[daacon]

So now I need a long Tele-zoom - I am comitted to spending about $1.2k Cdn and there are the lens in contention.

Sigma 100-300mm f4.0 APO EX DG Lens for Pentax
- will this be long enough ? It is all I had before and was ok - rhetorical question sorry
- is f4 fast enough to use a telconvertor on and still get decent pictures ?

135-400mm f4.5-5.6 APO DG Lens for Pentax
- cheapest of the lot - I know Stu I belive has good things to say about this lens

170-500mm f5-6.3 APO DG Lens for Pentax
- have not heard much about this lens

200-500 Tamron ?
- I think that was the lens - tried it out over the weekend at the local camera store - seemd ok but very limited testing ...

And of course - the one that I am leaning towards heavily

50-500mm f4-6.3 EX DG Lens for Pentax aka BIGMA
- I don't believe I have read a bad thing at all on this form about this lens

I know I would like to have the 400-500 end but pretty sure I could live with 300-400. My only criteria is long (300-500 ) Are there other lens I should be considering given my price range ?

Thanks in advance on any advice

[GaryML]

Sigma 100-300mm f4.0 APO EX DG Lens for Pentax
- will this be long enough ? It is all I had before and was ok - rhetorical question sorry
- is f4 fast enough to use a telconvertor on and still get decent pictures ?

I have this lens and my copy performs very well in terms of optical quality. It works well with the matching Sigma APO 1.4X EX DG converter with very little loss of image quality. In fact, the results at 420mm are surprisingly good.

The only disappointment is that the AF is a bit too slow to keep up with fast moving sports action like soccer. I have to use manual focus and anticipate where the action will be to get really sharp shots. AF is slower with the converter. For slower moving subjects (like wildlife) the AF works fine and the focus is accurate.

Whether it is "long enough" depends on what you want to photograph. If you can use 300mm most of the time and occasionally need about 400mm (with the converter) then it is long enough. If you need 500mm or more for small bird photography, then it isn't long enough.

(Note: I don't think that anyone makes a 200-500mm lens for the Pentax mount.)

[Chako]

I agree. Tamron's 200-500 isn't made for the Pentax mount..or at least I didn't think they made one.

I have the Bigma for a Canon mount. I cannot comment on how much slower the AF will be on a Pentax body. I do know that when I bought it, I wasn't sure about the quality of such a wide ranging zoom. It is a fantastic lens for the money, and any apprehensions were quickly put to rest after my first outing. Another point to consider and one I failed to when I bought it, was how often I would use the 50mm end of the lens. In wildlife photography, the subjects never cooperate, and I know personally I would have missed so many close up shots if I didn't have this very versatile lens mounted on my camera. Just something to consider.

[Mr Hyde]

I have both Sigma 135-400mm and the Sigma "Bigma" 50-500mm. Both are outstanding lenses. I read some poor reviews of the Sigma 170-500mm which is what prompted me to but the Bigma instead.

Tamron makes a 200-500mm lens but not for Pentax mount so it must have been something else.

[Clem Nichols]

Mr. Hyde:

I hope you don't mind me tweaking you just a little, but it's been two weeks now with the Bigma, and so far only one picture of your parrot. A nice one, mind you, but still only one picture. (If it's still raining where you are, I can understand that you are probably preoccupied with boat building activities.)

CN

[daacon]

Thanks all - I am not sure what I want - and I forgot what that Tamron was ...maybe 170-400 , 500 ? anyway I will know it when I get it - that said I pulled the plug today on a Bigma - will now wait to see if their supplier has it (should find out tomorrow) if so should get it in a week and I will keep it on order.

If not then I am not really into waiting several weeks / months as others have ....for something that might come .... and will be looking for something else.

If I get it I figure worst case is if I don't find it usefull I can always sell it for pretty close to what I paid for it.

After all the great things I have read and seen here with that lens and as I mentioned in the Market Place (slight variation here) my LBA motto today is "It is better to have Bigma'ed and sell then to never have Bigma'ed at all"

[Mr Hyde]

Mr. Hyde:

I hope you don't mind me tweaking you just a little, but it's been two weeks now with the Bigma, and so far only one picture of your parrot. A nice one, mind you, but still only one picture. (If it's still raining where you are, I can understand that you are probably preoccupied with boat building activities.)

CN

Naaa I dont mind. You apparentlymissed my post which outlined my schedule over the past few weeks. I haven't had too much time for anything but work. Weekends were spent working on the pool or volunteering at the Church carnival which ran all week.

I did get a bunch of shots of the moon and I posted one here in a thread called Bigma and the moon
here is a link
Bigma moon link

[m8o]

Isn't it a shame all candidates are just from one 3rd party manufacturer?

There's supposed to be a 300mm DA* f/4 but who can say when that will actually be delivered. Real bummer. (and zooms are just so much more useful ; I'd switch my f/2.8 for their zoom if they made it for Pentax mount)

Otherwise, if you say "long & fast" the one most like that designation is the Sigma 100-300mm f/4. Sure f/4 @ 100mm isn't all that 'yowza', but @ 300mm that pays dividends if conditions when you shoot are cloudy or drizzly weather, or you're shooting under the canopy of trees (without TC). And you can use a TC in better lighting conditions.

Granted, this example is the faster big brother [ https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/10724-m8o-tanzania-07-a-2.html#post91660 post #23 (shot @ f/3.5)] , but I understand the f/4 is no sloutch and quite comparable...bred from the same genes. The 1st set of bird pics on teh 1st page of that thread were shot in light misty rain. The f/4 out of your list is the one that could come closest to those shots under conditions like that @ 300mm.

[daacon]

Isn't it a shame all candidates are just from one 3rd party manufacturer?

I hear ya - when I was initially investigating the DSLR world one of the features for me was Pentax keeping the backward compatibility with their glass. I had no idea a lot of the glass is hard to find, at least the newer AF stuff. I don't regret the Pentax decision by any means - just really had no idea I could not just walk into any camera store and say - yeah give me that FA 300mm 2.8 to test please. On the bright side given my LBA lately that can be considered a good thing

You got some great glass and some great shots on your trip - well done.

[r3nx]

I would go for the 100-300 f4 EX for a f4 aparture and the IQ. It's supersharp!

[Abbazz]

I agree. Tamron's 200-500 isn't made for the Pentax mount..or at least I didn't think they made one.

There's the old Tamron Adaptall SP 200-500/5.6. Manual focus only, of course, heavy as hell, but very good lens.

Cheers!

[roy]

There's the old Tamron Adaptall SP 200-500/5.6. Manual focus only, of course, heavy as hell, but very good lens.

Cheers!

right, it's an adaptall2 mount so all you need is the adapter. good luck on finding the lens tho. i recently picked up a tamron SP 300/2.8 and all i can say is that it's a great lens. i've used it also with a 1.4x-s and i don't see any harm to IQ. i just made a deal on a 104F 1.4x and a VERY!! hard to find 200F 2x for this lens. both of these are matched for the 300. here's a couple of pix at f4.

edit: this lens goes for $7-800 on ebay.

[Abbazz]

right, it's an adaptall2 mount so all you need is the adapter. good luck on finding the lens tho.

There's one for sale at Keh.com.

Cheers!