I will apologise for the long post, but trying to get sorted in my head where all this kit is going and its usefull to have it all down!
I am in the process of putting some standard kits together for Film (B&W and Colour) and Digital (APS-C). I am on the verge of ordering a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 to cover the APS-C zoom, mainly to use for work and other walkabout bits.
I am buying a new DSLR, likely the K3 or K3II (TBC later this week).
Here is where I am:
35mm B&W - I love this combo, nice light and I don't mind if it gets knocked about.
Pentax MZ-5N
Pentax SMC K 55mm f1.8
35mm Colour - Nice and simple walkaround set
Pentax MZ-S
Pentax SMC FA 20-35mm f4
Pentax SMC FA 43mm f1.9 Limited
Pentax SMC K 85mm f1.8
APS-C - I will use this for landscape and some work based projects (portraits, people and buildings)
Pentax K-01 / (DSLR will be confirmed in the next week)
UWA Slot
Tamron SP 28-75mm f2.8
Pentax SMC FA 135mm f2.8
For the moment, I will be using the FA20-35 as the WA in the APS-C bag but I would like something wider.
I had a
DA14 which was my first UWA lens but I sold it to fund the FA135. I liked the DA14 for its combination of reasonable sharpness across the frame (not outstanding even stopped down), good flare resistance and 6-sided light stars. The f2.8 was nice but I almost never used it other than f8-f11 or higher.
The light stars is a feature I like (from the straight 6-sided aperture) as I like night shots and I find the mushy light stars from the
Sigma 10-20mm lenses quite distracting.
I am looking for a UWA that has:
Good, even, sharpness across the frame
Nice sun and light stars
77mm filters (ideal but not essential) or able to take filters at least (essential)
It will be used mostly at f8-f11+ so wide open performace or speed is not essential.
The
Pentax 12-24mm seems to be ideal (Sharpness, 77mm filters, flexible zoom) but sort of put off by the amount of CA that it seems to produce, even more than the DA14. The
DA15 looks to be a bit fiddly with filter use but apart from that fits the bill.
The
Tamron 10-24mm looks OK but generally gets bad reviews, good value but thats it.
There is the
Samyang 16mm f2.0 which looks fine, lack of AF is not an issue as it will get used mostly at infinity.
I have ruled out the
Samyang 14mm f2.8,
Sigma 8-16mm and
Sigma 12-24mm f2.8 due to lack of filter threads.
It seems that its a toss up between another
DA14 and the
DA12-24. Acording to tests the DA12-24
should be better.
So, to summarise
, has anyone compared the DA14 and DA12-24 side by side?