LBA About to set in at Focus! Best way to cover all focal lengths?

I very much doubt I will be able to go to Focus without coming away with a new lens! But that has started me thinking.... What Lenses would YOU buy to give you coverage of focal lengths up to 500mm??

Ignoring price (wish we could!) what lenses do you think would give you the best quality images over that range? Would they all have to be primes?

At the moment I've got sigma 8-16,18-250mm,70mm macro and 120-400mm plus pentax 16-45. So that does the job - but I'm not sure about image quality. Top of my list at the moment is the DA*300 (unless the 560mm appears!!) and maybe changing the 120-400 to a 150-500? Would I see improvements with the Pentax DA*60-250??

How would you cover that range of focal lengths??

Please help my LBA!!!!

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Martyn

http://www.flickr.com/photos/northamptonshirecouk/

My lenses don't cover the 8-12mm range, but I settled on DA 12-24mm, DA* 16-50mm, DA* 60-250mm, and Sigma 150-500mm.

You'll notice that I have a gap between 50 & 60mm for which I use a DA* 50-135mm and/or DA* 55mm if/when I need to, which is rarely.

Covering the range of focal lengths is not the only criteria to consider though. You'll need to decide whether the maximum aperture of f4 for the DA* 60-250mm is likely to be a limitation for you. A lens having a max aperture of f2.8 would better suit the needs of low light photography.

Happy hunting.

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Peter E Smith

Body: Pentax K5, K5-II, K20D + BG's, MZ-6, Super-A
Prime: Pentax A28, FA31/43/77 Ltd, M50/1.7, FA50 Macro, DA*55, D-FA100mm Macro, Sigma EX180 Macro.
Zoom: Pentax DA12-24, DA*16-50, DA*50-135, Sigma 70-200mm EX DG OS HSM, 150-500 DG OS HSM.
Flash: Pentax AF240FT(2), AF500FTZ(2), AF540FGZ(2), AF160FC Ringflash.
Software: Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, Photomatix Pro, Noise Ninja, iWatermark, Picasa 3.

My flickr Photostream

"Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad."

How I would fill it in?

DA12-24 or Sigma 10-20
FA31Ltd
Tamron / Sigma 70-200/2.8
F/FA*250-600

But I'm not really a man of the extreme focal length.


That's not a gap.

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Pentax K10D + Vivitar 55/2.8 macro + Super Takumar 55/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 85/1.8 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 135/3.5 + SuperMultiCoated Takumar 200/4 + Super Takumar 300/4
Pentax K100D + DA18-55ALII + DA55-300
Pentax K5 + FA31Ltd + M50/1.7 + DFA100WR + M120/2.8 (+ DA18-55WR at occasion)

Not a very big one, admittedly, but a gap nevertheless.

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Peter E Smith

Body: Pentax K5, K5-II, K20D + BG's, MZ-6, Super-A
Prime: Pentax A28, FA31/43/77 Ltd, M50/1.7, FA50 Macro, DA*55, D-FA100mm Macro, Sigma EX180 Macro.
Zoom: Pentax DA12-24, DA*16-50, DA*50-135, Sigma 70-200mm EX DG OS HSM, 150-500 DG OS HSM.
Flash: Pentax AF240FT(2), AF500FTZ(2), AF540FGZ(2), AF160FC Ringflash.
Software: Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, Photomatix Pro, Noise Ninja, iWatermark, Picasa 3.

My flickr Photostream

"Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to use it in a fruit salad."

I guess finding one of those would be the first problem....and carrying it would be the second!! Having seen Danny lugging one around I doubt I could cope!!

I just wish they'd hurry up and give some indication of when the 560mm is likely to appear!

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Martyn

http://www.flickr.com/photos/northamptonshirecouk/