There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
If your wanting some really cheap lenses go vintage, get something like a helios 44-2 or a canon FD lens. Then get a cheap ish focal reducer on amazon or ebay for ~80$ and heres a bonus... the focal reducers will increase the f stop by 1 stop so a f 1.8 will become a f 1.4 if im correct...
But I think you make a good point about ditching the kit lenses and getting a good zoom. I'll look into something like that for sure.
And as far as "future proofing" my equipment, what I mean, is I want to make the right choice as far as brand and sensor sizes are concerned. I know I will have to replace equipment over time, that's a given. I just don't want to have to ditch a bunch of it because I'm dissatisfied with Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. or have to get new lenses after switching to full frame.