On 5/9/04, Charles Wilson, discombobulated, unleashed: >I am after a wide angle lens for my Pentax ist D and will be soon travelling >to Europe and want to either buy The Sigma 12-24 or Pentax DA 14. I would >be interested in the views of the discussion group on which one I should >buy. Unfortunately I cannot afford both.
Never seen the point of a wide angle zoom myself, so to me it would be a no-brainer. The DA 14mm. Unfortunately I have no experience of either lens so I can't help you in that respect. What I can do is offer my experiences wrt wide angle use generally, and that would be to not bother with a zoom. I have nothing against zooms at all, indeed I have several. To me, they work best when the focal lengths are up on the telephoto end. With a wide, I just want as wide as I can get without too much fisheye effect, and then I do the rest manually - you know, sticking one foot in front of the other ;-) Of course, perspective and angle of view issues sometimes come into play, and perhaps there are instances where one would like to zoom in a bit. But not me. I love the discipline that a wide angle prime gives, and if I'm on an HCB mission, then a focal length of about 20mm (35mm format) is ideal for me. Sorry, I'm not much use here am I. My advice is to go with what your heart says, not your head. Photography is about the heart! Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _____________________________
