Choosing a good zoom

Hi!

After getting quite a few lenses for my *ist DS second hand, I'm now searching for a nice zoom to be a flexible lens to carry along when I have to travel light. I'm thinking something starting around 24mm and stretching to at least 70mm. I'm willing to buy new and spend around 300 Euro (£ 200).

I started by narrowing down to an SMC Pentax-FA 28-105 F/3.2-4.5 , a Tamron SP AF28-75 F/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical IF Macro and a Tokina AT-X 287 AF PRO SV 28-70 F/2.8. But now I find the Tokina too heavy and big; the Tamron seems quite nice, but from my experience of all the lenses I have, Pentax glass is generally better. Plus, my experience of imcompatibility with my Tokina (probably an isolated case) made me a bit wary of independents.

So now I'm choosing between the Pentax 28-105 and a Pentax 24-90mm F/3.5/4.5. The 24-90 is starting to get difficult to find, and is more expensive than the 28-105, but the 24mm would be better on APS-C than the 105mm.

Wich one would you pick of these two? Do you have good experiences with other lenses on this category?

What lens do you take along with your D/DS/DL when you can only take one?

Thanks!

Flink,
Originally I wondered what all the fuss was about, and tried (and bought) other lenses first. Then I had a little windfall and bought a new 24-90 for the *ist-D. Now I understand

I have found the 24-90 to be a consistently good performer. Colour and flare control are wonderful. Very slightly soft (compared to the DA 16-45) but sharpens up very nicely with Photoshop.

There's just a certain "something" about the lens. The out-of-focus rendition is lovely, and the bokeh is very nice. I took some "snaps" at a wedding not long after I bought it, and it fully justified the expense My candids were good enough to class as pro-wedding photography. It's now one of my main lenses, and normally the lens of choice if I can only take one

Hope that helps!

Matt

I use the 16-45, and a used 28-70 f/4 FA/AL for a lot of what I do. The 28-70 is an autofocus lens, but out of production. They show up used from time to time, it's worth looking for. It's a decent performer.

The 24-90 is definitely much better than the 28-70, but then it costs more.

Just watch out for the 28-70 - don't buy one without seeing it! Some of them suffer from some kind of problem with the rear elements where everything goes foggy. I had two go on me, and just bought a third (which is ok for now). Pretty cheap though

Matt

I too can vouch for the 24-90 being an excellent performer.

Yes, the 24-90 has conquered me from the first look. I don't know what it is, but I always wanted to have it. I just ignored this desire because I did not understand it.

Everybody seems to be very happy with it, and know that I have to choose a lens, I'm slowly but steadily succumbing to it's powers!

I think I already made my choice... now the only problem is to find one!

P.S. I've seen one on Ffordes, but £329 for an ex-demo... ParkCameras has new ones for £300, still a bit over my budget... there are a few in the US eBay, but I'm afraid I'll pay through the nose for it due to import duties, taxes, etc... with no warantees of good condition.

Any leads to where I can find a good one?

Thanks!

P.S.- John, I guess I'm becoming a bit like you; after trying out a few different lenses of different brands, I think I will stick to Pentax at last... should have saved all that money to buy the 24-90 more easily!

I think most of us have been tempted by the dark side at some time or other but have felt the force and prefer Pentax Glass

Kim

Me too
Only now am I being tempted back to the "dark side" and the Sigma 10-20mm that's just been announced (mostly because it's far more affordable than the Pentax - but maybe that'll change given a few months!)
Matt

There are two 24-90s on Ebay at the moment.
G

I have yet to concinve myself to buy a variable-apetrure zoom. I just got over the "primes only" mentality only recently. I just can't see using a variable apeture lens.

Why?

There's only a 1 stop variation and even if you're using a hand-held meter, it's not a major disadvantage!

I'd have thought that image quality and zoom convenience were much more important considerations

If you use studio flash, it can be slightly inconvenient to have to re-adjust the aperture after zooming.

If you use a manual camera you might have to re-meter after zooming.

It is a minor point in some ways, but it is a point, and depending on the sort of photography undertaken it could be significant.

There are some excellent Pentax zooms with constant aperture values.

i too find this 24-90 a very good allrounder.
very nice for portraits.

I wasn't convinced by this variable aperture business, but after a discussion on here a couple of months ago I did a series of tests with fixed and variable aperture zooms, and found that the aperture of the 24-90 does change by as much as a full stop depending on the focal length.

I had put my sometimes erratic exposures down to carelessness with the lights, but now accept that it was the aperture shift of the lens that was to blame.

Thank you to those who put me right (Arthur and JR, I think).

G

I seem to remember running a few tests

Kim