Question for Pentax SLR owners: Pentax 55-300 DA -or- sigma 70-300 APO?

[NTB]

Any opinions on one or the other? Assuming the price is roughly the same.

EDIT: the '2nd lens' is the regular 18-55 kit lens - something that I would get regardless of if I went with Pentax or Sigma for the long lens.

 

[andylawcc]

you mentioned the 55-300, and what's the focal length on the other Kit lense?

without further information, I would say the 2 kit lense cuz the range on the Sigma is too far.

 

[magomago]

18-55 is most likely the kit lens he is referring to.

 

[Zenmervolt]

In absolute and total honesty, there should not be much difference. From what I've seen of that level of telephoto zooms, performance differences are largely academic and depend more on the individual copy of the lens than anything else. The Sigma 70-300 APO, the Tamron 70-300 DiLD, or the Pentax lens should all be roughly the same in practice unless you get a horrible copy of one.

The 55-300 would eliminate the gap from 55mm to 70mm that you would have otherwise, which might be enough reason to go with it.

ZV

 

[ElFenix]

the pentax is smaller somewhat smaller and weighs less, in addition to the factors ZV listed.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: magomago
18-55 is most likely the kit lens he is referring to.

indeed it is...I would be getting this lens regardless of if I get the Pentax or Sigma long lens. I'll edit the original post, too.

Nathan

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
In absolute and total honesty, there should not be much difference. From what I've seen of that level of telephoto zooms, performance differences are largely academic and depend more on the individual copy of the lens than anything else. The Sigma 70-300 APO, the Tamron 70-300 DiLD, or the Pentax lens should all be roughly the same in practice unless you get a horrible copy of one.

The 55-300 would eliminate the gap from 55mm to 70mm that you would have otherwise, which might be enough reason to go with it.

ZV

I had a tamron 70-300 for a while after I bought my own Canon Rebel XT a few years back; it worked OK, but the CA in a lot of the resulting images was terrible. Purple all over the place. Something like that would be my biggest concern.

Nathan

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: NTB

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
In absolute and total honesty, there should not be much difference. From what I've seen of that level of telephoto zooms, performance differences are largely academic and depend more on the individual copy of the lens than anything else. The Sigma 70-300 APO, the Tamron 70-300 DiLD, or the Pentax lens should all be roughly the same in practice unless you get a horrible copy of one.

The 55-300 would eliminate the gap from 55mm to 70mm that you would have otherwise, which might be enough reason to go with it.

ZV

I had a tamron 70-300 for a while after I bought my own Canon Rebel XT a few years back; it worked OK, but the CA in a lot of the resulting images was terrible. Purple all over the place. Something like that would be my biggest concern.

Nathan

Was it the Di LD version or the older plain Di version? I have the newer LD version and don't have issues with CA, though the non-LD version was rather known for it. The updated version is supposed to be on-par with the Sigma 70-300 APO; I certainly haven't been upset with mine, though I wish it were f/2.8.

Not the greatest examples, but no horrible CA.

ZV

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: NTB

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
In absolute and total honesty, there should not be much difference. From what I've seen of that level of telephoto zooms, performance differences are largely academic and depend more on the individual copy of the lens than anything else. The Sigma 70-300 APO, the Tamron 70-300 DiLD, or the Pentax lens should all be roughly the same in practice unless you get a horrible copy of one.

The 55-300 would eliminate the gap from 55mm to 70mm that you would have otherwise, which might be enough reason to go with it.

ZV

I had a tamron 70-300 for a while after I bought my own Canon Rebel XT a few years back; it worked OK, but the CA in a lot of the resulting images was terrible. Purple all over the place. Something like that would be my biggest concern.

Nathan

Was it the Di LD version or the older plain Di version? I have the newer LD version and don't have issues with CA, though the non-LD version was rather known for it. The updated version is supposed to be on-par with the Sigma 70-300 APO; I certainly haven't been upset with mine, though I wish it were f/2.8.

Not the greatest examples, but no horrible CA.

ZV

Been doing some digging to find reviews of the 55-300 since I got home this evening, and it looks like a good lens. Nothing formal, but a lot of user reviews, as well as some image samples - most people seem fairly impressed.

Nathan

 

[Funyuns101]

popular photography (www.popphoto.com) did a review of the 55-300 pretty recently.