no budget tele question

Hi,
I have the K100D. My longest lens is an M 200mm f4 and I really like it. Would the most economical way to get more length be a teleconverter ?
Which one would best suit this lens ? would I have to stop down much ?
cheers
Pete

For what you'd have to spend on a half decent converter you'd be far better off looking for a second-hand longer lens, the Pentax 80-320 for instance, also have you considered manual focus? you should be able to find a 400mm K mount or even KA mount for a reasonable amount.

There are plenty of third party KA and KAF 70-300 available on ebay

Thanks for that !
Point taken about TC cost I'll look out for that 80-320.
Should have mentioned Ebay is out as I haven't got a credit card
The market in NZ is very small though prices of second hand stuff seems quite good.
A 400 m42 came up a while ago but I really want stop down metering.
Quite happy to focus manually.
cheers

Also consider a new Tamron or Sigma 70-300mm - which are sometimes cheaper than used Pentax 80-320s and similar.

I don't know if it's the same in NZ, but a UK PayPal account can be linked directly to a bank account instead of (or as well as) a credit or debit card.

I tend to use my Pentax FAJ 75 - 300mm quite a lot.

I love this lens - and it is cheap. Some don't love it, but my results are pretty good.

If you follow the link below - and watch the nature thread, almost all shots are done with this lens.

I think its around 100 £ from new......a bit cheaper second hand.

If you need a faster lens - don't use it. I only use it for outdoor shots, and the light is quite often enough to have a very fast shutterspeed.

as a point of interest, most m42 are actually easier to use on the DSLRs than M series. This is because you get the little "A/M" switch which allows you to manually stop down the lens to shooting aperture.

Therefore, you can use AV mode at all apertures instead of just wide open as with your M series 200 F4.

Thanks Guys, very helpful !

Mongoose I have the adapter and a few M42 lenses.
Took me a while to figure out they were not stopping down to take the shot

no they don't, but neither do M series lenses in AV mode. The M42 lenses have the advantage that you can force them to stop down to shooting aperture. The camera meters for the light entering the lens (which is now stopped down) and AV mode works.

With an M series or earlier K mount lens, the camera simply doesn't fire the stop down actuator so it's always wide open in AV mode no matter what the aperture ring is set to.


I've had some pretty reasonable results with my M200 F4 and a Tokina 7 element 2x converter. Since the lens is only an M, you don't need auto or AF pass throughs on the converter and should be able to pick one up quite reasonably. My M 200 F4 + 2x converter is better than my FA 80-320 provided there's enough light.

Thats interesting to hear about the 200 and TC
I usually shoot in manual with these lenses . I hit the AEL button to get stop down metering in the M lens then go from there.

I use a Tamron 70-300 which I get pretty decent results with on my K100D. If you hunt around they are <£90. The advantage of this over many of the older lenses is that it is light and has a 1:2 macro.
Donut

The Tamron 70-300 macro is $245 here which is about the same as UK.Pretty blinking cheap. Hasn't it got CA issues though ? I thought the sigma was better ?

I just located a Takumar x2 teleconverter (Pka) for equivalent of 30 quid.
Might be the go for my 200M in the meantime ?
cheers
Pete

I don't think you'll find there's much (if anything) between them. I've got the Tamron and as long as you work within its limitations (a bit soft wide open, not very good at 300mm unless stopped down quite a bit) it's actually not a bad lens. I don't have much use for a tele - maybe only 7 or 8 outings a year - so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on one and the Tamron has actually been much better than I imagined it would be. People who own the Sigma will tell similar stories so your best bet would be to go for the one that's in stock and/or at the better price.

There's a good review of the Tamron here: http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/tamron_70300_456_pentax/index.htm

and the Sigma here, albeit in Canon fit: http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_70300_456/index.htm

I don't think you'll really go far wrong with either

I found a Sigma 400/5.6 MF with a KA mount for £ ~35 on local ebay in Sweden. Works well, some CA but its dwarf compare to my old Pentax K400/5.6.

Mike