Pentax Lenses

[Wombat]

I have 2 Pentax mount lenses for sale,
70-300m f4-5.6 DG Macro Sigma telephoto lens, $75.00 + postage [Sold]
18-55mm f 3.5-5.6 Pentax SMC DAL lens, $50.00 + postage

Prefer bank to bank transfer of funds.
All lenses are in good condition and have not had much use.
I am selling these as I do not have a pentax camera anymore so these must go to a good home.

[Sconesbie]

Hi Wayne.

I have a Pentax KM (about 9 years old). It already has an 18-55 on it. I currently use this one to photograph milky way (with reasonable success).

As I am not a photography person, what would the 70-300 do for me?

[Wombat]

Hello Scott,
You may need a telescope mount reasonably aligned to the pole
for short exposures or a spot on alignment for long exposures of the stars without producing star trails. If this lens had a very short focal ratio say f2.0 then you could do short exposure and stack them, but the lens is f4-5.6 so the shutter has to stay open longer.
Some people do very short exposures and stack them to produce a very good image and examples of this can be found on the web.
Forest Tanucker in the US has a video on You Tube showing a demonstration of how to do this, it very well done and he used a 70-200mm Canon lens.
The 70-300 lens is great for daytime work.

[Sconesbie]

Thanks Wayne. How can I check if it will fit on my camera?

[OzEclipse]

Scott,

Wayne is being very honest with you about the speed aspect of the lens.

The lens mount will fit and communicate all aperture and focus data to your camera. The DG type lens has enough coverage for APS-c format sensors like your camera, if you upgrade to a full frame camera, the lens won't cover the field of the sensor but it's fine for your camera's APS sensor.

I have no experience with this particular lens can't tell you how good its optical performance is. Typically cheaper zoom are not bad on axis and off axis at shorter focal lengths becoming soft in the corners at the high end of the zoom range. But this is a general observation of this type of lens, not specific to this lens.

In summary, it's good value for money but it's obviously not a top quality high end lens. The Pentax 300mm f4 EDIF is a very very sharp lens but costs 20 times more than Wayne is asking for this lens.

Hope this helps you decide.

Joe

[Sconesbie]

Thanks Joe. I wasn't querying Wayne's description or honesty. I just wanted to know what it would do and would it fit my camera body. I know very little about cameras and lenses.

I understand the value of the lens is very well priced and I am interested in buying it.


Regards
Scott

[Wombat]

Hello Scott,
The lens will fit on your camera and will work well and is a good all round lens.

[Sconesbie]

Thanks Wayne. Can you please advise postage cost to Launceston, Tas.