Originally posted by damanteo I will be going to Europe this summer for the first time...and am having thoughts of buying either a lens or a P&S to take with me.
I'm deciding between:
- tamron 28-75mm
- sigma 28mm 1.8
- canon s90
- none
Which would be more useful to me?
What I have right now:
- Pentax k-x + kit lens
- vivitar 28mm 2.8
- pentax-A 50 1.7
- vivitar 55mm 2.8
- pentax-fa 100-300mm
- tamron 10-24mm
In looking at your present kit, and what you have above as possible purchases I think you have 2 or perhaps 3 options.
Option 1
the lowest cost is to take the K-x and kit lens plus the 10-24. I would
NEVER consider going to europe without an ultra wide. It is just too useful.
Option 2
If you want better low light performance up to the portrait range and a little extra reach over the kit lens, the tamron is a good option, Since it is not very wide at the wide end (28mm) it is not overly heavy and uses a relitively small 67mm filter.
since you have a 10-24 the gap between 24 and 28mm is not too great and you could get away with just these 2 lenses.
Option 3
You could take either option 1 or 2, plus a P&S of some form. I would never take a P&S on it's own because it does not go wide enough. See above I would never go to europe with out an ultra wide lens, but for some occasions you may feel the SLR is too big (I don't but you might). It is also useful to have a back up of some form especially since this is your first trip.
I would leave all longer glass at home unless you have some specific wild life objectives in mind, but for me, travelling to europe is all about visiting cities and looking at landscapes, so you don't really need a tele, but youo will appreciate the ultra wide