what choice of telephoto lens for k100d?

greatgreyowl

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I am looking into purchasing a k100d and planing ahead to what lens to add.

I know that I will need a telphoto lens for nature shots. I am wondering from those that are using the K100d are using for telphoto?
Happy New Year
Greatgreyowl/Brad
 
do a search on the tamronLD DI 70-300 in this forum!

if you don't mind skipping AF, the prime (manual only) pentax smc-a or -m 200/f4 are quite magnificent, although with less range.
 
A zoom would proably be best. I personallly never have used a fixed length telphoto lens
Thanks
Greatgreyowl/Brad
 
You can probably get better answers if you suggest your budget and any other constraints--like are you planning on handholding or using a tripod? The 50-200 is pretty good for the price and is very small and light, but for wildlife you might want something longer. It is easy and inexpensive to get a used FA Pentax 80-320. Some have been recommending the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO DG MACRO as well (supposedly better than the non-APO version).

Prices jump dramatically for anything faster or longer than these; the Sometime this year the DA* 60-250 F/4 is scheduled for release. Sigma's offers several lenses that are longer, faster, or both. Another poster mentioned the use of the 50-500 "Bigma" almost as a substitute for a 50mm lens. While F4 isn't completely unusable, it doesn't seem likely you're going to be using a lens that weighs over four pounds in the same place you might use that FA 50 F1.4.

For some people, wildlife means the D-FA 100mm F/2.8 macro. :-)

-Andrew
 
It's big, heavy and expensive, - but the Sigma 50-500 produces
great images.
never heard of THAT one before! your pics look good though! how does the 50-500 (just typing this focal lens makes me sceptical...) perform at the wide end? i mean, take a picture of a billboard just appr. 2 m in front of you. are the edges straight? is there pincushioning? thats why i let down my sigma 18-125 (which is rather highly regarded lens in this forum). the tamron 70-300 has no pincusioning, the pentax 18-55 a little, the pentax 16-45 almost none at the wide end.
Keep in mind you are really buying six lenses in one package (50,
75, 110, 180, 250, 500) and you won't lose shots or have dust
problems while NOT changing lenses.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&message=21379180
--
Mike Sydney Australia
 
There are not too many great choice is this area which is I believe a weak link of Pentax line-up. If you do not mind using manual lens, a K300mmF/4 is around $180 used. In term of quality, it exceed the consumer zoom lens .

Daniel, Toronto
http://www.pbase.com/danieltong


I am looking into purchasing a k100d and planing ahead to what lens
to add.
I know that I will need a telphoto lens for nature shots. I am
wondering from those that are using the K100d are using for
telphoto?
Happy New Year
Greatgreyowl/Brad
 
I'd start with the DA50-200 zoom. That, along with the kit 18-55, will give you sufficient focal lenths availability to decide if you want longer zooms or expensive telephoto primes.

Ed
 
I picked up a Tokina 80 - 400mm for a good price and appears quite good and similar to my 50 -200mm IQ - but bigger and heavier but a lot more solid.
 
It's big, heavy and expensive, - but the Sigma 50-500 produces
great images.
never heard of THAT one before! your pics look good though! how
does the 50-500 (just typing this focal lens makes me sceptical...)
perform at the wide end? i mean, take a picture of a billboard just
appr. 2 m in front of you. are the edges straight? is there
pincushioning? thats why i let down my sigma 18-125 (which is
rather highly regarded lens in this forum). the tamron 70-300 has
no pincusioning, the pentax 18-55 a little, the pentax 16-45 almost
none at the wide end.
Here's one taken at 50mm



All the photos on this page are from the 50-500 - remember this is an EX lens ! It just doesn't have the shortcomings of the standard Sigma lenses. Also this a DG lens designed for full-frame use, so any vignetting or edge distortion will not be visible on a APS/C digital.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86165364@N00/

--
Mike Sydney Australia
 
It's big, heavy and expensive, - but the Sigma 50-500 produces
great images.

Keep in mind you are really buying six lenses in one package (50,
75, 110, 180, 250, 500) and you won't lose shots or have dust
problems while NOT changing lenses.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&message=21379180
--
Mike Sydney Australia
mike, I have the pentax 80-320 1:4.5-5.6 , birds lizards, you name it will take it , I took a photo of a sea eagle, in the n/territory, it looks as big as a door, when my wife and I travel, 4wd and van I had my pentax MZ5N sitting on the center console, I got some fantastic shots, however
 
yes, it's a winner and available in Pentax mount too, not sure why but I remember few threads here with some users not being too happy with their Pentax versions (was is simply because it is fairly slow at 500mm? ) not sure, but yes from other forums and users this lens is outstanding for a 10x zoom. And a convenient zoom it is, coupled with SR mmmm.... 700£ is not a little but seem well worth it.

It would be nice to see some SR tests with it, but I could bet that at 500mm 1/90 should be doable, looking at my use of other long FL lenses.

--
a billion of someting is an awful lot of anything
 
lovely comparison, Bigma is not much worse than the 1.5k£ 120-300 f2.8 Sigma
--
a billion of someting is an awful lot of anything
 

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