[interested_observer]

I'm going to take a slightly different approach to the question. You have received a lot of excellent information, but I'm going to step back a little farther and somewhat answer as an overview.

• Shoot with what you have for a while. The 18-135 lens covers quite a bit of territory, from wide angle (18mm) to moderate telephoto (135mm), and it does it all very well. You can do a lot with it. It's been designed to do a lot - so take advantage of it. As you shoot more, things will start to click. For instance, perhaps you will start to want to get closer to subjects - wildlife, so as to not scare them away, so a longer lens (telephoto) in the 300mm range will start to feel right. You can "simulate" a longer lens with the 18-135 by cropping you images. Your current shooting will lead you to what type of lens you would like next.

• You asked about wide angle specifically. Your camera has the same 24MP regardless of what lens you are using. A wide angle lens just pulls more "view" into the frame and lays it on the sensor. The lens pulls this additional "view" from around the edges. It does this by taking the main object that you are shooting (what's in the center of the frame) and "pushing" it more into the background in order to make room around the edges. Essentially, what this does is make the foreground, the stuff right in front of you, more important in the image. You will read and see folks talk about needing an anchor for wide angle shots - this is something interesting to have in the foreground.

• There is another way to shoot "wide angle", and that is to "stitch", and make panoramas. You can use any lens to do this. What you essentially do, is to turn the camera vertical (portrait orientation) and then (say from right to left) shoot a frame, and then slide over leaving about 30% overlap and shoot a second frame, then keep doing this for 3, 4, 5 frames to cover the subject. Download Microsoft ICE (a free download), which will then take your individual shots and stitch them together into a single resulting panorama (Lightroom 6 also supports panoramas). The advantage is that you have little if any foreground and are emphasizing the main subject. There is lots of information on this out on the web (here is one). You can do this handheld, or from a tripod. There are lots of ways, and additional stuff to help you do this, but to start off - handheld is the way to go. Here is a video that walks you through everything - how to stitch in various ways. (Note - his thumb trick works with mirrorless, but not really with dSLRs, so just use the viewfinder.)

You Tube

You Tube

Photography is a compromise - everything you do is a compromise. You are always making decisions - would this scene look better shot this way or that way. Wide focal length or longer focal length (note - the film is free, shoot it both ways and start to see what you like better). There is lots of experimentation to do, to find out what and how you like to shoot. There is really no "wrong" way - well other than leaving your lens cap on the lens or leaving your camera home.

[UncleVanya]

Along the lines of the person above, this thread may help you:

DA 18-135 WR, Show us what it can do - PentaxForums.com

[bschriver11]

I like the 55-300, it is small and light enough to hand hold easily but still gives enough on the long end to help you learn the value of good technique with telephoto lenses. You'll need a steady camera to get the best result from a long lens. Shake reduction is just that, it's not shake elimination.

[Des]

This thread shows the forum at its best. Helpful, courteous, practical and well-informed. I'll just add a couple of points to what's been said.

One point to emphasise is that the 18-135 can do wildlife quite well, if you get close enough. Here are some examples with the DA 18-135:




















Conversely, longer telephoto lenses can be great for landscapes. Some examples here: Post your Telephoto Landscapes! - PentaxForums.com

There's a lot of scope for creativity in photography by defying conventions about focal lengths, apertures and shutter speeds. Portraits with wide angle lenses and high depth of field, landscapes with short DOF, landscapes with a narrow field of view, panning to follow a moving subject with a slow shutter speed, wildlife with wide angles - sometimes they work and often they don't, but it's creative and fun to try.

But I agree with the suggestions that one of the 55-300 lenses would be an ideal option to pair with the 18-135, for a greater range of focal lengths. I wouldn't leap to getting a more specialist telephoto lens (like the big heavy zooms such as 50-500 or 150-450, or even a 300mm prime and teleconverter) until you have tried a versatile and lightweight xx-300mm zoom first - it might be all you need at that end.

all of which share the same optics if I am not mistakencan anyone confirm that ?

Just a slight correction Allen. The three screw-driven versions of the 55-300 have the same optical formula: 12 elements in 8 groups, with the same maximum apertures and the same MFD (1.4 metres). The only optical difference is that the WR version has the newer HD coatings (a feature that is well worthwhile IMO).These are the three screw-driven models (from most basic to most featured):
SMC Pentax-DA L 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED Reviews - DA L Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED Reviews - DA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR Reviews - DA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

The PLM model uses a different optical formula. It has 14 elements in 11 groups, slightly narrower maximum apertures across most of the range and a shorter MFD (0.95m).
HD Pentax-DA 55-300mm F4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE Reviews - DA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

As has been pointed out the PLM has very fast and quiet autofocus, something that can't be said for the older models. I've got both the DA-L and the PLM and there's not much between them in sharpness, especially when stopped down (the PLM is perhaps a little sharper at wide apertures). But the PLM renders better and has better bokeh, and is more pleasant to use. The screw-drive versions are great value, but for me the PLM is worth the extra cost.

[Wheatfield]

Hello all,

I have an interest in wildlife and landscape photography. What are some good lens to look into? I currently only own the 18-135mm lens because I heard it was a great lens for beginners, so far its been great, but obviously it lacks a lot of zooming capability and I feel it's not the best for my landscape photos.

I have seen wide angle lens being used a lot for landscape photography, is this recommended? If anyone has advise let me know! Tell me your favorite lenses and what you use them for!

Thank you!!

Really, there is no "best lens" since everyone's vision differs. My goto lens is the standard focal length for the format, so with the K1 I gravitate towards the 50mm, on APS-C cameras, the 35mm focal length was where I found myself most of the time. I would think the 18-135 would cover practically everything.