New camera lens

If you've taken a look at the earlier posts in this blog, you know I dabble in photography as a hobby.  I've been taking a photo a day since 1/1/2011, which is a lot of photos.  I have a DSLR and I know how to use it.  😉  More or less.

For months now, I've been thinking about a better lens for my Pentax.   I have 50-200mm, but that won't nearly be enough to zoom when we're in Denali or on the day cruises.   I really was coveting this lens:

but with a pricetag of roughly $1000 to $1100 which never really dips below $1000, except briefly around Christmas when it was $995, it was a no.   It's a 300mm prime lens, and gets great reviews, but no...especially since I've never needed such a lens in regular life before...although Chretien argued that I might start finding reasons to use it.

Then I thought maybe I'd rent it.  I looked around and both Camera Lens Rentals and Lens Rental
had it for about $200 for the time I'd need it.  Lens Rental had an insurance policy which covered just about every possible situation...including bear attacks. 

And then I started thinking...what if I didn't get the prime lens, and went with a lesser lens--the 55-300mm zoom?

There are actually several versions of this lens.  There is one that is not whether sealed.  I figured that was a no-no, since if there is any place I would be likely to need weather sealing (e.g. from rain!) it might be in Alaska.

There is also a newer model, whose focus is supposed to be a lot quieter.  However, the mount will not work with my Kiis model camera, and will force the aperture to stay wide open all the time...and given that it's about $100+ more right now, I figured I'd go with the one that would work with my older model Pentax.  I figure, some day I might regret it when I upgrade the camera, but that day isn't now, and now I want to be able to control the F-stop.

So this baby is headed my way.  I can't wait to get it on Wednesday and see how much better it is over my current zoom.