[Nick Siebers]

Oh well if you're ok with that kinda aperture, check out the Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5. It's an Adaptall lens so whatever mount you find, you can just get a Pentax Adaptall ring and it'll work. More info: Tamron SP Adaptall-2 70-210mm F/3.5 Model 19AH

Reviews here: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 70-210mm f/3.5 (19AH) Lens Reviews - Tamron Adaptall Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

KEH has international shipping so you can avoid eBay.

Tamron Adaptall 70-210 F3.5 SP CF MACRO (62) (REQUIRES ADAPTALL) 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS ZOOM TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com
Tamron Adaptall 70-210 F3.5 SP CF MACRO (62) (REQUIRES ADAPTALL) WITH HOOD 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS ZOOM TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com

These are the adapters... (again KA gives autoexposure)

Tamron Adaptall Lenses ADAPTALL 2 (PENTAX KA) - KEH.com
Tamron Adaptall Lenses ADAPTALL 2 (PENTAX KM) - KEH.com

I was going to recommend this lens exactly. It is big and a little unwieldy, but takes lovely pictures with a fixed f/3.5 aperture. Get the PKA mount, if you can. Good luck!

[crossmr]

Oh well if you're ok with that kinda aperture, check out the Tamron SP 70-210mm f/3.5. It's an Adaptall lens so whatever mount you find, you can just get a Pentax Adaptall ring and it'll work. More info: Tamron SP Adaptall-2 70-210mm F/3.5 Model 19AH

Reviews here: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 70-210mm f/3.5 (19AH) Lens Reviews - Tamron Adaptall Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

KEH has international shipping so you can avoid eBay.

Tamron Adaptall 70-210 F3.5 SP CF MACRO (62) (REQUIRES ADAPTALL) 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS ZOOM TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com
Tamron Adaptall 70-210 F3.5 SP CF MACRO (62) (REQUIRES ADAPTALL) WITH HOOD 35MM SLR MANUAL FOCUS ZOOM TELEPHOTO LENS - KEH.com

These are the adapters... (again KA gives autoexposure)

Tamron Adaptall Lenses ADAPTALL 2 (PENTAX KA) - KEH.com
Tamron Adaptall Lenses ADAPTALL 2 (PENTAX KM) - KEH.com

Thanks, unfortunately by the time you posted that, I'd already ordered the Vivitar. Might be here tomorrow or saturday. If I'm unhappy with it, I might check KEH and get one of these. That one is simply not available here in country at least. at least not online. I gotta go out and wander around the camera areas. There are some streets that are somewhat famous for their unending rows of camera stores.

[crossmr]

Well I had the vivitar out, it's not bad, a little faster as I hoped, but I find the focus to be extremely sensitive on it. Even more so than my 70-300 tamron. I attached a coupel samples, I had to shoot at 800 ISO because of the light. A K-30 is probably high on my purchase list, the K-M doesn't do great at 800, but not bad if you don't blow it up.

For the second game, I shot my 50mm prime from the glass, and actually I found for a lot of stuff, that worked out better. When the play is on the far boards, I might not mind a 75 mm, but they don't really make a 50-75mm.. and I'd hate to lose the sharpness of the prime (and the low F stop, I shot at 2.0) even a 28-75 f2.8 is like $500. Far too much, but I do think it would be the ideal lens for what I have in mind.

Though I did find the Macro version for only about $310
G
that's tempting..much cheaper..
I was looking at the XR Di, this is the XR Di LD Aspherical IF Macro will this affect the image quality or anything in comparison to the simpler one?

[msatlas]

As far as I know, all the Tamron AF 70-300 versions have the same basic optical formula. The only differences are the housing and maybe the coatings on the glass. I don't see much point in spending money to change to basically the same lens.

You may want to try tracking down a Tokina 60-120/2.8. It might be exactly what you need for focal length & max aperture.

The Rokkor Files - 60-120mm f/2.8 Tokina AT-X Review

Think of it as the ancestor of the DA* 50-135/2.8, which is also sold as a Tokina.

[crossmr]

I was talking about the Tamron 28-75 not the 70-300. I was just saying that I found the focus on my Vivitar 75-205 to be extremely sensitive even in comparison to the tamron 70-300 on manual. I was wondering if the alphabet soup on the end of the Macro version of the lens might do anything to the image quality or AF speed. At $310 it's much more reasonable..and I'm highly considering getting one..

60-120 isn't much good for me, I sometimes need to take quick pictures in front of me as players come into the boards and even with the 50, I need to take a step or two back, with a 60 I'd need to go back even further. However, a 28-75 would allow me to quickly spin it out wide and zoom back in a bit as necessary. I'd just hate to lose the sharpness of the prime, and also an F-stop (It's an F2.8 but I was shooting at 2.0). The reviews I read on the 28-75 mention that it was quite sharp, so I have hope for it. I wish there was someway I could rent one for a game, just to see if I like it vs the prime 50mm first.

I gotta see if there is a company that rents pentax equipment in Korea or not.

[msatlas]

Ahh, gotcha, I didn't notice your link to the 28-75. I thought you were talking about different versions of the 70-300.

There's only one variation of 28-75 that I know of. If anything, the only differences you're seeing are because each store is getting different versions of the alphabet soup at the end of the name confused. Sometimes they say macro, other times not, but they should all be the same Tamron A09 model.

Tamron SP 28-75mm F/2.8 Di (model A09)

[VladM]

Another lens you may want to consider is: SMC Pentax-A 70-210mm F4 Reviews - A Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database
It is only F4 - constant, but optically great. Being an A-lens, you have auto aperture control.
I find it quite sharp, great rendering. One downside is that it is fairly heavy.

[crossmr]

Now that I'm shooting from the boards, starting at 70 is really too high. I don't have the budget to carry 2 bodies at once, and the vivitar is 3.8 constant. Just the focus seems iffy on it. Maybe I need a little more practice with it.
28-75 or maybe 28-90ish might be the highest I'd want to go, but I'd need to keep a low fstop all the way through.
WIth the prime at 2.0 I could shoot at 1/250. 2 stops up, puts me at what? about 1/90 that's starting to get too low unless I want to really ramp up the ISO. on my K-M, I don't want to do that, I think the K-30 has much better high ISO noise, so it might be more of an option with that when I can swing it.

I realize my setup isn't ideal for indoors sports photography, but I gotta make do with what the budget will allow.