Sorry long post. I am trying to set the scene. Please read my reply below first.
My photography is ...anything!
Macro to sports to landscapes. I have a pretty reasonable quality macro extension.
I have been a film SLR user for many years. I then used a PnS camera (Oly C750UZ) for about 4 years. When I bought it, it was "SLR-like" in that it has all manual settings available. In fact I used several film cameras that were completely manual, and for many years had one that had no lightmeter. So I know cameras' settings.
At the moment I have a Fuji S100FS, because I was too timid to re-enter the world of SLRs. It again has all manual controls available. Its main weakness is the lens, which has poor resolution at either end and sometimes _appalling_ CA. I am currently straining this camera.
I never use any preset mode on my cameras and AFAICS the K20D has none.
What I have no experience with is SLRs that have AF, AE etc.
OK. I am looking at either a K20D or a K200D. I realise that they are quite different beasts. I would look at two lenses, going from 18mm to 300mm. My trouble is that I am not sure that I will ever be able to justify the cost of a lens that can challenge the K20D. It seems to be feast or famine.
I am happy to spend the extra, if :
- I can then afford lenses that do the K20D justice to a great extent.
- in Australia, the K200D costs about 500-600, the K20D costs about 1100+. The kit lens adds about 120. (?)
- and/or, the extra power in the K20D is enough to justify it. I do tend to use whatever a piece of gear has available, (usually to the point where I find it coming up lacking, or not quite right
).
Both the K200D and the K20D are sold with a "kit" 18-55mm lens, which is good value. But does this kit lens do either camera justice? If not, what lens would I be looking at to better meet the cameras' capabilities?
I was also looking at the 55-300mm SMC DA lens that is available for about 650-700. Same questions, and also, what is the focusing like? I have found out that the focus is via a little worm drive driven by the camera. and one review said that the focus was noisy (not a killer) and slow (not good if this really is an issue).
I am willing to spend extra, but they seem to go from this to $$$$. I am happy to go 3rd party, but there seems to be little saving, except at loss of quality.
I would appreciate any help for this perhaps rather too vague question.
Nick
Last edited by OldNick; 01-22-2009 at 06:50 PM.