[GixxerMKD]

Hi guys, last week I sold my k30 with sigma 150-500 I was using for motorsports.
I'm getting my K3 body, so my dilemma is which lens should I get now. With my previous set I had great photos, but there were times when I missed some great shots, I'm not sure if it was because of the body or the lens. I'm thinking now if the 150-500 would perform better with the K3 body, or should I go with Pentax 60-250 f4, or maybe 300 f4. In this period I realised I do need flexible Len (not fixed) so I'm more toward the 60-250 with eventual tc (1.4). Does anyone here had the 150-500 sigma to compare with the 60-250 Pentax? Also whats your opinion on the 60-250 vs 300 f4? Let me know what you think, I have a week or two before I order.

Link to my gallery shot with the K-30 and Sigma 150-500: GixxerMKD

[SteveTheOldMan]

Both. ;-) I never had experience with the Sigma. The 60-250 is a wonderful lens, but not an ultra-fast focusing lens IMHO. I don't know of any k-mount lens that is (somebody PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong.) Bottom line: extra reach or flexibility?

[sumitkar1971]

I have the DA* 60-250 f/4 - it is an outstanding lens for color rendition and IQ but not fast to focus. I have the DA*50-135 as well and the same is true for that lens - great IQ but slow to focus but very accurate. I would look at the Sigma if what you are looking for is fast focus. My 17-50 Tamron is faster to focus that both of the DA* lenses and has great IQ as well but the DA* lenses knock it's socks off on Build quality and sharpness. I think Tamron and Sigma lenses would suit you better for sports since the emphasis is on fast auto focus and not so much on WR and build quality.

[SteveTheOldMan]

The only question: would 200mm be enough reach? Great shots, by the way!

[lesmore49]

I have the Sigma 150-500 and I shoot drag racing with it. It's a fast moving sport and I've been happy with this lens/K-5 combo. It nails fast moving objects quite well.

I also find the clarity of the Sigma and K-5 to be quite good.

Conditions...sunny is best....technique...correct settings in ISO, shutter speed, F stop...is paramount. But then that's the way it is in most situations with camera equipment. But a big, heavy lens like the 150-500 needs careful setting...just because it is big, heavy and has a very long focal length.

I looked at your action photos of the motocross motorcycles. I thought they were good, considering how fast moving and unpredictable....position wise... these bikes can be.

You have the big Sigma already. I would keep it and see how your new K3 body works with it. It (K3) may work better than your present body (my suspicion) and if not, look at these other lenses. But one thing to consider a 300 and a 250mm is less than a 500. You can use a TC...on any of them. But I personally, prefer a pure ...500 to a 300 or a 250.

Some will talk about quality. Hard to determine, as in my view, a lot of opinion about quality, is subjective. I also find that a photographer's technique is of paramount importance in getting a good picture. Opinion about level of 'quality' and 'technique'....which is more important ? Good question.

[ars]

I'm using Sigma 100-300 f4, also tried it for moto-speedway. Got some nice results). The zoom range is quite handy, weight is fine for hand-held shooting. Autofocus is very fast with K-5II, should be even faster with K-3. According to reviews, 60-250 focusing is slower. That's my five cents.

[wtlwdwgn]

I think the 150-500 Bigmos worked extremely well on my K-3. As said above, technique is most important in determining IQ. My technique is not that good but I did get a few good shots with a rented Bigmos. I don't know if that lens was not short enough or not long enough for your motorsports. If you missed because it was not short enough you might consider the 50-500 Bigma. The K-3 handles high ISOs very well to allow you to keep the shutter speed high enough. Just my $0.02.

Here's two examples of the K-3 and Bigmos.

A pronghorn antelope is a fast running animal. 1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 560.


A scampering bison calf moves pretty quickly too. Same setting as above.

[Conqueror]

Pentax-D FA 150-450mm ?

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

As a former K30 owner, I find that the K-3 is an upgrade in AF for action sports shooting with a relatively slow zoom (f5.6) even in relatively low lighting situations. Not that the K-3 was poor, but the K-3 is clearly better. The other relevant consideration is that you can afford to do more cropping with the K-3 due to the added pixels. I'm not sure you can do any better than the Sigma (which you sold with the K30 - if I understand the OP correctly) for AF speed and reach. The 55-300 HD WR is worth a look, as it is a bit faster aperture lens and the screw drive focusing on the K-3 is very fast (and reliable). The image quality would be at least as good as your old Sigma, but you wouldn't have the reach.

The Pentax lenses you mention are great for IQ, but a prime is not realistic for action shooting and the zoom focuses too slowly (as others have mentioned).

---------- Post added 09-27-2015 at 12:11 PM ----------

Pentax-D FA 150-450mm ?

That would be a good option if the price wasn't an issue. It seems like it would be best for the upcoming FF, not so sure the price can be justified on crop sensor cameras.

A less pricey option worth considering would be the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and the Pentax 1.4x TC. You'd still have good IQ, and a fairly fast lens speed roughly similar to the DA 300. The Tamron is noisy, but known to be very quick for AF.

[GixxerMKD]

OK thanks everyone for the replies so far, you've been very helpful. Yes I've sold the old 150-500 together with the k30 body, and the Pentax 150-400 is over my budget, so I guess I'll go again with the Sigma. The shots I've missed were because of missed focusing speed as the motorcycles are sometimes quite hard to catch, I had situations were I'm pre focusing on position but the shutter simply wasn't firing. Because I always go across the track I'm shooting handheld, so many times I set the lens on manual focus and I get quite good results. I thought that maybe the DA*300 will be faster with the focus but hey that's why the forum exists thanks once more, ill be watching the thread until I get the money for the new camera, but as I said at this time I think I'll go again with the Sigma 150-500.

---------- Post added 09-27-15 at 07:19 PM ----------

A less pricey option worth considering would be the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 and the Pentax 1.4x TC. You'd still have good IQ, and a fairly fast lens speed roughly similar to the DA 300. The Tamron is noisy, but known to be very quick for AF.

Now that's something you got me thinking about...

[sergysergy]

Sigma 70-200 2.8 (+ 1.4 or 1.5 Tc) or Sigma 100-300 F4 work well

[tibbitts]

Hi guys, last week I sold my k30 with sigma 150-500 I was using for motorsports.
I'm getting my K3 body, so my dilemma is which lens should I get now. With my previous set I had great photos, but there were times when I missed some great shots, I'm not sure if it was because of the body or the lens. I'm thinking now if the 150-500 would perform better with the K3 body, or should I go with Pentax 60-250 f4, or maybe 300 f4. In this period I realised I do need flexible Len (not fixed) so I'm more toward the 60-250 with eventual tc (1.4). Does anyone here had the 150-500 sigma to compare with the 60-250 Pentax? Also whats your opinion on the 60-250 vs 300 f4? Let me know what you think, I have a week or two before I order.

Link to my gallery shot with the K-30 and Sigma 150-500: GixxerMKD

Motorsports is somewhat of a specialized application, and I'm not sure what aspects of AF (catch-in-focus,etc.) you use (or would if you had it available to you.) The 60-250 has decade-old, relatively slow AF technology, and generally I don't think you'll find you have as good high-end (expensive) options with Pentax as with Canikon. You have to decide to what extent you may or many not need faster AF to compete with the results from those other brands. This is clearly a case where the bar has been raised, since it wasn't that long ago that everybody had no AF at all. Now many more photographers (at least those with many thousands of dollars to spend) can get amazing photographs that would have just been blurs before. A good copy of the 60-250 would be an excellent lens for what I would use it for (landscape, slow-moving objects), but wouldn't be my first choice for following rapid action.

I thought the 150-500 (or 70-200 for that matter) was no longer a (new) option, so getting a good copy of it might be problematic at this point. So you might end up with the 50-500 (although availability there seems a little sketchy right now, as well.)

[ScooterMaxi Jim]

Sigma 70-200 2.8 (+ 1.4 or 1.5 Tc) or Sigma 100-300 F4 work well

Those are pretty good options, especially in terms of IQ. Sigma have had nice TCs, matched to their lenses. However, the lenses do not appear to be available new anymore. Also, while HSM can be close to screw drive in terms of speed, the motors can get dirty resulting in much slower operation until cleaned (not by user). For motorsports, I think the Tamron is a better option. Optics are quite good, and the lens is considered solid (not always so with Tamron).

[Conqueror]

That would be a good option if the price wasn't an issue. It seems like it would be best for the upcoming FF, not so sure the price can be justified on crop sensor cameras.

The price seems the only negative.

Checkout this user review at the top...

HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6 ED DC AW Reviews - D FA Zoom Lenses - Pentax Lens Reviews & Lens Database

[btnapa]

Hi guys, last week I sold my k30 with sigma 150-500 I was using for motorsports.
I'm getting my K3 body, so my dilemma is which lens should I get now. With my previous set I had great photos, but there were times when I missed some great shots, I'm not sure if it was because of the body or the lens. I'm thinking now if the 150-500 would perform better with the K3 body, or should I go with Pentax 60-250 f4, or maybe 300 f4. In this period I realised I do need flexible Len (not fixed) so I'm more toward the 60-250 with eventual tc (1.4). Does anyone here had the 150-500 sigma to compare with the 60-250 Pentax? Also whats your opinion on the 60-250 vs 300 f4? Let me know what you think, I have a week or two before I order.

Link to my gallery shot with the K-30 and Sigma 150-500: GixxerMKD

I used to shoot ALMS races. I have not done so in a long time. I was just pondering the same issue just a few days ago. If I had to shoot motorsports today and wanted to use Pentax bodies to do it my lens options would be as follows in order of cost (cheapest to most expensive):

1. Sigma 150-600 (C) - $1050 (lens) + $400 lens conversion to K-mount form Sigma - Total cost: $1,450
2. Pentax 150-450 - Approx. $1,900
3. Sigma 150-600 (S) - $1,920 + $400 lens conversion to K-mount from Sigma - Total Cost $2,320

I just checked yesterday, Sigma is offering mount conversion for select lenses. For the long lenses it is $250 plus shipping cost to Japan. Sigmas would have a four-year warranty compared to Pentax's one-year.

BTW, I have tried the 60-250 in a few camera shows. The focusing was way too slow for me. I think for sport shooting it may come up short. I have read a lot of positive reviews on the 60-250 sharpness. The copies of the 60-250 I tried were not that sharp wide-open, perhaps bad copies.