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02-28-2011, 03:20 PM   #31
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I believe the new Sigma 50-150 is to be made the same size as their 70-200 2.8, which would negate a significant advantage the 50-135ish zooms have over the 70-200 cannons.

02-28-2011, 03:27 PM   #32
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QuoteOriginally posted by The Kurly One Quote
I was certain that I was after the 50-135, but its a range of 85 mm to 130mm, thats a 55mm difference in zoom range.

What I am trying to convince myself of is that the optical qualities of the DA* will outweigh the difference in reach that the 70-200mm gives.

But are the differences noticeable to the average user? I have no plans of turning pro or even a profit with my pics, I just want to attain the most for my money.

What should I do?! I want the lens more for my daughters ballet recital and at f/2.8 I can shoot at 1/250 at 800 ISO at this venue. With cropping for individual shots still be usable even if I have to do a 100% crop with the 50-135?

And I figure that the 50mm side of it will be kind of usable indoors still....

Argghhh, wish I could just get both but thats not in the cards right now!

The other thing is what do I do lens wise if I want to get a longer zoom, as far as I can tell there are no 135-250mm f 2.8 lenses?

The next thread I start will be in the wanted thread!!!!
I will look at this from a logical point of view.

Lets start by defining what you want to do with the lens, and also what you already have, or plan to purchase.

Basically, we are discussing lens kit design.

My own opinion is that a good all round kit should have 3-4 good zooms ranging from a low of 10-12 mm through 135-200mm, with the majority of this at F2.8.

How you fill this depends upon what you are shooting, and the working distances.

For me, I have a sigma 10-20, a pentax FA-J 18-35 (gap filler) a tamron 28-75F2.8 and a sigma 70-200F2.8.

What I like about this is that for city travel, I am limited to shorter focal lengths and I drop the 70-200 out of the kit. saves a ton (kilo actually), I can also drop the 18-35 and live with the gap between 20 and 28mm.

The pros of this kit are the flexibility, and ability to go light in an urban environment, the con's are I can get caught short 75mm is not very long.

others may opt for (lets assume all pentax) 12-24, 16-50F2.8 and 50-135 F2.8.

the pros of this are, better coverage with the 16-50, no gaps, but the cons are
you can't drop the 50-135 in the city as 50mm is just no where near long enough.
also it would be nice not to have to change lenses too often so ideally something topping out at 75mm would be better. The other big disadvantage of this system is it does not go long enough, and you can't add a TC that provides full functionality, No one makes an SDM TC for pentax.

So now lets go back to what you shoot.

Remember Image size = subject size x focal length / distance. Does 135 get you close enough? only you can answer this.
02-28-2011, 04:59 PM   #33
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THank you all for your opinions, I am actively pursuing an affordable 50-135 as we speak! My kit will be as follows with lost of room for dropping crap, Groucho you may recognise this from another forum we frequent together...

DA 12-24
DA 18-250
DA* 50-135 (when I get it)
I have all the kit zooms and FA's in all there focal lengths (LBA is bad in these parts)
24mm Sigma ultra wide
A 28mm
FA 50 f1.4
Vivitar 100mm Macro
Super tak 135mm f2.5
M 200 f4

I have a ton of other stuff that I gotta get rid of too!

Suggestions on thinning the herd would be appreciated as well...
02-28-2011, 05:27 PM   #34
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I would not recommend buying a second hand DA*50-135. Brand new with extended warranty is the way to go, and I'm not an extended warranty kind of person for anything, but I made an exception for this lens.

02-28-2011, 05:46 PM   #35
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Theres a huge price difference between new and used on this lens...
02-28-2011, 05:55 PM   #36
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QuoteOriginally posted by The Kurly One Quote
Theres a huge price difference between new and used on this lens...
Possibly because no one wants to risk buying this lens second hand due to all the SDM issues.
02-28-2011, 06:07 PM   #37
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funny,they seem to sell within minutes of being posted... and I don't see any negative feedback coming back from the buyers. Are there really that many SDM failures? If and when they occur, is it all of a sudden or generally within a few months?

02-28-2011, 06:24 PM   #38
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QuoteOriginally posted by The Kurly One Quote
Theres a huge price difference between new and used on this lens...
QuoteOriginally posted by twitch Quote
I would not recommend buying a second hand DA*50-135. Brand new with extended warranty is the way to go, and I'm not an extended warranty kind of person for anything, but I made an exception for this lens.
QuoteOriginally posted by selar Quote
Possibly because no one wants to risk buying this lens second hand due to all the SDM issues.
I've bought all my SDM lenses (and I've owned them all at one point or another) second hand because as Kurly One pointed out, there is a significant price difference between the new one and the used ones. Now I realize that there is the potential risk of an SDM motor failure, but typically the used price is about the cost of a new motor lower than the new price. So if the used lens I buy has an SDM failure, then I'm really no worse off than had I paid full price for a new lens. If the lens doesn't have a failure, which is in reality the more probable outcome, then I've saved a few hundred dollars. I realize many disagree with this logic, but I figured I would share it as it goes against the conventional wisdom regarding SDM lenses.

If you do buy new, then I would actually recommend the extended warranty because the worst case scenario (IMO) would be to buy new and have it fail right after the warranty expires. The you'd be out a few hundred more than the price of a new lens.


QuoteOriginally posted by The Kurly One Quote
funny,they seem to sell within minutes of being posted... and I don't see any negative feedback coming back from the buyers. Are there really that many SDM failures? If and when they occur, is it all of a sudden or generally within a few months?
No ones knows the actual failure rates. The 16-50 appears to have the most issues, followed by the 50-135. But those are probably also the most popular (and oldest I think) DA* lenses so that might have something to do with it as well.
02-28-2011, 09:27 PM   #39
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Yes Kurly One, I recognized the topic from the other board...

QuoteOriginally posted by dgaies Quote
No ones knows the actual failure rates. The 16-50 appears to have the most issues, followed by the 50-135. But those are probably also the most popular (and oldest I think) DA* lenses so that might have something to do with it as well.
That, and Pentax users (heck, internet users in general) really enjoy spreading bad news and doom and gloom.

My 50-135mm will turn three in April and works perfectly. I'm pretty sure that an extended warranty would be a waste for it. My 16-50mm is about 27 months old and fine; it had slightly sluggish focusing when brand new and was promptly replaced. I suspect it'll make the 3-year-mark with a clean bill of health, too... and these lenses aren't babied; they're stuffed into an overcrowded camera bag, subjected to rain and snow, etc.

I personally would not have an issue with buying a second-hand 50-135mm from a reputable seller. I am willing to take the risk, and I am one of those that thinks that the risk of SDM failure is not as great as some would make it out to be. (If you listen to some people around here, you'd think that every last one has complete failure within the first couple months!)
02-28-2011, 10:52 PM   #40
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QuoteOriginally posted by Groucho Quote
My 50-135mm will turn three in April and works perfectly. I'm pretty sure that an extended warranty would be a waste for it.
Its easy to be positive when things are going good.
03-01-2011, 09:20 AM   #41
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I would like to join those who have already recommended the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8. It's very unfortunate that this lens is discontinued, but if you watch eBay (I recommend setting up a saved searched) you should be able to get your hands on one.

And unlike the Pentax 50-135mm, you won't find a lot of anecdotal accounts of premature motor failure. The HSM seems to be pretty reliable, so I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Sigma lens used. And since Sigma backs up their EX lenses with a 4-year warranty (vs 1-year for Pentax), they must not be too worried about it either.

The big advantage of the Sigma is that the HSM of the 50-150mm is *dramatically* faster than the SDM of the 50-135mm according to anyone who has used both lenses back to back. Since you will be using the lens for moving subjects, this could be important.

It also has a little more reach without sacrificing anything on the wide end, which will make it more flexible than the 50-135mm. Some people have said that the Sigma is a little soft at 150mm, but I haven't noticed that on my copy.

The biggest weakness of my 50-150mm is that autofocus tends to be a little inconsistent when subjects are closer than 10 feet to the camera. But that's not what this lens is made for, so it doesn't bother me. My main lens is the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8, and it will focus reliably even when used within a few inches of the subject.

And as far as the 50-150mm vs the 70-200mm lenses, the 50-150mm kills them in the size/weight department. I couldn't imagine lugging one of those beasts around, it would be absolutely ridiculous.

And there's a BIG difference between 50mm and 70mm on the wide end. You're going to miss out on a lot of shots at the wide end when shooting indoors.

I just went to an NBA game here at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, and they limit lenses to a maximum of 6", so I probably would not have even gotten the 70-200mm in the door.

If you check out this thread,

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/128533-sigma-5...lots-pics.html

I posted pictures of the 50-150mm mounted on my K-x, and farther down the page I posted full size images at f/2.8, and they're all razor sharp.

If I get a chance later on, I'll post some of the pictures I got at the NBA game.
03-01-2011, 06:57 PM   #42
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QuoteOriginally posted by Edgar_in_Indy Quote
I would like to join those who have already recommended the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8. It's very unfortunate that this lens is discontinued...
Perhaps it was discontinued for a good reason... Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM Lens Review

“The Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 II EX DC HSM Lens delivers average image quality overall if it is focused properly. And that is the big if in my experience.”

The Tamron however is unquestionably a high quality lens, Photozone gave it a glowing review... Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 SP Di LD [IF] macro - APS-C Review / Lab Test IMO after extensively comparing images from the Tamron and the DA* 50-135, the Tammy is the better lens. It's $150 less here in Canada and comes with a much better / longer warranty.
03-01-2011, 07:33 PM   #43
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QuoteOriginally posted by The Kurly One Quote
I want the lens more for my daughters ballet recital
I cant imagine going to my daughters ballet recital with either the Sigma or the Tamron cannons, would raise a few eyebrows.
03-01-2011, 07:39 PM   #44
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Some complain about slow AF on the DA* 50-135, I find it fast enough for dance recitals, posting this shot as an example:

03-01-2011, 08:36 PM   #45
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QuoteOriginally posted by selar Quote
I cant imagine going to my daughters ballet recital with either the Sigma or the Tamron cannons, would raise a few eyebrows.
Sit close with a DA 70.
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