[Des]

Never even thought of the 55-300! Will take a look at it.

Super fast and quiet AF, very good image quality, folds up small(ish), WR, shorter minimum focus distance than most xx-300 lenses (95cm), fairly light weight. But .... unless and until Ricoh releases a firmware update, it won't work with any of the K-5 series.

The older screw-drive versions of the 55-300 are good lenses too. Just the AF is noisy. It's probably a bit faster to focus than the superzoom though, and it has about 1/2 stop-1 stop wider maximum aperture across the common range.

Two lens kit of 16-85 or 18-135 and 55-300 would be a big step up from the superzoom. (I had a superzoom for 6 years.)

If you can't persuade your wife to get used to changing lenses, and she wants to keep the same range, maybe consider the Sigma 18-300.

[builttospill]

Keep in mind two things:
1) a zoom is never optically as good as a prime,
2) superzooms are a compromise. The greater the focal length range, the lower the image quality. This is why lenses like the 20-35mm and the 24-70mm are so highly sought after. Fixed-aperture zooms are way higher quality than variable-aperture zooms. I avoid the latter.

[pres589]

There's so many options here. It's really a pretty good time to be shooting with a crop body Pentax.

Tamron 17-50; cheap, fastish, nice zoom length covered.
Pentax 18-135; super versatile and good in most any weather. Fast focusing, all around great lens, just not a fast aperture.
Pentax 15; small, wide, great lens. Not the widest and not fast but so useful. I really enjoy shooting fireworks with mine as well as landscapes.
Tamron 28-75; pretty good value, f2.8 max aperture like the 17-50 but the focal lengths covered are excellent for portraits. Some awesome photos shared on this site have been taken with this lens (I don't have direct experience, but if I did more portrait work, I would be buying one).

On the used market there's some good 24 and 28mm options for a normal view. Lately I've been going out with my DA 15 and then a 28mm f2.0 prime as a two lens combo.

[pacerr]

There's a whole lot of things that building new eye/hand/muscle habits can result in better results regardless of the gear involved.

Pick a lens, any ol' lens, and have 'er slowly and deliberately swap it in and out ten times. Then do it quicker. Build competency. Familiarity builds muscle-memory. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Make it a slow, three-step process at first:

1) First explain why you want/need to change focal lengths for a good reason*. Works with zoom lenses too.

2) Actually swap lenses (or just re-install the same one).

3) Verify the entire range of intended menu settings. They changed. If a lens change takes five seconds make lemonade -- use the time to plan how you're gonna use the different POV.

*Maybe two steps closer or to the side will work mo' betta? That's a habit that helps (temporarily) cure LBA too!

[clackers]

Hello, I'm looking for some advice.

My wife currently uses a Pentax K5 IIS with a Pentax 18-270 lens. Now although she likes the variability of the focal length she is starting to get a bit more adventurous in the shots she takes and is becoming a little frustrated with the speed of the lens, both from an aperture and how long it takes to focus. Now she has tried the same lens with a K3 and that doesn't seem to help and has tried my 16-50 F2.8 which is much better but don't give her the all in one focal range.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which lens might help. It doesn't have to be fully 18-270, something a bit shorter, probably at the long end might suffice. But as long as it's a bit faster focussing than the 18-270.

Cheers

Tim

A good combo is a 17-50 f2.8 (either Tamron or Sigma) and the 55-300, Tim.

The big boys in photography aren't using superzooms, it's what you pay for in an interchangeable lens camera.

[bm75]

With film I used a lot 20-35 mm zoom for wides, fast 35/50 and something like 70-200 f/4 (I had got a fast 135 I used to replace the zoom) . But that was FF so 20 mm was real wide and 50 was a standard. With digital APSC I suppose the best combo, if you want to replace a single superzoom (doing so I assume you would keep light package) is 3 primes , as someone previously said. Id est: 15 mm (either15 limited or MF irix 2,4 for extra aperture) , Pentax 35 and a Limited like the 77. I suppose this would be all you need , with extra quality. If you absolutely need more reach, take the Pentax DA 50-135. I understand you'll have to switch lenses, unlike you do with 18-270 , but there's no way to have lenses with both high range and big aperture. You could also add single primes to complement your 18-270 , using them like "specialty lenses" (es: 77 ltd for portraiture; 15 mm for landscape/street/whatever requires a wider angle).

[dsmithhfx]

There's a whole lot of things that building new eye/hand/muscle habits can result in better results regardless of the gear involved.

Pick a lens, any ol' lens, and have 'er slowly and deliberately swap it in and out ten times. Then do it quicker. Build competency. Familiarity builds muscle-memory. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Make it a slow, three-step process at first:

1) First explain why you want/need to change focal lengths for a good reason*. Works with zoom lenses too.

2) Actually swap lenses (or just re-install the same one).

3) Verify the entire range of intended menu settings. They changed. If a lens change takes five seconds make lemonade -- use the time to plan how you're gonna use the different POV.

*Maybe two steps closer or to the side will work mo' betta? That's a habit that helps (temporarily) cure LBA too!

Man'splaining stuff can be deadly.

Just sayin'

[tjstimbo]

OK looks like we have a winner. We went out yesterday evening after a cold and blustery day and she took a K3 with battery grip, the 16-50 and the 60-250 in a small backpack. Changed lenses a couple of times with no problems. Says she likes the 16-50 and would probably use it 90% of the time and just take the 60-250 just in case she wants a long zoom and didn't think it was too heavy.

I'll stick with my K1 with 24-70 and in my backpack have the 15-30 and the 70-200.

Cheers

Tim