Additional lenses

I’m very near going digital but would be grateful for some advice on the lenses. On my Super Program I mainly use the Pentax-A 28mm and 24mm lenses, although the 50mm and 20mm are essentials which I have to have in my bag as well.

In the *ist range everything is priced to include the 18-55 lens. I like the Jessops offer of the *ist DL2 with 18-55 for £600 plus the 50-200 for free, but I know that if I took that offer, which ends soon, the 50-200 would be useful but not essential. Also, the widest angle of the 18-55 is 28 in old money and I would need that and wider still!

I have noticed that the 16-45 is highly rated on here but it is never sold with a body, only as a separate item. I would be interested in the 12-24 if I can find it, but with the lenses available I’ve got to consider the 12-24 covering some of the range that the 16-45 can, and the 16-45 covering some of the 18-55 range. Having both the 18-55 and 16-45 just seems a bit too much to me.

The other wide zoom you might consider is the Sigma 10-20mm. I have no personal experience of it but users on this forum give it a reasonable write-up. The only zoom wider than the 12-24mm available from Pentax at the moment is their 10-17mm fisheye zoom but again I have no personal experience of it. Check the Pentax lens development roadmap at http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/lens/roadmap.pdf' .

I would agree that to have both the 18-55 kit lens and the 16-45mm is silly, unless of course you have 2 X DSLR bodies. I bought a DS with the 18-55 about a year ago. Then I bought a D with Tamron glass for which I have just bought the 16-45mm. In common with others on this forum I find the 16-45mm to be a far superior lens to the kit lens.

You could always buy the Jessops kit and the 16-45mm then sell the kit lens. Just don't expect it to fetch very much. Alternatively ask Jessops how much trade-in they'll give you for not taking the kit lens. When I bought my DS it wasn't actually a kit, it was 2 separate retail boxes. 1 X camera + 1 X lens.

Hope that helps.

I'd go with the 16-45, it's an excellent lens. The 18-55 kit lens isn't quite up to the same level.

The 12-24 is very good, minimal distortion for a super-wide. Practically none, in fact.

Ditto Arthur's comment.
16-45 is stonking.
12-24 is superb
And the 50-200 has pretty excellent reviews too.
Matt

In terms of value, as a start the Jessops offer seems pretty good.

I started with the 18-55, and it's a great lens once stopped down a couple of stops. I have now replaced it with the 16-45 to get a slightly wider angle, but that hasn't stopped me ordering a 12-24 as well.

The cost of the 18-55 in a kit is so low you might as well have it regardless, and indeed you can always sell it if you wish to.

Whatever you do, there may be no totally efficient buying plan that will eliminate any overlap. First and foremost I would think very carefully about your style of photography, analyse the pictures you take and buy your lenses to fit in with that profile.

What I noticed lately when doing interior shots, when taking pictures from light low contrast backgrounds you do see a noticeable amount of vignetting with the 18-55. When shooting RAW this is easily fixed with Adobe Camera RAW.

I bought the DL-body only with the da40mm as my "standard" and whilst I never intended to buy zooms, of course, one has to limit expense(!) I bought the 50-200 also new and the 18-35 second-hand for around 40 quid:-

DA 40mm
DA 50-200
FA J 18-35

So I would buy body only. BUT choose your lenses carefully to suit your tastes and usage. You already have 3 decent primes so I would keep those and use them to begin with. You can then look around. Pentax are also introducing a nice da-21 (3.2). Choices!

I like all three lenses. They work well in auto mode and also are dead easy to use with manual focus, something I thought may be difficult for me. So far no problem.

However, on the 50-200 I have internal dust - I just hope it will never be a problem!

I have sold my zooms and standardized on Pentax-M lenses. I just love the solid feeling and the way focussing manually is a pleasure with these lenses also of course ultimately I like the results I am getting.