Originally posted by AmaZing After spending a few weeks understanding the Pentax system and having had a good amount of help from Pentaxians I have prepared a draft kit choice. Can you please help me refine it or just critique it?
- Camera: K3ii or successor
- Travel zoom: Pentax DA 18-135mm WR
- Reason: Very good IQ, light, WR, DC motor. Will pick up a 14 or 15mm Pentax prime later...
- Alternates considered:
- Pentax and Sigma 2.8 zooms in the ~ 17 - 50: short FL and heavy
- Pentax 16 - 85: Not much improvement in IQ, Don't shoot the wide end that much. Extra telephoto reach of 18-135 seems to suit travel / pick-up-and-run needs more.
- One good portrait lens: Pentax DA* 55mm F1.4 WR
- One good macro lens and also that serves as a lead up to the next higher FLs: Pentax DFA 100mm F2.8 WR
- Walk around (read light) birding and other fauna: Pentax DA* 200 WR or successor
- Teleconverter: Pentax TC 1.4x. Also considering F 1.7x AF but don't quite understand the limitations...
I own nearly all of these items. I have a K-3 not a K-3ii - detailed comments below.
I love my 18-135 so I concur on that choice given your criteria.
I have never shot the DA* 55 - but I have the DA Limited 70 and FA Limited 77 as well as an F 50 f/1.7 - of these I prefer the 70 and 77 over the 50mm focal length for my portrait use. The f/1.4 of the 55 will be helpful for subject isolation and bokeh but the added focal length helps also. So comparing them in a DOF calculator may be helpful - also the DA 70 and FA 77 are rather small jewels compared with the DA* 55. Your mileage may vary.
The D FA 100 macro WR is a lovely lens and works for many things. The lack of any focus limiting switch really is the only drawback. Missing focus can be painful when it racks the entire focus range.
The DA* 200 is a great lens. However many feel it is too short and prefer the DA* 300. I own both the DA* 200 and the FA* 300 and use the DA* 200 more often. Combined with the 1.4x TC it gives nearly 280mm at f/4 and is a good lens all around.
The F AF 1.7x is a weird creature. It allows you to take a manual or autofocus lens and mount it to this adding 1.5 stops and 1.7x focal length. The lens is then prefocused into the basic range you need and the adapter completes the focus for you by moving elements inside it. The focus range is small but you can use it as a sort of focus limiter for critical situations - the limited range means it focuses quickly and doesn't lose time to racking the entire range of focus on a miss. It has outstanding clarity and works well. The one caveat I have is that sometimes trying to shoot tiny night time objects is frustrating with this converter since it is autofocus and you cannot manually control it. If your camera has trouble finding the object you want to focus on - it can be complicated to resolve. This typically only happens at night shooting stars or planets.
Teleconverters are a bit of a mixed bag in that you can crop to similar results - but that's endlessly debated. It appears that on the K3 series the added sensor resolution can offset the cropping a bit more and make TC vs. crop a little less clearly in favor of using the TC. But in my experience it is easier to frame and shoot with the TC than imagine the shot with cropping. Plus there are times when cropping and the TC is needed.
Some people even combine the 1.7x and 1.4x - I'm afraid I'm not one of them so I can't comment on the effectiveness.
Originally posted by AmaZing In addition to commenting on the above, can you also let me know the following:
- Is anything related to the above on Pentax's roadmap? If I can wait a bit to get an upgraded item then I'd rather do that...
- I really wanted an APSC normal prime. 31ish mm is closer to my view than a 35mm. However Pentax 31 is expensive and Sigma 30 1.4 Art is big and heavy... any other suggestions?
- What is special about the 20ish mm FL on APSC? I have heard this FL being talked about as the ~"Rangefinder view for street photography".
- Any excellent optics but significantly cheaper manual lens options that will add usable value to my kit?
- I love birding... any long FL manual lens choices that are usable for birding or are otherwise an excellent value? I am talking 300mm and up.
Thanks for your help in advance...
The Pentax roadmap is opaque to me. Nothing announced strikes any chords with what you have said you want to buy.
The FA35 f/2 and the DA 35 f/2.4 are good possibilities for less expensive normal primes. The FA is better but the DA is cheaper and more available. Both are technically still sold new.
The FA 50 f/1.4 by the way is another lens still sold that might fit your needs for portrait work - but I haven't tried it.
The 20mm focal length gives a field of view of 30mm on a 35mm film camera. This coupled with the very small size of the lens makes for a good street camera option. The DA 40 while longer also works in this way because of the size. These are unobtrusive lenses.
Long FL lenses - the K 300 f/4 is fairly well respected as is the A 400 f/5.6. The M* and A* 300 f/4 are superb and both work well with the 1.7x - however the A* and M* lenses are close in price to used F* and FA* and DA* 300's so I would be cautious about sinking money in them until you are sure that you prefer them over the autofocus options.
If you dropped the DA* 55 and picked up the DA 70 or FA 77, then the 100 macro might be too close in focal length. The DA 35 macro is a nice macro lens for things that don't bite - it also makes a good normal lens with the concern about the long focus throw as a caveat. The FA 135 is another nice lens. So an alternate way to equip would be DA 35 macro, FA 77 or DA 70, and FA 135. You might skip the 200 and get the 300 at that point using the 1.4x TC to give you a 190mm f/4. Options are huge...
Nothing you suggested is however a bad idea.