Help! Zoom Lens for Pentax MZ50

Hello all,
I'm off on a safari holiday in 2 weeks time, and would really like to buy a zoom lens for my camera before I go. I have a Pentax MZ50 camera and am finding it difficult to find information about which lenses will fit and also what size of lens I should be be looking at.

Any help anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Judith

You can use any of the current Pentax KAF fit lenses, and indeed most of the older ones as well.

However, buying new will not be expensive and probably safer for you. I always recommend Pentax lenses, and any of the telephoto zooms will serve you well on safari, but perhaps the 80-320mm is a particularly good one.

There are also plenty of lenses from Sigma, Tamron and others that will fit your camera.

Why not call into your nearest Jessops or similar photo store and have a look at some of the options - try them on your camera and see which ones suit you best.

You only have two weeks and it is really best to test whatever you buy before you go.

Have a great holiday!

I agree with John, the 80-320mm would be an excellent choice.

If you have the standard 28-80/90mm zoom lens already, pair it up with the 80-320mm, add a sprinkle of 2 X convertor and you've got 99.99% of your real world requirements covered from 28-640mm.

Then again, don't forget to take some macro capability; some of the bugs and flowers to be found in safari territory are stunning close-up. A nice SMC Pentax-A 50mm (1.4 or 1.7) and some extension tubes, auto tubes will do fine, the A version (with electrical contacts) would be a bonus, but not essential.

And watch out for the sunrise & sunset, prepare to be blown away.

Happy holiday.

....and a nice wide-angle lens for those big African landscapes!

I'd agree about making sure you have a macro capability and in that case it might be worth considering the Sigma 70-300 APO Macro instead of the 80-320 Pentax as the Sigma has a very useful 1:2 macro capability.