[fashionista]

Hi, I've had my Pentax k10D for about a year and I want to upgrade my kit lens with a lens with a lot more zoom. Any suggestions on a sharp lens that is worth investing in? I've noticed my kits lens isn't as sharp as I've seen other lenses. Any suggestions?

[Lowell Goudge]

Hi, I've had my Pentax k10D for about a year and I want to upgrade my kit lens with a lens with a lot more zoom. Any suggestions on a sharp lens that is worth investing in? I've noticed my kits lens isn't as sharp as I've seen other lenses. Any suggestions?

Lots of them. Get your check book ready

Actually, you need to start thinking "Whole system" before you buy anything.

I do not know your interests, and that is important, but assuming that you are a bit of a traveller, or like to take photos even within your own city, eventually you will want to cover a range of 10-12 mm at the wide end, up to at least 200 mm at the long end (Maybe 400mm if you do wildlife).

This will be achieved by most probably 3-4 zoom lenses and perhaps 1-2 specialty lenses for things like macro's.

My kit began during film, and is a mix of manual focus primes and auto focus zooms. in total it is 14 lenses, so you can wind up with a lot of things as time goes by.

My basic "travel kit" is 4 zoom lenses, plus a telecvonverter.
- Sigma 10-20mm
- Pentax FA-J 18-35mm
- Tamron 28-75mm F2.8
- Sigma 70-200mm F2.8
- Sigma 2x teleconverter

This gives me a fairly compact 10-400mm range, all lenses overlap somewhat so I usually don't get caught needing to switch too often.

If I take wild life out of the equation, I can drop the very heavy sigma 70-200 plus the teleconverter, and add in a 135 F2.5. This gives me some reach but is very light in comparison. I can also drop the 18-35 and just live with the gap between 20 and 28 mm.

It all depends on what you want to shoot.

[fashionista]

Hi, Thank you for the reply. I'm trying to built a portrait/ and fashion portfolio. I especially want an upgraded lens for my fashion stuff because I feel limited to some of the things I can do with my KIT lens. What do you think about the PENTAX SMC DA 18-250MM 3.5 LENS?

[Peter Zack]

Nope. it's a very good lens but this is not it's intended purpose. It's not a portrait/studio lens. Don't get me wrong. The results from it are very good but it's slow and just not going to give you the razor sharp images you need for this type of work.

The best lens for this would be a few various primes. 43mm,50mm,70mm or 77mm to name a few.

But for an economical all round lens that is basically normal at the wide end and mid telephoto at the long end, not much compares to the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 XR Di that Lowell mentioned above. I use mine all the time for both work (weddings, events etc) and for fun. It's sharp across the range with excellent colour and overall image quality. About as close to a prime as you'll find in a zoom at this focal range. Has close focus ability and is fast for lower light shooting. Very flexible and just about perfect.

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Last edited by Peter Zack; 07-28-2008 at 04:38 PM.

[ll_coffee_lP]

+1 for the Tamron 28-75mm f2.8

Great build, very sharp (even wide open), very useful range, meters well. A great all-purpose planned portrait/candid portrait lens. Once you use this lens you will never go back to the kit lens, unless you like to shoot wider than 28mm.

Over time you may find that you shoot at a particular focal length for many shots. At that point you may want to consider a prime lens. All of the DA (AF digital), FA (AF film/digital), SMC-A (MF, Aperture setting), SMC-M (MF, Aperture ring) primes are good.

Hope this info helps!

c[_]

[egordon99]

+2 for the Tamron 28-75!

Add in the DA* 50-135mm and you'll be good to go for awhile!

[deudeu]

+3 for the tamron... if primes are not an option!

[ll_coffee_lP]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot....the Tamron's bokeh blows the kit lens out of the water too.

c[_]

[heatherslightbox]

If you want something a little longer than the 28-75, then the *50-135 is definitely worth looking at. If you could afford it, I think it would be good to have both lenses.

Heather

[fashionista]

Thank you all for the great advice!