wanted: fast short tele

hello,
i am after a fast lens (2.8 minimum) covering around 75mm (APS) - two purposes:
- portrait outdoor with nice bookeh
- portrait studio-type so dont need a fast one for that but needs to be sharp!

I would consider:
tammy 28-75mm
sigma 50-150mm
tamron 90mm macro eventually
maybe some prime lenses (70mm sigma?), preferably A settings, AF would be a +!
any other lens i havent heard of.

thanks

Outdoor portrait bokeh can sometimes benefit from faster than 2.8, hence the 85mm 1.4's from Sigma and Samyang, and the Pentax 77 and 70mm. You don't mention a budget though...

Don't forget 50mm either - affordable and often good bokeh and croppable to get the slight extra reach.

i know but realistically 1.4mm without AF wont work for me! I would however consider it - the samyang being well priced.

my budget = a good deal, from £200 to £400 depending on the lens!

50mm is too short - got the 17-50mm f2.8 tammy which is very nice but doesnt do the job for portraits...

I like you yearn for an 85 1.4 Pentax. out of my budget though.
I use my m 50 1.4 with the af 1.7 teleconverter for now and am very happy.

Have you considered using the 100mm macro? it is an awesome portrait lens.

Agree with Don - got the 100mm three weeks ago from a fellow member here and now it's my favourite lens! I've tried the Tamron but somehow it did not get along with my K-x (tried three copies in a local store).

pentax 100mm?
and you tried the 90mm tamron? got a kx too...

also, the converter makes you lose 1.5 stops, so you end up with a f2.5 85mm that would work!! never thought about the converters. Does that mean the lens becomes wide open at f2.5 or is it one stop down from the original f1.7? (i.e better IQ)

That would be an effective 2.5 (in terms of exposure) when the lens is still physically wide open at 1.7. So not brilliant for IQ, consider it as simply spreading the centre of the image out further, so if the original resolution isn't good this will make it more visible. It does give versatility though.

Yes, I've got the Pentax D-FA 100mm.

I tried three Tamrons 90mm/2.8 and they seemed to be out of focus in one way or another. I also tried a Sigma 105mm/2.8 macro (the non DG version) which was OK, slightly warmer colours than the DG version but it focused slower than the D-FA 100 and was at least 2 times heavier so I decided in favour of the Pentax D-FA 100.

I bought the 100mm macro for portraits, it is perfect.
as for the 501.4+1.7af converter, it autofocuses and is very sharp. you lose a little light, but hardly problematic.... it works fine.
I do have an 85mm soft 2.2 but if using with studio flash, needs 4-8 stops nd filter added so focussing is hard.

I do hope Pentax takes it older 85 1.4 af lens design, and releases an inexpensive, all plastic version like the 35 2.4...
being priced at about $300.00 to $350.00 CDN would be a huge seller for Pentax.....

thanks guys.
the DFA 100mm is not cheap for a prime lens (i mean i like the idea of having a zoom!)

i might try to buy a 1.4x converter for my tamron see at f4 70mm it might be decent, although then i feel i might as well have a 17-70mm... never an easy way is there!?

You can always buy a Sigma 50-150mm then - with the 17-50 you'll have a cheap and equally (if not better) alternative to Pentax 16-50 and 50-135

Although the Sigma has colder colours than the 50-135mm..