Originally posted by deimosmasque Okay I have to another lens so could you tell me if it would be a better choice?
I have a Pentax 18-55.
I realize that I probably sound very newbish here but honestly I normally work with models and portraits and have less experience with events.
The 18-55 does not have a wider maximum aperture at any focal length than the 18-250. You generally want an aperture of f/2.8 at least. f/2.0 is even better. And really, that's often what you should want for portraits too, as larger apertures give you a narrow depth of field, thus putting the background out of focus.
Oh, yeah. Shooting in large convention settings at wide apertures, you can't get the whole scene in focus, either. That's just life. but you can choose to have the background in focus *and* light enough to see, which flash won't give you.
Most lenses with large maximum apertures are not zooms, so you might want to identify what focal lengths you like and get a lens at that focal length. Manual focus lenses are often quite affordable. For example, the "M" or "A" 28mm lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 would possible be a good choice, and is easily available used for $100 or so. Among autofocus lenses, the FA50/1.4 is available new for $200, but you might find it is too long a focal length - I'd experiment with your zoom to see what focal lengths you want. It is *possible* to get zoom lenses with f/2.8 maximum aperture, but they tend to be rather ore expensive (the pentax DA* 16-50/2.8 runs $600, I think).
To get lens