[Mikke]

Hi everyone!

I had the pleasure to try a Pentax camera, and fell in love! I have now sold my Canon equipment, and got some money to spend!

I´m going to buy a K-7, but could use some help when it comes to lenses. I have read a lot but its easy to get lost. I´m looking for the whole range from wide to tele. Could you please tell me if my selection is a good one?

DA* 16-50
DA* 55-135
DA 10-17
FA 50mm F2.8 Macro

In addition, i would like the FA 31mm Ltd. How about the other limited edition lenses? I´ve read the reviews here and it seems they are all good. But what would you recommend? Image quality is important to me.

[Ash]

Decent start there.
Welcome to the forum.
Seeing as though funds don't seem to limit you, you may find having the DA 12-24 valuable for the super-wide rectilinear shots you may want to capture. Then for macro, either the FA 50 or FA 100 are great choices (I prefer the 100 for the extra working distance you get with it).

FA limited series primes are absolutely awesome pieces of glasswork.
I'd say get all 3, or at least the fantastic duo of the FA 31 and 77 ltds.
Enjoy shopping!

[Mikke]

Decent start there.
Welcome to the forum.
Seeing as though funds don't seem to limit you, you may find having the DA 12-24 valuable for the super-wide rectilinear shots you may want to capture. Then for macro, either the FA 50 or FA 100 are great choices (I prefer the 100 for the extra working distance you get with it).

FA limited series primes are absolutely awesome pieces of glasswork.
I'd say get all 3, or at least the fantastic duo of the FA 31 and 77 ltds.
Enjoy shopping!

Thanks for the welcome Ash, and for your reply! The extra working distance with the 100mm is a good tip! And I will look into the fantastic duo of 31 and 77 ltd!

Thanks!

[Mikke]

How about the 35mm Ltd macro lens? Is that good too?

[Mikke]

K-7
Vertical grip
AF-540 Blitz
DA* 16-50
DA* 50-135
FA 31mm Ltd
FA 100mm macro
DA 10-17


The 12-24 has a better zoom range tho. I need good zooms when doing work where I don´t have time to change so often. I´ll get more prime lenses later. I want them all!

[eaglem]

I think you'll find the Sigma 105mm Macro to be an excellent lens and you can get them with a Pentax fitting. Even the Canon and Nikon guys rave about the sharpness of this lens. And if you want to get closer to the subject you can always use the Kenko Extension Tubes, a set of these always come in handy.

Mikke, I assume you realize that DA 10-17mm is a fish-eye lens? Just to make sure you want one of those.

[Mikke]

Hi emr!
Jepp, I know its a fish-eye. I used my Canon fish-eye from time to time, but this time i´m thinking about waiting and go for a prime instead, or the 12-24

[Mike Cash]

Have you visited The Takumar Club?

Get great lenses....and keep most of your money in your pocket.

[octavmandru]

Have you visited The Takumar Club?

Get great lenses....and keep most of your money in your pocket.

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[Mikke]

How about this build:

K-7
Vertical grip
AF-540 Blitz
DA* 16-50
DA* 50-135
FA 31mm Ltd
FA 100mm macro
DA 12-24

[Rondec]

I definitely would begin with 16-50 and 50-135. Both are excellent lenses, sharp with great colors. I guess the lenses you add to that depends on what kinds of things you are shooting. I think that with your last list you will have most of your bases covered. The only thing missing is long glass. I guess the one suggestion I would make is that you consider a manual focus lens for your macro lens. I find that auto focus is not nearly as useful when shooting macros shots. In particular a lot of people love the Vivitar 105 macro.

[interested_observer]

Well I like the wide end of the focal length range, and can recommend both the 10-17 as well as the 12-24. Both are excellent pieces of optical glass. The two lenses actually complement each other very well. To understand this you have look at each of the lenses' field of view.

10-17 180 degrees to 100 degrees
12-24 100 degrees to 60 degrees

Obviously the difference is the 10-17 being a fish eye, in that the focal lengths overlap, but that is miss leading.

The other item is the quality of the 12-24. An evaluation on dpreview http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/..._p15/page3.asp rated this zoom superior to the new DA 15/f4, which is unheard of.

"Unfortunately it (the DA 15) doesn't come out so well against the excellent Tokina AT-X PRO SD 12-24mm F4 (IF) DX, which we'd expect to perform near-identically to Pentax's own smc DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL (IF) - in this case the zoom is sharper, and has lower falloff and equally low distortion, although it does show more chromatic aberration."

In terms of CA on the 12-24, I have never had a problem with it, and I have shot directly into the sun and many of sunsets (also tried it during the day). It can be there, however its well controlled and can be removed with software. Essentially the Tokina 12-24 is the same lens as the Pentax (the probable difference is the Pentax SMC coating and the external design/grip, along with the AF clutch).

In terms of the FE image quality, it is excellent, also. Neither Canon nor Nikon has a zoom FE, and in terms of wide angle - just primes. The 10-27 is another collaboration with Tokina. It is an excellent lens, fish eye at the 10mm end, however when at the other end - 17mm you have to stretch to see it (however it is still there, just subtle). The image quality is superb. The focal length of the range is so short, that it actually acts like a prime. Also the build quality is beyond compare.

Between the two lenses, you have a continuous Field of View range from 60 degree, all the way to a full 180 degrees (and watch where you put your toes, they may be in the frame when you take the shot).