What's My Next Lens?

smoke665

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Been saving up, sold some things, and now looking for the next addition for the Pentax K3ii, somewhere south of $1k hopefully. Looking more toward portrait work, and general use. Currently have the kit 18-55 f/3.5/5.6, a 50-200 f/4.5-5.6, and prime 35 f/2.8 Ltd, 50 f/1.8 Ltd, and 70 f/2.8 Ltd. The primes serve me well for most portrait applications but I find myself longing for the flexibility of the zoom that the 18-55 offers. I'm leaning toward replacing the kit 18-55 with something that offers better optics, faster speed and more range. Any suggestions?
 
Been saving up, sold some things, and now looking for the next addition for the Pentax K3ii, somewhere south of $1k hopefully. Looking more toward portrait work, and general use. Currently have the kit 18-55 f/3.5/5.6, a 50-200 f/4.5-5.6, and prime 35 f/2.8 Ltd, 50 f/1.8 Ltd, and 70 f/2.8 Ltd. The primes serve me well for most portrait applications but I find myself longing for the flexibility of the zoom that the 18-55 offers. I'm leaning toward replacing the kit 18-55 with something that offers better optics, faster speed and more range. Any suggestions?

Pentax D FA 100mm f/2.8 macro!!! Great for portraits too. $500 at B&H. And.
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 XR Di-II LD. $350.

Why get 1 when you can get 2 new lenses. :allteeth:
 
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 XR Di-II LD. $350.

Looked at this one but was hoping to go higher on the focal length, even if it meant giving up some on the wide side.
 
Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 XR Di-II LD. $350.

Looked at this one but was hoping to go higher on the focal length, even if it meant giving up some on the wide side.
Well for $1,100 you can get the 24-70 f/2.8. $200 rebate right now.
Pentax 17-70 f/4 good optics on it. $500. Loose 1/3 stop wide angle, but gain full stop at long end over your current kit lens.
 
Pentax 17-70 f/4 good optics on it. $500.

Better, and would make a nice fit for what I have already. Anything come to mind in a zoom that would get me closer to 100 mm zoomed out? Doesn't have to be Pentax, just quality.
 
I think either one would work.

Except I already have the 70mm Ltd prime, that I love. If I were to choose another prime I'd probably go with the FA 100 Ben suggested, or the Sigma 90 mm, but I'm looking for a zoom for walk around, to replace the 18-55 kit.
 
I think either one would work.

Except I already have the 70mm Ltd prime, that I love. If I were to choose another prime I'd probably go with the FA 100 Ben suggested, or the Sigma 90 mm, but I'm looking for a zoom for walk around, to replace the 18-55 kit.
Oh, I missed that.
 
I think either one would work.

Except I already have the 70mm Ltd prime, that I love. If I were to choose another prime I'd probably go with the FA 100 Ben suggested, or the Sigma 90 mm, but I'm looking for a zoom for walk around, to replace the 18-55 kit.

Well the D FA 28-105 is interesting. It's a full frame lens that's not real fast by any means. Made for their full frame cameras. The reviews on B&H are all high. And I suspect on a crop sensor it would perform better that it does on FF. $500. Is it a "kit" quality lens, or better. That's my question.

For your possible $1k investment could go with the 28-105 and the 100mm macro. If you needed faster lens at 100mm for portraits than the zoom, the macro would do very well.
 
24-85mm is a nice range on APS-C, in my opinion...I LIKED Nikon's 24-85mm f/3.3~4.5 APS-C, back in the D70 days, when ISO 250 was "the upper limit" for truly noise-free images in poorer lighting conditions. I also have a 28-80mm f/3.5~5.6 cheapie...also useful on my APS-C Nikon D2x, another crappy ISO camera. Since you have a better-than-average ISO-rated camera, I do not see a lot of real, pressing need for a "fast" zoom lens.

I dunno...BIG, fat, heavy 85mm f/1.4 lenses are a PITA many times. Smaller, lighter, f/1.8 85mm lenses are nice.

I have to agree: having a 'top end" that tops out at a mere 50mm sucks for many situations...NOT my idea of what a zoom for APS-C has. Hence
my suggestion of looking into a 24-85mm or 28-85, or something that has more top end range than a 17-50mm lens has.
 
Tokina do an excellent 50-135mm f2.8 lens that I believe is based on a Pentax model. So I suggest a 50-135mm f2.8 Pentax model if it exists
 
Yep, sounds like a macro lens is next! I gotta get one too but @jcdeboever will make fun of me.
 
@Derrel I have the 70 Ltd prime that I love, but not practical really for walk around. Been eyeing the Pentax 18-135 as a possibility but the reviews are mixed.

@nerwin Not into macro that much. Only occasionally
 
Tokina do an excellent 50-135mm f2.8 lens that I believe is based on a Pentax model. So I suggest a 50-135mm f2.8 Pentax model if it exists

Might look into that
 
@Derrel I have the 70 Ltd prime that I love, but not practical really for walk around. Been eyeing the Pentax 18-135 as a possibility but the reviews are mixed.

@nerwin Not into macro that much. Only occasionally

I can imagine the reviews ARE "mixed"...Nikon's 18-135 that I bought in the D40 days was handy as all get-out in terms of size and focal lengths and angles-of-view that it gave on APS-C; "mixed" reviews are not always a bad thing. Some people will appreciate the flexibility of such a lens as an 18-135; others, perhaps more fixated on ultimate image quality, might find some faults with such a lens; I dunno...have not read reviews of the 18-135 Pentax. I will shoot many times at f/8, which is an aperture that even the lower-cost zooms are typically very good at...diffraction often takes the edge off of the high-dollar lenses, and my experience is that at f/7.1 or f/8, many lenses, even the low-specification cheapie models, are pretty good performers.


I'd consider adding a 12mm or 13mm extension tube (depends on the brand), and also maybe a 20mm tube, for use with the 70mm Limited prime lens.

A full-frame body would make that 70mm Ltd. even more-useful on a daily or weekly basis, but on 1.5x, it becomes fairly narrow for many shooting scenarios.
 
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