NZcaver wrote:What body are you getting? I use the Canon EF-S 10-22mm on a 40D (equivalent to 16-35mm on a full frame), and it's fun to shoot. Right now my other walk-around lens is the 17-55mm f2.8 (equivalent to 27-88mm), which is very sharp glass.
I'm probably going to go with a Pentax K-5 ... a co-worker who has one has let me play with it and I really like the feel of the controls, and the fact that it's on the compact side (for a DSLR) and is weather-sealed (so less likely to get busted by water/dust) are tie-breakers. (And reviews seem to agree on better-than-average high-ISO performance. Hmm, where might I be with limited light?...) It's kit lens is 18-55 (x1.5=27-82) f/3.5-5.6, and is also weather-sealed (which would give me a decent "sealed" combination for sloppier conditions). (Yes, kit lenses generally seem to be pretty "meh", but the review consensus for this seems to be "pretty good for a kit lens", so I'm thinking it would be worth to have as a don't-want-to-risk-swapping-lenses option.)
captnemo wrote: How wide is too wide? Just depends on the shot but the close proximity of the small passages around here will definitely leave you wanting wider. As for lugging multiple lenses I try not to do that (another reason I like the extreme range of the tamron lens) after all, its bad enough trying to clean my gear after a trip, I really don't want to change lenses in a cave and risk getting dirt inside the camera.
Hence my reason for asking -- the S90 I've been using has an equiv range of 28-105mm (similar to typical "kit lens") and I find that in NorCal I rarely use most of the zoom range, most of the usage is at the short end. Avoiding schlepping extra stuff & changing lenses is a good thing for obvious reasons but based on that experience I'm wondering if a very short prime (macro?) would be worth adding.
Sungura wrote:I definitely agree with getting good glass. And old stuff isn't bad! My favourite lens for my dSLR is...actually i dont remember what it is (sorry im on pain meds right now for my busted hand, so also please excuse misstypes, im onehanded right now), but it is beautiful and was $20, it's a macro focusing lens too. Found it scouring ebay for deals. Also hit up estate sales and such! i have found the older stuff is usually just as good or better, and often a lot cheaper! Win-win!
Yeah, the Pentax will work with all K-mount lenses back to the 70's or so (without autofocus for the older ones), so while it doesn't have as many current lenses as Nikon/Canon, there's a lot of old film-era lenses out there.