I've talked with pros and shopkeepers who despise Sigma's QC issues. This is nothing new. All new lenses should be bought from sellers with bomb-proof return policies, else you're stuck with trash. (I made one such expensive mistake. Never again!)

The old joke is that the J in FAJ means Junk and the L in DAL means Lousy, but that's not quite true. Optics in the discount lines are just as good. The build is lighter, the mounts are 'plastic' -- polycarbonate actually, same as Lexan: bulletproof! And very wear-resistant. My ZX-M has a plastic mount and isn't scratched yet, after ~20 years' usage.

As mentioned, what DAL's most noticeably lack are the hood (which can be had cheaply enough online -- and yes, every lens needs hooding); and the Quick-Shift facility, which is a nice-to-have, but I manage without it on older zooms. Someone *needing* a rugged lens for fast-response action-shooting should probably get a DA; the rest of us, with smaller budgets, can look to the DAL's.

I'm all over the place here.

My Kiron 24/2 or Komine 28/2 CFWA are great for small groups but not for individual headshots. 35mm doesn't do much for me -- but maybe I'll change my mind after modding my Nikkor 35/2 for PK. My cheap pancake Chinon 45/2.8 is nice in the right space. My FA50/1.4 (my only AF prime) is indispensable. And a modded Nikkor 85/2 grabs faces from across the room.

In brighter spaces with larger party scenes, I like my cheap F35-70 -- screw-in a +1 dioptre closeup lens to shoot thin-DOF headshots at about 1m distance. If I could find a +1/2dpt lens, 'twould be even better, with working distance of 1.5-2m.

AFAIK the PK constraints are like this:

* Register is ~45.5mm; rear element *could* extend ~12mm; so let's say the minimum focal length without a retrofocal group is ~34mm.

* Lens throat is ~42mm wide; but mirrorbox is ~38mm wide, so there's probably no use in having a rear element wider than 38mm.

[I just measured my K50/1.2 -- rear element width is ~37mm; lens rear protrusion is ~10mm.]

Now, 34/38= 0.895 so a 34/0.9 *should* be possible, right? Or at least a 38/1 maybe. Or did I mung the numbers? I'm probably missing something. If such is possible, such would have been made, or at least prototyped, right?

And even if possible, would the optics be acceptable? I've built a superfast lens cheap, just by stacking three +10 dioptre 49mm closeup lenses. Now, +30dpt = 33.33mm and mounting them via 49-42mm step ring and M42-PK adapter, I get a ~34/0.9 lens that won't focus to infinity but *can* do closeups. Guess what images look like! [Hint: crappy.] I get slightly better IQ by stacking two of those +10dpt meniscus (uncorrected) strap-ons onto a corrected Raynox DCR-250 +8dpt adapter to produce a ~36/0.94 lens. But IQ still sucks.

My guess: an ultrafast PK lens *could* be made, but it wouldn't be usable. Ratz.

I wander around North and Central America and I'm certainly not unobtrusive, being 1.9m tall and a few stone. (That's without the machete on my belt.) On my K20D, the DA18-250 is my basic lens -- all my ~215 others are specialty tools. My current ultra-minimal kit is DA18-250 for walk/driveabout, Tamron 10-24 for tight spaces, FA50/1.4 for dimness and action, and a Raynox DCR-250 to get close. Throw in a Komine 28/2 CFWA and a Nikkor 85/2 (modded for PK) and I'm as happy as a tornado in a trailer park.

No, the DA18-250 is *not* too large. When the CaNikoners pull out their big guns, it is dwarfed. Yes, it *will* survive tropical excursions. Mine has been driven down the Mexican Pacific coast and into Honduras, across Guatemala and Belize to Yucatan and Veracruz, etc. It was on a cruise to Mazatlan too. I can't do without it.

Take all that you listed. When I visit the kids in SF every few months I take a very similar kit: K20D, DA10-17, DA18-250, FA50/1.4, Nikkor 85/2, Vivitar-Komine 28/2 CFWA, Raynox DCR-250. (Those last two roughly equate to your 35.) The 18-250 for st/rolling around. The 10-17 for exploiting angles and small spaces. The 85 for the street: candids and evenings. The 50 for darker places and faster action. My 28 or your 35 for clarity. That's pretty nearly an ideal kit.

I hate Alcatraz: bad vibes. Don't miss: Land's End / Cliff House; Chinatown (Stockton St as well as Grant Ave); a bike ride through Golden Gate Park; the piers; the iconic view from atop Twin Peaks; the bridges, of course; the Presidio pet cemetery (only cemetery in town); and all the usual landmarks. To be different, get a typical illustrated book, go to each spot a photo was taken, then turn around and shoot in the opposite direction. You'll be amazed!

I avoid Las Vegas. But I'm about midway between Sacramento and Reno, and that's the same kit that's right for Reno. And for just about everywhere else out West here. These are exactly the lenses I use on my extended SouthWestUSA journeys, supplemented with a Tamron 10-24 and Sakar 500/8 mirror. You have a good selection. Have fun!

So much for humor.

The AOV of any lens is typically measured on the diagonal of the frame its image is projected upon. A full-circle projection on an arbitrary frame of course does not reach the full diagonal. Any frame-filling projection on an arbitrary frame would be trivially 'diagonal'. Even a full-circle fisheye is 'diagonal' on a small enough frame. I find the term "diagonal fisheye" misleading, more marketing crud on par with "35mm equivalent" and crap.factor. It does not describe a characteristic of the lens, just how the lens behaves on a given frame.

My sharpest zoom: M42 Vivitar Series 1 Version 1 (Kiron) 70-210/3.5. Cost all of US$32 shipped.

The fish isn't yet quite cross-eyed. Just wait a day or so.

Wedding shots of Pelvis Greasley?!?!?
Oh, hold me back...