[crewl1]

crewl1, Looked at your photostream..loved your wildlife shots with your Q and 300 lens. I have seen results from Q, but your results with the 300 adapted are beyond what I would have guessed that little sensor would do. Fantastic really.

Thanks KGH, the DA*300 is a great match for that application.

[DSims]

I might just go for something with a max of 200mm instead, I like the compact size of those.

Like the Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di-II Macro Lens AF014P-700 B&H

I gave long answers before, but here's my short answer:

An $1100 camera is certainly worthy of a $500 lens. You'd be better off getting the FA 135 (even if you have to buy it on eBay - which *hint* you can right now (I don't know the seller but it looks good)) than blowing $200 on any of these cheap zooms. Of course I don't know how much you were planning to "blow" on primes, but I think it's better to put the money toward something that will work well. It's a desirable lens, so you can sell it after the season if need be. You might get away with a cheap zoom for soccer - with lots of lateral motion - but not when someone's running at you full speed!

[Eric Auer]

I have enough decent primes, all manual K mount and M42. I probably could just use One of my 135 2.8's with no major issues.

I shoot and prefer manual glass and even tho I easily can spend the money on very fast zooms I wont, simply because all my other "work" does not require one.

What I really wanted to do was to shoot my kids meets with a AF zoom in full auto mode. I have no interest in complicating the matter further.

If the options I listed are simply not up to the task at all, I might just go all manual.

But the K-5IIs has very good High ISO IQ so Im still going to look at "Slow" zoom lenses....

[DSims]

What I really wanted to do was to shoot my kids meets with a AF zoom in full auto mode. I have no interest in complicating the matter further.

If the options I listed are simply not up to the task at all, I might just go all manual.

But the K-5IIs has very good High ISO IQ so Im still going to look at "Slow" zoom lenses....

Why is it that when you want to make something easy in life, the task refuses to cooperate?

I'm sure if you set your standards low enough something will work - maybe that's the key in this case (really!). After you give it a try you'll know what's working for you. I got some good pictures of my daughter's soccer a few years ago with my DA55-300, but I have no idea how well it would do for HS XC if I still had it today. But since even the DA*50-135 proved to be frustrating, I have my doubts.

[schj]

I have enough decent primes, all manual K mount and M42. I probably could just use One of my 135 2.8's with no major issues.

I shoot and prefer manual glass and even tho I easily can spend the money on very fast zooms I wont, simply because all my other "work" does not require one.

What I really wanted to do was to shoot my kids meets with a AF zoom in full auto mode. I have no interest in complicating the matter further.

If the options I listed are simply not up to the task at all, I might just go all manual.

But the K-5IIs has very good High ISO IQ so Im still going to look at "Slow" zoom lenses....

I used to shoot cross country using my DA 50-200 which worked fine on my K10 and later K5. I have since upgraded to a Sigma 70-200 2.8 which focusses a bit faster and allows for a shallower depth of focus. You can look at the shots below to see the differences. Note that my photographic abilities have also increased during that time so the comparison is not completely fair


Shots with the DA 50-200:
https://plus.google.com/photos/115504435863276779857/albums/5451009915690149...CJbfvsKot_uDWw

Shots with the sigma:
https://plus.google.com/photos/115504435863276779857/albums/5718311734969009521

[bassek]

Try some of the F-series zooms with fast AF if you require a budget solution.

Seb

[Kozlok]

I'm going to go another way with this, and suggest that you manually pre-ocus the lens to where you want to shoot the runner, put the lens in burst mode, and shoot 5 or 6 off while they move through the zone of focus, pick the best one. Electrons are cheap! This way you can set your framing up and focus in advance, and the speed of your autofocus is irrelevant. That's the way I shoot my dogs running, because no autofocus I know of can keep up with them.

[Eric Auer]

I have not decided what to do yet, A forum member and fellow "Monthly Lens Challenge" has offered me some interesting solutions tho.....