I'm thinking of just buying a zoom lens for now for my (sisters) Pentax K1000....I went shopping and now I may be even more confused... 2nd hand Pentax zooms up to 300 mm seem non-existent, so it would seem my choices are either: a Takumar SP 70-210 mm ($295) a Tamron 80-250 mm ($170) a Tamron SP 70-210 mm ($195) or a Sakar 70-210 mm lens off ebay, which could be much cheaper...

What's so good about SP, and is it worth sacrificing a bit more distance for it? Is there a lot of difference b/w 210 and 250, for stuff like tennis? Sorry to ask so many questions but I really want to make the right decision but I don't feel I've got much time to do it...

Pentax K mount lens by Sakar, 70-210mm MACRO ZOOM f:4.0-5.6

-- Jodie Hill (jmirandah@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001

Answers

oh, or a new Sigma 100-300 mm ($299), which I just found out about...

-- Jodie Hill (jmirandah@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.

Jodie,

I'm using a Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 LD 1:2 Macro for my Nikon, but I'm sure they also make it for the Pentax. It's worked pretty well. Iit was only US200 minus mail-in rebate. I compared the lens to its Nikon counterpart (taking pictures same spot same settings) and it was pretty difficult to see the difference. They both use LD glass. I remember you mentioned that you might want the ability of a 300mm zoom ... so this might work for you.

-- Ming (saiyans@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001.

While slow consumer grade (70-300mm f5.6) zooms work fine on AF cameras, manual focus cameras generally have focusing screens that are optimized for f2.8 lenses or faster. When you mount a slow lense, the microprizm and split image range finder darken and become almost useless (at f5.6). Some MF cameras had interchangable focusing screens, and one could install a screen that was optimized for slow lenses. I don't think the K1000 can do that.

You may want to consider a used prime lens (like a Pentax 135mm f2.8, or 200mm f4). The image quality would be very good to excellent, and they would be easier to focus and get better images than a slow zoom. Used 135mm should be very inexpensive.

-- Kenneth Katz (socks@bestweb.net), November 15, 2001.

I'd agree with Kenneth.Slow, variable aperture zooms are pretty awful.All major makers produced 135/2.8 lenses. I'm sure there's a Takumar version.They're usually light weight, sharp, and fast enough for available light work. It's a good long portrait lens and works well for candids.The large aperture is especially useful for throwing backgrounds out of focus.They're usually quite cheap, too.

-- Gary Watson (cg.watson@sympatico.ca), November 16, 2001.

In the Tamron line of lenses, SP stands for their top of the line "Super Performance" optics, which they market as professional calliber. Most Tamron SP lenses are actually quite good. The same cannot be said for many of their consumer zooms.

-- George Rhodes (betsy@colormewell.com), November 16, 2001.