[hadi]

Im a little confused as to what route i should go for. I recently bought the k1 and im loving it. However, one thing im unable to do successfully is wide angle shots for landscape, or using the lens distortion for funky portraits.

Currently i have the following lenses:
Fa 50mm 1.4
Rokinon 85mm 1.4
Tamron 70-200mm macro
Pentax 100mm 2.8 wr macro
Pentax 18-135mm

Now, the 18-135 i used to use for the k5, but hated the variable aperture and it not being as fast as i want for indoor use. Thats sitting in the background collection dust. I used to have the sigma 10-20mm 3.5. But sold that its only for apsc.


Now, i was debating on getting the 24-70mm to help me with a day-to-day general walk about lens that is pretty fast and also *almost* wide enough for most situations for my use. Itll also be useful as its a wr lens.

Or

Get a da35mm lens, a rokinon 21mm, and eventually a 14 or 15mm lens instead.

Now the 24-70 is an expensive lens as itll be costing me 1800 cad (and another 300-600 for a uwa lens). Where as if i go the prime route, i will be looking at about 1200ish cad all in all.

I maybe able to save money. But those lenses (unless i get the ixir 15mm lens) wont be weather sealed. And ill have to carry several lenses, which means more gear to lug around and wont be as helpful when traveling. But the leses are also lighter in weight as the 24-70 is a heavy gear

I have no interest in the 15-30mm lens.

What would you choose, and why? Several fast primes, but sacrifice wr peace of mind? Or pay more, have a massive range of lenses covered in that, add wr, and versatility, and weight...

[normhead]

Cover your final length with zooms, cover the focal lengths you use most with primes. You need to pick up the 24-70. But you think quite different from me. I consider 2.8 zooms to big and clunky for walk around.

But your 18-135 is on the shelf so you'd be crazy to listen to me. I'm lost never without my 18-135, so look at my advice and do the opposite, hope that helps

[Adam]

Im a little confused as to what route i should go for. I recently bought the k1 and im loving it. However, one thing im unable to do successfully is wide angle shots for landscape, or using the lens distortion for funky portraits.

Currently i have the following lenses:
Fa 50mm 1.4
Rokinon 85mm 1.4
Tamron 70-200mm macro
Pentax 100mm 2.8 wr macro
Pentax 18-135mm

Now, the 18-135 i used to use for the k5, but hated the variable aperture and it not being as fast as i want for indoor use. Thats sitting in the background collection dust. I used to have the sigma 10-20mm 3.5. But sold that its only for apsc.


Now, i was debating on getting the 24-70mm to help me with a day-to-day general walk about lens that is pretty fast and also *almost* wide enough for most situations for my use. Itll also be useful as its a wr lens.

Or

Get a da35mm lens, a rokinon 21mm, and eventually a 14 or 15mm lens instead.

Now the 24-70 is an expensive lens as itll be costing me 1800 cad (and another 300-600 for a uwa lens). Where as if i go the prime route, i will be looking at about 1200ish cad all in all.

I maybe able to save money. But those lenses (unless i get the ixir 15mm lens) wont be weather sealed. And ill have to carry several lenses, which means more gear to lug around and wont be as helpful when traveling. But the leses are also lighter in weight as the 24-70 is a heavy gear

I have no interest in the 15-30mm lens.

What would you choose, and why? Several fast primes, but sacrifice wr peace of mind? Or pay more, have a massive range of lenses covered in that, add wr, and versatility, and weight...

Sounds like you need a walkaround solution. Despite the 18-135mm story, I'd recommend that you give the D FA 28-105 a shot, and like normhead said, get primes for the focal lengths you plan to use the most. While has a variable aperture, it's actually sharper than the 24-70mm at 70mm, a third of the price, and will leave you with money for primes. Plus, remember that the K-1 lets you work at higher ISOs, so the fact that it's not F2.8 shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Do you still have the K-5? If not, there's no reason not to sell the 18-135mm as it's APS-C only by a longshot.

[biz-engineer]

Now, i was debating on getting the 24-70mm to help me with a day-to-day general walk about lens that is pretty fast and also *almost* wide enough for most situations for my use.

I do have the 24-70 on K1. For me the rationale is the following: for outdoor / walkaround, 24mm is not so wide and 70 is rather short on FF, and outdoors I never shoot f2.8 for two reasons: 1) FF high iso allow to use f4 in many conditions, and 2) depth of field implied that the lens is stopped down to f8 and often f11 (when it was f5.6 or f8 on apsc) to have the whole frame in focus. Now, the DFA28-105 is smaller and less than half the price of the 24-70, so, I'd recommend to get a 28-105 and with the rest of the money can help finance either fast prime @ less than 24mm or > 85mm 1.4, or 35mm f1.4 or 50mm f1.4, depending on what you use the most. Sorry, I kind of saying the same as Adam, but I just wanted to provide feedback from experience.

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Last edited by biz-engineer; 06-02-2016 at 10:56 PM.

[hadi]

See, the 28-105, though may provide great range, its kind of similar to the 18-135 for me. Sure, its cheaper, smaller, and lighter, but the only time i ever use that lens is during day light outdoors. Indoors for events or anything, even with strobe/flash, the lens just preventedme from getting the shot.

I stillhave the k5, thus ill hold onto my 18-135. Im only going touse it for vacationing where i wont care as much if that lens gets stolen or broken.

I could wait a bit longer to see if any pentax releases a more compact fast zoom lens thats also wr...

[Rondec]

If you don't like variable aperture zooms, then you should probably look at the 24-70. It is a chunky lens, but it is really nice that it goes to 24mm and f2.8. I have used it a lot for landscape and it works quite well and is decent at 70mm and f2.8. I really think you need some kind of standard zoom covering wide to short telephoto. The Pentax options right now are the 24-70 and 28-105, although I'm sure there will be others down the road. The Tamron 28-75 seems OK, but wasn't quite wide enough for me and has some border sharpness issues (although the price is really nice). I don't know much about the Sigma 24-70.

I think you can fill in with primes down the road, but your walk around zoom will be your most used lens, in all probability.

[WPRESTO]

I'll put in a little support for the 28~105 as a GP zoom. The lens has been much better than I expected. IQ is far more than "acceptable" because no prime was available. It is seriously good zoom lens. If it's a matter of: "primes when you can; zooms for walk-around" the 28~105 is significantly smaller & lighter and therefore more suitable for walk-around than the 24~70, UNLESS, IMHO, your photography really calls for WA.

[zmohie]

As Adam mentioned.. dfa28-105 is a decent walk around lems.
I was looking for a good zoom and my eyes leaned to 24-70 but it is heavy and pricy. then i turned to 28-105 it is very versatil and sharp at 70mm like any prime lens at this range. it is also has the pentax character regarding color rendering and contrast than 24-70.
i tried both and finaly was the dfa28-105.

[hadi]

Its a shame that the sigma 24-70 isnt fully compatible with the k1 as it ends up damaging the k1. The price on that is rather attractive

[Rondec]

Its a shame that the sigma 24-70 isnt fully compatible with the k1 as it ends up damaging the k1. The price on that is rather attractive

I think it is fixable now, isn't it? My understanding is that Sigma will replace the mount so it won't scratch the K-1.