[BigMackCam]

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I'm sure this has been discussed many times before, so apologies in advance for revisiting...

I'd like a decent zoom lens for my recently acquired Q7, to cover a range of non-macro high magnification subjects including bird-life. My ideal criteria would be as follows:

- 200mm+ at the long end
- good sharpness up to 150mm or more
- constant aperture (or, if variable, something not dreadfully slow)
- low CA
- good contrast
- *not* one-touch zoom/focus (I prefer rotary zoom and separate focus)
- decent amount of throw for focusing
- sensibly priced (<= $230 / £150, preferably less)

I'd really appreciate some lens recommendations to fit the above criteria, as well as any that might bend a few stipulations (except for price! ) in favour of IQ (I'm open-minded!). Outright rebukes will be taken in good spirit too

Thanks!

[boriscleto]

It's a one-touch, but it has zoom lock...

Kiron &quot;Zoomlock&quot; 70-210mm f/4 Macro Lens Reviews - Miscellaneous Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

I have this one in FD mount.

Vivitar 100-200mm F4 MC Macro Lens Reviews - Vivitar Lenses - Pentax Lens Review Database

[monochrome]

A35~105/3.5 - meets all your criteria except the long end of the focal length. On a Q7 that's something like 505mm equivalent FoV.

They're about $125 US.

[Professor Batty]

This may be your best best in something hand-holdable, not enormous, and reasonably priced:

Canon V6X17 17 102mm 2 0 C Mount TV Zoom Lens 17 102 F2 BMCC MFT Pentax Q | eBay

You'll have to add another $20 for the adapter.

[UncleVanya]

F 35-135 isn't bad and is a two ring design. 58mm design f3.5-4.5

[pacerr]

Presuming you mean 200mm equivalent FL the Q 06 offers the AE/AF functions and has coverage similar to a 70-210mm zoom. It's generally regarded as an excellent lens, requires no bulky adapter, and a $10 set of 'close-up' filters adds a very satisfactory pseudo-macro capability.

If you prefer manual focus one of the short Adaptall SP zoom lenses such as the 13A, 44A, 27A or 01A combined with an inexpensive AD2-PQ adapter offers extraordinary coverage and quality in a small (but somewhat heavy) package from about 100 >> 350mm equivalence. I've used both the 44A and the 01A with favorable results.

SP 24-48mm F/3.5-3.8
28-70 F/3.5-4.5
SP 28-80mm F/3.5-4.2
SP 35-80mm F/2.8-3.8

[cmar]

Just go for one of the standard DA or DA-L kit zoom lenses, They're cheap, they're light, and they perform surprisingly well, and if you happen to travel with a Pentax SLR as well, (as I do) you can swap them over.

[vonBaloney]

I'm assuming you do NOT mean 200mm equivalent, but actually 200mm+. And since you just bought a new K-Q adapter, I'm assuming you want to use it. Using K lenses with the adapter has an advantage over all other adapted lenses with its built-in leaf shutter, so you don't get the rolling shutter jello effect.

You should probably be looking at this thread for some ideas:

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/136-pentax-q/209474-adapted-lenses-tested...thread-27.html

Also, for "serious" birding with a Q with 200mm+, you must know it is quite challenging -- keep looking at some of the other Q threads for the extreme set-ups involving red dot sights, LCD viewfinders, etc...

[romay]

I'm sure this has been discussed many times before, so apologies in advance for revisiting...

I'd like a decent zoom lens for my recently acquired Q7, to cover a range of non-macro high magnification subjects including bird-life. My ideal criteria would be as follows:

- 200mm+ at the long end
- good sharpness up to 150mm or more
- constant aperture (or, if variable, something not dreadfully slow)
- low CA
- good contrast
- *not* one-touch zoom/focus (I prefer rotary zoom and separate focus)
- decent amount of throw for focusing
- sensibly priced (<= $230 / £150, preferably less)

I'd really appreciate some lens recommendations to fit the above criteria, as well as any that might bend a few stipulations (except for price! ) in favour of IQ (I'm open-minded!). Outright rebukes will be taken in good spirit too

Thanks!

No legacy zoom lens will have good enough IQ. Please keep in mind that the Q sensor is tiny and the pixel pitch is small. Really, really small- like, 5 times smaller than a 12MP APS-C. So, in order to be good enough for your Q, the zoom lens would need to so sharp that it outresolves a K20D 4-5 times.
So, don't expect that you will get a decent image out of any of those adapted lenses. Even with the best legacy zooms, you can expect acceptable quality if you use resolutions equal or lower than 1920x1280. Anything higher will blur.

That being said, there are actually 3 PK lenses that I adapted on my Q that had somewhat acceptable image quality - the Zeiss Planar 50mm 1.4, the 77 limited and the 100mm WR macro. All of them are primes, though.

Maybe you should also look into available C-Mount zooms (cine lenses). They are usually optimized for a small image circle and may even outresolve adapted PK lenses.

[BigMackCam]

Thanks for the responses, all

I guess I should have been a little clearer... I am indeed looking for something that will zoom to an actual, rather than effective, 200mm ( or thereabouts - 150mm with acceptable IQ would be fine) and preferably with my K to Q adapter, taking advantage of its leaf shutter.

I'm getting acceptable results hand-held with my M135 f3.5 prime - albeit with some purple fringing in high contrast areas, and requiring some sharpening in LR6. But, I'd like a bit more reach and flexibility. I have a rather poor Vivitar 70-210 (can't recall the model, but definitely not a Series 1) and the reach / range are perfect; IQ is awful, though

I've had the 18-55 and 50-200 kit lenses in the past, and was never very happy with the IQ on my K5 & K3, even stopped down. Maybe the HD 55-300 would fare better?

The cine lenses are an interesting idea. I'll trawl through the adapted lens thread and see what I can find.

Thanks again