Larry, the fastest widest lens you can buy for K mount is Sigma 20/1.8. I am thinking that anything else starts at f/2.8. I am thinking that likes of DA 21 and DA 15 might be good options for you though they are not as fast. Or you can try DA 14. Zenitar is a fish eye lens and therefore is different than everything else you mentioned. Zoom lenses are less interesting to me personally, though a quick encounter with DA* 16-50 proved interesting. I don't know if I could recommend it though - it did not inspire me as much as an encounter with FA* 28-70 that I had prior to that.
If you want a single lens solution then Sigma 17-70 is an option. Thanks to Jaume I had a chance of using it and mechanically it is ok. Given the darkness outdoors I cannot say too much about its optical performance though it seemed ok. There is also Tamron 17-35/2.8-4.0 that rivals similar Sigma lens that is an option too. Both Sigma and Tamron are full frame lenses which may prove useful later on or if you shoot film. Yet another option is Tamron 17-50/2.8 which I often recommend due to its price/performance ratio. Finally, you can look up list archives (though it may take some time and doing) as probably a year ago (hard to remember exactly, really) I opened a similar discussion on the list. Also, don't forget DA 16-45 and DA 17-70. Also if you can find Tokina AT-X AF 17/3.5 - it could be an interesting lens as well. Ultimately I opted to stay with DA 21 which is wide enough for my purposes. Presently I am looking to buy FA* 24/2.0 and let Galia have DA 21 as I do want faster lens and I am willing to sacrifice a bit of an angle. On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:18 AM, Larry Colen <[email protected]> wrote: > I keep finding myself "needing" a lens that is wide, fast and > preferably reasonably sharp. Pretty much all I have wider than 31 are > my 18-55 and my 18-250. I'm thinking of diverting some of the money > from selling my racecar to buying glass. > > I think that the ideal lens would be a 16-50, and I keep bumming that > I never went for the one on craigslist just before I got laid off. > > Poking around on ebay, I've found a few options. > > Pentax 16-50 seems to go for $750-800 > A Zenitar K MC 2.8 16mm for $180 > A couple of Pentax SMC DA 14mm f2.8 ED for around $590 > SIGMA 17-35mm f2.8-4 DG EX $300 > Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC $370 > > How do folks feel about these various lenses? > > -- > The first step is learning to take great photos, > the second step is learning to throw away ones that are merely good. > Larry Colen [email protected] http://www.red4est.com/lrc > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- Boris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
