use.

IMO the 28-70mm f/2.8 would cover almost everything. That's ~$300 for a used Tamron or ~$240 for the Sigma. The Tamron is a better choice, according to many, but I'm pretty happy with my Sigma. I'd rather buy one from a reputable member of this forum than a new one from a shop. Both lenses, the Sigma more, are known to have Q.C. issues so a safer bet is to buy a used and tried one.

A cheap thyristor flash can be had for very little money.

After you buy these 2, take a brake, have some fun and then think if you need wider or longer.

1. Sigma or Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8. Fast lens, good walk around and portrait lens. Primes are better but more expansive if you want to cover a lot of focal ranges. $240-$300-ish

2. Cheap thyristor flash. $20-$40-ish

3. Sigma or Tamron 70-300mm for telephoto and macro. $100-$120-ish

4. Kit lens for wide angle. I guess you have it.

5. Fast 50 for low light. $160-$180-ish

Total: 300+40+120+180=$640-ish

It does exceed your budget but you don't have to buy everything right away.