[rr1736]

Look at the Sigma 18-250 a nice walking around lens that wont break the bank

Can somebody suggest 2-3 good lenses that work best with K3...that will cover 10/11mm to 200/300mm. Are Tamron lenses good?

The Tamron 28-75/2.8 is a very good lens and a very good value. First lens I bought in 2007 and I use it on jobs today without hesitation. It is very versatile, a great walk about and travel lens.
Here are a few recent examples Color of Spring

The Pentax 17-70/4 is also a very good value with a little wider range Picture Days 2015 , at the cost of a stop.

The Pentax DA 12-24 is a great wide angle, always in my bag St Phillips At Night

[kkgiyer]

Thanks so much for the support...This was my first post and so many good recommendations. Great forum. I am not a pro but just a hobbyist and spend time with friends and family and use it for family pics and at events.

I had a Canon 70D for almost 2 yrs...had purchased it when it was released and had three lenses that worked well (when it worked). The Tokina 11-16, 18-55 and Cannon 70-300 (very good lens) and the 50 1.4 prime. But the camera had an inherent issue with the dual pixel technology when focusing through the viewfinder. I lived with it for all the time and finally got pissed off with Canon support and ended up selling all the Canon products. No more Canon. I wanted to buy the Nikon 7100 badly but had a fell of a plastic toy in my hands and assumed all products are made cheap. Would have gone with the Sony alpha series...but wanted to try something different. I had never thought I will buy a Pentax. I saw a wonderful post by a pro who compared the Nikon D800 to K3 and according to him K3 beat D800. Without any further research I ordered the K3 (6 months ago). The feel of K3 is great!!!!!!! But I did not find comparable lens combination as with Canon. Except for the 18-55, I could not lenses in the same price range with the same quality.

I was at work when I posted this question and did not mention the lenses I have and use with the K3. Sorry for posting an incomplete question. But I think I got some open feedback about the lenses I have now. It will certainly help me do more comparison with the lenses many have recommended and try in future.

I have the Tamron 10-24 and 28-75 and I am happy with both the lenses. I also have the 55-300 HD lens which I did not like so much as the results are not consistent especially when focusing on objects that are not that far away and the final images are not sharp at all. I am talking to the support on this hoping they will be able to help. I see a lot of excellent pics in the forum and wonder if they were actually shot with the K3 and 55-300 HD lens.

But all the lenses needed much MFA to get acceptable results and I am still not happy with the end results as it may need a different adjustment at the wide and and tele end. Is there a way to get that done like in the other cameras?

May be the body needs some calibration as well or could be the lenses.

[simon_199]

My experience is surely limited, but to me it seems that all the lenses from my "macro holy trinity":

DA 35mm f2.8 Limited Macro
DFA 50mm f2.8 Macro
DFA 100mm f2.8 Macro WR

with their respective strengths, in terms of pure resolution and sharpness can fully take advantage of the high resolution 24MP sensor on the K-3, and make it shine.
Maybe you are after zoom lenses, but if you want to try a single, versatile (as versatile as a "normal" field of view can be) high quality prime lens i'd buy the DA35mm Limited in an instant. Compact, lightweight, beautifully made, a joy to use.

[Glenn5995]

....

But all the lenses needed much MFA to get acceptable results and I am still not happy with the end results as it may need a different adjustment at the wide and and tele end. Is there a way to get that done like in the other cameras?

May be the body needs some calibration as well or could be the lenses.

In the menu go to custom settings #26 and you can fine tune the Auto Focus for each lens.

[kkgiyer]

But that only lets us use a single correction for a given lens on the wide end and the tele end. For example, if I set a -10 for a Tamron 10-24mm lens, it applies the correct for every FL. But when I tried to take pics at various FLs, I observed it only needs correction on the wide end. On the tele side of the lens, it hardly needs any correction. So that is making it difficult to use the lens..

[Glenn5995]

Sorry, I can't help you with that problem.

[guinnessman]

My primary lenses are the Sigma 10-20, Tamron 17-50, and Tamron 70-200, although TBH, I never liked the 70-200 all that much on my K20 (slow AF and it was decentered, I bought it used, but I don't understand who I bought it from never noticed it). I also think it might of had some BF/FF issues too. Maybe the adage, you get what you pay for is true.

K3 does have faster AF, and I just got the 70-200 repaired through Tamron, which so far seems to have corrected the decentering. I've read that the 17-50 has similar QC issues, but mine has been tack sharp (bought used through KEH), and the Sigma is generally my favorite lens. I will probably get the Pentax 18-135 or pony up for the 16-85, as I don't have any WR lenses ATM.

[6BQ5]

I'm very happy with my DA 18-135mm as a travel super-zoom. The lens is sharp, especially at the wide end, and offers WR seals for a bit of protection. It's a sturdy tube of glass

Sigma makes an 8-16mm and a 10-20mm UWA lens. Both lenses are not cheap but should provide you with the 10mm you requested.

I have a FA 100-300mm for the tele end of photography. It works great but AF speed is a little slow. Not terrible but not super fast either.

[Class A]

But that only lets us use a single correction for a given lens on the wide end and the tele end.

The only way to address this issue without compromise and without hacking is to use one of the recent Sigma lenses that support the Sigma lens dock.

Then you can specify AF correction values for different combinations of zoom setting and subject distance.

The "hacking" alternative is to dump the lens EEPROM contents, identify the locations of the AF values, modify them, and upload the new contents to the lens EEPROM again.

The lenses I'd recommend are:
Sigma 10-20 (or 8-16)
Tamron 28-75 (or Sigma 17-70)
Sigma 100-300/4 (or Pentax 60-250/4)

The Pentax 55-300 represents very good value for money but needs stopping down and is not very fast. In terms of rendering, it will also be beaten by its much more expensive rivals. It is still a great kit lens, in particular in the WR incarnation, but it is not a top lens optically.

[kkgiyer]

Thanks Class A for the reply. I am not sure how to do the hacking option and if it will make the lenses unusable. Any suggestions on how to do it and does it work on Tamron and Pentax lenses.