I would second the recommendation of the DA 50-200. It's an excellent lens for the money. That being said, I have a Vivitar Series 1, 70-210/3.5 (version 1) that I will sell for $70 plus shipping. It's a big lens, but an excellent performer. Paul On Sep 4, 2006, at 9:34 PM, Matt Kelch wrote:
> Adam Maas wrote: >> Matt Kelch wrote: >> >>> Hello everyone, My name is Matt and have just recently gotten into >>> photography with the purchase of a Pentax *ist DL. I've been taking >>> lots of pictures around town, and having the camera for less than a >>> month I've taken over 1500 shots. Feel free to check my gallery at >>> http://vulc4n.com/v/Photo/ >>> >>> Now that I have had the camera for a month I have found that I >>> really >>> need a lens with more reach than the 18-55mm kit lens. I don't >>> have a >>> lot of money to spend (maybe around 100.00) Basically, I want >>> something >>> thats reasonably fast (at least f4), is decent optically >>> (something on >>> par with my 18-55 Pentax kit lens), and a zoom range somewhere >>> within >>> the area of 50-220 mm. I have been doing a good bit of research and >>> have more or less settled on a few lenses. I have been successful i >>> finding two of them, but the third has proven rather hard to find. >>> >>> Here is my lens list: >>> 1. Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f/2.8-4.0 (v3 made by Komine) [with A >>> appature mode] >>> 2. Pentax SMC A 70-210mm f.4.0 >>> 3. Vivitar Series One 70-210mm f/2.8-4.0 (v4 made by Cosina) >>> >>> The last two lenses are relatively easy to come by, as is the first >>> without the A appature mode [can it be found with the A appature >>> mode?]. The question is, if the first cannot be found, which of >>> them is >>> going to perform better? The primary use for the lens other than >>> shooting random stuff around town will be taking pictures at >>> sporting >>> events. So, lots of use for high speed action in relatively bad >>> lighting. This makes me think that the Cosina made 70-210mm >>> might be >>> the right way to go if the Komine made lens cannot be found. Has >>> anyone >>> compared the Pentax lens to the Cosina lens? I'm curious how >>> much worse >>> the Cosina lens is optically. For that matter, how much worse is >>> the >>> Cosina than the Komine? >>> >>> Also, if anyone has another lens that fits the bill please let me >>> know. >>> I'm a noob and know next to nothing about pentax lenses. >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Matt >>> >>> >> >> My recommendation is to spend the little bit extra for the 50-200 DA, >> which is superb, much smaller and lighter, and AF. Otherwise I'd >> get the >> SMC-A 70-210, which is optically on par with the Series 1 lenses, but >> features Pentax's better SMC coatings. The Cosina 70-210 would be my >> last choice, most of the Cosina-built Series 1 lenses were not up >> to the >> performance of the earlier ones, especially teh Komine and Kiron >> production. >> >> -Adam >> >> > Thanks for the response. > > So, even taking into consideration the inteded usage (sports in > relatively bad lighting), the slower 50-200mm is what you think I > should > get? > > Looking at the pricing of the 50-200 it is probably out of my budget a > the moment. Being back to school means I can't work many hours. > I'd be > happy with manual focus, though the option of autofocus would be nice. > Can you be more specific on how the Cosina lens compares perfomance > wise > to other lenses, considerign it can be had for around 50.00. I'm > thinking that it will serve the purpose for now until I can geta few > hundred dollars to spend on better glass. > > Thanks again, > Matt > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
