[Glen_S]

I received an unexpected bonus from my employer recently, and decided to finally pick up a DSLR after sitting on the sidelines watching for a few years and getting by with the *ist (when its available) I bought for our dept. at work. I was lucky to find one up here in Canada as pretty well ALL the dealers have been out of them since xmas and they have no idea when they will be receiving K20's or K200's up here.

I had it narrowed down to the K10D and Canon 30D, the only reason I was considering the 30D was the 5fps and I take a lot of sports pictures. However from reading reviews the K10D is supposed to take a true 3fps which is good enough, and I already own 1/2 dozen film SLR's so I can utilize the lenses, particularly the existing lenses from my MZ cameras. I am also eager to try my 50mm super takumar M42 lense on it once I get an adapter for it. I was amazed at the clarity this lense had when comparing the same picture taken with it and the 28-80 lense with my MZ7, and I want to see if the difference is as noticeable in digital format.

So, until I can put aside the clams for a good lense, I am going to be using the lense from either my MZ camera's for most of my shooting. I was hoping that the users on this board could make some good suggestions on a good all purpose lense, probably in the 28-300mm range, or perhaps a 28-80mm and a 50-300mm. I see Pentax has an inexpensive 50-300 model that goes for $200 or so, but this seems like a pretty cheap price for a lense like that. I also have not checked out other lenses like Sigma etc.. yet.

What would be a good all purpose lense that would take advantages of the capabilities this camera has? I would like variable focal length from 28-300 or so, but if getting two lenses to do this is a better solution then I am open to that as well.


thanks in advance!

[Peter Zack]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on the bonus that went into the K10D!

lenses, the ever present discussion...
I'd strongly suggest the Tamron 28-75 f2.8 Di. A great lens that is fast and sharp with a usable close-up ability (they call it macro)
Next would be the Tamron 70-300mm macro. I don't own it but many users report it to be very good and the images we've seen seem to supposrt that. There is also a Sigma 70-300mm as well that is about the same.

Finally the 18-250 Tamron or Pentax lens. Images from this seem to be very sharp and it's a decent size as well.

There are others but these are the most reasonably priced units to get started with.

Did you get the 18-55 kit lens? It's very good for the money and nice and wide.

[Rusty]

Hi Glen,

I have three lenses for my K10D:
Sigma 18-200 as my walk around
Sigma 17-70 for when I don't need telephoto
Sigma 70-300 for when I need extra reach

The last two give me slightly better quality than the first which really belongs to my wife's K100D.

Maybe you should check out the Tamron 18-250

Cheers,
Rusty

[Glen_S]

I opted for the body only for now to stay on budget, and will be using one of my 28-80mm AF lenses from one of my MZ film slrs until I decide what to get..

[WMBP]

So, until I can put aside the clams for a good lense, I am going to be using the lense from either my MZ camera's for most of my shooting. I was hoping that the users on this board could make some good suggestions on a good all purpose lense, probably in the 28-300mm range, or perhaps a 28-80mm and a 50-300mm. ...
What would be a good all purpose lense that would take advantages of the capabilities this camera has? I would like variable focal length from 28-300 or so, but if getting two lenses to do this is a better solution then I am open to that as well.

If you are really looking for an all-purpose lens, then you can't do better than either the prize-winning Tamron 18-250 or the Pentax 18-250. I've owned the Tamron and I hear that the Pentax is very similar. I said "have owned," not "own." I sold it. Why? Because I realized that I wasn't using it. I do carry a camera around with me everywhere just for fun, but the truth is, 95% of my shooting involves an assignment or a plan, for which I pick the best lens or lenses available. To be candid, I think limiting yourself to a single lens almost defeats the whole point of having a dslr. Anyway, I just wasn't using the 18-250 much. But that may just be me. If you really want maximum versatility--as if you were carrying around a compact superzoom--then the 18-250 is your #1 option. Note that this lens at 250 is very nearly as long as the Tamron 75-300 at its longest, and I think the quality is as good or better.

I agree that the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 (or the Sigma 28-70 f/2.8) are good mid-range options.

A good alternative to the Pentax kit lens is the Sigma 18-50 f/2.8 Macro--but it's not the cheapest option.

Finally, my favorite lens lately for just walking around is the Pentax 35 f/2. Not good for shooting birds on the other side of the lake, but for normal snapshots it's terrific.

Welcome to the forum by the way and congrats on your new camera.

Will

[Glen_S]

Thanks all for the excellent advice - I have one more question, to date I have only used regular SD cards, I have a few 1gb at home I use for my P&S camera's. I see that this camera will take the SDHC cards - is this the same as the "extreme III" memory cards?

[flyer]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on the bonus that went into the K10D!



There is also a Sigma 70-300mm as well that is about the same.



There are others but these are the most reasonably priced units to get started with.

.

If you go toward the Sigma, you need to know there are two versions of the lens: the inexpensive one and the slightly more expensive apochromatic (distinguished from the regular one by a red band on the front of the lens barrel) .

[Edvard_Grieg]

Thanks all for the excellent advice - I have one more question, to date I have only used regular SD cards, I have a few 1gb at home I use for my P&S camera's. I see that this camera will take the SDHC cards - is this the same as the "extreme III" memory cards?

SDHC is just a higher capacity. This is a good thread discussing the different classifications of the SDHC cards, https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-camera-accessories/19881-what-sdhc...ans-aware.html So your regular cards will work just fine, but if you want something larger capacity (>2GB) it will need to be SDHC

[Glen_S]

Thanks - that was a good thread, now I just have to make a choice between a 2 pack of 2gb ultra II cards for $49 or a single 2gb extreme III for $39

[Sprags]

SanDisk 2GB Ultra II's are $30 at CircuitCity.com