George/Tony,

Thank you both for the excellent descriptions and a table - how do we get that into a sticky for all to see and use?

Peter

Sorry,

Just went round the forum but could not find the sticky.

Have - KM and a mix of K and M series lenses.

Will get K10D/K20D - and new D only lenses.

So I can take up George's advice, pre-owned lenses - I believe F lens will work on both a KM and K10D, but a FA will only work on a K10D?

Am I right, sure there is a table somewhere for all the combo's but just couldn't see it - perhaps moderator should add (sorry if its already there) to lens section.

Peter

Ummm.


Trolling round the net, there are a couple of 300mm's, one is an A* and the other is an FA* both F2.8 and very expensive.

I will keep looking over next 6 months, esp for a 300mm A* F2.8, as this will work on both my old KM and a K10D.

Peter

Well, now back from India and have 10 rolls of film to be processed as well as 2 memory cards worth of pictures from a Fuji and a Nikon digital compact.

Results: - bought a Manfrotto monopod, worth its weight in gold, many people had big lenses and were relying on image stabilisers to get good shots (and lots of deleting).

200mm F4 was just right 80% of the time when on an elephant, F2.8 would have helped in late afternoon/early evening except for the bulk. Other 20% my 28-80 allowed for full length and scenic shots.

400mm F8 (200mm plus 2x) was fine for shots from jeep, but a bit dark and difficult to focus when trying to capture a moving tiger on the edge of wooded area etc. Otherwise it was the ideal length.

So other than having to take the 2x on and off, the 200mm stayed on the camera most of the time.

However, I was ridiculed by the drivers/guides for a) not having a digital SLR & b) not having a huge great lense!! Will have to wait see what the results are like.

Fellow passenger had an EOS 40D with either a 70-200mm F2.8 or a 100-400mm F4/5.6, the bulk always got in the way - however the results of the few pictures I saw were good. Other passenger had an Olympus (model can't remember) and either a Sigma 200mm or an Sigma 100-500mm, he's going to send me a Cd with some of his shots.

So I didn't get to buy a 300 or 400mm, made do with what I had. Next stage, will get a K10D or K20D, for a lense not so sure. Definitely need either a 300mm F2.8 (so that means a F/FA) or its a 200 F2.8 and a 300 F4 (which on digital is 300 and 450) - for the latter do I buy FA lenses of buy the new just released all digital pentax lenses?

Peter

[quote="Hyram"]Peter,

Are you looking for a 300mm prime lens :[/quote]Yes, I am. Just been on ebay last night, there was a 300mm A* F4 but it went for shop price.

Peter

Reuben,

Interesting, my view is that my 200 F4 is not long enough and with a 2x converter its too slow at F8.

So I am still looking, there are a couple of Tamron 300mm lenses on the net and I might go for one of those.

Peter

I am in north Hampshire and the camera is a trled & tested KM

Going on Tiger Safari and need something big, fast or reasonably fast and not too heavy. In ideal world would want to rent/borrow 300mm F2.8 ED for 2 weeks, however it looks like will have to settle for something less.

I think 500mm F4 is just too long and unwieldly on back of jeep or elephant.

Anyone have a 300mm f2.8 they would wish to loan/rent for 2 weeks?

Am going to same Tiger park, Bandhavgarh that Simon King (BBC naturalist photographer) went to and was on natural world 2 weeks back.

Cheers,


Peter