What's My Next Lens?

[petrochemist118 143]

Not the lens you were thinking of replacing but I found the DA55-300 to be a vast improvement over the 50-200. Well worth the money IMO.

 

[smoke665]

Not the lens you were thinking of replacing but I found the DA55-300 to be a vast improvement over the 50-200. Well worth the money IMO.

Not really in my walk about consideration, I have a Sigma 100-300 that I rarely use, yet it's there in my bag. I'm not sure if it's my inherent hand shake, or the lens but I have been eyeing as a replacement for the future a
HD DA 55-300 mms f/4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE (What a mouthful).

 

[jcdeboever]

Not the lens you were thinking of replacing but I found the DA55-300 to be a vast improvement over the 50-200. Well worth the money IMO.

Not really in my walk about consideration, I have a Sigma 100-300 that I rarely use, yet it's there in my bag.

As @Gary A. would say, "you rarely use it because you rarely use it" I think Gary A is wise sometimes.

 

[petrochemist118 143]

Not the lens you were thinking of replacing but I found the DA55-300 to be a vast improvement over the 50-200. Well worth the money IMO.

Not really in my walk about consideration, I have a Sigma 100-300 that I rarely use, yet it's there in my bag. I'm not sure if it's my inherent hand shake, or the lens but I have been eyeing as a replacement for the future a
HD DA 55-300 mms f/4.5-6.3 ED PLM WR RE (What a mouthful).

That's a newer improved version over my one, mine doesn't have the weather sealing mores the pity. Previously I carried a DA50-200 & a F100-300. The 55-300 nearly covers the whole of that range & works out a lot lighter.
I have used kept it mounted as a walk about lens, but only when out in the country. Changing to a wider lens for a landscape shot is rarely time critical, but trying to snap wildlife before the kids scare it off needs much quicker reactions. The longer lengths also come into their own for motorsports which I've shoot a fair bit off...

In town I usually just use the 18-55 or a 10-24. All the kit lens upgrades I can think of seem to go slightly wider rather than longer. I have picked up some AF film zooms which are somewhere around 24-100 & 35-80 but their image quality hasn't impressed me

 

[smoke665]

New to me Pentax 18-135 on the way.

 

[Derrel]

New to me Pentax 18-135 on the way.

I think you will find an 18-135 an excellent all-around lens for an APS-C camera; it's the zoom lens range/type that I bought as the starter lens for my wife's D40 kit around 2006 or 2007...made a nice Christmas gift, and she had all the most-commonly used focal lengths in one lens, plus a lightweight 55-200 for outdoor "tele-work".

The way I think of this kind of a zoom, it's a shot-getter, not a shot-misser, like a bunch of prime lenses can be. You see or envision a shot, and with an 18-135mm range, you can frame it up and shoot it, in seconds. BAM! Shot captured.