Hi Bong - Nice to see you back on the list. Can't help much with the lens decision - I'm thinking through the same thing now. I find the Da 18-55 to be an adequate lens, but not on par with other zooms like the FA 28-70 f4 AL or the FA 20-35 f4. And while those are very good, they fall short of the best primes (eg a 50mm f 1.7 or 1.4). But... the 18-55 is better than all in the 18-27 mm range :-)
My specific complaints about the Da 18-55 are chromatic aberrations in the corners, and notable light dropoff (even at fairly small apertures). But for a <$100 lens - well, like they say a Popular Photography "excellent performance for a lens of this class." I really only need this lens, or any lens in the focal range, for wider angles - I have better non-DA lenses for 28mm on. But the 17-28mm fisheye distorsts too much to be good on a DSLR and too little to be a fisheye, and my 14mm Sigma prime is (aside form being a monster in size) really prone to flare. So getting something at the wide end that is good and convenient and portable is a challenge. Keep us posted if you do get an upgrade. - MCC Bong Manayon wrote: > Hello...I'm back after all these years. > > I got my istDS over a year ago and since I have an existing collection > of lenses, I got it without the kit lens (18-55/3.5-5.6). Except for > the fact that I don't have a wide angle with my DS (since all my 28mms > became 42mms), I was quite happy with my setup. Opportunities that > came my way (a couple of guys bought my 28mms--Pentax are rare in the > Philippines even if some models are actually assembled here) left me > without anything that approximates a wide lens for the DS (I shortest > lens in my inventory now is a 35mm). Checking the net shows that the > price of the DA 18-55 has dropped below $100 so the cheapskate in me > sees a bargain. > > Or is it? > > Should I save up for the upcoming DA* 16-50/2.8? > > Or go for the Sigma 18-50/2.8 which is available now (over $300 last I > checked)? > > Or maybe even stick with the Sigma 18-50/3.5-5.6 DC has always been > around under $100? > > Bong > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mark Cassino Photography Kalamazoo, Michigan www.markcassino.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
