wedding perfect kit

hello,

I just got back from a wedding to which i brought only two lenses.

although i find it annoying to carry the camera around at wedding, i had a plan in mind - first of all use my 50-150mm - the ultimate portrait lens, and use the 10-17mm fishy + flash at the party (thanks to the person from the forum who posted a few pics of wedding shot with a fish eye awhile ago).

the 50-150mm 2.8 is such an amazing lens, it's so sharp even wide open and the bookeh is absolutely amazing, i spent the cocktail shooting people.

much later in the evening, I got the 10-17mm out, set it at f8 with a metz 44, manual focusing. I've never had that much fun taking pictures EVER, the results are absolutely amazing.

anyway i dont really want to post pics of my friends but i just thought i'd share this, basically it was worth the hassle of taking the kit.

You just have to post pics now.

here you go..
link

There are some really good shots there. Definitely stirring my LBA for a 50-150 (or a 50-135)...

Do it...

The 50-135mm has jumped in price a bit recently (I got one of the last at £639 from SRS) but it's brilliant. I was torn between that and a Sigma/Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 but the 50-135mm is smaller and probably lighter. I wouldn't lug it around on a walk but for a fast telephoto it's easy to handle.

I do find shooting at f2.8 difficult as any rocking back and forth with a nearby subject will put it out of focus! It does incredible things with spot metering for stage shows though.

Well what is impressive is that at f2.8 it's tack sharp and it feels so easy every picture comes out beautiful. Might have to add people were relatively static though.
Shame they don't make it anymore!

These guys weren't static (pics #1,2 & 4 were with the 50-150) :

link

... or you can see more action shots on my SmugMug : link

Personally I would go for the 50-150 (used if you can find one - people tend not to sell them !) over the 50-135.

Much faster focusing (the 50-135 is infamous for it's relatively slow focus), HSM over SDM (so no fear of SDM issues), much longer guarantee (depending on where you live anywhere from 3 to 4 years over the paltry 1 year from Pentax - this is a pet peeve of mine !), sharper wide open. Do not go for the new version (with OS. Not sure if they even have a Pentax version) as it is now a beast (same size as a 70-200) and you are paying more for the same optics.

If you prefer the colours of the Pentax then set up a preset in your PP software to convert all shots as soon as you import them.

Some excellent shots in there - looks like you had a great time with the camera !

The thing is that I bought an FA77 last week, so it's unlikely to happen soon, unfortunately, but I'll be looking out for more samples.

I'll have a look out for that as well; I like Sigma lenses and have inadvertantly become a bit of a Sigma fan with a 24-70/2.8, 30/1.4 and 105mm macro.

(apologies for the thread hijack)