I am going to buy a K7 as my first DSLR. I'm not sure about the quality of the budget kit lens. Will this one,smc PENTAX DA 16-45mm F4.0 ED AL be better?Never touch a DSLR before. All thoughts are welcome. Thank you.
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lens for my first DSLR K7
- Thread starter songcunzhi
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Excellent choice on the K7. It's a beautiful camera.
There are lots of good "kit" lens options. The standard 18-55 ALII kit lens from Pentax is very well regarded, considered the best of the budget kit lenses offered (i.e. compared to Canon, Nikon et al.)
Depending on your needs, you might prefer the 18-55 WR (weather resistant), which is optically the same as the kit lens but is weather sealed just like the K7.
The 16-45 that you mention in your posted is a very good lens. It's sharper than the kit lens and offers a fixed aperture of f/4 (as opposed to the variable aperture of the kit lens.)
The 16-45 has been replaced by the 17-70, which is probably a more useful focal length range for most people. 70mm is long enough to be useful for portraits.
You can check out different lenses here:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/index.php
There are lots of good "kit" lens options. The standard 18-55 ALII kit lens from Pentax is very well regarded, considered the best of the budget kit lenses offered (i.e. compared to Canon, Nikon et al.)
Depending on your needs, you might prefer the 18-55 WR (weather resistant), which is optically the same as the kit lens but is weather sealed just like the K7.
The 16-45 that you mention in your posted is a very good lens. It's sharper than the kit lens and offers a fixed aperture of f/4 (as opposed to the variable aperture of the kit lens.)
The 16-45 has been replaced by the 17-70, which is probably a more useful focal length range for most people. 70mm is long enough to be useful for portraits.
You can check out different lenses here:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/index.php
I can't comment on what to get, as I shoot nikon. But the 18-55 with the weather sealing seems like an obvious starter. My camera is much better sealed than my lenses, and I worry about them in rain. I'd get that kit lens just for rain days!
Thanks for the link of pentax lenses. I will get a lot of joy from them. Talking about the 17-70, it is very appealing to me. But there are words about image getting soft at infinite focus at f8? Anybody can confirm this? I read it in Amazon reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1272928550&a=B001AZ8N6M&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1272928550&a=B001AZ8N6M&sr=8-1
Yeah, weather resist can be very helpful in the wildness. But what if I want to shoot with other non-wr lenses? Is there any way to wrap lenses in wr jackets or something? I'm just talking out of my mind. Sorry if wr jackets sound too weird.
I think go for the weather sealed 18-55mm WR.
The Pentax 18-55mm is pretty sharp (stopped down) to begin with and offers a useful range. Don't let the 'kit' label put you off, the weather sealing is a perfect match for the K-7 (good choice btw
)
Ideally I'd like a 16-45mm WR as a wider walk around lens
The Tamron 17-55 f/2.8 is meant to be very good as well.
And there is also the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5.
The Pentax 18-55mm is pretty sharp (stopped down) to begin with and offers a useful range. Don't let the 'kit' label put you off, the weather sealing is a perfect match for the K-7 (good choice btw
)Ideally I'd like a 16-45mm WR as a wider walk around lens
The Tamron 17-55 f/2.8 is meant to be very good as well.
And there is also the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5.
I think go for the weather sealed 18-55mm WR.
The Pentax 18-55mm is pretty sharp (stopped down) to begin with and offers a useful range. Don't let the 'kit' label put you off, the weather sealing is a perfect match for the K-7 (good choice btw
Ideally I'd like a 16-45mm WR as a wider walk around lens
The Tamron 17-55 f/2.8 is meant to be very good as well.
And there is also the Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5.
I have both, the 18-55mm WR and Tamron 17-55mm f2.8 (NOT the II VR version though, that one supposedly is not as sharp).
The Tamron is my walk around lens, usually on my camera all the time. Awesome lens, presumably best f2.8 normal zoom for Pentax, better than the Pentax SMC 16-50mm f2.8. The only downside is that it's not WR. That is what I have the WR kit lens for though.