Fast Sports Zoom Lenses for Pentax

The Basics

Before comparing pros and cons, we must note features common to all three lenses - these are the fundamentals that every lens like this will/should have. First off, notice the presence of a dedicated tripod collar. Even though these lenses can be hand-held, they are not light, and the tripod collar is necessary for stability. Second, all the lenses are quite similar in size. Their length only varies by about 3 millimeters, and they all share a common 77mm filter thread. F2.8 at 200mm requires a fairly large piece of glass, and therefore, you won't be seeing more compact versions of these lenses as our current optical laws apply! Third, they all feature internal focusing as well as internal zooming. This means that they are much easier to hold and handle than conventional zooms. Fourth, they feature fancy glass elements (LD "Low-Dispersion"/ED "Extra-low-Dispersion") of high quality that are built to minimize aberrations and distortions. Last, but certainly not least, they're all autofocus lenses. While this is a trivial statement, don't think that fast manual-focus zooms can make up for the their worse handling compared to slower autofocus lenses.

Stylish lens boxes

Apart from the autofocus, the everyday zoom lens doesn't have these things, and they're what set these lenses apart from your run-of-the-mill zooms, especially when used for sports. It's also worth nothing that all three of these lenses cover the 35mm full-frame image circle.

Lens Hoods

Because the zoom range of these lenses starts at short-telephoto, their hoods can be large and therefore very effective. Below we picture their corresponding lens hoods.

Pentax, Sigma, Tamron Hood

As you can see, all three manufacturers Sigma and Tamron take advantage of this great opportunity and include nice, big bayonet hoods in the box. We're not sure what Pentax was thinking there, as the hood they've designated for the 80-200mm is not only round, but also much shorter than it should be. Perhaps they thought that having common lens parts was more valuable than their quality, as this same hood is used with the Pentax-FA* 28-70mm F2.8.

Cases

Another advantage of premium lenses such as these is that they come bundled with durable cases so that you can carry your zoom with ease. The Tamron case is pictured on the left, while the Sigma case is pictured on the right. We didn't get a chance to include the Pentax S120-230 case, but if you'd like to compare, it has considerably less padding than either of the cases below, and features a shoulder strap rather than a handle. Unfortunately the S120-230 can no longer be purchased.

Tamron, Sigma Cases

Both these cases are excellent and will do a good job of protecting your investment. We've found that the Tamron case is easier to open out in the field, but it doesn't have a nice shoulder strap like the Sigma case (strap not pictured).


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