Reddit mentions of Pentax 21870 DA 50-200mm F/4-5.6 AL Weather Resistant Lens

Regarding the gear:

The NEX-5N has a sensor as good as the D5100 (+/-) but you don't have access to as many lenses and the ones you can get have worse optical quality (unless you mount others via a mount adaptor).

To fit your budget:

Canon: T2i or T3i (T3i is the T2i with a flippy outy screen and an extra $100 (=+/- £65?) price tag. If you want a more rugged body you can go for a used D40 or D50 for about the same price (not sure which would match that, I'm not a canon shooter). If you can afford to blow your budget by a bit I'd also recommend getting the 55-250, the zoom will be awesome for trips despite it not being the sharpest or fastest lens.

Nikon: D5100 would be excellent. I have one with just the kit 18-55 (for now!) and it's got fantastic IQ with best-in-class high-ISO (means in lower light you get less noise/grain) performance. If you want something tougher you can get a used D80 for within your budget (and some people were talking about getting a D90 for $450 today, that's insane and I doubt you'd see it. However, if you did the D90 is a great camera.) Worthy of note: Of the "big three" (Nikon, Canon, Pentax) Nikon has the most expensive lenses.

Pentax: K-x or k-r, they're the same as far as IQ goes but have some different features. Worthy of note: you could definately get a k-r with Pentax's 55-250 within your budget. Also worthy of note: The K-r and K-x have an in-body focus motor which means you can autofocus with all the older lenses if you wanted to get some second-hand for cheap. The k-r and k-x also both have in-body image stabilization which means with all lenses you can shoot at slower shutter speeds without getting blur from camera shake.

Sony: either the Nex-5N or the A55 if you want a more DSLR-like form factor and on-body viewfinder. A55 will let you get access to better lenses and will be the same as far as taking with you goes as the NEX-5N unless you put the pancake 16mm on the NEX-5N, in that case it would definitely be a much more compact system. With the kit 18-55, I wouldn't even consider it a compact anymore. I recommend going out to a store that has both the NEX-series and DSLRs in shop and picking them both up. The A55 also has in-body IS like the pentax models.

For info on f-stop, aperture, and shutter speeds, check out the exposure page on Exposure Guide (it's also in the sidebar).

Now, go off and research!

Hello.

I recently bought a Pentax K-S2 and I'm very happy about it.

However, the 18-50 kit lens, even tho it's weather sealed, is kinda disappointing, so in addition to a 50mm 1,8 (Which is pretty cheap so I'm not even hesitating), I want to get a telephoto/macro lens as I wanna take pictures of birds, insects, and whatnot.

I'm currently hesitating between these two :

Pentax DA 50-200

and

Tamron 70-300mm

Do you guys have any more suggestions ? There was a Sigma 70-300 too but the tamron seemed better from reading around.

I figured too, since I already am getting a good 50mm, that the 70-300 would be a better fit than the 50-200. IS there any advantages of getting the Pentax instead of Tamron ? Aside from weather sealed body?

I don't have the biggest budget either since it's just a hobby at the moment. Under 500CAD preferably.

Thanks !

It's one of a few choices worth considering. It's going to give pick up pretty much where the kit lens leaves off, giving you a lot more reach. If you found yourself wishing you could zoom in more, the 55-300mm is pretty well regarded and should scratch that itch.

You could also consider the 50-200mm WR. It doesn't have quite as much reach, and doesn't seem to be quite as good optically, but it's considerably smaller and lighter (if that's a concern backpacking), and it's also weathersealed (like your kit lens, but unlike the 55-300mm you linked - there is a WR version of that available now, too, though).

Another consideration might be a fast prime of some kind - the 35mm f/2.4 or 50mm f/1.8 would be reasonable choices, and in fact you could probably get both for $250. If you're already using those focal lengths a lot on your existing lens, these will trade the flexibility of zooming for reduced size and weight, improved low light performance, and better image quality. The 50mm in particular is a good short portrait lens, particularly for the price. If you didn't often find yourself wishing for more reach from the kit lens, this is the option I'd probably take.

Taking the small and light to the extreme, the 40mm XS is also on the table. It's not as fast as the other primes at f/2.8 (though still better than the kit lens), and I'm not a huge fan of 40mm on APS-C cameras, but the thing is tiny, quite cheap, and weighs under 2 oz. If you're backpacking and space and weight are at a premium it might be worth it.

Finally, since it wasn't clear, if you're looking to replace your existing lens, not compliment it, I wouldn't do it with any of those (except maybe the 35/50mm pair). If that's what you're after - basically what you have, but better - a grey market Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 is probably the only real option. Better in low light, sharper, maybe a little wider, but not (officially) weathersealed.

If you do go the Pentax Route, here's some stuff I wrote up in an old subreddit for cameras. It's a lot, but I promise it'll help out.
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I've read a lot about the K-x and just check up on the K-r, so here's some tips:


1. Learn about ISO. The K-r has an ISO range of 100-25600. If you are new to digital photography I suggest reading up on ISO; but in summary: ISO is the sensor's photon sensitivity. A lower value means a much lower sensitivity. So ISO 100 means the absolute lowest photon sensitivity, meaning little to no grain in your photos. You'll always want to try to shoot in ISO100-ISO400 for good looking shots. For dark areas, you are going to have to bump up ISO to ISO 800-1600:
At these ISO values the photon sensitivity is extremely high, accepting any photon that smashes against it's sensor and has at-least some value information wise. This means your photo is going to be VERY grainy, but there is a little secret to this: The grain will only affect the dark areas of the image... Which brings me to my next tip.


2. Shoot in RAW. This is a huge tip for ANY DSLR. I shoot exclusively in raw on my D300, and I can't count how many times it has saved my life. RAW is basically an unprocessed file; Unlike a JPEG. A JPEG is the camera taking a RAW file, adjusting the lighting information and certain other high level aspects, and thus flattening it. When you shoot in RAW, your camera isn't doing any of that: It is up to you to do that work.

This is an extremely powerful tool, considering the fact that if you messed up your exposure, your RAW file can then adjust the exposure by up to about 1.5 full stops of exposure. It is a VERY powerful tool.

But back to the High ISO tip. When shooting at a high ISO OVER EXPOSE, I can't even begin to say how important this is. When you over expose your high ISO image, the amount of noise will be drastically reduced because noise only affects the shadows of the image. Then, since you were smart and shot in raw, you drop it back down a full stop in your RAW editor of choice, and bam. Little to no noise at a very high ISO. (This tip is something that no one ever thinks about, but it will be one of the most powerful things you can do in your photography workflow.)


3. Grasp the concept of f-Stop. I'll summarize it: A very small f-value means a lot more light is going to be allowed into the lens, so you can get brighter pictures in darker areas, it is basically opening up the aperture REALLY wide at a small f-value. This means faster shutter speeds! But, also keep in mind that a small f-value means much more shallow Depth of Field (anything not in focus is going to be EXTREMELY blurred at f1.7).

So if you ever get into landscape or panorama photography, make sure you shoot at high f-values like f11 or f22 ( for extremely large panoramas).


4. Be very selective with your lens kit. You'll soon realize that DSLR photography is extremely fun, but very expensive. Lenses are going to be the one thing that will cost you a fortune and that's why you must choose wisely. You should generally have one telephoto lens, and a wide angle if you are beginning with DSLRs. Wide angle lenses don't zoom very well, but have a very wide image (fantastic for cheap architecture photography.). Telephoto lenses are zoomers, they zoom very well. The downside to a telephoto is that it usually has a variable aperture, meaning that if you have your camera set at f4, and then zoom a bit, the aperture will change to f5.6.

More expensive telephoto/superzooms are more expensive for the lack of a variable aperture. My 70-200mm VR is a set f2.8 at any zoom, but I can always bring that up if I need to. This of course brings the price of the lens up to a fantastic amount because it is a low light super zoom.

Lucky for you, you bought a Pentax. ;) You'll come to realize that while the camera itself might be average, Pentax lenses are best of breed. Here are some recommendations:

Pentax 50-200mm f4-f5.6 Telephoto. This lens is a great telephoto, and the price can't be beat. This would be your zoom lens.


Pentax 35mm f2.4 Wide Angle. This lens would be the wide angle to compliment your telephoto, and it is pretty fast (f2.8) and at a nice price.


When you can afford it though, These two lenses I highly recommend saving up for:

Pentax 50-130mm f2.8. An extremely fast lens, with a pretty powerful zoom. Once you move to the large aperture telephotos, you never want to go back. Like I said, my 70-200mm f2.8 is my favorite lens and comes with me everywhere.


Pentax 16-50mm f2.8. This lens is a wide angle beast. It zooms, is at f2.8, and will take on anything you throw at it.


So those two lenses would replace the above lenses when you can afford them.

I know this is a lengthy guide, and I hope it isn't too confusing, but those are just some tips I have. Enjoy your new DSLR! You'll love it! :D

If you need any more customized help, reach me on dA: Here!