Originally posted by condor27596 It needs so much light and is frankly slow. The slow might be subjective. I don't know. 90 percent of my shots the past 3 years have been with very fast and good primes.
Are my expectations unrealistic. ?
Ok, understood. Well, I've been impressed with the 55-300 wide open, for centre sharpness at least. At 300mm it manages f/5.8, which is more or less just one stop slower than something like the DA* 300 f/4. So, you might have to shoot at ISO 800 instead of 400 - or 1600 instead of 800. Yes, it's a limiting factor, but not *that* much, given the sensor performance of recent Pentax bodies. Of course, I appreciate the DA* 300 can produce overall better IQ, but my point is, with few compromises, you can get pretty close with the 55-300...
What is the longest focal length you need, out of interest?