hello, guys, I've been looking for some lenses at ebay since my friend are at overseas and can help me buy one. I'm a beginner, and like to shoot street photography sometimes at low light condition (I like night pics that need me to open shutter long enough ), occasionally macro (not much a high requirement for macro). can anyone suggest me good lenses below RM800 (200EUR+) or something that might have a chance that the 2nd hand price are around that? preferably AF since I still struggle to learn MF thanks.

so far, what I found,
SIGMA AF 70-300mm / f4-5.6 MACRO at +-150EUR (why this lense very cheap? read reviews, seems not quite sharp? anyone tried?)
SIGMA 50-200 / f4-5.6 at +-200EUR
these two interest me as a travel lense

Pentax SMC DA 35mm f/2.4 AL Lenses at +-150EUR
Used SIGMA 17-35mm f2.8-4 ASP at 170EUR
PENTAX SMC DA 40mm F2.8 XS at +-180EUR
these 3 interest me as pancake (except for sigma, that's more towards wide angle right?)

I onced tried PENTAX FA 77mm 1.8 Limited. holy super sharp and clean and dunno what to said liked it so much but the price found in garage sale at <2k but still no budget up to that

sorry for my lots of question.. I don't have buddies who seriously own DSLR besides camwhoring

This post has been edited by wuwah: Apr 23 2013, 11:39 AM

once u go 'limited'..susah mau U turn....

I have a Tokina SZ-X 80-200 4-5.6. I quite like it (picked it up for something like 70 SGD (or was it 50? something like that) in Sim Lim Square... brand new. )

But I wouldn't use it for night time shots... maybe with the K-5 it is possible at very high ISO, but to me it's more of a daytime lens. And yeah, it's MF.

For street... you prefer the creepy from far away street photography? Otherwise I'd be looking for a prime... 35mm or so. AF wasn't that useful to me when I did street, usually I closed the aperture, focused manually (roughly) and pressed the shutter (without focusing). Then again I liked to shoot "from the hip" with the 18-55 at 18mm.

Yeah, the Limited ones are very nice.

What do you guys use as camera bag? I'm looking for one now, my old retro one looks great (to me... very 80s, a bit dirty, ...) but isn't practical or safe, especially since I lost all the inserts. Anything you can recommend that doesn't scream camera? Camera+lens + 2/3 additional lenses would be fine.

Among those I will pick DA 40mm F2.8 XS.
Many says the IQ is close to the limited 40mm (aside from build quality).

And yes, once you got yourself a limited lens, there is no turning back.
Actually there's also Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 which you can consider too.
As sharp as limited lens.
AF can be a bit slow and there might be some hunting on low lights. Also some batches suffers from back-focus.

yeah, I agree

not creepy far away street photography la I ocassionally use MF also, sometimes my subject out of focus so, still learning here. I though of prime lens also, since kit lens 18-55mm can consider ok already for travel lens IMO

I also like 40mm XS. sample pics looks sharp enough for me I'll think about this and will looks for tamron 17-50mm

I think you can find a used Tamron 17-50 for RM 800 on the used market.
The F/2.8 will help on low light shooting condition.

for the cheap price (compare to others)...tamron 17-50 is the best option imo.

Can consider DA 18-135 AW if you prefer longer reach.
I have a Sigma 17-70mm up for sale if u r interested.

i have the 18-135WR. if combine with k5 or any WR body..u're almost indestructible...

nowadays almost use this only....u get the wide and the reach. but the quality not so good la...
imo 55-300 quality is better. and i wish there will be WR version of this.

This post has been edited by craxors: Apr 24 2013, 11:43 AM

IMO, one stop difference in the aperture doesn't really matter.
Sigma has longer reach but the Tamron has better image quality I think.

I'm also considering Pentax 16-45 F4 but dunno where to find..

Yes, but the price you pay for it was justifiable for the quality.
Tact sharp if u stop down one or two stop.

for normal jalan², yes. no issue with the sharpness...

hey guys. anyone using YN 560 II flash with ur pentax dslr? how is the performance?

This post has been edited by kalakatu: Apr 25 2013, 12:54 AM

Very good and powerful flash.

Guess what fruit is this?

Erm, Pentax macam sudah mati like that

no la...
many silent reader....

Anyone checked flickr new layout?

It's quite good and now there's also 1 TB storage.

This post has been edited by Patent: May 21 2013, 08:56 PM

But still have the 200 photo limit for free accounts? :-/

Nope, no photo limits.

http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/