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 PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
