[Capture Lights]

is your money, as long as you are enjoying it, why not?!
I think is good to try them out (buy-sell-buy) to find out which focal length+camera combination you like the most.

That's LBA right? buying and spending...

My LBA was largely fed by shopgoodwill.com, but I don't think I'll be buying many more lenses. Some might even have to be sold to fund a CLA for the LX so I can use some of the others properly.

Yeah, sometime LBA need to be funded by Selling those that we buy... which fuels the process over and over...

I look at things differently. I do have LBA/GAS, but it's fairly focused. I got an 18-55 WR with my body, expanded to a 75-300mm sigma DL zoom, and now I'm thinking wider angle than the 18-55 can do. I want lower aperture for faster shooting in low light , with the wider angle (not quite panoramic). And maybe I'll top it off with a fixed prime such as a 50mm 1.4 m42 thorium lens (general use/portraits/macro), or a different prime to make up the gap between the 55mm of the 18-55, and the 75mm of the sigma. Since I do landscapes, astrophotography, and the occasional wildlife shot, I think I'm pretty much set. But I'm going to agree with everyone on the point that you need to focus on what you plan on shooting and work from there. If I didn't have an idea of what I wanted to shoot, there's no way I could be thinking of the limited amt. of glass I'm planning above. And don't discount that old screwmount m42 glass, either.

I've the same approach as you previously. with the 17-50 and 90, i'm able to satisfy most of my landscape and niche needs. but sometime you just want to try out something different and hold the desired lens in hand.... and that's where LBA/GAS kicks in...

My problem with GAS is that so many times a lens or two are dependent upon others in the kit. If an opportunity pops up in a certain range, other lenses I like a lot will become redundant and some will leave. Repeat ad nauseum with multiple other lenses. Some times I repent of the new lens, so maybe an old favorite will reappear... for a while.

I can now say I like what I have (manual primes, AF zooms)* - yet I look back a year and I said the same with an entirely different set! I miss my 16-45, 28-75, DA70 and several others from my past - but I cannot afford to be too redundant quite yet e.g. DA70 and M85 may be enough different for some folks but I can't own both with a clear conscience.

So it all makes sense at the time -- but times change.

* hmmm how did that 21-35 Sigma and 80-200 JCPenney get in my bag?

Its funny how every set can be good, but you have to let some go at one point or another, there's just not enough green papers to go around to trade for these lens >.<

Yeah, that's the problem, there's so much good stuff, and so few dollars.

If you can become proficient with older, manual focus lenses, that helps. My current "basic" lens setup:

Wide angle: DA21 - bought used (as a present from my brother) for $319 from KEH.
Portrait: Jupiter-9 85/2 - $150 on eBay. I don't do portraiture, but there's lot lot of versatility there, and the image quality is excellent. I eventually did receive a DA70 as a present.
Macro: Promaster 100/3.5 AF Macro. - $68 on eBay. Same optics as the Pentax FA 100/3.5 Macro.
Tele: Takumar 200/4 - picked up locally for $27.50. Very sharp, nice bokeh.

The Tamron 70-200 is a very good lens, and better enough than your old 70-300 that you can crop it enough to make it effectively 300mm compared with the old lens.

I, too, once thrashed around with my lens selection, wound up selling nearly everything a couple years ago and used a P&S for half a year. Since re-entering the Pentax system, I've been much more focused on my lens selection, and its worked out well.

I still have many manual lens myself, such as the A 135 2.8, A 28 2.8, K 50 1.4, K 28 3.5, M42 500 4.5 but it seems like the focus is very difficult to deal with without focus peaking. i do have many shots with these lens that i like alot, but more often then not, i miss the shot and had to delete those that's out of focus.

I'm on the same boat. I thought that obtaining the K28 f2 would cure my LBA and I would never need another lens on the 25-31 mm range but a recent test I conducted got me looking if the K28 f3.5 would better suite outdoor shooting at fully wide open or even get that FA31 limited. Don't get me wrong, I love my K28 f2 and would never part with it but LBA sucks. At least I now know I prefer the 28mm-31mm range and the 50mm-60mm range. Any other range would just be occasionally use. And also I know now that I'm more of a prime lens user.

hummm the 28 2... wonder how it compares with the a 28 2.8... i need to stop thinking, lol, otherwise it'd be shipped to my house before long.

You could always earn more money. Usually just takes hard work and a concerted effort, but most can do it if they set their mind to it. Doesn't solve your problem right now, but does in the long term.

But if not, then another suggestion I have is to buy a lens and shoot with only that lens for a month. Shoot with it every single day. You will learn to love something about most any lens this way. There's a group here on PF where we all do that called the"single in..." And then the name of whatever month.

Earning money isnt hard, but there's just so much things to buy out there, and rents to pay, and utilities to open, and mouths to feed.

but i like the idea of tryout out different lens and see what's most suitable for me, which mean ill have to get them on my hand...LBA/GAS...

[northcoastgreg]

That would be truly GAS... for me anyway, i would have no money to get the 70-200 or 50 if i didnt sold the other two...

Paradoxically, lack of purchasing power can sometimes fuel GAS, particularly when the collecting mania is not in full play. If I could just buy what I wanted, I'd have done so and there wouldn't be any need to find something better. But because I have limited funds, I have to settle for what are essentially compromises. Nonetheless, I'm fairly pleased with what I have currently, but I couldn't help but notice on my Glacier NP trip last month that my DA 15, in terms of color and contrast, out-performed my other glass. And now I'm thinking it would sure be nice to have DA 15 IQ in other focal ranges.

I think the main thing with GAS and LBA to avoid is collecting mania. Once you've gone down that long and pitiless road, there's no coming back. You're in the deepest throes of the disease, and only death will cure you.

[Capture Lights]

Paradoxically, lack of purchasing power can sometimes fuel GAS, particularly when the collecting mania is not in full play. If I could just buy what I wanted, I'd have done so and there wouldn't be any need to find something better. But because I have limited funds, I have to settle for what are essentially compromises. Nonetheless, I'm fairly pleased with what I have currently, but I couldn't help but notice on my Glacier NP trip last month that my DA 15, in terms of color and contrast, out-performed my other glass. And now I'm thinking it would sure be nice to have DA 15 IQ in other focal ranges.

I think the main thing with GAS and LBA to avoid is collecting mania. Once you've gone down that long and pitiless road, there's no coming back. You're in the deepest throes of the disease, and only death will cure you.

lol, that's a bit scary, what you said in the second comment.

I think you're right on the first part! it seems like the reason i purchase and purchase and purchase is because i couldn't get the ultimate lens that i wanted, due to price.

This in turn, give you an feeling that you're compromising something, that there are better options out there, and as you get more purchasing power, you would naturally want to upgrade to something that's closer to the ultimate lens that you've always wanted to obtain!

[Lowell Goudge]

I understand both of your points. however, for now, with my current amount of spare change, i want to keep an maximum of 3 lens in my bag that i used the most.

I think ill just have to try out the newly owned 70-200 and 50 and see how things went, if everything went well, then i might only need to add another da 15 to cover the wider end =)

you might want to look at legacy lenses also.

I know this is not perhaps your main objective, but I have a rather extensive M42 kit that cost over the time i put it together, about the same as a sigma 70-200/2.8 brand new.

here is what i got.

16mmF2.8 Zenitar fisheye,
24mmF2.5 tamron adaptall II,
28mm Vivitar F2.5,
35MMF2 SMC Takumar,
50mmF1.4 super tak,
50mmF4 SMC Macro Tak,
55mmF1.8 SMC Tak,
58mmF2 helios,
85mmF1.7 super tak,
90mmF2.5 tamron adaptall 2 macro,
105mmF2.8 vernon Edonar Preset,
135mmF2.8 tele lentar preset,
2x 135FF3.5 SMC Tak,
180mmF4 SIgma preset,
200mmF3.5 Tak preset,
200mmF4 SMC Tak,
300mmF4.5 Nikkor H modified to M42


this surely will fill your needs for the price of a 70-200

[luftfluss]

I still have many manual lens myself, such as the A 135 2.8, A 28 2.8, K 50 1.4, K 28 3.5, M42 500 4.5 but it seems like the focus is very difficult to deal with without focus peaking. i do have many shots with these lens that i like alot, but more often then not, i miss the shot and had to delete those that's out of focus.

Using manual focus is like getting to Carnegie Hall... practice, practice, practice. Of course, I do miss AF sometimes.

[Capture Lights]

you might want to look at legacy lenses also.

I know this is not perhaps your main objective, but I have a rather extensive M42 kit that cost over the time i put it together, about the same as a sigma 70-200/2.8 brand new.

here is what i got.

16mmF2.8 Zenitar fisheye,
24mmF2.5 tamron adaptall II,
28mm Vivitar F2.5,
35MMF2 SMC Takumar,
50mmF1.4 super tak,
50mmF4 SMC Macro Tak,
55mmF1.8 SMC Tak,
58mmF2 helios,
85mmF1.7 super tak,
90mmF2.5 tamron adaptall 2 macro,
105mmF2.8 vernon Edonar Preset,
135mmF2.8 tele lentar preset,
2x 135FF3.5 SMC Tak,
180mmF4 SIgma preset,
200mmF3.5 Tak preset,
200mmF4 SMC Tak,
300mmF4.5 Nikkor H modified to M42


this surely will fill your needs for the price of a 70-200

Using manual focus is like getting to Carnegie Hall... practice, practice, practice. Of course, I do miss AF sometimes.

Where i'm currently standing, i'm confident with manual lens with focal length under 50mm, however, anything above that will requires many and many shots to get even one in focus, especially at the larger aperture. (ex, 2.8 and below, therefore AF are preferred)