[emalvick]

If you want Pentax 60-250, why not Pentax 16-50?

Because I already have the Tamron 17-50. When I purchased that lens, it was seemingly as good as the 16-50 and a bit more reliable. Nothing has changed that opinion. I may have gotten lucky based on some reviews I see of the Tamron 17-50 as the 10-24 isn't nearly as good for sharp and bright images, and my 17-50 gives results that are as good as the best 16-50 images I see. For the telephoto, I'd probably get a Sigma or Tamron 70-200 if they had a bit more reach and/or they were just a bit smaller in size. As it is, my 55-300 isn't bad but I'm left wanting more for my 200mm+ shots.

Otherwise, I don't merry myself to brands. I generally try to get the best lens for my needs which usually means good quality, reasonable price, and reasonable size. What that means depends on the need at the time. Usually it's Tamron vs. Pentax.

[Saltwater Images]

HD DA 21, HD DA 40, HD DA 70 - "the three pancakes" AKA "bag of primes". These are the film equivalency of 31, 60 & 105 which is pretty close to the 35, 50, 100 combo I used to shoot in analogue days. Cheers.

[Michi Joel]

What about a cheap trinity for travel?
Mine is:
Sigma 10-20mm: 465 gr. for wide
Pentax-M 50mm f1.7: 185 gr. for low light
Pentax-F 35-70mm: 235 gr. for the rest

885 gr. lens + 650 gr. camera = 1535 gr. / 500 €

I'm thinking about change Sigma 10-20mm for Pentax 21mm LTD, it less wider but its lighter, takes up less space and 49mm filter.

In January I will travel to Porto 3 days and I just want to take the camera, 3 lenses with filters and a gorillapod

[Pedrodelta]

My Holy Trinity:-

Sigma 8-16mm

Sigma 17-70mm

Sigma 50-150mm

[Michi Joel]

My Holy Trinity:-

Sigma 8-16mm

Sigma 17-70mm

Sigma 50-150mm

Nice!
Why not 70-200mm?

[aleonx3]

No zooms from me.
my 3 amigos are: FA31 ltd, 43ltd and 77ltd
my 3 princesses are: Topcon 35f2.8, Topcon 58f1.4 and Topcon 135f3.5, add a new cousin (Topcon 58f1.8) all converted from Exakta to m42 mount .

[Des]

Trinity for a nature walk:
- Pentax DA 12-24 f4 (or Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 for a cheaper option, or Pentax DA 15 for a lighter more compact option)
- Pentax D FA 100mm f2.8 macro (or Tamron 90 for a cheaper option)
- Pentax DA*300mm f4 with a 1.4 or 1.5TC (or F* or FA*300 f4.5, or the more affordable, excellent but rare-as-hen's-teeth Sigma 300mm f4 Tele macro or Sigma 400mm f5.6 Tele macro)

OK, add a compact prime in the pocket somewhere in the 28-70mm range. If the compact prime was a DA 35 Macro or D FA 50 Macro, it could replace the D FA 100 I have included. On the other hand the D FA 100 could be used with the TC for some more versatility, and if you want to use it for insects, spiders, etc the 100 is a better length.

At a pinch, one of the Sigma tele macros could do enough of the macro duty to leave the specialist macro lens behind. Then the middle one of the trinity is your favourite normal-moderate tele prime (31, 35, 40, 43, 50, 70?).

That gives you waterfalls, big skies, trees, vistas, flowers, insects, birds and animals, and portraits of your companions (if you have any who are patient enough to walk with a photo nerd!), all at very high quality. The 100 and 300 are weather resistant too.

This is a bit like MikeD's trinity above, except he has the 15 instead of the 12-24 and he includes a DA*60-250 (maybe with a TC). In theory the versatility of a long or longish zoom like that (or 55-300 WR, forthcoming Pentax 120-450-ish, Bigma, etc) would be good, but in practice I tend to use my longer zooms (55-300 and 170-500) most often at their longest end (and still often end up cropping), so a 300mm or 400mm prime would do fine. (That's why I got the 400mm tele macro.) I prefer the versatile zoom to be at the wide end.

Ideally you would take a tripod too, but if you don't want the weight, a Joby gorillapod would be a reasonable compromise (for use with the lighter lenses not the 300+). You could probably live without a flash but a CPL and/or ND filter could be worth taking.

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Last edited by Des; 12-28-2014 at 04:30 PM.

[Susinok]

For macro work I use the DA 35mm/2.8 Limited. Lovely lens.
Also for even closer work, the FA 100/2.8 Macro - I seem to be using this one more and more. It's a tank and I love it. I have been using it indoors a lot to take pictures of my handmade jewelry.

Both of these I bought used here on the Marketplace.

For travel I usually take my Tamron 16-300 and the DA 15/4 Limited. The Tamron is not a great lens, and I intend to replace it with the DA 50-300 sometime this year. I want to get the Tamron 17-50 for a wide angle zoom.

When I'm driving around close to home, I take just about everything...

[mariakruse]

For macro work I use the DA 35mm/2.8 Limited. Lovely lens.
Also for even closer work, the FA 100/2.8 Macro - I seem to be using this one more and more. It's a tank and I love it. I have been using it indoors a lot to take pictures of my handmade jewelry.

Both of these I bought used here on the Marketplace.

For travel I usually take my Tamron 16-300 and the DA 15/4 Limited. The Tamron is not a great lens, and I intend to replace it with the DA 50-300 sometime this year. I want to get the Tamron 17-50 for a wide angle zoom.

When I'm driving around close to home, I take just about everything...

I have the DA 35mm/2.8 Limited as well and really enjoy it. If driving around I do take probably more than I need but that's what they make camera bags for. I am really seriously thinking of the DA 15/4 Limited because I have seen some really nice work done here with it. And the winter here might be fun to shoot, we had dusting of snow this morning and lovely sunny afternoon later. I have a Sigma 17-50 that I like, have never seen the Tamron one. Not a lot of Pentax users here.
maria

[Pedrodelta]

Nice!
Why not 70-200mm?

Why? I don't feel there is sufficient extra reach over the 50-150 to justify the extra cost or weight. I have contemplated a 1.4 TC, yet this again is a costly item for irregular use.
I also have a 300mm F4 A* and 55-300mm to call on when I need a longer reach but if I was to purchase additional glass I reckon I would lean to a Bigma. I do like Sigma lenses!

[ZoeB]

Current holy trinity in my bag is the DA 35 f2.4 AL, M 50 f1.4, and cheap aftermarket 135 f2.8. I'm looking in to a Samyang 10 or 14, as i tend to prefer shooting wide.

[Pedrodelta]

Current holy trinity in my bag is the DA 35 f2.4 AL, M 50 f1.4, and cheap aftermarket 135 f2.8. I'm looking in to a Samyang 10 or 14, as i tend to prefer shooting wide.

If you like to shoot wide the flexibility of the Sigma 8-16mm is hard to better. It's a fab lens to use IMHO a view which is shared by the majority of these users:- https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/122-lens-clubs/107938-sigma-8-16mm-club.html

[pgamble]

Well ... it's just become a quintrinity ... or whatever :-)


I started with a


Standard Zoom - Sigma C 17-70 F2.8-F4
Pentax DA*60-250 F4


I had issues with the 60-250 (and the shop had issues with the other two they had, so I changed for DA*300 and Sigma 70-200.


I purchased an HD1.4x to permanently attach to DA*300 to take to 420mm (circa 600mm at full frame)


I then wanted something really wide so got Sigma 10-20


And this Christmas finished the set with a DA-F100 WR Macro ...


So .. now ...


Ultra wide rectilinear - Sigma EX 10-20 F3.5
Standard Zoom - Sigma C 17-70 F2.8-F4
Tele Zoom - Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM
Pentax DA*300 (I leave my HD 1.4xTC on all the time taking)
Pentax D-FA 100 WR Macro


and I think I'm a really happy bunny. Just got to learn to get the most out them now.


Paul

[Sage97]

Mine are 21mm, 43mm and 77mm. Sometimes I bring the 31mm instead of the 21mm but I prefer the 21mm focal range, not to mention its smaller, easier to carry size.

[dcpropilot]

What about a cheap trinity for travel?
Mine is:
Sigma 10-20mm: 465 gr. for wide
Pentax-M 50mm f1.7: 185 gr. for low light
Pentax-F 35-70mm: 235 gr. for the rest

885 gr. lens + 650 gr. camera = 1535 gr. / 500 €

I'm thinking about change Sigma 10-20mm for Pentax 21mm LTD, it less wider but its lighter, takes up less space and 49mm filter.

In January I will travel to Porto 3 days and I just want to take the camera, 3 lenses with filters and a gorillapod

+1 for the F 35-70. One lens I just can't seem to part with.