The choices for telephoto zooms

I'm getting a bit lost in the options for telephoto zooms, there's a fair few in of the range of 70-300 or so which would be a useful option instead of my Sigma 300mm f/4 APO - which is quite a heavy beast.

Sigma and Tamron seem to offer f/4-5.6 lenses at both the £150ish and £300ish price points - are the more expensive offerings worth the additional?

To give an idea of what I'm considering, the cheaper Sigma is here:
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-apo-macro-super-dg-lens...

and the more expensive one is here:
http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sigma-70-300mm-f4-5-6-dg-os-lens-pentax-fit/p...


I'm debating whether I invest some money in one of these, or a fisheye, so just couching for advice at present.

Look out for a Pentax DA or DAL 55-300mm ... should cost you in the region of £150 - £220 used (depending on which model you choose.

A lot better than the Sigma or Tamron for very little extra outlay.

Amazon .. £257 new and get a £20 voucher to spend LINK

If you are interested I have an immaculate boxed DAL 55-300 which is surplus to my requirements, that I would be happy to let go for £175.00.ono. PM me if you are interested.

Why pay that when the same lens is £149.00 delivered? See SRS. Same price on the SRS website, but the evilBay outlet includes p&p. Knock yourself bandy at that price.

I would second what Pirate has said above, and also say that the 55-300 is a great lens, whether in DA L or DA form (both have identical optics) and it is miles ahead of the Sigma 70-300. It gets even better on the latest K-5II variants - at last it is a reliable and accurate focusser, albeit a bit noisy on the screw drive.

Regards
DAvid

Hi all

Well, I bought the missus the Samyang fisheye, but now I'm looking at a telephoto for chrimbo!

Ta to all for comments, most useful. Out of interest, are there any SDM telephotos worth considering? I bought a Sigma 8-16 with SDM, the focus is impressive but it's a bit waste don an ultrawide-angle!

Other than that, is the DA/DAL 55-300 still the one to go for? I note there's a WR variant which I suspect might be out of price range, although LCE have a used instance in stock which I might be able to stretch to.

It's already been said above, the DA or DA L 55-300 is a magnificent lens for the money, it can't be beaten in its price range. I don't know anything about the WR version, but the originals are superb.

Regards
David

Don't look too far DA*60-250

a little outside my budget, sadly!

Is that the only SDM telephoto zoom Pentax offer?

Ta David - I'll look into the DA/DA-L. I quite like the idea of quickshift focus so I'll keep an eye out for the DA version.

Sorry, missed this completely when you originally posted. Ta for offer in any case!