LBA strikes

Mongoose · 2007-11-07T23:11:27+0000

Help! I think I'm about to spend rather a lot of money. Through a sequence of happy events I have on the order of £300 burning a hole in my back pocket. Although up to now most of my photography has been in the telephoto or macro ranges, I have recently developed an interest in wide angle. The 18-55 is as wide as my kit goes at the moment, and it doesn't quite cut the mustard, being neither particularly wide nor particularly good at 18mm. My wide angle fun and games have centered around using the perspective to make a close subject seem larger than life, rather than panoramic landscapes which I tend to prefer to do with stitched shots at longer focal lengths. I am considering a number of options: The Sigma 10-20: Not a direct replacement for my 18-55, but would take over the roll of wide angle lens and support the kit zoom where it is weakest (I have a 50mm prime to deal with the other end if needed!) Sigma 18-50 F2.8 DC Macro No wider than the 18-55, but faster and I would hope better quality. Would come in handy at fencing matches where I am currently limited to my 35, 50, 90 and 135mm fast primes. Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 A nice walk around focal length, faster than the 18-55 and longer/wider too. Is it better though? Pentax 16-45 F4 Wider than the 18-55, better optics and a stop faster at the long end. Given the better quality, probably effectively more like 2 stops faster than the 18-55 since using it wide open is not a total fantasy. Not as wide as the 10-20 though. Also nagging at the back of my mind as ever is the fact that I'm not totally happy with my 80-320's long end performance, but I have my doubts that the Sigma or Tamron 70-300 4.5-5.6 lenses would actually be better and there's just no way I'm going to get £750 together for a Sig 100-300 F4 any time soon, so I think I'm going to concentrate on the end of the range I can actually afford to improve for now.

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hefty1 hefty1

4018 posts
18 years
Buckinghamshire,
UK

Posted 09/11/2007 - 13:07 Link

Quote:

While perusing the SRS website, I came upon a Tamron 300mm F2.8 for £350. At that price I could not resist and it is at this very moment mounted on my K10D and pointing out the window at a bird feeder.

Congrats! Guess you won't be needing the 70-300 after all then?

Joining the Q

alan S alan S

20 posts
20 years

Posted 09/11/2007 - 19:52 Link

I would have advised against the Tamrom 70-300. mine tends to walk in the wrong direction slowly.
The 100-300 UC sigma I had before was better in AF even if with slower glass. The FA60-320 runs rings around them both

I look forward to seeing some great results from the 2.8

Regards

Alan