[gut1kor]

Hi Friends,

I am going to buy my first DSLR ever, K-7.
My areas of interest are wild life, landscape and nature photography. Occasionally I would shoot family events. I do not know which lenses I should use for these types of photography. Please suggest me. :-)

Thanks :-)
Guna

[northcoastgreg]

Wildlife generally requires lenses of long focal length, generally 300mm+. Landscape generally requires ultra wide angle to normal lenses (i.e. ~12 to ~50mm). Family activities can require wide angle to short tele (i.e, ~18 to ~100). How you fill these needs depends on your budget. The least expensive solution is to buy the "kit" zooms: the DA 18-55mm and DA 55-300. If you were to buy the K-x instead of the K-7, you could get these lens quite cheap if you bought them along with the K-x. Of course, you pay for what you get. These are fair to good lenses, but they are not equal, in terms of sharpness and the quality of images they produce, to the more expensive lenses.

[Lowell Goudge]

Here we go again. My 2 cents worth on setting up a lens kit.

I believe that the kit should have a backbone of several zoom lenses, ranging from 10-12 mm at the wide end to between about 135 and 200mm at the long end. Ultimately you should attempt to cover as much of this range, i.e. from 135/200mm down to below 28mm with F2.8 constant aperture lenses. One of these lenses should be capable of close focus /macro with a 3:1 reprodcution ratio.

In addition to this, for wild life you need a means to get out to 400mm and beyond.

My own kit is a sigma APO 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC, an SMC-FA-J 18-35 F4-5.6, a tamron XR Di 28-75 F2.8, and a sigma APO 70-200F2.8 EX.

I get to 400mm with a 2x Sigma TC. Thes are excellent wuality but only useable on screw drive sigma long tele lenses.

I also have a collection of primes, (K and M42 lenses) that are almost all 1-2 stops faster than the zooms.

My view is that you should get the zooms first, and then add specialty prime lenses when you develop more of your photographic talent and style.

You can add specific macro, and primes that you want, perhaps a long tele prime as well, but start with some good zooms

[blackcloudbrew]

Assuming that you already have the kit lens (18-55) which is a good lens BTW. I'd consider getting the DA 55-300 for wild life and nature, the DA 12-24 for landscape, and something like the DA 40 limited for family events (although the kit lens can be quite good for family stuff). That would be good for starters. If you take nature to the macro level you might consider any of the following macro lenses DA 35 limited, D FA 50 or D FA 100 WR all are good and all are macro lenses with their own purposes.

Or you could go with a travel lens like the Tamron 18-250 lens which while not perfect for all applications is still very good as an all in one zoom.

That's a reasonable road map but you will find your way as you get more familiar with your K-7. I'd suggest that before you buy more lenses, you get to know your camera and your kit lens. Your experience with that will tend to lead you in one direction or another for your next lens purchase.

Good luck.

[gut1kor]

Lowell Goudge and northcoastgreg ,

Thanks for your inputs. I contemplate on your suggestions and come back again. I should also educate myself on the terminology a bit.

Thanks :-)

[gut1kor]

Assuming that you already have the kit lens (18-55) which is a good lens BTW. I'd consider getting the DA 55-300 for wild life and nature, the DA 12-24 for landscape, and something like the DA 40 limited for family events (although the kit lens can be quite good for family stuff). That would be good for starters. If you take nature to the macro level you might consider any of the following macro lenses DA 35 limited, D FA 50 or D FA 100 WR all are good and all are macro lenses with their own purposes.

Or you could go with a travel lens like the Tamron 18-250 lens which while not perfect for all applications is still very good as an all in one zoom.

That's a reasonable road map but you will find your way as you get more familiar with your K-7. I'd suggest that before you buy more lenses, you get to know your camera and your kit lens. Your experience with that will tend to lead you in one direction or another for your next lens purchase.

Good luck.

Valuable suggestions :-)
It feels perfect to start with kit lens and Tamron 18-250 (also from opinions of other pentaxians). Thanks.

[Just1MoreDave]

Lowell Goudge and northcoastgreg ,

Thanks for your inputs. I contemplate on your suggestions and come back again. I should also educate myself on the terminology a bit.

Thanks :-)

Look up prices for some of the suggestions too. It's easy to come up with a lens for every possibility. It's harder to meet a budget.

[Ubuntu_user]

Look up prices for some of the suggestions too. It's easy to come up with a lens for every possibility. It's harder to meet a budget.

Agreed.
Why is it that way?!

[Adam]

I'm going to once again link the lens database, in which you can browse lenses by focal length, and view pricing too: Pentax Lens Review Database - Lens Listings

Agreed.
Why is it that way?!

Wouldn't if be great if budget wasn't an issue, and we could all walk around with those 600mm F4 lenses? That would be amazing...

BTW, I'm giving you +rep just for your username

[Ubuntu_user]

Wouldn't if be great if budget wasn't an issue, and we could all walk around with those 600mm F4 lenses? That would be amazing...

Wouldn't that be a dream???

BTW, I'm giving you +rep just for your username

[hcc]

You already received some very valuable inputs. It all depends upon your budget and your needs. I went a different path from other suggestions. Let me share a different experience

I purchased the K-7 body together with the DA18-250m, and shortly after the Voigtlander Nokton 58mm 1.4. That is, an all-around zoom lens AF, and a fast prime MF. I love the combo of two complementary lenses, and I would do it again.

I like to work with a simple system (1 lens and 1 body) to travel light with a small bag and avoid lens swaping. My basic setup is the 18-250mm that is an excellent all-around lens, well-regarded by Pentaxians. I shot outdoor incl. actions (waves, birds, surfers, storms). I do not want to change lenses, especially when the weather conditions are poor, and the DA 18-250mm is perfect. Let keep it simple!

I purchased the Nokton 58mm for low light outdoor photography. As a fast prime (f1.4), it has a large aperture. Again, when I take it, I do not change lens when outdoor. I found the Nokton to be a superb lens both indoor and outdoor, and I use it much more than initialy thought.

Overall I am very happy of my setup that suits perfectly my needs. Both lenses are very solid and sturdy. They are not WR but their built is superb.

Hope that the comment may help....

[aliquis]

One of the 100-300/4.0 sigmas? Quite expensive (1000 euro, or more, atleast in Sweden) though.

Review: http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/369-sigma-af-100-300mm-f4-nikon
Very nice performance it seems.

Maybe slower glass if they are too expensive, the unmountable Canon 100-300 only cost like 2/7-1/3 that, but it's slower also, as said ..


100-300 is only 3x zoom.
18-250 is 13.88x zoom.

The former is probably much easier to get decent performance out of. Also the former is f/4.0 through the whole range, the later f/3.5-6.3.

But price matters ... Sigma also got a 170-500 which are cheaper. For underneath 10mm you already got the kitzoom. But ofcourse you could replace it with something like a f/2.8 standardzoom to if you want to spend more money.

But for wild-life I assume it's best worth to focus your purchase on a telephoto zoom and preferably something which let in at least some light.

[reeftool]

I would suggest for starting out, stick with the kit lens and get a long zoom such as the 55-300 and shoot a lot of pictures. Perhaps a macro lens if that kind of photography interests you. Whithin a few months, you will have a much better idea of what you want to do with your camera and you won't have spent a lot of money on gear that gathers dust. Get a tripod and maybe a flash if you do a lot of indoor shooting.

[ezechiel]

Question.. you bought the dual lens kit or single one?
Because there are other solutions on auctions sites.

And everyone talks about DA lenses, but some thought about old primes?
Especially if manual focus is not a problem for you, that would be a cheap and interesting solution.
Just an example: the A 50mm 1.7 is a rather good lens and I got mine for 50euro.

Landscape, you could start with a sigma 24mm mini-wide II with nice macro/proxy capabilities.
Maybe hard to find sometimes but ultra cheap!

Do you still shoot film? Because then I would rather choose full frame lenses.
Of course, 31 Ltd and 77 Ltd are not that cheap neither. Like the 70, the 77 is a nice
portrait and all around lens.

May I ask what you mean with "nature", because I like nature also, but I prefer macro (with a 90mm Tamron). And this one can be used elsewhere also, but extreme shallow DOF makes it sometimes difficult.
If "nature" means birds and other wildlife, then yes, listen to the other users' advice.

But Sigma APO 70-300 would also be a not too expensive alternative, no (never shot with it)?

[gut1kor]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions.
I talked to one vendor in Germany and he is offering K-7+ 18-55mm + 50-200mm lenses for 1000 EURO with original 2 year warranty. I am not sure if the price is worth for the set. Especially I had observed significant price drop in online auctions for few weeks now. Should I wait for some time for a better deal? Any thoughts on this?

Cheers
Guna