I've come for more help......re: lense for Pentax

[npmommie]

I would like to get a new lense for my pentax K100 d super.........
I only have the lens that came with the camera. My dd will be having a gymnastics show and I would like a lens to capture this, maybe something with zoom.........
any suggestions for what would work best in a situation like this?

 

[ukcatfan]

How much are you willing to spend, how close can you get, and do you mind possibly having a fixed focal length? I am assuming that this will be inside and as such, not the best lighting.

Kevin

 

[npmommie]

How much are you willing to spend, how close can you get, and do you mind possibly having a fixed focal length? I am assuming that this will be inside and as such, not the best lighting.

Kevin

Yes it will be inside.......gymnasium type lighting.......I will probably be closer to some events than others. I can get close, right up next to the floor for some of it...........some of it will be 30-50 ft away, i am guessing.
I don't want to spend a lot of $$$ I really don't even have a clue what the price range for lenses is? I guess I should go look, I am thinking $100 is that reasonable or no?

 

[mabas9395]

I am thinking $100 is that reasonable or no?

Probably not. For indoor sports, you need a long, fast lens. Those usually cost at least a few hundred (the Canon version I used is about $350 for an 85mm f/1.8 and even those shots weren't great, don't know about Pentax).

Pentax may have a cheap 50mm fast lens, but it probably won't be long enough. The long lenses you will find probably won't be fast enough. And fast means having a wide aperture allowing in more light.

Don't feel too bad though, indoor sports is considered one of the hardest things to shoot with normal equipment. The people who get the good gymnastics shots have the very expensive equipment.

 

[gokenin]

I dont know if it would work and its outside your price range but was thinking the FA 135mm. The lens runs about $500 but you may find it cheaper used but it is a F2.8 lens which may be long enough and fast enough for indoor sports. I just dont know have never done that type of shooting to be honest.

 

[Groucho]

A 135mm F2.8 would be great but it may be difficult to find that lens, it's not currently available new.

The best cheap solution would probably be to start with a 50mm F1.4 lens for about $200. You can get an idea of how close this will be by zooming your kit lens to almost as far as it can go (it goes to 55mm.) This lens won't get you closer, but it will work much, much better in low light.

If you wanted to get really serious, Pentax's 50-135mm F2.8 lens would probably work very well, it's very highly rated, but it is a "star" lens which means very high-quality construction (including weathersealing), in-lens focus motor (which your camera could use, on older DSLRs it'd focus with a motor in the camera like your kit lens does - the in-lens motor is much quieter)... and it's not cheap. It goes for about $750 or so, off the top of my head. This will get you a lot closer and give you better low-light ability than you can get with the kit lens.

If you wanted even more zoom, both Sigma and Tamron should be releasing new 70-200mm F2.8 lenses very soon in the Pentax mount. This will be a bit bigger and heavier, and the Tamron will be $700 and the Sigma probably a little more.

If you want zoom and aren't as worried about low-light ability, the Pentax 50-200mm is fairly affordable (somewhere about $200 I think) and works well, but will not work as well in low light as the more expensive lenses. But depending on the lighting, you might be OK with such a lens and 1600 ISO.

 

[npmommie]

Great! Thanks for all the suggestions, I am going to look into them. I don't mind spending $200........considering for the past 4 years I have been taking pics with a point and shoot, Hopefully this will be an improvement! LOL ( although I have gotten some decent shots with the point and shoot)
I will report back with some shots when I get the new lense, thanks!