I've been selling some of my lenses and am gearing up for a purchase. I have a few different notions about what I might be looking for, but would love some input from some of you who have owned lenses in this range.
My cameras are K5ii and an 70s MX SLR. I enjoy having lenses that work on both formats, but it's not an absolute. Lenses that I'm keeping include:
DA 18-135 WR
FA 35/2
SMC 50/1.4
Tokina AT-X 90/2.5
Tokina AT-X 100-300/4
Things I value include:
Build quality. I really struggle with flimsy plastic lenses.
I do enjoy small primes, but am not ruling out a fast zoom. Big, bulbous primes however, seem like the worst of both worlds to me.
Image quality, of course
Speed. For indoor shooting without a flash on my dSLR, I notice a big difference between 2.8 and f2. I struggle to get exposure in a lot of circumstances with a 2.8 lens, but the FA35 is almost always fast enough.
I really, really enjoy the 24mm focal length on both dSLR and film formats. It's almost magic for me, usually for photographs like this one:
...even though it was taken at 35mm. Something intimate in the foreground and an opening perspective behind it. Also, Seattle is compact, crowded and dark, so speed and wideness help. It's also useful, of course, for things like cityscape, which I also enjoy.
So, what's on my mind is:
FA* 24/2 - It gets some mixed reviews, love it or hate it. I don't know if that's a model varience issue or preference. I like the specs on it and I enjoy a lot of the posted pictures I see from it.
SIGMA 20/1.8 or 24/1.8 - They don't get a lot of love and they're bigger, but they're also faster, cheaper and more readily available. Any opinions?
Or a fast zoom. Something in the 18-50/2.8 range. The SIGMA 24-60/2.8 comes up now and again. There are also things like the Tamron 28-70/2.8, which doesn't quite get me to 24mm, but it does also give me an autofocus lens longer than 35mm at f2.8, which I would enjoy for different things, like little kid's basketball games and things.
You can see a pattern with me of Pentax and Tokina AT-X lenses. The AT-X autofocus 20-35/2.8 and 28-70/2.8 get my attention when they come up.
The thing with 2.8 zooms (and primes for that matter) is that I feel like they just barely give me the speed I need, so when I read that they get usable at f4 and start looking sharp at 5.6, I think I would feel like it was a failed purchase. Then again, I'm never quite sure what to think of those comments.
So, any opinions, experiences and advice will be appreciated.
I may sell one more lens before I get serious about buying, unless something falls in my lap, but I'd like to narrow my hunt.
Troy