According to DXO the Sigma 17-50 is the sharpest zoom lens ( of those they tested ) on either a K5IIs or a K3. I have just bought one and have not enough experience of it to make a judgement. There is also a comparative review of it against the Pentax 16-50 and the Tamron 17-50 on Pentax Forums.

This was the first time I had used my DA*300 for planes. It was fine for single aircraft provided they were not immediately in front of me but where there was a group of aircraft I struggled to get them all into the frame. A zoom can be more flexible, although the IQ of the DA*300 is superior, I feel.

It really can only be one of the Sigmas - probably a 150-500mm or maybe 50-500mm I guess

Somehow I got this picture of a keen photographer and on close inspection it looks like a Pentax K II or 3. There were a few of us there but as usual outnumbered substantially by the ubiquitous Canikons, mostly with long and expensive grey lenses!




I should have taken my monopod but I got a few with which I am reasonably happy with.

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For some reason virtually all my wingwalker pictures were sharp but the darker planes were more hit and miss - must have something to do with the contrast.

Miles

Yes I enjoyed it very much and am now working through 700 photos ( of very variable quality)but I got a few nice ones. You are right 300mm is really too long for more than one aircraft, but I wanted to put the lens through its paces as I have only had it for a few months. I also had the 55-300 with me but on the whole I got the more pleasing photos from the DA*300 which produces better contrast than the 55-300.

You did well. I struggled to keep both of them in the frame with my DA*300 and did not get the exposure right in many of my attempts.

Not a very pleasant experience, but hard to know why the shopkeeper thought he was within his rights to ban photos of his window and to require someone to vacate the public highway. If a policeman had appeared, it would have been interesting to know which side he would have supported!

This is my moon - processed a bit and put through Topaz detail

My K3 certainly will not behave in live view, however I set it. I have however succeeded in getting some reasonable images using the viewfinder and setting the camera to manual. I got best results using autofocus but setting it to 27 pts as spot focus would not focus at all. I tried focusing manually but it is not very easy to see the exact focus and my manually focused ones were all slightly off. Focus peaking would be the answer but as previously stated, live view does not work at all for me.

that is what I would expect to be Ok. I set the camera to manual, iso 100 and even with f32 and 1/8000 ( yes I know it is ridiculous)I still got the red blinkies in live view. I was also using the DA*300 . Maybe I should try again with my k5iis and see whether that behaves itself