Every person has his or her priorities. I don't mind the weight of the DA* 16-50, and appreciate f/2.8 all the way. I'm taking my small kit to Hawaii when we visit my bother's widow at Christmas this year. K10D, DA* 16-50, DA 12-24, DA-L 55-300, Battery charger in a LowePro AW100 sling bag.
I'll put a light weight tripod into the baggage, and that is my kit for 10 days in the tropics. For a really light rig, I have gone out for the day with only the 12-24 and 55-300. The gap is not ideal, but I appreciate wider than 16mm more than closing the gap. If we start at the 12mm end of the rig, and use the rule of thumb from pre-zoom days of lens ratio steps of 2x, the lens selection of focal lengths would be 12, 24, 50, 100, 200, 400. Start from 300 using standard sizes of the day and fudging as we did, 300, 135, 55, 28, 14. Pretty close, isn't it? For many years, my kit was basic: 28, 55, 135.
I don't miss having to change lenses a dozen times in a day very much, and modern zooms are really quite good, particularly if one seldom prints larger than 11x14 inches. And yes, I do print larger from time to time. It takes careful work with the camera.
---------- Post added 2014-02-28 at 15:18 ----------
Originally posted by grahame The FA Ltds ARE TOO GOOD. They are so good that whenever there is a tiny bit of chance that the lens might get abused, I will keep them at home. I never take them with me to hiking. 35/2.4 or 40/2.8 goes with me in that case.
I am afraid that I do not follow this line of thinking. I take the lenses I like the best with me from the ones I own. If I were in prime mode, and I had a $2,000 Zeiss, that would be the 50 I took with me. Hiking, boating, whatever. Why leave them home? I've been shooting in strange and stranger places since 1961, and have yet to break a lens.