That good old topic - the 3 lens selection

I seem to spend a lot of time in and around churches so my lens line up on K3ii are Sigma 10-20, Sigma 17-70 and Tamron 70-200 2.8. All 3 cost me less than £600. And cover my needs.

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Just passing thru

Almost the same for me as far as lenses are concerned - but with the 55-300 PLM instead of the Tammy (and the cost was also just shy of £600).

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

I have trouble choosing a single lens, let alone three

If I'm really struggling to decide, I pick up the DA 18-135mm. An all around useful lens but rather slow for use in churches.

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Nigel.

Getting older and grumpier. Taking longer to decide which lens to use today.

K5 with auto-everything lenses
A collection of manual primes to keep me in touch with the pleasures of doing it old-school.

For me, it depends on where I am! We spend March to the end of October in Corfu and the Winter in England. I travel to Corfu with my lightest lenses, which for the K-1 means a Tamron SP 17-35, D-FA 28-105 and Tamron 70-300 Di LD Macro. This set up is my 'go to' for general walk-around and for landscape work. I also keep my DA*300, 100mm Macro WR, DA 70 Limited and DA*50-135 out in Corfu, but these are used for more specialist subjects and I usually don't take them out with me. I also have a K-3ii out here, but it rarely gets used unless I'm doing macro or wildlife stuff.

In England during the Winter, I favour my Tamron SP 70-200 f2.8 instead of the 70-300, as it gives better IQ, but it's too heavy to take abroad.

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Flickr

Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu

Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs

When shooting full frame, I've been using the FA zooms, which are quite compact and produce great results with the K-1. So the 20-35mm f/4 and the 24-90mm f/3.5-4.5 do very nicely, perhaps adding the 43mm f/1.9 as it's really compact even with the lenshood attached.

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Best regards, John

On my KP is normally the 150-450 or 300DA* with 1.4xTC and in the bag is the Tamron 90mm macro and Pentax 16-85mm. If I had to get it down to 3 I leave the 150-450 at home due to the weight.

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Pentax K-50
https://www.flickr.com/photos/103386117@N06/

Having previously given my ultimate, Q-based 'avoiding muscle rub and achy back syndrome' 3 lens set, it's time to come clean on APS-C.

For general purpose wanderings: 16-85mm + 55-300mm with an option on the Tamron 10-24mm if it might be useful. Replace the 16-85mm by the 16-45mm for less weight to carry around (and nostalgic memories of my first foray into digital SLR) at the expense of more changes of lens.

For bugs, birds and beasts: DA*300mm + Irix 150mm macro + 1.4TC. If feeling more weak and feeble than usual, replace the Irix with the Sigma 105mm to reduce weight.

For the challenge of light weight, prime-only general wanderings with APS-C: FA28mm + FA135mm with one of F50mm f1.7, D-FA50mm macro or FA77mm depending on how the mood takes me.

And with all of the above, there's always room to sneak a Q plus a lens or two into a pocket as well.

Steve

As I've read the posts in this thread I realise that I've mainly been operating with a 2 lens kit recently.
Most of my photography involves motor sport so I have a Pentax 12-24 for pits and paddock work, plus the 55-300 PLM for track side.
I have Sigma 8-16 and 50-150 which are both good but their weight tells over a day at the track.
To be fair there is also a Pentax 10-17 in the bag - just in case - but it hasn't been used in a long time.

I just saw this thread for the 1st time and it‘s interesting to read about everyone‘s preferences. I‘ve gone with three sets of three to cover my usual activities.

For general walkabouts with my K5iis I‘d go with:

Pentax DA 16-45mm
Samsung 35mm/f2
S-M-C Takumar 120mm/f2.8

The 16-45mm has never let me down and is pretty light, it does take up a bit of room though. If space is an issue I‘d swap it out for the Pentax-F 35-70mm and sacrifice the wide end.

The Samsung 35mm has a lot of character and overdelivers for it‘s compactness and weight. It’s fast and discrete enough to use in low light and street photography and has, for my tastes, a pleasing FOV on the cropped sensor.

Many of my favourite images in my archive were taken with an 85mm/1.8 SMC Tak but I‘ve gone with the 120mm for general walkabouts due to the extra reach. On the cropped sensor 120mm is a short-to-mid telephoto and to have that at f2.8 with something that fits in the palm of your hand is pretty nice.

If I‘m going outdoors in good light and have my Rucksack I’d change to:

Pentax 16-45
SMC Takumar 85mm/f1.8
Sigma 135-400mm (zoom creep is mildly annoying but better since I got a chunky rubber band!)

My indoor set would be:

Samsung 35mm/f2
Sigma EX DG HSM 50mm/f1.4
SMC Takumar 85mm/f1.8

The kit I use mostly when out and about taking a rucksack are;

K1 with
DA* 11-18mm f2.8
DFA 28-105 ED DC WR
and this usually is enough weight as the rucksack is heavy too, filters etc.
If going for Bird shots I will just take 1 lens, the DA* 300mm with sometimes the TC 1.4 WR and perhaps take the KP instead of the K1.

After a long break from Film era I started out with a digital camera in 2019, a K-X second hand and bought a Silver KP in February? I think, 2020, and may now consider selling, low shutter count 4057 "get in touch" if you're interested May throw in a 50-200 DA WR lens too that I got with the K-X.

Also I had an extravagance with a DFA* 85mm f1.4 which is not used, count on your hands (probably just one hand) the times I've used it, I might part with this too.

I'll admit to buying (and returning) a DFA* 70-200 f2.8 lens from Amazon, a great lens but far too heavy to use often, then the price went down so requested a return and they accepted.

I have a DFA 100mm Macro f2.8 WR too that sometimes gets an outing. A few old SMC M lens too with my SLR collection.