Boris, let me think about what I might need for samples. Much as I'd
like to take you up on the 17-70, the shipping from Israel would
probably negate the great price. The 24-60 looks like a very good lens,
but I'm already using an A 24mm f2.8 as an e-35mm equivalent. I was
really looking for something a little wider than the 20mm ~e-28mm on the
K-5II.
On 10/29/2016 1:30 PM, Boris Liberman wrote:
In my experience,
Pentax (which by the way is 16-50/2.8, not 16-55/2.8, as you put it)
fast lens is the best in terms of color, convenience (weather sealing
may come in handy) and it is just 1 mm wider than others. It has
distortion and it is not very sharp towards the borders at wide zoom
settings. It has this SDM motor and it is your call, whether you take
this issue seriously or just dismiss it.
Tamron seems to be very sharp, but I have witnessed it on Canon APS-C
camera, which also means that extreme corners are just cropped out due
to difference in crop factor between Canon and Pentax APS-C cameras.
I have Sigma 17-70/2.8-4.5 - very first version. I think that it in
terms of picture quality it gives probably 90% of Pentax has to offer
for fraction of the price. The color rendering is different though...
Actually, Peter, if you so desire, I can send you some RAW files shot
with both Pentax 16-50 and Sigma 17-70. Name the conditions, I would
see if I have proper samples for you.
As well, I can enable you with Sigma very cheaply.
There are other options out there, such as Sigma 24-60/2.8 that I can
also enable you with. It is roughly the size of Pentax 16-50, fast and
really very good. It is full frame too, so if you see a full frame
Pentax camera in the future, it can be an advantage over proper APS-C
lenses.
On Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 7:06 PM, P.J. Alling <[email protected]> wrote:
So I've been getting along using a combination of a Manual focus Varafocal,
(Vivitar 35-85mm f2.8), and a FA 20-35mm which satisfies most of my needs,
but they can be damnably inconvenient, the varafocal makes me think that
sometimes I need extra fingers and more inertial processing for my brain to
keep track of stop down metering, re-framing and refocusing, which leads to
a lot more missed shots than I'm happy with. Swapping to the 20-35 and
back, is sometimes necessary at very inconvenient times which also leads to
missed shots.
It doesn't look like a Full Frame camera is in my budget for quite some
time, and let's face it, I've come to terms with APS-C. The K-5II is more
than sufficient for most of what I do, in fact is better than most needs. A
more identical backup body is what I'm more likely to get than an actual
full frame camera, maybe a K-7 another K-5[II(s)], or K3 thought the latter
would have some of the same problems as using the K20D as backup, though the
K5II hasn't failed me yet.
So I'm looking at APS-C lenses.
I've kind of narrowed it down to five lenses, at this point, based on
reviews.
Pentax FA* 16-55 f2.8 available new.
Sigma 17-50 f2.8, comes in couple versions, latest version still available
new.
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 also comes in a couple of versions latest version still
available new.
Pentax FA 17-70, seems to be discontinued, but still available new.
Sigma 17-70, three versions, latest one still available new.
All of them have pluses and minuses, the Pentax FA* is the most expensive,
the first version of the Tamron is least expensive, of course it's only
really available used. I like the idea of the 17-70 as it would cut down on
the necessity of changing lenses when things are moving fast.
I know there are people on the list who've used later Sigma 17-70, and the
two Pentax lenses, but what about the Sigma 17-50 and Tamron 17-50 has
anybody got any experience with them? Optically good? Mechanically crap?
Vice Versa?
It comes down to the fact that I don't trust most reviewers. I'll pick up
something that's gotten bad reviews play with it a while and think, this
isn't nearly as bad as I expected, hell this even seems to be pretty good,
and things that have gotten good reviews and think, what the f*#k was that
guy talking about this is pretty horrible. You guys have real world
experience, what is it.
--
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve
immortality through not dying.
-- Woody Allen
--
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.
--
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve
immortality through not dying.
-- Woody Allen
--
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.
