Re: seeking recommendations for a good 300mm prime

[Paul Stenquist]

I know it's not exactly what you're looking for, but the A 400/5.6 is a 
very fine lens, and it's usually priced quite reasonably at around 
$450. You can find one on ebay, and they show up occasionally on KEH. I 
find that I need at least a 400 for bird shots in most locations, even 
with the *istD.
Paul
On Nov 16, 2004, at 8:50 PM, Amita Guha wrote:

I had a chance to shoot some birds on Cape Cod last week, and - 
surprise! -
my old Sigma 70-300mm was just as crappy at bird shots as it was the 
last
time I tried it. ;) So I decided to come home and just run down to B&H 
and
buy the FA 300mm f/4.5. But now I can't find it on the website at all. 
It's
not even listed as backordered; it's just not there. Does anyone know 
if
this lens is being discontinued? And if it is, does anyone have one 
they'd
like to sell me? :)

Failing that, can anyone recommend a good third-party lens? I just 
want a
reasonably fast lens that I can hike with and that has some nice 
contrast.
An f/4.5 would be fine.

Does anyone know what the deal is with Pentax? There are a couple of 
other
lenses I'm interested in that aren't available. Are they slowing down
production or shifting everything over to consumer digicams?

Amita