Originally posted by UncleVanya Check eBay completed items... The DFA is above $1000, and some Tamron's were below $300. If you find the DFA for not much more than $650+ buy it and be happy!
Finding a very good condition clean glass Pentax DFA 70-200 under $900 used is a jump-on-it-now bargain.
I'm still debating which of my 70-200's to sell.
Love the Tamron handling, relatively light and decently compact for the type of lens. And I already had the Tamron TC. Originally it was the Sigma that would go, I only bought it to compare to Tamron's. TBH I see very little difference, the Sigma perhaps a bit faster to lock focus and bokeh differs so that's a matter of taste. Both render beautifully and sharp, I wouldn't hesitate at all relying on either in an outdoor portrait shoot. A 2.8 70-200 is simply a great people lens, almost impossible to go wrong with one.
But after finding the Sigma 2x TC which pairs up so nicely.... It's more likely it will be the Tamron now. But if I had come across a nearly new Pentax DFA at the $650 you've found it would be a no-brainer: Pentax. Take care of it and you could get 100% of your money back selling it 10 years from now. That's assuming you could ever bring yourself to do so.
Geesh why is it so easy to buy a lens yet so hard to sell it?
One note for you since you mentioned never having plans to go beyond APS-C:
The 70-200's shine best on full-frame cameras. It's not that they don't work well, really well AAMOF, on crop. If you were using it for landscapes, at the zoo, at the park, at the sports field, it's actually a great selection you love having.
But if you're buying with the intent it be your default portrait lens the Pentax 50-135 2.8 is a much better choice IMHO, albeit probably costing a little more. That 150-200 range that offers such wonderful subject isolation for full-frame has the crop equivalent Pentax 50-135 serving that same full-frame 70-200 range. I'd never be without mine on a photoshoot where I'm using my K-70's.
How's that for muddying the waters, but guess what? For the money spent on buying a Pentax D FA70-200 (that $650 one you found being the exceedly rare exception so be careful), you can have both a Tamron 70-200
and Pentax 50-135.