[ncee]

Hi, so I'm sure to get a ton of responses and some good ones I'm sure.

I'm looking to up-grade from my current D300, and boy, the K1 seems like a great option to me.

85-95% Landscape photography.

Besides the camera, what might I expect to layout for a few lenses?

Something like a nice 18-300 zoom, 50 prime, 12-24 wide angle? While budget isn't a big deal, it is a concern. I'm guessing / hoping the camera and a nice lens or 2 might not set me back much more then $3500.00 + -. I'll be adding many accessories over time, but body and a lens is first on the list IF folks feel it's the camera for me. Need at least one lens to use with the new camera

Yes, I've considered the D500, but it's more and almost half the pixels, and yes DX vs FX cameras but still 36mp is a great camera to consider, as a print out many of my photo's and some get blow up, so the extra pixels would be nice.

Skip

[Na Horuk]

Hey, welcome!
For wide angle, a FF camera is a good choice. The K-1 has the same sensor lineage as D800E, so it will give you loads of dynamic range and detail, at a much lower price. And for landscapes, you don't need as much AF anyway, so having slightly fewer AF points is not a big issue.
I mostly use primes, DA 35mm, Samyang 14mm, and some legacy Pentax M 28mm (Great thing about Pentax is you can use many old lenses, which still deliver good optics at a fraction of a price of the new lenses).

There is also the brand new DFA 15-30mm zoom, which according to reviews is pretty great. This should really cover the (ultra) wide angle range. Its not the most affordable, though. The Pentax DA 12-24mm does not work fully on FF (I think, feel free to double check)

A 50mm lens is a great idea anyway. FA 50mm f1.4, DA 50mm f1.8, Sigma 50mm art.. you can get great optics at a really low price with DA 50mm, or you can go nuts and spend a lot on a big Sigma 50mm art for super sharp photos.

[Paul the Sunman]

Pentax has only just started repopulating its full frame lens lineup, and you may not find exactly what you're looking for at this stage. There are three film-era FA Limited primes still in production (the "Three Amigos" or "Three Princesses", depending who you talk to); the FA 31mm f1.8, 43mm f1.9, and 77mm f1.8, and they are all wonderful. In addition, there's the excellent D FA 100mm f2.8 macro, D FA 50mm f2.8 macro, FA 50mm f1.4, and several other primes.

The (very) new zooms are the D FA 15-30 f2.8, D FA 24-70 f2.8, D FA 70-200 f2.8, D FA 150-450 f4.5-5.6, and the D FA 28-105 f3.5-5.6. Of these, only the 28-105 is "cheap" ($499), though by all accounts it's really excellent. In fact, all these new zooms are eliciting a lot of drooling around here.

Check out the lens lineup at http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/products/lens/images/K_Mount_Lens.pdf (second page), and the reviews on this forum.

There's no FF Pentax 18-300 or similar yet, and I'm not sure that there ever will be. They seem intent of concentrating on image quality with the new FF format, and such a wide range is always too much of a compromise.

[Adam]

Hi, so I'm sure to get a ton of responses and some good ones I'm sure.

I'm looking to up-grade from my current D300, and boy, the K1 seems like a great option to me.

85-95% Landscape photography.

Besides the camera, what might I expect to layout for a few lenses?

Something like a nice 18-300 zoom, 50 prime, 12-24 wide angle? While budget isn't a big deal, it is a concern. I'm guessing / hoping the camera and a nice lens or 2 might not set me back much more then $3500.00 + -. I'll be adding many accessories over time, but body and a lens is first on the list IF folks feel it's the camera for me. Need at least one lens to use with the new camera

Yes, I've considered the D500, but it's more and almost half the pixels, and yes DX vs FX cameras but still 36mp is a great camera to consider, as a print out many of my photo's and some get blow up, so the extra pixels would be nice.

Skip

I would recommend the following:

• The D FA 28-105mm as your walkaround lens. It's an affordable yet sharp piece of glass.
  HD Pentax-D FA 28-105mm F3.5-5.6 ED DC WR Reviews - D FA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
• The D FA 15-30mm as your wide angle (corresponds to a 10-20mm on DX)
  HD Pentax-D FA 15-30mm F2.8 ED SDM WR Reviews - D FA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
• Since this puts you at $3700, go cheap on the 50mm:
  SMC Pentax-DA 50mm F1.8 Reviews - DA Prime Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

Feel free to ask if you'd like more details on these or any other lenses. Also, check out the Pentax lens finder tool:

Pentax Lens Search | PentaxForums.com

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



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[Paul the Sunman]

Hey, welcome!
A 50mm lens is a great idea anyway. FA 50mm f1.4, DA 50mm f1.8, Sigma 50mm art.. you can get great optics at a really low price with DA 50mm, or you can go nuts and spend a lot on a big Sigma 50mm art for super sharp photos.

I didn't think the Sigma 50mm Art was available in K-mount! The 35mm certainly is.

[mtngal]

Do "nice" and "18-300" go together? I always heard that was hard to do.

I just bought the 28-105 and was impressed with how sharp it is, I wasn't expecting it to be much. It's slow but for most of my landscapes the speed of a lens doesn't matter all that much.

I also have the FA 100-300 f4.7 that seems to have sharp optics for a plastic lens. I'll be using these when I want zooms, but I'm primarily a prime shooter. I still have to try my old M 50 1.7, a nice and sharp manual lens (bought new in 1980). Right now I'm using the FA 43 or the FA 31.

I looked at the DFA15-30 this weekend, while it looks to be a wonderful lens, it's big. I'm not sure it's for me, I happen to have a SMC 24 f2.8 that I can use if I want something wider and faster than my other lenses. I'm not so sure I care about anything wider than 24 on a full frame camera, but perhaps I might later.

[Na Horuk]

I didn't think the Sigma 50mm Art was available in K-mount! The 35mm certainly is.

Ah, I admit Im not a great source on Sigma glass! Thanks for the correction

Do "nice" and "18-300" go together? I alwayvs heard that was hard to do.

Yep. Superzooms range from terrible to decent, but rarely anything to write home about. Their main priority is long zoom range, so you get convenience instead of super image quality. It used to be that zooms that have more than 3x factor of zoom were considered bad. These days, optics keeps evolving, so some zoom lenses are quite good.


Just to say one more thing for OP: consider buying a K-3 and lenses, and upgrading to a FF camera only later, once you get used to the gear and build skills on it. This would be easier on the budget and still give lots of functions, good IQ. Meanwhile, lenses will not lose as much value as a camera does, and may still be usable on the next camera. Its a common tactic, to start with lower tier camera (though, K-3 is not low tier; it is the APSC flagship) and invest in lenses first

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Last edited by Na Horuk; 05-23-2016 at 02:35 PM.

[eminker]

Just a thought and you need to see if anyone has tested it on the K-1:

Used Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM - should work on full frame but can't use filters (protruding front element).
You can find user and PentaxForum reviews here.

Good Luck!

[Imp]

Just to say one more thing for OP: consider buying a K-3 and lenses, and upgrading to a FF camera only later, once you get used to the gear and build skills on it. This would be easier on the budget and still give lots of functions, good IQ. Meanwhile, lenses will not lose as much value as a camera does, and may still be usable on the next camera. Its a common tactic, to start with lower tier camera (though, K-3 is not low tier; it is the APSC flagship) and invest in lenses first

the OP had a D300 - I think he wants to upgrade, not simply go laterally, although I do understand your point. I just feel that its unnecessary for him to get the K-3, and that's another $800 in the hole, not necessarily easier on the budget. Get the K-1, and just learn on that.

[Tan68]

I didn't think the Sigma 50mm Art was available in K-mount! The 35mm certainly is.

Not so sure myself.
One review site has written they used the Sigma 50 A for their review...

---------- Post added 05-23-16 at 06:08 PM ----------

Well, a K3 would be quite an upgrade in image quality but it may be possible to find one of the Nikon DX equivalents, either new or used, for similar price (or close enough given other costs of changing system) so don't try to down-sell him too hard :^)

[normhead]

the OP had a D300 - I think he wants to upgrade, not simply go laterally, although I do understand your point. I just feel that its unnecessary for him to get the K-3, and that's another $800 in the hole, not necessarily easier on the budget. Get the K-1, and just learn on that.

So, in your opinion going to a K-3 or even a K-5IIs would be going laterally?

[Imp]

Wow... didn't realize it was THAT old!

Ok, nvm me

[normhead]

Wow... didn't realize it was THAT old!

Ok, nvm me

How time flies eh, seems like yesterday.

[Simen1]

Welcome ncee! PF is a friendly community even for non-Pentaxians too, so don't feel alien here.

85-95% Landscape photography.

For this use the K-1 will be absolutely excellent. How much of the last 5-15% is fast AF-tracking action photography? That action part is probably more suited for the Nikon D500. Fast tracking AF is as far as I know the only thing that D500 does better then K-1. That means, K-1 does have decent AF tracking too, but D500 is better. But for your 85-95% landscape photography and other non AF-tracking photography, the K-1 should be a better choice.

There is also the brand new DFA 15-30mm zoom, which according to reviews is pretty great. This should really cover the (ultra) wide angle range. Its not the most affordable, though. The Pentax DA 12-24mm does not work fully on FF (I think, feel free to double check)

If think OP referred to his current lenses on the D300s. So mathematically a FF 18-36mm lens should replace the 12-24 and a 27-450mm should replace the 18-300. The D-FA 15-30mm fits the wanted wide angle zoom range good. I hope Pentax will launch a D-FA 28-300 with HD coatings and WR within a couple of years.

For the super zoom there is no currently produced lens that replaces it well, but a Tamron 28-300 f/3,5-6,3 may do a decent job for a very affordable price. Using the crop mode on 300mm should give the same reach as he is used to, only combined with a newer and better sensor.

If ncee likes 50mm on APS-C, the FA 77mm f/1,8 should be an excellent replacement. There also exist a smaller and cheaper DA 70mm f/2,4 that performs well on full frame from f/4.

[Winder]

Hi, so I'm sure to get a ton of responses and some good ones I'm sure.

I'm looking to up-grade from my current D300, and boy, the K1 seems like a great option to me.

85-95% Landscape photography.

Besides the camera, what might I expect to layout for a few lenses?

Something like a nice 18-300 zoom, 50 prime, 12-24 wide angle? While budget isn't a big deal, it is a concern. I'm guessing / hoping the camera and a nice lens or 2 might not set me back much more then $3500.00 + -. I'll be adding many accessories over time, but body and a lens is first on the list IF folks feel it's the camera for me. Need at least one lens to use with the new camera

I would skip the 18-300 zoom. If you do blow anything up you will wish you had used another lens. Get the K-1 and the FA 15-30mm. That fits your budget and you can shoot just about any landscape with that combination. The lens is excellent and couple that with the pixel shift of the K-1 and you get the best landscape setup you can buy this side of the 645z.