stage, portrait lens, which one?

Well I just ordered the DA*50-135 at SRS.
This is the perfect range for my style of shooting in the studio and now just hoping it will do good enough for the stage.
If I still consider myself in the need for a faster lens I'll buy a second hand 50mm, it will preform good enough for the stage.
Maybe I will even sell the DA40 also and get an FA43 instead for that purpose

http://www.photozone.de/pentax/362-tamron-af-90mm-f28-di-sp-macro-pentax-
Might be worth considering something outside the box Stefan a freind of mine has this lens and loves the results.
Ian

Thank you Ian, I've heared good things about it but I already have the D-FA 100mm so it would be a waste to get the Tamron 90mm and 10mm doesn't really make a difference at that range.
Also money is a problem now after buying the 50-135 (I'm a poor student) so need to sell the 18-250 and get a POL for the 50-135 first.

Glad to hear, let us know how it goes

Nathan, I had hope it would have come today but..
Now need to wait till tuesday were I can test it later that night on some belly dancers

I've the lens and it surely is a beauty
The SDM is very silent indeed and certain when locking, very pleased with that. It isn't that fastest AF of what I've but surely fast enough.
The IQ looks to be very good and the bokeh is lovely aswell... I cant really say something bad about it at the moment. The weight of the lens isn't as bad as I thought it would be, it quite nicely balanced in fact so no comment on that.

Now I need to try it out more seriously, this weekend I need to do some portraits so the lens will come in handy and on tuesday there are some belly dancers on the menu.

Well I've found one thing I do dislike, it doesn't focus that close but that's the only thing so far.

ah well, my new Bigma needs at least 1 meter @ 50mm and 3 meters at 500mm to focus

But for a portrait/stage lens it isn't a problem I think? What is the close focus range for the 50-135?

The closest focus on the 50-135 is also 1 meter but over the whole range but like you said it really isn't a problem but still something like 70cm would have been better.

How is the bigma so far, you wont need to go to the gym if you use that lens handheld. Btw we are still waiting for those pohots.

Oh Remco the postage cost was €10 so well worth the price difference. The whole package was €606, not bad right

@stefan, that is a nice deal for the 50-135.
Well I haven't been out that much, I was planning to go around the village today to find some subjects to shoot but I didn't have the time.

I do need some practice to use the thing handheld, it will increase the strength in your arms

Too bad time is a real problem. I'm planning a trip tomorrow since I only have one lesson at school so going to skip that.

So in a way the lens pay hisself back because you don't need to go to the gym, what handy. It must be quite hard to controll the besat at full length or not?