Hi Norm,
First, that's a great cause!
As for the longer glass, - it gets quite expensive very quickly.
There is a used SMCP-FA* 250-600 on B&H for $5k.
The new Pentax DA 150-450mm AW might be ideal, but it is $2.2k+.
You can consider Pentax primes, but they are might be less versatile for
your needs:
You can get a used FA* 400/5.6 or less expensive (albeit MF) K,M, A 400/5.6.
I assume, A* 400/2.8 is also quite expensive (and scarce).
600mm primes are also very expensive and, I assume, hard to find:
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/primes/extreme-tele/
There are a few long zoom lenses from Sigma with some of them
almost fitting within $1k (e.g. 150-500, 120-400):
http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/telephoto-lenses
The Bigma, 50-500 is about $1.5K, but can be probably found below 1k on
eBay.
I don't have much experience with those. Several people on the list,
including Larry, have (or had) one of those, and seem to be happy.
There ia a rather inexpensive MF Rokinon 650-1300mm with a T-Mount that
you can probably easily adapt to your K-7:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=rokinon+650
But it is MF and it is slow (f/8-f/16), and it might be too long for you
on the shorter end.
Yet another, relatively inexpensive route might be using a
tele-converter/adapter:
The recent one, 1.4x is also quite expensive ($500):
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1029081-REG/ricoh_37962_1_4x_hd_da_af.html
You can occasionally pick up the old one 1.7x. (I got it from eBay at the
pick of the price hike some 8 years ago, just over $300, but recently,
I've seen a few sold for $2xx, on Pentaxforum, I believe.)
I like that one.
You can also try to catch an old manual one (1.4x or 2x) by Pentax.
There are also some AF ones from 3rd parties (Sigma, Kenko, Bower, ..?) I
don't have experience with those.
Just in case, Pentax's 2x exists in two flavors: "S" and "L". I don't
remember the full story, but AFAIR, the difference is in the space for the
front element of the lens.
A few practical thoughts (you may have thought about them, but just in
case):
From the practical point of view, I probably wouldn't go with the MF
teleconverter, unless that's the only solution that fits your budget.
From my (rather limited) experience of shooting surfers (in San Diego and
vicinities and once in Sydney), I'd say AF helps.
You'll definitely need a good (sturdy and convenient) tripod or at least
a monopod if you go beyond 300mm on 1.5x-crop DSLR.
I hope this helps as starting points.
I am sure a few other people will chime in.
Igor
PS. If I may, - the website uses font (for the main body text) with a
pretense, but which yields unnecessarily degraded legibility. (I checked
on Firefox, Chrome and Opera on Windows). It is so distracting that I had
hard time reading the text.
On 21 Jul 2015, at 18:28, Norman Baugher wrote:
Hey guys, I.ve been lurking for a while, so this is my first post in some
time. I.ve been working with a group of surfers in California who work with
various charities. We surf and film events for special needs kids. Being
involved, I turned the group into 501 (c)(3). I'm the Chairman of the Board,
but want to get into the photo side as well. We have a team of photographers,
but I of course want to shoot events as well, can't help it. I've got a K-7
and a 55-300/4.5 WR but judging from the last event, I think I might need
something longer. Check out the website and have a look at some of the images
- suggestions on something longer? www.malibuunderdogs.org
Norm
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