Which mid price Telephoto lens ???

Hello

I have an old sigma 28 - 200 mm f 3.5-5.7 aspherical IF lens, and I would really like something faster, sharper, longer ...
Will bee using it for birds and wildlife

Have been looking at following:

smc PENTAX-FA 80mm-320mm F4.5-F5.6

Tokina AF 100-300mm f/4 AT-X II (haven't seen one anywhere )

Tokina AF 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 AT-X

Is there something else/better/newer I have missed ?
what can you recommend

I don't think the Tokina 80 -400 comes in a Pentax fitting see: http://www.thkphoto.com/products/tokina/afl-12b.html. Not sure the 100-300 does either, not that I've seen it listed anywhere.

For a bit more money there is the Sigma 135-400, for a bit more than that is Sigma 170-500 and for a bit more again the Bigma the 50-500.

I've just bought the Sigma 135-400 APO - its a very good lens for it's price.
C£400 or less

I got mine from https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm second hand but looks (and works) like new.

The 80-400 comes in a pentax mount:

80-400

after looking into it, I think you're right about the tokina 100-300 ..

else I just found this, nice list



Lens List for Pentax

Don't know if it is complete, but it give something to start from

The Sigma EX 100-300 f4 is worth a look.. the DG version has only just come out.....

I bought the non-DG a few months ago, but not used it yet

Not according to Tokina it doesn't:
Mount availability: Canon EOS, Nikon-D,
Focal length: 80 to 400mm

http://www.tokinalens.com/products/tokina/

If you think about the tie-up in lens design between Pentax and Tokina, then it's little surprise that Tokins lenses are available for Nikon and Canon only and if you want a Pentax fit lens you have to buy a Pentax lens...

Otherwise they would be competing with themselves.

It's quite interesting that such long lenses are being discussed in this thread. It's not so long ago that a 35mm-equivalent 300mm lens would have been considered unusually long and quite specialised. The SMC Pentax-DA 50-200mm fits that spec very comfortably at an amazingly low price.

Think he's looking for something longer than 200 mm at the long end...

There is a DA 55-300 lens on the lens roadmap.

As for the Tokina, I am sure if you look far enough you will find examples of the 80-400 lenses in PKAF, just not any new ones...

Further down the line the DA* 60-250 f4 lens will come out, but that will be pricey

Just seen this...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-100-300-AF-ZOOM-LENS-PENTAX-AUTO-AND-MANUAL-TOKINA_W0QQitemZ280100594124QQcategoryZ4688QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

Buy it now price of $99.....

The Pentax 80-320 is quite nice, I got this with it recently;

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3841

For birding I would say its a little short though, unless your filedcraft is on a par with Gollum and you like "sneaking" around then I would suggest you go for at least 400mm, but in all honesty I think you'll wish you'd gone for something longer;

Sigma 50-500
Sigma 170-500