going with the easy answer

A good kit doesn't come much more simple than this: three talented zooms covering 10-300mm.

For ultimate image quality the kit should have more primes, faster glass - and 24Mpix or greater camera to make best use of them.  For the amount of shooting that I do right now and in the near future, such investments make no sense - and today's Pentax primes are not weather resistant.  The 10-17 can focus to point-blank range, capture anything I want to shoot and its fishiness is great fun; sadly it's not foul-weather friendly like the other two lenses.  The venerable 18-55 DAL WR has really never let me down; its markdown features like distortion at 18mm certainly are irrelevant compared to the fisheye at 17mm, and the red kit lens also gives me 1/3 lifesize images.  These two lightweights will keep the rather bulky 16-85mm zoom out of my bag.. for a while, at least! Hmmm, I'd save 50 grams in the bag, lose $250 in the wallet and 10-16mm coverage, and an occasional lens change.  Nope, not for a while.  If anything would prove more convenient it might be the new 18-50RE, with its silent focus and 58mm filters that match the HD55-300.  The new red-ring HD is the newest version of the best Pentax-fit telezoom in its price range, and none speak ill of it other than its leisurely speed to focus.

These are not my only lenses; the 50mm f/1.7 A can be useful when light fails, the 300mm mirror lens is small and creates unique images and the manual zooms are fun at times.  In general though, for what I shoot (and how seldom I print big) the three AF zooms can handle anything that I need a camera to manage.  The K50's higher ISO abilities make faster glass less crucial (and only the 150-450mm beast is WR) so the balance of bulk and image quality is just right for me.

The 100-300 Sigma DL now can keep the NX adapter mounted and become the unstabilized NX300 telezoom for a while, where its old-school aperture ring will be useful. I've never tried keeping both the 100-300 and 55-300 before; it's nice to have them both yet not crowding each other!

stop dreaming by the computer!!

At the end of my previous post I spoke of my dream Pentax lens set: 14 or 15mm prime, 20-40wr Limited, DA* 50-135, and 55-300. I recently bought the 55-300 and hoped to stop for a while and buy the rest later - starting no sooner than Christmas 2015.

Well, today I bought one of the big ones.  Ooops!
Dreams run on their own schedule.

 My sanity would be less in question from my reader were I to simply erase the entire "simplify" blog entry! In truth though, the price I just paid a working DA* 50-135 may never go lower (it might of course, but not by much).  I can sell or return a few recent acquisitions for nearly an even swap, so it's not a financial pain.

It's quite embarrassing that I allowed this deal to catch my attention though, right after saying "Time Out! Simplify!" to the world - but I'll forgive myself this once.  It makes me wonder, though - how long before I sheepishly announce that I've acquired an HD 20-40 or DA 14/15 prime••, and forgive myself again?

This lens has pestered me (and many Pentaxians) for years.  At f2.8 through its range, it is the 70-200mm equivalent for DA users.  Bulky yes, at 765 grams it's not my ideal - but it replaces many other lenses in a useful range and is weather sealed.  And when compared to a true 70-200mm f2.8 lens it's quite small!

I owned its cousin (Sigma's 50-150) for a brief time and quickly learned to tolerate the extra bulk in return for hi-IQ results, so I expect I to like this lens a lot!  It may even be the One Lens to Rule the kit, which would diminish any efforts to tweak what's in the bag.  That would be quite excellent since my efforts truly need to diminish!

The one concern for DA* lenses is the SDM motor, which has been deemed unreliable by many - especially if the lens isn't exercised regularly.  The seller pointed out that this copy had been sluggish recently, an ominous sign; given the discounted price I shall cross my fingers and I expect that we'll get along fine.  Pentax claims its repair rate is comparable to other brands, so it could be the owners of malfunctioning DA*s are just really good at spreading the word.

This definitely changes plans for my collection of classic teleprimes and also the 18-200 for kit simplification.  It was a great idea but trumped by poor timing.

My Updated updated set will be:

• K24, A50 and M135 primes
• 18-55wr, 50-135 and 55-300 zooms
• 400mm prime and manual 80-200/3.5 (in the closet)

The new macro plan is to rummage around for my old 49mm diopter set and attach it to the 50 or 135.. for now, that'll do.  The mini kit is now the NX300, 16+30 pancakes and the K adapter.

•• It's possible that I have acquired three of the dream foursome already; I will hear from Adorama soon about whether they have set aside their used, slightly-damaged DA14 that I sought to acquire in trade!  I never heard back from them but it vanished from their website.  Again an amazing deal - yet again, why am I looking in places where these deals can snare me?!?