I can confirm the smcA 70-210mm f4 is a superb lens in all respects
as well as the smcA 300mm F4 if you want something longer.
On 6/5/2013 1:15 AM, P.J. Alling wrote:
I generally stay away from super zooms, there's been a lot of
improvement in 7x+ zoom lenses but they still tend to be soft at the
extreme long end of their range, unless you're buying one of the
premium models. Still you might find this review helpful
http://www.photozone.de/pentax/396-pentax_55300_458 .
On 6/5/2013 12:07 AM, Zos Xavius wrote:
I'm looking at getting a 55-300 for birding. On the flipside I'm
looking at a K 300mm f4 for a bit less money. My primary use would be
birding and portraits and the occasional landscape where the 55-100
end of the range would get used mostly. I hear the the 55-300 is f4 up
to 135mm or so, which makes it actually kind of ok for portrait use. I
have a fairly beat up copy of a Takumar 70-200 f4 from the 80s that
I'm finding quite useful since I long ago retired my dust-pump Tamron
60-300 SP. The Takumar lacks SMC but is multicoated, and is
surprisingly sharp stopped down to F8 and seems to be optimized for
the long end. I'm actually liking this lens and for portraits its kind
of a sleeper. Not bad for a $30 kit consisting of that lens, a K1000,
an M50 f2, and a Tamron 2x teleconverter (in KR mount) as well as an
old mini flash and crap wide angle lens adapter. The tamron was junk
(rebranded chinese crap), so I knocked the elements out and have a
nice 25mm extension tube with contacts. I'm getting off topic from my
post though here....
I guess I'm looking to see what you all think of the 55-300. I would
like to get a couple of long primes eventually like a 135mm and a
300mm, but to me such lenses are only to serve specific purposes. A
zoom would be somewhat more convenient and would give me a kit that
stretches from 12-300mm. I know that the 300mm end isn't the sharpest,
but would it be ok for birding? I'm half tempted to just get another
70-200 that's better and maybe pick up a decent 300mm prime later on.
I'd love an FA* 300, but that's certainly a bit out of my price range
right now. One day though.....
any thoughts?
--
J.C. O'Connell
[email protected]
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