DSLR – Pentax Body

Amazon.com

Designed for exclusive use on Pentax digital SLR cameras with smaller-size imagers, this Tamron AF 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II aspherical macro zoom lens is ideal for a host of situations. The high-power zoom lens–which offers an equivalent focal length of 28-300mm in 35mm format–adds versatility to your lens menu, zooming from a true wide perspective to an ultra tele zoom, all in an amazingly easy-to-use design. As a result, the lens is ideal for everything from landscape shots to sports and wildlife photography. The lens also incorporates several of Tamron’s proprietary core technologies, including aspherical elements that minimize chromatic aberration, a multiple cam mechanism, and an integrated focus cam design. The technologies combine to create the world’s lightest, most compact 11.1x digital zoom lens. Other features include an angle of view of 75 to 7 degrees, a minimum focusing distance of 17.7 inches, and a 62mm filter diameter. All Tamron lenses c (more…)

Tamron now offers a lightweight, compact, high-image-quality telephoto zoom lens with macro capability of 1: 2 that can be used with digital cameras. This new lens is a Di type lens using an optical system with improved multi-coating designed to function with digital SLR cameras as well as film cameras.With this 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, flipping a macro switch in the focal length range of 180mm to 300mm obtains a maximum magnification ratio of 1: 2 at a minimum focus distance as short as 37.4″, enabling close-up shots of flowers, insects, and other objects that normally require the use of a specially designed macro lens. Moreover, this is a zoom lens that casually offers the distant capture and foreshortening effect pleasures of the 300mm ultra-telephoto world.

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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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