[kirkmahr]

I thought I was being paranoid on my lens crisis now and then.
I need to do a lot of catching up!

I have one question, how do you decide which lens to carry around from 30 lenses? I am thinking many of them must be very close in terms of focal length, or performance and form factor.

Great question!
I had the same problem buying all the lenses I could afford. But, then I bought the newest Sigma 17-70. Awesome lens. Then I went through a couple longer Sigma zooms (I can not afford a large Pentax, yet) and finally bit the bullet and got the new 50-500mm.
I then sold everything else, all the Takumars and other classic glass.
I kept:
Pentax 50mm 1.8, for indoors. Only used for this, rarely on the camera.
Tamron BBar MC 55BB, a great 500mm mirror. Super light and somewhat compact. For long shots in good daylight only not needing autofocus..
Sigma 17-70mm, fantastic lens for landscape and macro. When not doing long shots this is on the camera.
Sigma 50-500mm HSM OS. Although very heavy, if taking long shots requiring autofocus speed I take this one.
I also have polarized filters for each and is on the lenses unless situation says to remove.

Works for me. I quit buying lenses

Cheers,
Kirk

[Saltwater Images]

To add to promacjoe's advice…zooms are great to start with. Choosing to mostly use primes isn't for everyone. It requires more shooting discipline and planning unless you want to carry two camera bodies...

[tuco]

Sell all the lenses that are not on your wish list, recuperate a percentage of what's been spent, chalk that up to the expense of the hobby and get the lenses you want. I don't think many people get their ideal set of lenses the first go at spending money on them. Sometimes you need the experience of using and working with the other lenses to help you know what you really want.

[jrpower10]

So,jrpower10, 12 lenses and at least two bodies along them I bet in that trip!

Exactly!

[EarlVonTapia]

The only way to know is try them all out! Then you'll settle on a few that you like.

Also, check my sig for a good lens recommendation.

[JibbaJab]

The only way to know is try them all out! Then you'll settle on a few that you like.

Also, check my sig for a good lens recommendation.

Ha! That's hilarious!

[beachgardener]

There are loads of great lenses Pentax and third party, go for it, find your path in the Pentax forest

[TaoMaas]

Maybe I have the so-called Lens Buying Addiction...

And now, if I add up the cost of all the lenses I've come to own (30?)

Sorry...there's no "maybe" to it...you have LBA! To me, it sounds like you need to stop reading reviews. On paper, there will always be something better...and that just feeds into LBA. In the real world, there's often not a lot of visible difference. And even those real differences can often be nullified by other factors (shooting hand-held vs on a tripod...using lower ISO...# of megapixels...post-processing skill...etc...). I'm glad you've come around to 3rd party manufacturers, although I somewhat disagree that there are all that many lenses out there that are better than what Pentax offers. In the film days, it used to be more important to stay within a family of lenses because their color-cast would be similar. But in the digital age, that's no longer a consideration.

[northcoastgreg]

And now, if I add up the cost of all the lenses I've come to own (30?), I realize I could have bought three or four of Pentax's very best lenses, and have a great but small, minimalist kit! Am I going down the wrong road?

It depends on a number of factors. A minimalist kit, even if it involves the very best lenses, would likely be a generalist kit, with few, if any specialty lenses. I have 18 K-Mount lenses, of which about 12 get used at least on a semi-regular basis. Some of those lenses, like DA 10-17 and the DFA 100 Macro, are pure specialty lenses, and don't get a ton of use, but I'm sure glad to have them, as they can do things my more generalist lenses can't.

Minimalist kits, however good they may be, always involve trade-offs and compromises. Is your minimalist kit going to consist of zooms, or primes? If the former, you'll be sacrificing at least a bit of quality (and maybe lens speed) for focal range diversity. If the latter, they'll be huge FOV gaps in your system.

I think there's a simple rule to prevent the very worst excesses of LBA: only get and keep those lenses that (1) give you results that you are satisfied with and (2) that get at least semi-regular use. If you have lenses sitting around that are rarely, if ever used, then you are indulging in lens collection, rather than photography.

---------- Post added 12-10-14 at 08:09 AM ----------

The trouble with my mishmash lenses were the SMC A and FA produced a warmer rendering than the DA lenses. I wanted consistency as well as a compact kit. Today I use the HD DA 21, HD DA 40 and am waiting on the HD DA 70

That's an interesting approach, and a smart way to achieve it. I actually prefer inconsistency of color rendering between various lenses, as it gives me more options. Then I can choose whatever lens best fits, in terms of focal range and color rendering, what I'm trying achieve with a given subject. (It also provides a convenient justification for owning more lenses!)

[FantasticMrFox]

Am I going down the wrong road?

The 'right' road is to buy the lenses that you need to take the pictures you want to take and find a balance between the highest possible image quality and the largest amount of money you are willing to pay, regardless of manufacturer. Size and characteristics such as weather sealing are secondary features to take into consideration.

You say you might have acquired some high-qualtiy Pentax glass instead of tons of third party stuff - at the same time you might as well have acquired something like a Sigma ART instead of low quality Pentax lenses. You don't need a pure Pentax kit, sometimes third party lenses beat what Pentax offers, sometimes they don't.

I don't quite get what some people in this forum are doing, buying dozens of vintage lenses just because they find them cheap somewhere. It might be a thrill and enjoyable activity in its own, but it doesn't really further your photographic mission. The only reason I own a used SMC A 50 f/1.7 is because I wanted to try out primes and couldn't (and didn't want to) afford something more modern (with AF) that's as sharp with comparable image quality.

I am on a student budget and have a pretty straight forward plan - I'll acquire a certain lens kit that serves my needs: one ultra-wide angle for landscapes and astro, a weather sealed normal zoom for versatility in adverse conditions, one tele-zoom for wildlife and a 35 and 50 mm prime for superior image quality in documentary photography and portraits. The majority of these lenses will be Pentax, but for the 35 mm I will go with the Sigma 35 ART and who knows what I'll get in the 50 range. I will never buy tons of lenses that will collect dust on my shelves. And even though I'm on a budget, I will proceed to only get lenses that are worth it instead of buying a cheap one first, then upgrading to a decent one, then buying a great one - in the end that'll cost me much more.

It'll take a lot of time to build the kit I have in mind, but I'll get there

[Saltwater Images]

One additional consideration to add…consistency of filter sizes. All DA Limited's (HD and Original Series) have a standard 49mm filter size. This significantly reduces the number of filters/polarizers you carry. Requiring less because you can use them on all lenses; means that you can purchase higher quality filters/polarizers. Changes to rendering can be applied consistently across all lenses (much easier on the thought process too!).

[FantasticMrFox]

Requiring less because you can use them on all lenses; means that you can purchase higher quality filters/polarizers. Changes to rendering can be applied consistently across all lenses (much easier on the thought process too!).

One word (okay, three): step up adapters

[Saltwater Images]

Yes but 49mm filters are less expensive than larger sizes AND you don't need step up adapters:-)