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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
02-27-2011, 04:56 PM
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As you can see from my signature, I don't have many lenses, but I used both zooms and primes with my Prakticas.
I had a Prakticar 50mm f1.8 and a Sigma 35-200 zoom (f4/5.6 from memory). I loved the zoom as it was wider and longer then my 50mm, but of course the 50mm went back on whenever I was indoors.
The zoom was big though - huge by modern standards. The quality was fine in isolation, but compared to my dad's Tamron zooms (28-80 and 80-210) it was soft all over. In the end I traded it and some cash for a Prakticar 28mm f2.8 and a Carl Zeiss Pentacon 135mm f2.8.
The primes made me feel like a proper photographer, and in the days of film when you couldn't change ISO at the turn of a dial, the extra few stops over the Sigma were great. The 135mm was a great lens - really solid and optically leaps and bounds ahead of the Sigma. The 28mm got a loose rear element, so you used to get occasional shots with a very odd depth of field.
Anyway - I'm not sure what my point is. Probably that even with that old Sigma zoom, I was happy enough with my pictures - I knew it wasn't as good as my dad's Tamron, but it was good enough for my purposes. I took my photography more seriously when I had the primes, but I don't know if I was a better photographer. The extra DOF control and speed was useful though.
What would have improved my photography no end in those days would have been for it to be effectively free to take a picture - if I had a time machine one of the first things I do after winning the lottery a few times, would be to give my young self my K-7.
So, in sleep-deprived and rambling summary - forget what lens you have, go take pictures. That's the fun bit, and it's also the bit that makes your pictures better.
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