Thoughts on Pentax DA 18-55

2007-09-04
I want to put my thoughts on DA 18-55 after owning it for close to 6 months with my Pentax K100D. I recommend it especially for persons newer to dSLR. The caveat that I will put in is whether you plan to upgrade quickly for better image quality. If you plan to upgrade in about 2 to 3 months to something much more expansive and of higher quality, then I would suggest you to jump directly to the better gear such as Sigma 17-70, Tamron 28-75 or Pentax 28-105 f/3.2-4.5 or some others all-in-one zoom recommended by others such as Tamron/Sigma 18-125. But if you are new comers to dslr such as my path from p&s to dSLR with no prior experience with SLR, I highly recommend the kit's lens. It is very good for the price and as a newbie to dSLR, I have no complaint but whining for perfection with my limited skills to work with the gear.

#1
#2

#3
#4

#5 1/2 sec, f/4.5, 38mm, iso 200, -1/2 EV

I believe that if I can't work out a reasonable picture with the most basic gear, getting the more expensive gear will spoil the important experience in learning to cope with the weaknesses in the gear. Photographers are the brain in taking the picture even at the absence of quality gear. For example, I get lots of good pictures outdoor taking the kit's lens such as the above #1 to #5 pictures. But indoor such as the following pictures in #6 to #8, the kit's lens is not performing well in terms of sharpness.

#6
#7
#8

And it takes patience and a learning curve to both minimize the short-coming to compensate with stop down in aperture and paying attention to natural light close to windows, and perhaps the frequent visits to AWB, WB presets, and custom WB to get it close to right. So overall, I recommend it but just with the above caveat that if you want to upgrade quickly, I would say go directly and skip the step of wasting unused gear in your camera bag; otherwise, I recommend it without much hesitation.

More thoughts in getting better gear in replacing kit's lens are in the following links and related posts.

Related Posts & Links:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,
This is a great site!
Want to thank you for providing so much information on your experiences with the K100d and lenses. I too am trying to get the most from my equipment without spending what I can't afford. Am really enjoying the experience.
Respectfully, Anne

Hin Man said...

A belated thank you to Anne for the visit and comment. I have seen others with great pictures with the kit's lens and I think the latest with WR for weather protection is worth consideration. I have upgraded my kit's lens with Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 and I like the Sigma for its range and better IQ over the kit's lens.

Post a Comment

 

About

Welcome to Hin's Photo Corner, this is my learning blog on photography, blogging and advertising. And I hope you enjoy your visit. For contact, please comment in blog post or email me directly hintheman at gmail.com.

 

B&H Best Deals

Statcounter