Lens issue

firstly let me apoligise i am a noob,and have a few questions i am after an all rounder lens however after reading various revies am i right in thinking i am better off with a standard 18-55 mm lens and a 55-200/250 instead of a all in 1 job?i wil be covering a wide aspect of photography from landmarks portraits and travel/safari,some will be in low light but i know at the £400 mark the budget wont allow for good night shots any info greatly appriciated

I use a Tamron 18-250 on my K10d most of the time, and the results are certainly as good as the results I obtain from the Pentax 18-55.

Hi foxyce

It used to be the case that the more focal length a zoom tries to cover, the more the compromises have to creep in during manufacture. The result is usually a slower, slightly poorer image quality. For that reason I would rather carry two zooms, or a combination odf zooms and primes.

Having said that, a lot of advances have been made over the years and I think now there is a possibility that a very wide range zoom can be very good. I hope an owner can chip in.

The 18-55 and 55-200 (kit lenses) are not particularly fast, but often get very unfair criticism. For the price they are great kit lenses. and used appropriately will render great results.

If you want to add another lens to add to your two kit lenses why not go with one of the excellent Pentax primes. I dont have it but the FA50mm 1.4 is highly regarded.

i use a tamron 18-200mm and i would say my tamron produces better results than my 18-55mm mark 2

The Pentax or Tamron 18-250mm provides similar image quality to the combination of Pentax 18-55mm II + Pentax 50-200mm, and saves changing lenses so often.

However, the camera will be less comfortable to use with the weight of the 18-250, and there may be times when you will want to take a different combination of lenses - that might include the 18-55 or 50-200 (or 55-300), but not both. It comes down to personal preference.

Low light photography on a low budget is possible via second-hand old manual-focus fast prime lenses. You could perhaps buy one or two of these in addition to one or two modern zooms. Look out for 50, 100 or 135mm lenses. Pentax-A 50mm f1.7 is a great one to start with, and small enough to carry in a pocket.

ok thanks for the comment lookiag at about 500 pound mark so not sure what to get yet have been advised by srs microsystems that the sigma 18-200 is a good all rounder to get me started on opinions please i know the tamron is slightly cheaper than the sigma and the pentax is more that all of the mentioned lenses

Pentax/Tamron 18-250 is generally thought to be the best lens of that type.

Do you have a kit lens or did you buy body only ?

only bought body only so i could select my lenses just baffeled by it all lol

You'd be better off finding out what kind of focal lengths you favour by going out & shooting. This way you'll know where to spend the bulk of your budget.

I'd suggest picking up a 18-55 from ebay & trying that for a few weeks first. Then you'll know if you need wider / longer / faster. Then we can help a little more with your choices (if you still need help by then !)

Foxycce,

What RR is saying is absolutely correct. I am a newbie and what he says is true to the word. You really need to experiment. In the beginning all these seem confusing and so much information about lenses and its all theoretical. You really got to start using the camera and start shooting so you realise what you want to do. I have learnt it precisely the same way. I have bought some lenses and although I definitely do not want to part from them but quite a few of them are not being used as much as I thought I would when I bought them. I will eventually start making full use of them but if I was going to just buy one lens I would want to be sure what I want to get into first.

And yup, they are right, you can get a jack of most trades like they mentioned, the 18-250 but its a master of none, so there is a trade off. Evaluate what your priorities are, you want a fantastic picture, or you want a faster zoom, or you want something that will cover most areas but sacrifice some aspects in image quality etc. Best way really is getting the kit lens which is a budget one 18-55 and start trying, soon you will realise what it is lacking and then you will know, or you might find that the range is great and covers what you want and in that case you can just upgrade for a lens that will have the same range but a much better quality.

By the way, I am no expert in this, I just started recently in this field, so please take my advice with a pinch of salt and seek and listen to the recommendations and advice from these very experienced and kind people around. They are truly great in the field and are very helpful. I have learnt a lot since I came around here and they have really helped me a lot.

Good luck in your quest

Amin

If you have £500 to spend I would buy the Tamron 18/250 and a pentax 50mm 1.4 for low light and potraits. I have the 1.4 and its a lovely portrait lens if you can get one now.
Ian

tamron and sigma 18-200mm lens reviews here.
link
i would recomend tamron, all my pics are taken with tamron, alot with the 18-200mm have a look if your interested, at my pics in my pentax portfolio.

also i would still highy recommend the tamron 28-300mm,

well i have a 18-55 mm lens its the kit 1 i have that from my pentax k110d and just obviously lacks any zoom but the pics look ok,so just wondering why the tamron over the sigma? or even ove rthe pentax i know the cost issue but is there a difference in performance

From the many reviews and user reports I've read, the 18-250mm is the best performing lens of that type. Basically, you will get sharper pictures with it than you will with one of the others of that type. The Pentax 18-250 is based on the Tamron 18-250, so they are effectively the same lens. Only get an 18-200 or similar if you want a cheaper or lighter alternative.

There is no need to rush into getting an "all round" lens though. In fact you may decide you don't need one afterall. Meanwhile you could get a budget telephoto zoom, such as a Tamron 70-300mm. These are well under a hundred quid and actually perform quite well.