Pentax DA* 50-135mm or Sigma/Tamron 70-200mm f2.8?

Just wondering what other people would choose from these two. I was all set to buy the Sigma (or Tamron) then noticed that for £40 more I could have the Pentax.

Obviously a DA* with weather sealing appeals and I know this lens has a superb reputation, but I'm not sure whether 135mm would be a bit short given I want it for motorsport photography amongst other things? I have used my 120mm f2.8 quite extensively which suggests that I'd get plenty of use from a newer AF lens with the same aperture.

The Pentax 55 - 300 DA ED lens is brilliant and so compact compared to the stuff friends with Canikon carry around. Quick too on my new KR and good for the butterfly, moth and damselfly pics in my portfolio.

I haven't been to Silverstone with it yet though!

It's be nice to have a quiet SDM drive (a lot of faulty ones though I read) but I'm very happy with what I have.

I've already got the old Pentax-F 100-300mm, I fancy upgrading to a constant aperture lens now.

SDM doesn't really worry me too much as the reports I read all seemed to be from quite a while ago, leading me to suspect that Pentax have sorted it out since then. I'll be buying from SRS anyway (when they respond to my email enquiring whether the lenses are in stock), so there will be an extended warranty due to their being a Pro Centre. If it survives the first two years it's likely to carry on forever!

Good luck with whatever you choose to buy.

I certainly think you'll need 300mm for motorsport, unless you have good pit passes of course

The 50-135 is too short. I took mine back to the UK last Xmas and brought a 70-200mm back to Oz. I even consider my 50-135 too short for street work.

A 70-200mm f/2.8 with a matched 1.4TC is a killer combo.

Best regards

Interesting - the Sigma is of course cheaper too...

I just find myself thinking that this could be a one-off chance to bag a DA* lens for not a lot more than the Sigma or Tamron. Given the only recent lenses in my collection are the DA-L 18-55mm, DA 35mm f2.4 and Samyang 85mm f1.4 you can see why I'd be interested in something from the * range!

I'm mostly interested in rallying and 4x4 events, where you can get surprisingly close to the action providing you're sensible. f2.8 is essential though to give AF a chance to lock on when in dark forested areas.

Since quietness is not going to be an issue for you I'd go for the added sharpness of the Tamron 70-200/2.8 over the Sigma, even though the Sigma's AF is a little faster I found that the Tamron AF, despite what has been written (I guess those people haven't been hands on) was no slouch even on a door sign at the end of a dim interior of a 40m long Chinese corridor - outside in daylight it was great.

The 50-135/2.8, whilst a wonderful lense for the right subjects, is possibly (along with the *55 from reports) the slowest focusing SDM lense in Pentax's line-up.

70-200mm f2.8

Pentax 50-135mm is positively glacial in its focus speed. If you prefer this length then look at the Sigma 50-150mm f2.8 (if you can find one).

I'm used to shooting with manual focus lenses, so AF speed shouldn't be too much of a problem. I did see the Tamron was sharper than the Sigma but it seems to be in short supply at the moment? Whatever I buy will get its first proper outing in a couple of weeks at Goodwood FoS.

I notice SRS have the 50-135mm listed on ebay as "4 remaining" so they obviously have stock and the price is right. I am very likely to buy one now as I just think it'll be more use to me. I know I like fast short telephoto lenses (have enjoyed many walkabouts with a 120mm or 135mm on film) and the 50-135mm seems something of a legend in that area.

I also find myself thinking that a DA* lens is a better investment than a 3rd party one - SRS currently have a used 50-135mm for £30 more than the price of the new ones!

Just a couple of points worth throwing into the mix about the DA*50-135

1. Weather sealed. It's great using this in torrential rain, snow, etc

2. Very good manual focus. I know this isn't a substitute for fast AF, etc, but the ability to instantly switch to MF and override is great, and MF is a breeze with the wide focus ring.

But... sometimes I do find that 135mm is a bit on the short side Perhaps I should have the Tamron 70-200/2.8 as well

YMMV depending on your shooting style

Matt

Yep, this is rather turning into "convince me not to buy a 50-135mm"

I've just been watching some Youtube videos of the AF speed and it doesn't seem too bad. While my K-m isn't WR sealed I do have a long-term plan to buy a good used K7 when prices drop a bit, at which point it'd become superb for forest rally stages (it generally rains at least once, and a camera/lens which don't need to hide in a bag at the first sign of damp would be great).

I thought the 50-135 focusing speed was much improved on the K5, Mike?


Actually, the Sigma 50-150 has this ability too, Matt (Sigma call it 'One shot'); don't know about their other lenses.

What puts me off any 70-200 is size. For my style of photography, a 50-135 (or 50-150) is as cumbersome as I want to get.

Presumably it is, I sold mine before I got the K-5 but my other DA* lenses are certainly faster.

I didn't mention that as Dangermouse is using a K-m/K-x which would (I presume) be about the same af speed as the K10D/K20D.

I'm not sure. In my experience I get faster AF the larger the aperture. On the 35/2.4 it's very quick, with the 100-300mm it's prone to hunting at the long end and with a 150-500mm Bigma I borrow occasionally it fails to lock focus most of the time. It seems that f2.8 or faster produces much better AF than f5.6 or slower (the Bigma is f6.3 or something like that at 500mm?)

Bear in mind that the K-m was my first AF SLR of any sort (I had a K1000, P30 and P30T before) so I've nothing to compare to. It reacted fast enough to catch jets at RIAT last year with the old 100-300mm, so providing the 50-135mm is slightly faster it should be fine. I'm more bothered about it locking focus quickly than the time taken to turn the ring, given most of my subjects will be at about the same distance and the lens will only need a fine adjustment between shots.

It's a bit faster on the K5 then on the K10D, it's much more snappy happy but still not a speed demon.
Haven't compared it with the Sigma 50-150 though...

I like the quality of the DA*50-135, it's a very well balanced lens and a joy to use.
I use it for portraits for motor sports it's probably just not long enough, the 70-200 would be a better choice.
With motor sport you can often pre-focus so focusing speed isn't that crucial i think, since you also need to pan the shot as well...