What about standard vs 45X cards?
"Standard" Sandisk vs Sandisk Ultra II ... WAY slower, reduce sequence capture capability by a bit. If you don't shoot sequences very often
and don't mind the longer upload speeds to your computer
and can get a substantial discount on the price, sure. But I stick with 45x-60x cards. At about $70@gigabyte, they're cheap enough and the performance is useful.
I do like primes and know I can get by with carrying 2 -3 at a
time. The 16-45 is a bit big and does not go bigger than f4. The
fisheye Zenitar does look like a good creative tool. I may want to
flatten some photos but would also like the fisheye.
I'm just offering advice from my experience. With my Canon 10D kit, I had primes in 20/28/50/100mm lengths. I found that, contrary to my expectations, I used the 20mm very infrequently ... it was neither "normal" nor "wide" enough. With the Pentax, I didn't buy a 20, I went for the DA14/2.8 which I like a lot, but find I don't use it too much. The 16-45 is a more useful lens and I'm more likely to carry it, despite the additional size and the f/4 speed, although I use it the least out of the six-lens ideal kit I articulated.
The FA28-105/3.2-4.5 ... Now that lens is a gem and it's cheap.
I may use the old bag for a while and see what I like to carry
around. Billingham's look good but are pricey. Tamrac and Lowepro
are more in the range of what I would like to spend.
Using your existing bag for a while to see if you really need/want something else is a very sensible appoach. Otherwise, I agree completely. I bought the Billy only after a long time of avoiding it due to the price. John Bean was helpful in convincing me of its usefulness and quality. Now I find it to be so useful I'm amazed I didn't go for it ages ago.
You like to push that 16-45.
I will play with the kit lens, A28
and A50. Depending on what focal length I like/need, I may consider
the 16-45 instead of the FA20.
Yeah, but Pentax doesn't send me any kickbacks. You might also look at my other current favorite, the 28-105 ... I actually use that one a lot more of the time. I find the focal length range to be extremely useful, and it's a sharp/contrasty lens with excellent rendering at most focal lengths. When I'm carrying primes, I tend to carry the 50 as well as one of the A24/A28/A35/2.8 lenses, and the M85/2.
Perhaps you should get the Zenitar first and then decide if you really need another wide field of view lens.
... redux: "Am I missing anything?"
A complete kit for my use, drawn from what I've purchased or have
been considering purchase, from which you might see other
possibilities you haven't thought of.
[snip]
Good recommendations. I have a non dedicated hotshoe flash and big
handle flash as well. If I get a dedicated flash, it will be down
the road. I will get batteries and fast charger as well quite soon.
I haven't bought the dedicated flash yet either ... the Sunpak is still doing well enough for my needs. But I expect I'll want the second curtain sync as well as wireless operation for multi-flash setups soon.
I bought the Power2000 batteries at the same time I bought my DS ... for the amount of use I put the camera to, they cut consumables costs nicely. The CRV3s that came with the DS have not yet been used.
Godfrey
