Motorsports - What lens for Pentax K?

[NathanBell]

Hi All,
I'm looking for a new lens for my Pentax K2 to do some amateur motosport photography.
I have an old 80-200 lens at home but it isnt the sharpest lens I've used, and I dont think its long enough, as these days as a spectator, you cant get very close to the track.
I have enough suitable gear already to capture all the action in the pits, but nothing for racing.

I'm mainly interested in historic racing (bikes and cars) and want to produce some traditional period style pictures with the aim of hopefully selling them back to the car/bike owners.
I think there would be a bit of intrest from owners for some traditional period style pictures of them racing, or from some club magazines etc.

I'm not sure where to start looking for a new lens or how much I'll need to spend.

Can anyone recomend a suitable lens?
What price range should I be looking at?
I dont want to spend a fortune, but I want something that will give nice sharp images and last a long time.

 

[NathanBell]

Oh, I'd also be interested in a 2nd hand lens is someone has 1 in good nick...

 

[NathanBell]

I've just read a bit about the Pentax K 135-600 6.7 lens.
Anyone have any experience with this? or know of the whereabouts of one for sale?

 

[nemo999]

This
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOLIGOR-f-400...hash=item230271607305&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318
is a good lens (I have 2 examples) and they sell for peanuts. A pro would use a 400 f2.8, but there are no cheap ways of getting one. No knowledge of Pentax K 135-600 6.7 lens - I have a Tamron SP 200 - 500 f5.6, which you might find for US$300 or so, good lens but shatteringly heavy, I would expect the Pentax lens is very heavy too.

 

[nemo999]

Pentax lens data here:
http://kmp.bdimitrov.de/lenses/zooms/long/K135-600f6.7.html
Over 4 kg, close focus 6 m (!)

 

[thuggins]

The Tamron 500 Reflex lens is very small, light, quite cheap brand new, and very highly regarded. You've only got one aperture, but that is really not much of a limitation. You wouldn't want to use a larger aperture with a lens this long, anyway. So the only real limit is that the exposure can only be adjusted in full stop increments via the shutter speed. If you're using print film, that's not a problem at all. If you're shooting slides (and I think Provia 400 is your only choice for that) you might loose a few. But that is well worth it for the portability.

 

[Bill Mitchell]

Try your 80-200 before you decide to spend more bucks for something else. You may be surprised!