DSLR – Pentax Body

Technorati Tags: Digital Camera, DSLR, eBook, Photograpy, tips

RAW or JPEG?

How many articles have you read about the superiority of RAW over JPEG? Quite a few, I’m guessing. I’m sure you have also come across opinions saying that JPEG is adequate for most situations. So who is right? Which option is best? My answer is: BOTH!

You might ask “Why bother with two formats and have more work to do and take more space on your memory card?” Well, today you can buy 8GB SD card for peanuts, and having two formats is actually less work, not more (wise people say “Less is more”).

When I bought my first Pentax DSLR, I tested RAW and I thought that there’s little benefit to it, so I quickly switched to JPEG. Then after a while I had a problem with photos having really weird and unnatural colours in certain situations and shooting conditions. I spent some time trying to figure out what the problem was, until I retook those photos in RAW – the colours were perfect! So now I switched to RAW and continued snapping happily.

But now a problem appeared – my old computer was really slow at processing RAW files and it took some 30 seconds to process one photo into a JPEG (Pentium 4, 1.8Ghz). I bought a really fast computer and now it was a pure pleasure (Intel quad core: 4×2.4Ghz). 30 seconds were reduced to 3 seconds – WOW! But still, I noticed that I wasted a lot of time to make photos look really good. Suddenly a perspective of going and taking photos stopped being so appealing as I started to think about how much time I’d have to spend processing those photos.

After some time I decided to do some tests and compare RAW to JPEG again. My Pentax K10D has a RAW+ function, which makes the camera to record both RAW and JPEG at the same time. I noticed that some JPEG’s were quite different from RAW, as expected, but very often they were better! I tried to manipulate my RAW file in a lot of ways using Adobe Lightroom, and I could not produce the same colours as I had in the JPEG from the camera. Eureka! I need to use RAW+ mode all the time! Pentax even has a dedicated RAW button, but I don’t use it now at all – I constantly use RAW+JPEG mode.

Now, I save a lot of time by deleting the RAW files when JPEG’s look good, and sometimes I keep both files as they give me two different photos, both equally interesting. That’s a win-win!

Compare the photos and guess which one is from RAW
(the answer is at the very bottom of this article):

Now, let’s summarize:

•    Shooting in RAW only:

1.    No need to worry about white balance.
2.    Sharper photos (marginally).
3.    All the information is retained, so you can retrieve details that would be washed out or blackened in a JPEG.
4.    Less noise (marginally).
5.    Greater contrast (potentially).
6.    Weigh some 5-10 times more than JPEG files, so you need a bigger memory card.

•    Shooting in JPEG only:

1.    Adequate for most situations.
2.    Little post-processing is required.
3.    Best format for storing and sharing photos.
4.    Colour might be lost or distorted if wrong white balance is set in the camera.
5.    Details might be lost if you over- or underexpose your photos.

•    Shooting in RAW+JPEG:

1.    More to choose from – you can choose to keep the best one or keep both of them.
2.    Time saved on processing RAW files (you can simply delete RAW files if JPEG is good enough).
3.    You don’t need to worry about white balance so much (you might screw your JPEG, but RAW is not affected by white balance).
4.    More space is taken on your memory card and computer hard drive.
5.    It is the safest option as you have the RAW file if you need to retrieve the details that are gone on JPEG.

So now do yourself a favour and start shooting in RAW+. For more tips and photography articles, please check other articles of this blog – www.PentaxBody.com

*Answer: the bottom photo is from RAW – you can see there are more details retrieved from underexposed photo, so it looks more natural, but the JPEG has its charm as well

Kamil Wawrzyszko

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Thank you

Technorati Tags: JPEG, RAW

Congratulation on choosing a really good brand of cameras – Pentax DSLR. Now you need to decide which Pentax body you want.Let me help you decide.

Have a look at the table below, and then read my thoughts about it.

Technorati Tags: Beginners Guide, Digital Camera, K10D, K20D, Pentax, Pentax body, Pentax DSLR, Pentax K-m, Pentax K2000

Hi Pentaxian friends.

In the 35mm film era, “non-official” standards of focal length were adopted. All camera makers were more-or-less abiding by these standards. There were the wide-angle lenses, the normal lenses, and the telephoto lenses. The zoom lenses were adopted during the 35mm film era and became standardized as well.

The old school Pentax photographers knew what to expect from a 28mm, a 50mm , a 105mm, a 200mm or a 70-200mm zoom lens. Today’s photographers (new school) using the Pentax DSLRs with theAPS-C sensor, have to think in terms of actual focal length multiplied by a crop factor of 1.5 to convert the lens to 35mm equivalent.

(The terms crop factor was made-up in an attempt to help 35 mm film format photographers understand how their existing ranges of lenses would perform on newly introduced DSLR cameras which had sensors smaller than the 35 mm film format, but often utilized existing 35 mm film format SLR lens mounts. Using an focal length multiplier of 1.5 for Pentax, a photographer might say that a 50 mm lens on his DSLR “acts like” its 50mm has been multiplied by 1.5, by which he means that it has the same field of view as a 75 mm lens on the film camera that he is more familiar with. Of course, the actual focal length of a lens is fixed by its optical construction, and does not change with the format of the sensor that is put behind it.)

Manufacturers have continued to produce lenses to the 35mm standards. A 50mm lens is still thought of as a normal lens, but when used with an APS-C sensor, the angle of view is that of a 75mm and thus becomes a better portrait lens, in terms of filling the frame. Listed below are the current line of Pentax lenses, with the 35mm equivalent.

PENTAX DIGITAL = 35MM EQUIVALENT
DA * 16-50MM F2.8 = 24-75MM
DA * STAR 55MM F1.4 SDM = 82.5MM
DA * STAR 50-135MM F2.8 = 75-202.5MM
DA * STAR 200MM F2.8 = 300MM
DA * STAR 60-250MM F4 = 90-375MM
DA * STAR 300MM F4 = 450MM

DA 10-17MM F3.5-4.5 = 15-25.5MM
DA 12-24MM F4.0 = 18-36MM
DA 16-45MM F4.0 = 24MM-67.5
DA 17-70MM F4 = 25.5-105MM
DA 18-55MM F3.5-5.6 = 27MM-82.5MM
DA 18-250MM F3.5-6.3 = 27-375MM
DA 50-200MM F4-5.6 = 75-300MM
DA 55-300MM F4-5.8 = 82.5-450MM
DA 14MM F2.8 = 21MM

DA 15MM F4? AL LIMITED = 22.5MM
DA 21MM F3.2 AL LIMITED = 31.5MM
DA 35MM F2.8 MACRO LIMITED = 52.5MM
DA 40MM F2.8 LIMITED = 60MM
DA 70MM F2.4 LIMITED = 105MM

D FA 50MM F2.8 MACRO = 75MM
D FA 100MM F2.8 MACRO = 150MM

FA 50MM F1.4 = 75MM
FA 31MM F1.8 LIMITED = 46.5MM
FA 43MM F1.9 LIMITED = 64.5MM
FA 77MM F1.8 LIMITED = 115.5MM

Back to the old school Pentax photographers expecting a 28mm, a 50mm , a 105mm, a 200mm or a 70-200mm zoom lens as he always knew, he would now need the Pentax lens closest to his 35mm equivalent. That would be the DA 21MM F3.2 AL LIMITED = 31.5MM, the DA 35MM F2.8 MACRO LIMITED = 52.5MM, DA 70MM F2.4 LIMITED = 105MM, the D FA 100MM F2.8 MACRO = 150MM, and the DA * STAR 50-135MM F2.8 zoom lens = 75-202.5MM . Of course, using zoom lenses, he could easily get to the focal lengths he is familiar with.

If you get all the current DA* lenses, you can cover 16-300mm or 24-450mm in the 35mm equivalent. Who said Pentax did not have a wide coverage?

I hope this help some of you visualize what the actual angle of view of the current Pentax lenses will be in terms of 35mm equivalent.

Please Note: For the purists and the advanced amateurs and the Pros, the Pentax crop factor is actually 1.53~4 as the actual measurements of the sensor is 23.5mm long x 15.7mm high for the CCD and , 23.4mm long x 15.6 high for the K20D CMOS sensor. For all practical purposes, we are using the 1.5 crop factor as Pentax also use the 1.5 factor for the conversion on their website.

Thanks for reading,

Yvon Bourque

Posted by Yvon Bourque on Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Found at: http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2009/02/pentax-dslr-lenses-ff-aps-c-crop.html

Kamil

Technorati Tags: APS-C, crop factor, Pentax lenses, sensor size

Lens Filters

Hi Pentaxian friends.

There is a school of thoughts that don’t believe in using any filters on DSLR lenses. The claim is that adding another piece of glass or resin in front of a lens becomes another layer that the light has to pass through. Could a lens with a filter not give as good rendition as a lens without a filter?

In my opinion, one has to consider the type of filter(s) and the quality of the filter(s) used. You can’t expect quality by adding a $10.00 filter in front of a $1,000.00 lens. However, you can certainly expect quality when adding a top-of-the-line filter in front of the same lens. Of course, it also depends on what filter you want to use.

In the Black and White film era, filters were very useful in that they would amplify the different tones and saturation. For example, using a red filter with B&W film, a blue sky gets darker and the clouds appears to be whiter. A deep green filter lighten the green trees and vegetation, and produces a more natural sky.

Now that we shoot mostly with DSLRS, the game has changed a little as PhotoShop and other software can emulate filter effects. Adding filter effects in post-processing is great to fix a picture that would otherwise look bland. You should always try to take a picture with all the tools and settings necessary to make it a great picture, before post-processing, not after. That includes setting the proper white balance, using fill flash when necessary, using polarizing or neutral density filters, etc.

I personally don’t like to put a filter in front of my lenses, such as a UV filter, with the single intention of protecting the glass from damages. I have heard all my life that a filter is a cheap and great protection in case something hit the front element. I my many decades of photography, I have never broken or scratched any of my lenses, and I had a few in my life.

That said, there are two types of filters I use very often. The CPL filter (circular polarizing ) and the ND filters (neutral density). Here’s why.

CPL Filter:

A CPL filter is the most important filter of them all. PL (Linear Polarizing filter) and CPL filters have the same effect, but it is important that you choose the correct one for your camera. Today’s DSLRs use semi-silvered mirrors or prisms to split the light entering the viewfinder in order to calculate exposure and focusing distance. PL filters can sometimes interact with these items to give unpredictable exposure or focusing. So CPL filters are used on most modern DLSRs, unless you have a manual focus camera which has no beam splitter.

Firstly, a CPL will protect the front element if you have a tendency of banging things around.

Secondly, light rays which are reflected by any surface become polarized and polarizing filters are used to select which light rays enter your camera lens. They allow you to remove unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water, glass etc. They also enable colors to become more saturated and appear clearer, with better contrast. This effect is often used to increase the contrast and saturation in blue skies and white clouds. The high quality HOYA filters do not affect the overall color balance.

I always have a CPL in front of each lens attached to my DSLR. I take it off only when shooting in poor light conditions and when it’s impractical to use a tripod, or flash.

Neutral Density Filters:

ND filters are often ignored by photographers, but they have several uses and offer the possibility of capturing images, that otherwise would be unattainable. ND filters appear grey and reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor. They do not change color balance. They come in several intensity and several filters can be stacked to achieve the desired light restriction. The usual configurations are ND2, ND4 and ND8.

They allow the use of slow shutter speeds, even in broad daylight, to record movement in subjects such as waterfalls, clouds, etc. They are also a great tool to decrease the depth of field by allowing wider apertures to be used.

Graduated Neutral Density Filters:

Graduated Neutral Density filters are also available. One half of these filters has a neutral density coating while the other half is clear, with a soft boundary between the two. They are used to control bright/dark contrast, by reducing half the shot by 2 or more stops. Graduated ND filters are particularly useful in landscape photography.

The rotating mount allows bright skies to be easily controlled for dramatic effect. With threaded filters, you are forced to make the split between the sky and the landscape, in the halfway point. Cokin and other companies manufacture resin square filters that use a special attachment. They allow you to position the split anywhere you want, but resin will eventually get scratched and does not have the optical quality of glass.

I use Hoya HMC (Hoya Multi-Coated) filters only, and it doesn’t hurt that they are also the owners of Pentax.

Finally, there is one thing that I have to complain about when it comes to filters. I use Pentax DSLRs exclusively and have been using Pentax for many years, even before the advent of the DSLRs. Filter manufacturers produce filters ranging from a diameter of 49mm (DSLR Lenses) to 85mm and beyond. Lenses made by Pentax and other manufacturers are all over the map when it comes to filter sizes. Pentax smaller lenses are mostly 49mm in diameter and the big lenses are mostly 77mm in diameter. I write mostly because they are not all split between those two sizes. It costs a lot of money to purchase filters for all lenses that one owns. There are adapters, but when adapters are used, the lens hoods cannot be used. Why don’t they make their lenses with two filter threads only, 49mm and 77mm. The cost between the intermediate sizes and the 49mm/77mm, would be relatively small. In my camera bag, I now only have lenses with 49mm and 77mm filter threads. I have a set of 49mm filters and a set of 77mm filters. I have started to sell the other lenses that don’t meet my criteria. Eventually, that’s all I will have.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

Technorati Tags: CPL, filters, Lens filters, Natural density, Pentax, Polarizer

Hi Pentaxian friends.

Most, if not all, lenses are supplied with a lens hood these days. A regular tube hood is commonly supplied with telephotos and petal type hoods are supplied with wide-angle lenses and zoom lenses. The petal types are built as such because the sensors are rectangular, and if you noticed, the hood extension is longer on the vertical portion of the sensor. It stands for a good reason as when using a wide-angle lens, the tip of the hood would be part of your picture if it was as long on the horizontal axis.

Since I use rotating filters such as the Circular Polarizers and split Neutral Density filters, I need a quick way to rotate the filters. Although Pentax has a removable door on the bottom, where you can logically rotate your filters with your thumb, I found that it doesn’t work all that well. Because you apply the pressure with your thumb, this has a tendency of putting more stress on one side of the filter and the rotation becomes much harder. It would be great if hoods would rotate as well, but that wouldn’t work with petal type hoods.

It is for that reason that I rarely install the supplied hoods on my lenses. First, they increase the length of the lens and become a hazard. Secondly, I can use my hand to block the sun rays just as good as a lens hood can.

You can also get a collapsible rubber hood with filter threads, install it like a filter, or over the filter you are using. That way, the filter and the hood will turn together.

P.S. I found a website that actually lets you download a PDF file containing some of your favorite Pentax Lens hood. You just cut it out, fold it and slide it on your lens. I would paint it flat black myself. Check it out.

I also found this ingenious person that made a good looking hood himself.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

Technorati Tags: DSLR, Lens basics, Lenses, Pentax accessories, Reviews

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Here is a selection of videos presenting superiority of Pentax cameras:

Pentax K20D Video review by CameraLabs.com:

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Short Pentax K20D Video Overview:

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Pentax K20D Video Overview by DigitalCamera.com:

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Pentax k-m trailer:

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Pentax K200D review by CameraLabs.com:

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Pentax K200D video review by What Digital Camera:

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Pentax K-m review highlighting some good features:

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And:

Pentax K-m digital SLR encrusted with CRYSTALLIZED (TM) – Swarovski Elements:

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I hope you liked it. Please, leave your comments and check my affiliates’ offers.

Thank you

Kamil

This Pentax lens is perfect for portrait photographer. But read on to see what experts say:

The Pentax smc FA 50mm F1.4 is something of an anomaly in the company’s current lens lineup, as the last of their film-era primes featuring plastic construction and an aperture ring. This actually reflects the fact that Pentax are probably the leading proponents of modern-design fixed-focal length lenses, with their range of compact ‘pancake’ lenses and ‘Limited’ series high quality primes being the envy of users of other systems. Indeed we can probably presume that the 50mm F1.4 will itself be superseded by the recently-announced Pentax-DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM lens, but in the meantime it stands as the most obvious option for users seeking a fast prime for low light and portrait work.

The 50mm F1.4 features a traditional design of 7 elements in 6 groups, with all of the lens surfaces spherical in profile. In this regard it’s very similar to the Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM and Nikon AF-Nikkor 50mm F1.4D which we’ve reviewed recently, and therefore looks somewhat dated when compared to the all-new, aspheric-element Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM. The ’smc’ designation indicates treatment with Pentax’s ’super multi coating’ for the minimization of flare, and the ‘FA’ designation indicates that, unlike the newer ‘DA’ digitally optimized lenses, its image circle covers the 35mm full-frame format.

With Pentax concentrating their attentions on the APS-C format, the function of this lens has subtly changed from the days of 35mm film, and the 1.5x crop factor means it now acts more like a classic short ‘portrait’ telephoto, instead of the general purpose ’standard’ lens it was designed to be. The question to be asked is therefore whether it’s well suited to this role, especially given the high resolution demands of the smaller sensor. Read on to find out.

Headline features

• 50mm focal length
• Fast F1.4 maximum aperture

Pentax smc FA 50mm F1.4 specifications:

* Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area

Highly Recommended

You can  read full review at http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/pentax_50_1p4_p15/ .

Technorati Tags: 50mm, Pentax, Pentax lens, Reviews

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All that you need to know before you buy a lens:

Before you make a decision about buying a lens (and to understand how photos are affected by various settings), you need to understand the basics. If you don’t understand something, just keep reading as it will become clearer towards the end.

Types of lenses:

• – Prime lenses – fixed focal length (no zoom – just one angle of view). Why? Because you get very high quality for a relatively low price. Achieving the same quality with a zoom lens is a big challenge, so the price goes up.
• – Zoom lenses – pretty obvious (variable focal length, but lower quality)

Zoom lenses can be classified as with:

• Fixed maximum aperture (or f/ number) – the same amount of light falls in across the whole zoom range.
• Variable maximum aperture – amount of light falling in decreases with zooming in (getting close to the object, so faster shutter speed is required to avoid motion blur)

Wide - A wide angle lens is a lens which has a shorter focal length than that of a ’standard’ lens, allowing a much wider area to be brought into frame. To obtain a wider view, the centre lens has to be closer to the sensor (or film if you are using a film camera) of your camera, which means the lens must be shorter in overall length. A lens with a lower focal length (in millimetres) is always wider angle than a lens with a higher focal length. For example, an 18mm focal length is wider angle than a 55mm focal length. Wide angle lenses for digital cameras typically range from about 8mm to 35mm.

Standard - A standard lens is one which is in between wide angle and telephoto. Standard lenses for digital cameras typically range from about 35mm to 80mm.

Telephoto - A telephoto lens allows you to zoom in on far away subjects. The telephoto range is the widest range of focal lengths, ranging from under a hundred to over a thousand millimeters. These lenses are also the longest and bulkiest of all lenses, and it is not uncommon for a telephoto lens to weigh a pound or more. Telephoto lenses for digital cameras typically range from 80mm to 1200mm or more.

Fisheye - A fisheye lens is an extremely wide angle lens which captures at least a 180 degree field of view, and takes distorted pictures which bulge outwards in the middle, similar to a fish eye. Fisheye lenses were originally developed for use in meteorology and astronomy, but became popular with photographers for the unique images that they produce.

Macro - A macro lens is a lens of any focal length (but typically standard or short telephoto) which allows an extremely close minimum focusing distance to the subject. True macro lenses also feature a 1:1 (life size) reproduction ratio. Macro lenses are used for extreme close-up photography.

Parameters:

Focal length – is the distance between the sensor (or film in film cameras) and the lens (the nearest piece of glass to the sensor) or how far you zoom in or zoom out, that’s why zoom is given in mm as it reflects the focal length, which is measured in mm.

Focal length at Wikipedia

Aperture / f-number: Size of the opening inside of your lens that regulates the amount of light falling in, and also, as a side effect, it regulates the depth of filed (area of sharpness in the picture). The higher the f-number, the smaller the aperture (like that makes our life easier, but f-number is a mathematical value of focal length divided by aperture diameter in mm). Aperture can be set both in the camera and on the lens (although many lenses do not have that option), but the change happens in the lens only.

Aperture at Wikipedia

Depth of field – the length (distance) which will be in focus in the photo. It depends on the aperture and the size of sensor. Compact cameras have very small sensors, so the effect is difficult to observe.

At f/32, the background is distracting.     At f/5.6, the flowers are isolated from the background.

Depth of field at Wikipedia

Sharpness—or the lack of it—is immediately noticeable when you look at a photograph. If you are making a portrait, you want only the person to be sharply focused, but not a distracting background. In a landscape, on the other hand, often you will want everything sharp from close-up rock to far away mountain. Once you understand how to control depth of field, you will feel much more confident when you want to make sure something is—or isn’t— sharp.To control depth of field, you have three factors to work with.

• Aperture size. The smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field. The larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field.
• Camera-to-subject distance. As you move father from the subject you are focused on, you increase depth of field. As you move closer, you decrease it.
• Lens focal length. Using a wide-angle lens or zooming out increases depth of field. Using a long lens or zooming in decreases it.

Each of these three factors affects depth of field by itself, but even more so in combination. You can get the shallowest depth of field with a lens zoomed in on a nearby subject using a large aperture. You get the greatest depth of field when you are far from a subject, with the lens zoomed to a wide angle, and using a small aperture.

Stop – this usually refers to one step between one f-number and another (just another way of describing aperture changes). Each stop up increases light intake by 100%, and each stop down decreases light intake by 50%. If in automatic mode, the camera will compensate this by slowing down or speeding up the shutter speed. Cameras and lenses can usually operate in steps of 1/2 or 1/3 stops.

Resolution – similarly like the camera, a lens has resolution, but it’s more difficult to measure and it changes between the centre of the lens and its edges. Kit lens might have resolution of around 10M pixels or less, while good lenses will have up to 50M pixels (don’t quote me on that as I’m not an expert). You won’t find any info on lens resolution on the box as it’s not that important and subject to debate.

Other factors related to the lens, although not regulated by the lens:

Shutter speed – how long the sensor is exposed to light while the photo is taken. The shorter the time, the less blur in the photo, but less light falls in, so you need to have more light on the object photographed. If the photo is still dark and you cannot slower the shutter speed, you can decrease the f/number and/or increase ISO. This is set in the camera and does not affect the lens directly, but your camera might decide to change aperture of the lens to reflect the shutter speed changes (depending on the camera mode currently in use).

35mm equivalent – this matters only when coupled with a camera. It’s a standard that tells you how big or small angle of view is. You can compare it to different currencies; to know the value of something in another currency, you need to know what the exchange rate is, but in if everybody used, for example, only Euro, you would not have to calculate. So in photography we use the equivalent, so we do not have to calculate it ourselves.

E.g. with some cameras 18mm lens will give you the same angle as 28mm with other cameras, that’s why we use the equivalent, so 35mm equivalent of 28mm is always the same on each camera, although real distance will be different (I know, the more I explain, the less you understand). 35 mm is the size of a standard film exposure; hence this has become the baseline for other sizes. Digital SLR’s usually have smaller sensors (with factor of 1.5 or 1.6 – so called APS-C size), but there are some full frame (35mm) DSLR’s – they are usually more expensive and for professional use. All Pentax DSLR bodies are APS-C, so 18mm will always be equivalent of 28mm on 35mm (18×1.5=28). Check Wikipedia article if you need more explanation: 35mm equivalent

Please, let me know in the comment if you need more explanation or if you need answers to some other issues.

Regards

Kamil

Technorati Tags: 35 mm equivalent, aperture, focal lenght, Lens basics, Pentax body, Pentax lens, shutter speed

One, two or more lenses with your Pentax DSLR?

Whether we talk about Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Pentax, Samsung or Sony DSLR, I guess this is a question that runs though the minds of all the owners of DSLR’s: How many lenses and what lenses?. If you’re a pro, the answer is obvious, but for a rookie (like I was just a few years ago) this is a sleep depriving challenge. Let me help you decide:

Typical scenario:

You love taking photos and you are planning to buy a DSLR camera, and you ask yourself and others around you whether to go for the kit lens, or two lenses (typically 18-55mm and 50-200mm or 70-300mm) or go for one universal lens (18-250 mm).

This applies to at least Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Sony and Samsung DSLR’s. Olympus has a bit different zoom length values, but in general it’s all about the same.

Pros and cons:

1. Kit lens only:

• - cheap
• - suitable for most everyday snaps
• - light

but

• - zoom only 3x
• - resolution usually below 10M pixels that your camera is capable of, if not more
• - shooting airborne planes and other distant objects is out of question

2. Kit lens plus long range lens (I would recommend Tamron 70-300mm):

• - not expensive (a lot of bundle offers, and anyway 70-300mm is quite cheap on it’s own)
• - very long zoom coverage (16.6x combined)
• - very good quality (for the price) of the long range lens (70-300mm) – perfect for portraits, macros (close-ups) and of course for peeping your neighbour from 50m away

but

• - two lenses to carry with you all the time (bigger bag, heavier)
• - inconvenience of changing lenses frequently
• - possibility of missing the perfect shot because the right lens is in the bag
• - getting tired of frequent lens changes and losing interest in taking photos etc.

3. Universal lens (Tamron 18-250mm or 18-270mm):

• - one size fits all – perfect lens for most shooting situation (unless you’re a pro and need really high quality, but if you were a pro, you would not be reading this, so don’t get distracted by those shouting “but the quality sux!” – believe me, it doesn’t)
• - a lens that you won’t need to upgrade for years (you might want to compliment it, but definitely not replace)

but

• - expensive
• - barrel distortion is quite visible while shooting geometrical shapes at wide angle (18-25mm), but if you only shoot (or photograph, to be precise) people and nature, you can neglect it
• - pretty high vignetting (or light fall off in the corners) in many situations, however most people won’t notice it, or it will actually add some charm to your photos, and it can be easily corrected in software that you are going to use anyway. Also, even the most expensive lenses suffer from this (just a little bit less, that’s why you pay more – much more)

So what should you do?

I have gone through all those scenarios above, so I know what each one feels like, and I can say: go for the last one – Tamron 18-250mm). Since I finally bought this lens, I don’t remember when the last time I swapped it was. I still love my Tamron 70-300 (brilliant lens), but I can’t really be bothered to carry two of them when I go for some fun shooting (most situations in the life of an amateur). So borrow, steal or earn that additional cash and get it right from the start to avoid my mistakes.

Remember, you are likely to change your camera every 2-3 years, but the lenses will stay with you for 5-10 years.

Summary:

Still not convinced or hesitating? Answer these questions:

1. Do you want convenience of one universal lens so you never need to compromise on zoom?
2. Do you really want to spend the money twice? (Sooner or later you’ll buy that universal lens)
3. Do you want to buy a bigger camera bag and carry it with you instead of just the camera?
4. Do you want to feel that you made the right choice?
5. Do you sometimes feel that you can’t take that perfect photo because of insufficient zoom?

I hope now you know what to do. So it’s either option 3 or 2. If you choose option one, you should buy a compact, not a DSLR (just kidding ).

Enjoy your shopping experience.

Kamil

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Technorati Tags: DSLR, lens choice, Lenses, Pentax, photographer, Tamron, zoom