What lens do I need?

I need some help!!
I went to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta yesterday and was trying to shoot balloons and the red arrows in the sky, my lens is definitely not up to it!! I have a Tokina 70-210 and clearly need something bigger/better than that. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would be a good buy. I have the K10D body.
Incidentally the balloon fiesta was brilliant and well worth a visit next year!

depends on your budget, 60-250mm pentax would do the job,or a sigma 50-500mm,

Have a look at this thread, the lens could be what you need

The Pentax 55-300 is very good and not all that expensive. It's a bit hard to offer suggestions without a rough budget.

I think you probably needed a lens with a wider field of view than the one you used. Did you try your kit lens?

When you say "clearly need something bigger/better", what did you have in mind?

By bigger, do you mean a larger focal length range or wider aperture?

Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, much appreciated.
I guess what I mean is that I need to get the subject closer, so that I still have a chance of zooming in in Elements and for the image to stay sharp and not pixelate. I try to shoot wild birds (photographically speaking that is, not literally!!) as well and even in the garden I can't get close enough with the lens I have
As far as budget goes, I guess around £300 is within the bounds of possibility!

Sounds like you might be a candidate for the "Bigma".

That's the Sigma 50-500mm F4-6.3 EX DG, but I'm afraid your budget will not be enough for that one.

With your budget limitation I think you need to be looking at a second hand lens, anything that goes up to around 500mm for birds.

Sigma also make a 150-500mm and a 170-500mm lens. Maybe you can find one of those within your budget.

I am not sure what to advise but I would steer clear of Tamron lenses. I have the 28-300 as does my daughter and they don`t suit our cameras K200 D, K10 D and K20 D. Fits in with your budget though. I use the DA 50-200 and that is a super lens IMHO. Or save for the DA 300*.

Cedric

I have a Tamron 17-50 and it's excellent on my K10D so maybe not all Tamrons are problematic.

Mike

I had the 28-300mm and hated it but I have a 24-135mm and like it so much I have just paid more than I bought it for originally to have it rebuilt after it fell on a concrete floor.

I would be looking at the Pentax 55-300mm or if you want to spend less the Tamron 18-250mm that Hardgravity linked to is basically the same lens as the Pentax 18-250mm and gets pretty good reviews.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I have bitten the bullet so to speak and have bought the Tamron AF70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 (well that's what it says on the box anyway!!) Bought it in the local shop which was a tad more expensive than on the internet, but I was able to test it out in the street with my camera and they threw in a UV filter for me. I really like the guys in J and A Cameras in Barnstaple, they have also said that if I really don't like it they will more than likely take it back!! Now I just have to wait for a break in the drizzle so that I can test it out properly, but initial reaction is that it seems to do what I want it to do. If it doesn't I can always take it back!!
Has anyone else used this lens??
Thanks for th input
Vicki

Think there are quite a few users as Jessops were selling it for £49 earlier this year.

I got one from Jessops, at £49 it was a steal, at £100 I think it`s still good value, watch out for purple fringeing in high contrast areas, other than that it`s a good way to decide if you want to lash out on a more sophisticated optic.

Davex.

I used to have one. Pretty good lens overall. You do get purple fringing but it can easily be removed in software. Only sold mine a few days ago (on the forum).

Not sure I have done this right, but this is the first attempt with the new lens, it was hand held and a bit breezy though.
What do you think??