Tamron SP300 f2.8 or DA*300 f4

I have been offered a used da*300 f4 at a reasonable price, as I already have the Tamron 300 2.8 which I use with my 1.7 adapter I would like your thoughts as I know that a few of you out there have both or have experience of them. I don’t think I could justify keeping both to the wife !!! With the weather as it is at the moment its not the best time to compare them. Your comments would be appreciated.

Thanks Mick

Easy choice ... get rid of the wife.

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. My Flickr

The DA* works very well with the 1.7x, is much more compact and has AF for when you just need 300mm ... the Tamron has f2.8. I sold my 300mm 2.8 mainly because of size.

Personally I would sell the Tamron ... as for the weather, the Pentax is WR

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Cheers Mike I quite like the wife !! I am considering the weight and size of the Tamron, nice to know the 1.7x works ok with the DA*

Mick

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No contest.

I was kindly lent the Tamron 300mm f2.8 by a fellow member here. I found the purple fringing too much. In fact fringing doesn't describe it at all ... lol. Much prefer the DA*300.

Having said that the Tamron is still one of my saved searches on ebay, and I keep thinking about it. Incidentally you can stack both the Kenko 1.5x and the Pentax 1.7x, as long as the 1.7x is the one attached to the body. the 1.7x AF will still work.

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Alan


PPG
Flickr

Purchased the DA* today looks hardly used, please can we get some good weather to compare them this weekend.

Mick

Bit late to the party but another vote for the DA*.
Mine however is not mint which really irks me, especially as I used to have Archies (Helios) old one which was beautiful!
Just noticed however that Sigma have recently patented a 300 F2.8 design, so hope for the future for those who really need it?

http://egami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/2013-10-29

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Cheers Jules...

www.exaggeratedperspectives.com

Thanks for the comment everyone, weather not good at weekend for comparison, big difference in weight and the DA seems fairly sharp at f4. I think the Tamron may have to go it will be a wrench as it does perfom well on my DS but I have never been happy with it on my K20d

Mick

Sold my Tammy 300mm/2.8 when I got my DA*300. The DA* is sharp from f/4, the Tamron really needed to be stopped down to f/5.6 to get the best from it, and it was too big and heavy, and manual focus. And that purple fringing...

You've made the right choice, even if you don't realise it yet.

Dan

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K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...