Yet another lens question

[Johnboy2978]

I would like to eventually get a quality lens that I could use with my digital and film pentax camera. What I have now is the kit lens 28-90mm and a 70-300mm Tamron lens along with several filters. I do quite a bit of landscape photography but also am trying to get into portrait type photography as well, given that I have a 6 week old daughter who is currently too young to object being photographed all the time.

I would like a good "all around" lens that is multi-functional and multi-purpose. I am not by any means a 'professional' photgrapher who has a need for a dozen different lenses necessitating a lens for portraits, one for macros, a fisheye lens (for those 10 occasions that you would actually use it), etc. So what should I look for in a quality general purpose lens and how much should I expect to spend on a decent piece of glass. Specific models would be appreciated if any of you have a recommendation for the pentax line.

Also I am wonder when trying to capture a sharp, crisp, focused picture with nice colors and contrast, how much of that can be attributed to the glass, as opposed to the setting? In other words, does the glass really 'make or break' the image? I mean, you could give a $6k lens to someone who knows nothing about photography and get a crappy picture, but a true professional could produce professional results with $100 lens if they had to.

Thanks for looking and responding.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Don't bash the fisheye... it's one of the most useful lenses on the APS digital sensors


Primes may be the way to go, if you want to use all of the resolution in your digital camera.
Pentax 50/1.4 AF is about 220 bucks
It would make an excellent portrait lens on a digital body

This is a wide angle on full frame and a good "all around" on digital.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...726&is=USA&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Any wider, and you have to pay 500+ for primes.

You can also buy manual focus lenses, but they are really hard to focus on 1.5 bodies... at least with crappy canon viewfinders. I read pentax is better there.

 

[jstuedle]

Also I am wonder when trying to capture a sharp, crisp, focused picture with nice colors and contrast, how much of that can be attributed to the glass, as opposed to the setting?

A camera is nothing but a box that catches light. This is more true for film "boxes" than digital. But in reality the major manufacturers do a good job of staying on each others heels. So IMHO, the top 2 or 3 makes are very similar in image quality given the bodies place in the market. As in P&S, entry DSLR, prosumer and pro bodies. The image IS the glass. The biggest single variable in picture quality is the quality of the lens.