Sharpest, cheapest and fastest long zoom?

Wow. Great posts everone. Love the pics - especially the one with the 100% crop to show sharpness and detail - is sharp enough and fast enough for me judging by this pic; price is a winner too.

Glover and Snootchies, great shots. Is it possible to post a crop (50% is fine for me personally to see/compare sharpness of non landscape shots. By all means put 100% is you prefer)

I haven't managed to sift through my small collection to show my current sharpness setup - been a very busy day. Will try again tomorrow.

So far the Pentax 75-150 looks great and the Tamron 70-300 is going strong for a few people.

David

As requested, here is a 100% crop of a shot I took with the Tamron 70-300:




(Update) - in order that it is previewed as best it can in the thread I've decided to use the default Flickr 'Medium' size.

This means the image is actually a 76% crop. By all means send me a Flickr friend request visit my photostream and view it at 100% if you wish.

There is a lens that fits 2 out of your 3 criteria, but I suspect the fact that it's not cheap disqualifies it.

The DA* 60-250mm 1:4 is a superb lens. IQ is superb, at f4 with SR on its certainly fast enough but you have to consider spending around £1000.00 for a new one. There is a (slightly) used one for sale in the classifieds.

It's actually easier to generate a 100% crop. All you need to do is select 800x600 pixels from the full size photo, copy into a new image and save the file. Although I've never deliberately used a 50% crop, I think it would need an extra step - i.e. select 1600x1200 pixels from the full size photo and then resize to 800x600.


Andrew

Just found a Sigma 100-300mm f4.5/f6.7 going for 25GBP with just a few hours left. It's long, cheap, and should be fast enough for you.

Thanks welmed. Checking out now. Does it have the same image quality as the 70-300? Snootchie's shots are SH-AR-P!!! with the 70-300. Thanks

Thanks Bob. That looks SUPER.

Thanks, I didn't realise that.

Thanks Peter. Will take note for the future, much further in the future.

there's a reason why the 100-300 f/4.5-6.7 goes that cheap, it wont come near the Tamron and f/6.7 at the long end is a pain in the behind for focusing.

Pentax tend to under specify their capabilities so the AF will probably still work most of the time, but it'll hunt.

Had a long look at some reviews. I see your point. Thanks for the info.

no problem, I spent muchos time looking for the elusive "cheap, fast, sharp, long" lens when I started out. Of course in totality it doesn't exist but after a while you get a feel for which areas you don't mind compromising a bit on.

I had a Vivitar 100-300 f/5.6-6.7 for a while, that was diabolical and made even worse by the fact that it was very hard to focus.

The Pentax FA 80-320 might be worth a look for you, you wont get one for £40 unless you're very lucky, but the presence of the DA 55-300 in the marketplace should have pushed the 80-320 second hand price down a bit.

Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like the thread has finished now and I've had some great feedback on lenses. No need to post my current lens example as they don't match what's been on show here in the slightest.

Will hunt for a tamron 70-300 and a pentax 70-150.

Happy snapping!!
David

SRS has a used section, you pay a bit more but you've ate least a warranty and it's from a good shop, that's worth something.

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/c/319/Used-Pentax-Fit-AF-Lenses.html?Page=1

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/c/318/Used-Pentax-Fit-MF-Lenses.html?Page=1

I don't know the older lenses but I'm sure some here can say which ones are good or not.

The Pentax A 70-210 f/4 looks intersting to my untrained eyes, a bit over budget though but the A setting of the aperture make it more pleasant to use on Digital link
Here is a review http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-A-70-210mm-F4-Zoom-Lens.html

Let me know if a Pentax 100-300mm AF zoom would appeal

If that's the Pentax-F 100-300mm it's not a bad lens at all, here's an uncropped sample from mine. I have reduced the size of the image:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/Landscapes/IMGP1090.jpg[/IMG]

and a cut/paste of the EXIF data:

File Size: 23 kb - 640 x 428

Camera Make: PENTAX

Camera Model: PENTAX K-m

Date/Time: 2010:01:09 13:48:23

Resolution: 640 x 428

Flash Used: No

Focal Length: 300.0mm (35mm equivalent: 450...

Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500)

Aperture: f/8.0

ISO Equiv.: 400

Whitebalance: Auto

Metering Mode: matrix

Exposure: Action program

Yes it is. I'll put it up on the classifieds later.

Hi are you selling this lens? If so, please PM me.

Thanks everyone for input. Good to see the thoughts are still coming in.

David