Thanks to all who replied. David Savage probably had me convinced immediately with his comments of:
> what's the point of owning Pentax if you're not going to get > the one part of the system that they do exceptionally well. Also, to answer W. Robb's question of... > why a person would put third party > glass onto a Pentax Well, sometimes *price* is the driving factor, and at the time, the price of the FA* 70-200mm f2.8 Pentax lens was quite prohibitive. I've *always* wanted Pentax lenses in my kit, but until now the prices didn't make that possible given the speed I needed. Hence, brand loyalty is admittedly part of my incentive to switch. Granted, they don't build the new lenses "like they used to" (I think I could very well knock someone out with one blow from my Sigma lens)... but the DA* lens prices (plus gainful employment) at least allow me to consider these options for a change. Boris asked: > if your Sigma lenses work for you - why bother? They do work for me... but since people are actually paying for these pictures now, my thinking is that if there is something better and I can afford it, then I want it. Boris also mentioned the difference in focal lengths; and trust me, that's a concern too. Right now, my wedding kit is seamless (Pentax 12-24 in the bag, Sigma 24-70 & 70-200 on K10D bodies) so these two lenses are obviously going to mess that up. However, the 16-50 / 50-135mm range will simply put me back to where most (zoom using) wedding / portrait photogs were prior to digital anyway: 24-200mm equivalent. So I think I'll adjust just fine without the long end (just take three steps forward)... as long as the Pentax 50-135mm is still very sharp at the long end (at least at f4.0, if not wide open.... ???). The part that I don't like is the overlap between the 16-50mm and the 12-24mm, but in the end that may be a good thing since it will probably translate to less lens swapping during a shoot. In the end, I think I'll gain more than I'll lose from the shift in focal length. But only time will tell. By swapping, I'll also improve on my minimum focusing distances a tad. So overall, I'm leaning towards the swap, but I still wanted to run the query through the list to see what you guys thought. Also, if anyone wants the inside track on buying my Sigma lenses from me if and when I pull the trigger, please contact me off-list. Jostein said: > Remember also that there's a DA*60-250/4 Man, that's tempting. What would be AWESOME for when I eventually get back to animal stuff... but for weddings & portraits, that's way more focal length than I need at the expense of an f-stop that I really like having. Still very tempting though because switching to the pentax lenses would leave me with NOTHING between the long end of the 50-135mm and my 300mm f2.8. That seems like a HUGE range of emptiness. ..emptiness that can be used to justify future purchases.... hmmm..... Decisions. Decisions (ugh). Maybe I'll just stick with my Optio :o) Thanks again to all who replied. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
