Originally posted by seymop I have the K100D with the kit lens that came with it. I'm looking for a great lens for landscape photography that will make my images better. Any suggestions on what i should look at or what other people own.
First step is to do enough shooting with the 18-55 you already have to figure out what focal lengths you like best. If absolutely best image quality is the concern, you'd get a prime or two in those focal lengths - the DA21, or FA31, or DA35 for instance. Or if you feel 18mm is not wide enough for you, perhaps the DA14. Or, if you cannot decide on just a few focal lengths and must have zoom, then figure out which part of the range you care about most, and get a zoom that does that range best. Some like really wide angles for landscape and would recommend things like the 12-24, but that would actually be too wide for me. I actually like my DA40 for landscape, although most would find that focal length too long. That and the old M28/2.8 do the job nicely for me, although someday I'll probably get the DA 21 too. If someone told me I had to use zooms instead of primes, the new 17-70 would probably be my choice. Or perhaps the DA* 16-50.
But actually, the 18-55 works pretty darned well for landscape in the focal lengths it covers, since you generally want to shoot landscape stopped down to f/8 at least, and the kit lens does quite well at that aperture. I'm not saying a better lens wouldn't produce even better results, but for most people who are relatively new at this, it wouldn't necessarily make as big a difference as more practice and experience, developing a better eye for composition and better photographic technique.