Originally posted by SininStyle So I have some questions. Everyone says the KIT lenses are crap. What makes them crap? Am I better off just avoiding the kits and waiting for a body to go on sale? How do you even tell a kit lens from a regular lens when its not actually in a kit?
Well here is the thing. When you buy a camera, you need a lens. But it is difficult to sell a $1600 lens to a beginner - it might not seem like a good investment to them and many people simply wouldn't/couldn't afford it. So there is a whole range of lenses, from affordable to top tier stuff. The differences between these lenses are in build quality (barrel plastic or metal, mount plastic or metal, WR) features (distance scales, lens hood, Quickshift, aperture ring, focus limiter, ...) and image quality.
This is why the kit lenses are a good deal. You get these lenses for a really good price when you buy them with a camera. The idea here is to entice new people to the system. Those kit lenses are "all you need" as a beginner. But after you get the hang of the camera, you will notice they have some shortcommings, are missing some features you might want, and so on. One day you have ten lenses, each for a specific use, with amazing image quality, and you wonder how you ever even took a good photo with the kit lens. Kit lenses are designed to be as affordable as possible, with a useful zoom range for beginners. The DA 18-55mm lens for example comes in different versions, the old DA L version (cheapest, no markings, no lens hood), DA version (comes with lens hood, has distance scales), and the modern WR version. Would I recommend you buy the 18-55mm separately? Only if you need a WR lens and cannot afford a better one. But bundled with a camera, it is a good deal, a good place to start. And definitely the Pentax kit lenses, as far as kit lenses are concerned, are not terrible. They are useful and can take good photos. That being said, pretty much all modern, new Pentax lenses will be better than the kit lenses. Simply because the kit lenses are made to be super affordable (but not necessarily "budget" like the old FA J series was)
tl;dr: Buy the bundle with kit lenses, especially if they are WR (double-check this) and if one of them is the 55-300mm. Great place to start. Or, if you want better image quality at a budget, get body only and buy DA 35mm and DA 50mm - these have far better image quality than the kit lenses, but are still very affordable. They have better low light performance, but have no zoom capability. You can buy mor expensive DFA, FA limited, DA limited lenses when you know your needs as a photographer better