What's the best lens for me to buy next?

I started using a Pentax a year ago, with a K-5, the 18-55 kit lens, and a DA* 50-135. I would like to try using prime lenses. I would really appreciate some advice.

If I were to buy a prime lens in the 18-50 range, would it give me images that are so superior to those the kit lens produces as to justify the expense?

If I decide that I want to extend my range, how wide or long should I go to have a real difference in experience from what I have with my current 18mm widest and 135 mm longest focal lengths?

I bought my 50-135 last Black Friday, on the advice of Forum members, and just love it. I'm hoping that some equally great deal will be on offer next week!

I'm attaching a picture I took with the 50-135.





Milkweed, Mile-Around Woods, Sept 2013

If you'd want to "just try" a prime lens, you could buy any old lens or one of the two plastic mount DA primes. I got mines for around $150 each and have a collection of old primes which I use every now and then despite the lack of autofocus (they all render images differently and it's not always easily imitated in Photoshop). I've even used a $20 lens almost exclusively during a previous trip.

Have you considered getting a faster zoom in the same range as your 18-55? The Tamron 17-50 is an incredible value.

Not knowing what, when, and where you shoot, it's hard to really recommend anything. For example, I found 18mm to be at times limiting in Tokyo while it almost always works fine in even the biggest North American cities where streets are almost often wider.

FabriceS said:

I started using a Pentax a year ago, with a K-5, the 18-55 kit lens, and a DA* 50-135. I would like to try using prime lenses. I would really appreciate some advice.

If I were to buy a prime lens in the 18-50 range, would it give me images that are so superior to those the kit lens produces as to justify the expense?

If I decide that I want to extend my range, how wide or long should I go to have a real difference in experience from what I have with my current 18mm widest and 135 mm longest focal lengths?

I bought my 50-135 last Black Friday, on the advice of Forum members, and just love it. I'm hoping that some equally great deal will be on offer next week!

I'm attaching a picture I took with the 50-135.



Milkweed, Mile-Around Woods, Sept 2013

Click to expand...

First wonderful shot.

As for a prime, any of the Limited primes is going to give superior IQ to the 18-55. Even the Plastic Fantastic 35/2.4 is a reasonable option to kickoff your move into primes. It is a better lens than the price indicates.

I would go wide with either the 21ltd or the 15ltd. The DA14/2.8 is a very underappreciated lens for sure and worth looking into. Your kit covers that range but those two lenses will give you significant IQ improvement and shooting options thanks to be much faster. Of course there is the whole FA Limited consideration as well. I much prefer their rendering behavior to the DA glass. Oddly, to me, the DA* zooms don't feel as pedantic or clinical in their rendering as the DA Limiteds. By that they I mean the DA Limiteds are a bit to literal in how they render. I prefer the more artistic results from the FA Limiteds or even the FA 35/2 (another fine choice as well).

The 35ltd is also a very versatile lens that is one of my favorites and fits well with my kit thanks to the true 1:1 macro ability but I use the lens as a "prime zoom" thanks to it's close-focus ability down to about 1" from the front element to get 1:1 reproduction.

I would also lurk around sites like Flickr, Pbase, 500px and even PF (though not so much these days) to get a lot of sample shots by shooters of all experience levels plus some often useful discussion. SLRgear.com also offers some good reviews which I find very helpful.

Best of luck...that first prime can seem daunting but you can't go wrong with any of the Pentax offerings. Heck any of the 50mm options are not a bad start either. One word is if you are not comfy with manual focus stick with the AF options or learn to use the hyper-focal scale on the lens to set the focus since the viewfinder is small compared to the old film bodies and MF on wider glass can be a challenge to say the least.

you could be adventurous and try the Samyang/Rokinon 14/2.8 in any of it's brand variations (I think one does have an "A" settings but that might be their 35/1.4 or 85/1.4 I don't remember) but it is a totally manual stop-down and manual focus sort of lens but bleeding edge sharp out of the box wide open.

Lots of options are out there for Pentax thanks to all the legacy glass...take your time but sometimes you just need to buy something...you could even rent a lens for a week or two from CameraLensRentals.com as they offer a nice Pentax selectiion at good rates. I use them from time to time. I tend to rent for a month as given my schedule I don't end up wasting a rental. But for around $50 you can get some quality time with any of the primes you are likely considering. They have a pay for 2-days get a 5-day rental over the Thanksgiving holiday unless that is over now.

FabriceS said:

I started using a Pentax a year ago, with a K-5, the 18-55 kit lens, and a DA* 50-135. I would like to try using prime lenses. I would really appreciate some advice.

If I were to buy a prime lens in the 18-50 range, would it give me images that are so superior to those the kit lens produces as to justify the expense?

If I decide that I want to extend my range, how wide or long should I go to have a real difference in experience from what I have with my current 18mm widest and 135 mm longest focal lengths?

I bought my 50-135 last Black Friday, on the advice of Forum members, and just love it. I'm hoping that some equally great deal will be on offer next week!

I'm attaching a picture I took with the 50-135.



Milkweed, Mile-Around Woods, Sept 2013

Click to expand...

You owe yourself to buy at least one Limited and at least one old SMC-A or SMC-M 50mm f1.4 or f1.7

--
There is no such thing a "Pro" level gear, just Pro level work.

FabriceS said:

Milkweed, Mile-Around Woods, Sept 2013

Click to expand...

Beautifully done .... lighting, sky, clarity, detail, complementary colours, and composition make this ... Could be a painting ..

--
Kind regards
britcam - Rich S

Go prime! Thats the secret of buying into Pentax! You won't regret it!

the DA*16-50/2.8 is a fantastic lens and pairs very nicely with the 50-135.

the 43 limited is a very sharp lens wide open

the 31 limited has a great rep but i dont have that one ... yet.

Thanks to you all for your advice--Brecklundin, I could hardly have hoped for such comprehensive guidance.

Lots of different suggestions, but I guess that any lens I buy will give me more options than I have now. At the moment, it's more a question of deciding what to hope will drop into my price range than choosing what to buy. I'm leaning toward hoping for the Pentax 12-24 mm zoom, which will extend my range and has great evaluations (better than the 15 or the 14) here on dpreview and on photozone.de; or else the 35 2.8 macro, as a first prime that will also give me closeup options. I'll probably get the 50 mm 1.8 unless I get the 35 2.8 (in which case I think I'll want a greater spread between primes).

Anyway, it's fun to be think and daydream about new equipment.

Thanks again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

FabriceS said:

Thanks to you all for your advice--Brecklundin, I could hardly have hoped for such comprehensive guidance.

Lots of different suggestions, but I guess that any lens I buy will give me more options than I have now. At the moment, it's more a question of deciding what to hope will drop into my price range than choosing what to buy. I'm leaning toward hoping for the Pentax 12-24 mm zoom, which will extend my range and has great evaluations (better than the 15 or the 14) here on dpreview and on photozone.de; or else the 35 2.8 macro, as a first prime that will also give me closeup options. I'll probably get the 50 mm 1.8 unless I get the 35 2.8 (in which case I think I'll want a greater spread between primes).

Anyway, it's fun to be think and daydream about new equipment.

Thanks again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Click to expand...

you're done for so just let it happen, it's not terminal unless you try and fight it...it will go easier on you if you just accept it.

Enjoy your new glass and have some fun!!

FabriceS said:

Thanks to you all for your advice--Brecklundin, I could hardly have hoped for such comprehensive guidance.

Lots of different suggestions, but I guess that any lens I buy will give me more options than I have now. At the moment, it's more a question of deciding what to hope will drop into my price range than choosing what to buy. I'm leaning toward hoping for the Pentax 12-24 mm zoom, which will extend my range and has great evaluations (better than the 15 or the 14) here on dpreview and on photozone.de; or else the 35 2.8 macro, as a first prime that will also give me closeup options. I'll probably get the 50 mm 1.8 unless I get the 35 2.8 (in which case I think I'll want a greater spread between primes).

Anyway, it's fun to be think and daydream about new equipment.

Thanks again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Click to expand...

Interesting parallel with my early lens acquisitions - bought the DA*50-135 with my camera and kit lens when I first got into DSLR photography. Then one of my next lenses was the DA 12-24 which has been very useful and heavily used over the years (along with the 50-135). I know the 12-24 isn't a prime, but it does very well and gives you some useful focal length flexibility. Around a year ago I acquired a 15mm Limited - it's a sweet lens that I really love. However, I think I did things in the right order for me...perhaps the right order for you as well.

Enjoy!

Daryl

I think the 35mm f2.8 limited macro sounds like the best bet.

I got the 35mm f/2.8 as my first serious prime and use it as my carry lens. It's very flexible and my copy renders well and has plenty of soul.

Which lens you buy clearly depends upon the shooting you want to do and the $$$ you have to spend. A couple of thoughts though, you mentioned a macro lens and portrait work in conjunction with the 35mm Macro. Personnally I don't think that a 35 mm lens is long enough for portrait and for me at least means you have to get too close for macro. I bought the wonderfdul Tamron 90mm macro for both macro and longer distance portrait shots and it is great for both. I picked up a second hand F 50mm f1.7 for closer portraits and a 35mm f2.4 fantastic plastic for a general walking around lens. These are all very sharp lenses, faster then the 18-55 in all cases and all three I got for less then $800 total.

One comment/observation. I noticed that you shot the milkweed at f29. Most lenses have their sweespot lieing somewhere in the f5.6 to f11 range and you should try to aim for that range unless of course you are trying to get bokeh or need a more open lens to keep the ISO down. I would however avoid the small apertures to get maximum sharpness and minimize chance of lens diffraction.