Three lens kit

Ian

It would be helpful to get a feel for your budget, but a HD DA 55-300 would be a worthwhile improvement on the Tamron 70 - 300. I have both, and the image quality of the 55-300 is a definite improvement, even though it doesn't focus as close.

Phil

Hi Ian.
I have recently upgraded to a k3 from a k5, and use the lenses i already had.....
Sigma 10 -20
Pentax DA18 - 135 ed wr
Pentax HD 55 - 300 ed wr
Pentax DFA100mm macro
Pentax DA 35mm & 50mm plastic fantastics.
Sigma 150 - 500.
I dont feel any need to upgrade any of these, i could, just dont think i need to!
Stick with what you have for now and see how it goes.

Thanks for the feed back how you find the 18 135 wr. Is the 50mm the 1.8 version I have heard good reports seems to offer good value for such a cheap lens.
Regards Ian

The 18 -135 is a great lens, its the one that stays on the camera.....its a very versatile lens. It focuses great..silent and fast, weather sealed, light enough, good build quality, and sharp. Its quite an under-rated lens i think....i dont think it got very good reviews when it first came out, but it seems very well regarded by people who actually use it. There was a new one in the for sale section for £189 yesterday. Well worth it.
The 50mm is the 1.8, snd the 35mm is the 2.4. I paid £50 each for them on here......both great. Very light, being plastic, but both great little lenses. For that money, i think they are excellent value. Not WR though.

Of course, there are many possible combinations and it partly depends on the genres and subjects. You could stick with what you have. One alternative example of a high quality but compact set of three might be -
DA 15mm F4 ED AL Limited
DA 20-40mm F2.8-4 Limited DC WR
D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR

Cheers.
Philip

I recently upgraded to a K3 II from a K 10D. My existing Pentax lenses that I have acquired after favourable recommendations on this forum are

Pentax 55-300
Pentax 16-45
Pentax 50mm 1.8

The one lens that I have been disappointed with since the upgrade is the

Tamron 18-200

The difference between cameras seems quite pronounced, therefore I am looking for a new walkabout lens so the thoughts on the Pentax 18-135 are welcome.

i have just bought the k3ii and i had the sigma 70/300 but i chopped that in with chris at srs and bought the pentax 55/300 and trust me its the best move i ever made and why chance the 17/70 it is still pretty fast at focuesing in even in todays new lenses that are out there

When you say a three lens kit it suggests you need to cover a wide range from 8/10mm to 300 or more.

It is tempting to suggest zoom lenses, to cover a wide range of focal lengths but do you really need to have every focal length? Is it really necessary to have 50, 52, 54, 57, 65, and 70mm focal lengths available. A short walk can do wonders for composition.
If you only chose zooms, you will miss out on some wonderful macro pictures, for instance. Quality zooms are usually big/heavy, and not easy to carry up a mountain but a small prime of good quality is much lighter and will do a really good job.

The reality is that your choice really depends on what sort of subjects you like in your photography and where you take the pictures.
How heavy/light the kit can be, does it need to be WR, large aperture, SDM? Cost and many other things may influence your choices but in the end only you can decide which three lenses will be best for you.
Of course, it goes without saying that until you have tried out a few different three lens kits you won't know your optimum kit. Even if you get others advice first, you have to have an excuse to try out another lens and it will always improve your results!

If there was a three lens kit that suited everyone Pentax would not produce all the lenses they do, Sigma/Tamron and all the others would be making something else.

i have been thinking about it too -
two options: both quite expensive
67mm kit: FA202.8, Sigma 35/1.4 and DA*50-135/2.8 - downside is that 50-135 is not FF
58mm kit: FA 20-35/4, FA 31/1.8, DA*55/1.4 - quite expensive too, but all lenses are FF, however I will probably keep K85/1.8 to complement this kit ocassionally