[nocturnal]

Thomas Heaton is just one of those YouTube photographers trying to make a living from posting videos etc. and beginners may think he is some kind of landscape wizard but I would advise to take him with a pinch of salt.

I use a K-70, HD DA15 f4 Ltd, HD DA 20-40 f2.8-f4 Ltd, DA* 60-250 f4 Ltd with a Marumi Exus and a Hoya Fusion CPL (best there is) and sometimes bring Samyang 14mm f2.8 only for astro.

I have no plans or want for K-1 or otherwise, I just work and work on my landscaping skills and the whole universe that entails.

You can go K-1 if you want for landscape but 99.9% of the craft is everything except the equipment.

You the photographer and especially the post processing skills are what counts, some (but not all) of these YouTube guys are influencing absolute beginners in landscape photography to invest in an expensive FF system, usually Sony MILC etc.

[bdery]

I'll third the suggestion. For landscapes, it's virtually indistinguishable from the DFA 24-70, provides greater range and is lighter and more compact. In fact, with the size and weight loss of the DFA 28-105, that makes the DFA 15-30 more manageable. I personally could not manage the weight and size of the DFA 15-30 if I paired it with the DFA 24-70. If the DFA 15-30 is still a pound too far, the FA 20-35, which weighs only a quarter of the 15-30 (and less than half want the Canon 16-35 weighs) is probably the next best option.

That's sound logic. The 28-105 is indeed too good for its own sake, and frres up space in the bag for the 15-30.

The FA20-35 is sadly not WR, but again at these focal lengths F2.8 is not really needed.

An updated20-35 with less PF and WR would be so high on my bucket list, I would probably pre-order it.

I think I can wait and see what happens with the 70-200 F4. I have the 55-300 HD WR and I can always use crop for my tele shots, a solid 20mm with filters is much more of a priority for my style of shooting...

That picture is plain amazing. Lucky to find a single tree loosing its leaves, talented to have captured it.

[Qwntm]

Thomas Heaton is just one of those YouTube photographers trying to make a living from posting videos etc. and beginners may think he is some kind of landscape wizard but I would advise to take him with a pinch of salt.

I use a K-70, HD DA15 f4 Ltd, HD DA 20-40 f2.8-f4 Ltd, DA* 60-250 f4 Ltd with a Marumi Exus and a Hoya Fusion CPL (best there is) and sometimes bring Samyang 14mm f2.8 only for astro.

I have no plans or want for K-1 or otherwise, I just work and work on my landscaping skills and the whole universe that entails.

You can go K-1 if you want for landscape but 99.9% of the craft is everything except the equipment.

You the photographer and especially the post processing skills are what counts, some (but not all) of these YouTube guys are influencing absolute beginners in landscape photography to invest in an expensive FF system, usually Sony MILC etc.

I do find it interesting that the new kids who are really good at putting a video together seem to be accepted as brilliant landscape photographers. I can name a few but I won't. I think Thomas is actually a pretty decent photographer, and his video skills are really great. he does put the time and effort in I have to give him that. I only used his kit as an example because it's what i would shoot if I was shooting Canon, though maybe not the 24-70 2.8, the F4 would probably be my choice there.

When I shot Mt Hood from Lost lake on a Hasselblad with 80mm and AGFA APX 25 developed in Rodinol 1:25 for 10 minutes, Thomas was probably 5 years old... Dang. It prints Gallery quality to 20x20 inches. The scan kinda sucks, but there it is.




---------- Post added 11-01-19 at 09:43 AM ----------

That picture is plain amazing. Lucky to find a single tree loosing its leaves, talented to have captured it.

That day it was a "target rich environment..." I got about 3 others as well.

[y0chang]

Love those film images. Honestly Pentax has no F4 da* quality zooms. The best you could get is the DFA f2 8 trio but that is a lot of money and weight in one camera bag. One possibility is to try to find a Sigma 12-24 full frame lens and a lighter 70-200mm like the Tamron to go with a 28-105mm

[nocturnal]

Love those film images. Honestly Pentax has no F4 da* quality zooms. The best you could get is the DFA f2 8 trio but that is a lot of money and weight in one camera bag. One possibility is to try to find a Sigma 12-24 full frame lens and a lighter 70-200mm like the Tamron to go with a 28-105mm

?

You don't know of the DA* 60-250 f4?

[UncleVanya]

?

You don't know of the DA* 60-250 f4?

Maybe, giving the benefit of the doubt here..., He was limiting himself to full frame? The 60-250 needs a little surgery to get rid of a bit of vignetting right?

But to be fair that was my first thought as well...

[aaacb]

I think the "thomas heaton" gear question means smaller aperture and relatively lightweight set of three zooms, including a long lens. Makes life a lot easier when hiking, backpacking, etc with camera gear, which th often does on his youtube channel. It doesn't help the original question because I don't have a k-1, but on apsc I accomplish this with the 16-85 and 55-300 plm (and the 10-17 fisheye instead of a real wide angle, but that's because I don't have the budget and/or interest for a 11-18 or 12-24). Stopped down they're actually quite nice, though I'm an easy-to-satisfy amateur

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Last edited by aaacb; 11-03-2019 at 07:47 AM.

[bdery]

The 60-250 needs a little surgery to get rid of a bit of vignetting right?

Right. Once that's done, however, what a wonderful FF lens it is!

[y0chang]

I am sure the DA 60-250 would be a great lens for full frame.


One you have to do a modification that not all people are willing to do especially to a under-warranty lens, and second the 60-250mm is not my idea of a small compact f4 zoom, the Tamron f2.8 zoom that I mentioned is actually lighter.


The Canon 70-200mm f4 is half the weight of a f2.8 zoom.

---------- Post added 11-03-19 at 03:57 PM ----------

Maybe, giving the benefit of the doubt here..., He was limiting himself to full frame? The 60-250 needs a little surgery to get rid of a bit of vignetting right?

But to be fair that was my first thought as well...

Sorry I was limiting myself to full frame. Some of the DA are great on full frame, some require modifications, and others are DA only.

[nocturnal]

The DA* 60-250 f4 is a big stretch over a 70-200. I used to bring my F*300 f4.5 on some hikes for ultra long captures in the mountains but when I got the DA* 60-250 I don't need to bring it any longer. It has also stellar IQ at 250mm and I got it for my progression away from wide angle landscapes.

I got an absolute bargain on a used one from a camera shop, £359 and it came with a 1 year guarantee despite being around 8 years old.

It has great flare resistance, backlighting and direct sunsets are my thing. I've even seen great astro photography done with it and has great starbursts stopped down.

[Qwntm]

After thinking about this for a great while and taking into consideration all of the great comments and suggestions here, and what a lot of options there are, I think I am going to stick with the 28-105 for FF and use APS-c for anything wider than 28 or longer than 105. Now if Pentax goes crazy and actually releases a 70-200 f4, or 20mm f2.8 then I will re-access. But for now, the 28-105 covers probably 95% of everything I want FF to do.

Sometimes more is just more and not necessarily really that much more useful or helpful.

[bdery]

One you have to do a modification that not all people are willing to do especially to a under-warranty lens

If you 3D-print the replacement baffle, then you can reverse the modification at any time, only a few screws are involved.

the 60-250mm is not my idea of a small compact f4 zoom

Well you can't have it all: fast aperture, long range, great IQ, small size. The latter is the hardest to obtain. The 10mm difference at the wide end in particular makes the 60-250 much more useful, especially on FF, than a 70-200.

Now if Pentax goes crazy and actually releases a 70-200 f4

They will, it's written on the roadmap.

20mm f2.8

They might, though the specs for that lens might change as it's not named yet.

[nocturnal]

Once you get a DA* 60-250 and view the images you'll not mind carrying it. It isn't that big anyway once you reverse the hood and zoom it right back to 60mm. I've hiked with it 25km up and down mountain peaks but I stopped carrying water and drink from the streams instead ��

Also the weather sealing is All Weather as required by the Pentax * designation, this sealing is more comprehensive than WR. Nice to have as a landscape photographer!

The roadmap 70-200 f4 might not be much lighter if at all, as it should come with a tripod collar too. The rotatable tripod collar is great on the DA* 60-250 going from landscape to portrait orientation in a twist.

[y0chang]

My solution to this problem was to buy a Micro-Four thirds kit for backpacking and hiking and use my K-1 for astro landscapes and portrait work. I am not sure if the difference on the short end of a 60-250 of 10mm is really worth much unless its for crop and used with a 16-50mm f2.8 The long range is useful though. In full frame, 60 to 70mm is covered by several lens including the 28-105mm or 24-70mm options. Personally I don't use much past 135mm for landscape photography, there is just too much atmosphere in many locations. I really do wish my DA 50-135mm f2.8 covered FF, its a superlative lens for landscapes on crop but like bdery stated you can't have it all.

[nocturnal]

My solution to this problem was to buy a Micro-Four thirds kit for backpacking and hiking and use my K-1 for astro landscapes and portrait work. I am not sure if the difference on the short end of a 60-250 of 10mm is really worth much unless its for crop and used with a 16-50mm f2.8 The long range is useful though. In full frame, 60 to 70mm is covered by several lens including the 28-105mm or 24-70mm options. Personally I don't use much past 135mm for landscape photography, there is just too much atmosphere in many locations. I really do wish my DA 50-135mm f2.8 covered FF, its a superlative lens for landscapes on crop but like bdery stated you can't have it all.

Sometimes that atmosphere lends a nice look but I'm not necessarily talking about distant subjects, many times I want to isolate a feature in a landscape that isn't far in the distance.

Many times the long reach 250mm+ really helps the compression of a landscape and makes the photo great which is one of the best reasons for using these long focal lengths. I've even took a great cityscape photo from my bedroom window of a tower block 4 miles away and everything in between (trees, TV aerials, houses, chimneys etc) is compressed and in detail... It really makes the photo

Plus you also have it for nature, see a deer, a bear, an eagle etc. and you're kicking yourself because you can't get anywhere near it.