I have about £350 what lens?

Father Christmas was reasonably nice to me this year(I have been good!)
I have a K200D with a 18 -250mm zoom I would like to add a lens to my kit and would like advice on what to buy that would give me the most flexibility as a dslr beginner.

what do you like shooting.

Do you feel you would like wider or longer than you have, or better somewhere within - in which case what focal length have you been using most on your current lens ?

What do I like shooting?
As a beginer I'm trying pretty well most things.
I like potraits but finding subjects is not so easy
Im walking early and late around worcestershire so landscapes are good.
I like using the camera at parties and events.
I am even doing a little sports photo ( Am. football)
I'm not sure what i like best so the next lens has really got add to my options and learning curve
The lens I have is a great general purpose tool
I have a good quality tripod and a good flash is there something other than glass i should be using the money for?

If you were a very lucky person you might get the Pentax 50-200 from Jessops at £30 and the Sigma 10-20 at £300 which seems to fit your budget and give you a lot of flexibility!

Then again you may not be that lucky!

Mike

I would always recommend one of the 50mm lenses, personally I have the Pentax A-50mm f1.7 which can be had for around £50 on ebay, but this is a manual focus - the Pentax FA50mm f1.4 is around £150 but is auto-focus. These are incredibly sharp lenses and you can achieve very nice depth of field affect (effect?). Have a search for example pic's on this forum, you should find a lot!

Don't know what you would spend the other £200 on though!

You already have a pretty good all-rounder lens in the 18-250mm.

My advice is to wait, use what you have, then decide which focal length you might want to use.

For lanscape, architecture, or building interiors, the Sigma 10-20mm or the Pentax 12-24mm would be a good choice.

For longer focal lengths, consider a good quality teleconverter (T/C). I can personally recommend the SMC Pentax-F 1.7X AF T/C. The main advantage of using a T/C to extend the length of the lens you have is weight. Another long lens will be reasonably heavy, a T/C would add minimal weight, but increase versatility.

Sorry I misread the 18-250 as the kit lens.

Get the 12-24! I wish I had instead of the 10-20 Sigma which is a good lens but the 20 is just too short.

Mike

Wise words. Don't feel you have to buy a lens just because you've got £350 burning a hole in your pocket. You probably will, but...

The FA50mm f/1.4 is a superb lens that I'm sure you'd be more than happy with for years to come, it is good for portraits, low light shots, flowers, all sorts really. But in a couple of months time you might decide you really enjoy macro photography, and that £350 will come in really useful then to get yourself a great macro lens.

Wait and see...

Dan

I agree with posters so far, shoot a bit and figure out what limits you reach, what lens you then really want. I also have the 50mm 1.4 lens and it is fast, and has taken my favourite people shots, flowers, and frozen action. it's also great in low light, gigs etc. it may not be as flexible but the results are beautiful.

or just buy a k20d

Difficult question to answer without really making your 18-250 partially redundant. But heres my two-penneth:

Save up some more cash and got for either;

Pentax 16-50 DA* get some fast top quality glass in front of the camera.
Sigma 120-400 (I am seriously considering this myself) will extend your range

+1 on the 50 1.4
also the 16-45 or the 100 mm macro.