[Mark (MC)]

Just a quick Hi to all.

I've been Pentax for many, many years (ME Days), now upgraded to the digital full-frame and love it. But with my range of lenses my bag is heavy!

I sat in awe, watching my friends with well known alternatives and their new fast super zooms.

Will Pentax produce a good quality, fast super zoom, and wait for it, at a price that I can afford (18-200mm or close; 2.8).

Cheers Mark

[alpheios]

Welcome to the forum!

Regarding your question: a 18-200 with constant 2.8 will never be made by any manufacturer. I wouldn't say that it's impossible to build but it would probably be gigantic and really heavy. Since those super zooms are mostly intended to be lightweight and compact travel lenses a lens like this would just make no sense.

[Mark (MC)]

Thanks; my old Tamron 28-200 was/is (20 yrs old) great but a bit slow. Looking for one do all lens! I can wish lol

[BigMackCam]

Welcome to the forums

I sat in awe, watching my friends with well known alternatives and their new fast super zooms.

I don't know what lenses they were using, but they weren't superzooms. No-one manufacturers a fast, constant aperture superzoom for Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic or any other brand of camera that I'm aware of. If they ever did (and I think that unlikely, if it's even possible), it would be very big, and very expensive.

If fast, constant aperture is important, the closest you'll get would be a two lens set - something like the Tamron / Sigma 17-50 or Pentax 16-50 f/2.8, plus a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 or Pentax 60-250 f/4. The Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 is probably the cheapest for the short end, and you could pick up a used example at a very reasonable price. Neither the Tamron 70-200 or Pentax 60-250 are going to be particularly cheap, even used.

I use the Sigma 17-50 f/2.8 - a very good lens - and the 60-250, which is awesome.

If you can live with slower variable aperture, I recommend the Sigma 18-300. It's a very good lens indeed, as super-zooms go

EDIT: I've just noticed that you've upgraded to the K-1, so the 17-50 / 16-50 and (technically) the 60-250 aren't valid unless you shoot in crop mode (although the 60-250 will work with minor modification). Your lowest-cost choices for fast, constant aperture on full frame would be the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and Tamron 70-200 f/2.8. Both very good, although the 28-75 f/2.8 does show some limitations in the borders...

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Last edited by BigMackCam; 03-18-2017 at 07:11 AM.

[UncleVanya]

I sat in awe, watching my friends with well known alternatives and their new fast super zooms.

Will Pentax produce a good quality, fast super zoom, and wait for it, at a price that I can afford (18-200mm or close; 2.8).

What exact lenses were you in awe of?

A quick survey on b&h and adorama shows the vast majority are f3.5-6.3 or f4-5.6 - not exactly speedy. Some small sensor fixed lens compact cameras are fast but their sensor size limits ISO performance.

Here's an article from a while back but it still holds true: Fast superzoom possible?: Canon SLR Lens Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Final word: No one makes such a lens that I know of in an autofocus interchangeable lens format. There are some monsters out there like the Sigma 200-500 f2.8! But that beast lacks the wide and normal lens range you wanted.

[bertwert]

You want the Pentax equivalent of this?

[BigMackCam]

You want the Pentax equivalent of this?

LOL!

That's it, I'm switching to Canon

I wonder if anyone actually fell for that? Great April Fool's...

[boriscleto]

You want the Pentax equivalent of this?

The picture doesn't do a good job of conveying the fact that the box is four feet long or that the lens weighs 40 lbs...

[Kerrowdown]

Welcome, enjoy the K1.

[Kerrowdown]

LOL!

That's it, I'm switching to Canon

I wonder if anyone actually fell for that? Great April Fool's...

Unfortunately there was no matched two times converter with no light loss, marketed for this lens, so I didn't bother buying it.

[Vantage-Point]

Well, the closest any manufacture has come is Olympus, who makes the 12-100mm F4 lens in M43rds mount, (24-200mm F8 Full Frame equivalent), but in FF terms this is not fast.

[VoiceOfReason]

You want the Pentax equivalent of this?

I know I do! lol. And it better be FF compatible too!

[Mark (MC)]

What exact lenses were you in awe of?

A quick survey on b&h and adorama shows the vast majority are f3.5-6.3 or f4-5.6 - not exactly speedy. Some small sensor fixed lens compact cameras are fast but their sensor size limits ISO performance.

Here's an article from a while back but it still holds true: Fast superzoom possible?: Canon SLR Lens Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Final word: No one makes such a lens that I know of in an autofocus interchangeable lens format. There are some monsters out there like the Sigma 200-500 f2.8! But that beast lacks the wide and normal lens range you wanted.

it was a Nikon ?-200; 2.8

[Mark (MC)]

Welcome, enjoy the K1.

thank you

[BigMackCam]

it was a Nikon ?-200; 2.8

Ah. That explains it.

It was most probably a 70-200 f/2.8 - a common telephoto focal-length range for full-frame, and useful on APS-C too. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it's one half of a two lens set, really... i.e. you buy a 24-70 f/2.8 or 28-75 f/2.8 for wide angle and normal shots, and a 70-200 f/2.8 for telephoto. It's the classic full-frame two-zoom setup

Pentax's own 70-200 isn't cheap, though it's better value than the Canikon equivalents, as I recall - and it's an "AW" (all weather) lens that, reputedly, performs superbly. Read about it here.

At the opposite end of the price scale is Tamron. Read about their 70-200 here.