Originally posted by Spyhopper I am in the market for a new zoom lens - something with a good range (very wide angle <20mm up to around 200mm), sharp, and somewhat fast with good bokeh. Any strong suggestions? I am semi-professional and looking for something of good quality. There are so many back-and-forths out there in lens reviews, but I am just wondering what people are really in love with. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
P.S. I shoot with a Pentax K5iis.
Originally posted by Spyhopper I have the 55-300mm which I use quite a bit, but it's not wide enough. I've looked at the 18-135 quite a lot (it would work quite well for me), but have heard mixed reviews on it. Thoughts on that?
Let's be realistic, for $600 it is just not happening. You say you want sharpest and fastest? The sharpest and fastest 300mm lens starts at $2500 and goes up from there. A sharp fast
zoom to 300mm? Well there's only one for the Pentax mount, the Sigma 100-300 F4 and that is a rare beast but will cost you $1000+ if you can find it. I own both the DA55-300 and the Sigma and I can tell you unequivocally the Sigma beats the DA into submission, its in a different league.
You want a sharp fast UWA? That alone will be minimum $300 and that will get you to 50mm if you go with the Tamron or Sigma 17-50. Wider? Well the Sigma 10-20 costs $400 plus. If you want pro results from 20-300mm, you need to buy 2-3 lenses, one lens at a time and be prepared to probably triple that budget.
If you want to know what is in my kit: Sigma 10-20/Tamron 17-50/Sigma 20-40/Sigma 70 Macro/FA50 Macro/FA100 Macro/Sigma 100-300 - That's my "Go everywhere be prepared for anything, all stuffed in one bag" kit.
Other lenses I would consider would be the DA*60-250 or finding a discontinued Sigma 70-200 and/or Sigma 50-150.
That's a lot more than $600 worth of glass and as a self described "semi-pro" myself, these are really MY only options. This is based on nearly 10 years of buying/selling/using/testing lenses to fit my shooting style and IQ needs.
The real question should have been, "I have $600 and I want to start building my pro level kit, what do I buy first?" - the easy answer then is something in the 10-50mm range. And the options have all been mentioned (Sigma/Tamron 17-50 a Sigma 10-20 or maybe a used DA* 16-50) that's all that's in that price range unless you find discontinued glass somewhere. Regarding the 18-135, its slightly better than a kit lens as far as I'm concerned, so it should not be in a "pro" kit unless you are hiking Mt Everest and can only carry one lens.
Last edited by nomadkng; 09-17-2014 at 11:34 AM.