Originally posted by funguslens I thought everyone would tell me to get the FA31mm & FA77mm !??- are they not the cat's ass?
I like the way the sun looks with the DA15mm- no?
I will shoot anything- but can K5iis handle sports?- thought AF was not quick enough?… and then what do you stick on it, the 200mm f2.8?
OK- I need to make this more challenging- Top two lenses and I have $1200 to spend. Period.Wife will be watching!
Sorry, I missed this the first time I posted.
Sports is definitely possible with the K-5 IIs. It's what I use. But you may need to decide how much of a priority sports is, because you have to be specific in your choices if it is.
The bottom line is that with the K-5 IIs, Pentax improved the AF performance enough to make it feasible for sports. The AF motor for screw-drive lenses now performs well, unlike previous Pentax DSLRs. With a $1200 budget you'll have to take advantage of this faster in-body motor. This is because (unlike Canon) the in-lens AF motors are only fast enough on the latest Sigma 70-200/2.8 OS HSM, the DA*300/4, and possibly the DA*60-250/4. Since each of these uses up your entire budget by itself, and AF performance isn't really better than screw-drive anyway, look elsewhere.
Actually the DA18-135 and DA55-300
can work, but they both have slower apertures and aren't my style (or yours, I suspect).
So you have the F or FA135/2.8 as your cheapest option (example here:
Top Highlights - Central Park Invitational 2012 - EventTime Photos ). Or you can spend all your money on an FA*85 (
Highlights - CIF Finals 2012 - EventTime Photos ) or F*300 (
Top Photos - EventTime Photos and
Highlights - CIF Finals 2012 - EventTime Photos ). Alternately, a used FA77 will come close to the FA*85 and still preserve some of your budget.
Outside of these I think the Tamron 70-200/2.8 is your main option (you get to take advantage of the fact that they haven't updated it for Pentax mount, so you get good quality and fast screw-drive AF while paying the previous generation price).
If sports AF
isn't a priority, just get a used DA*50-135/2.8 plus whatever other lens you can afford (e.g. Tamron 17-50/2.8):
http://www.eventtimephotos.com/Laguna-Niguel-Holiday-Parade/2012/Photos/i-xkCD4Zz/A