A few too many

options! But how to choose 

which telezoom to carry??  

What I'd like is an L mount answer to this question. Sadly the two listed below are not available on my current budget. Plus they are heavy - not by current standards, but definitely so compared to most of my other acquisitions shown here!

So for mow I can choose from the manual-focus options below. 

Ideally I'd prefer to get to 200mm and brighter than f/5.6, which suggests the pleasantly light 100-200mm .. but its minimum focus is quite disappointing* . I also have that Focal 80-200, which is nearly a stop faster - but it makes modern lenses seem light!

The most convenient are the SA mount 70-300 and 28-300 lenses as they share focal length and aperture data with the camera.

So we then move to the other options. The relatively light 100-300 is f/5.6 at 200mm, as is the more versatile 35-200mm with its nice range & close focus. The 28-300mm uses the same filters as the 20-60mm, but it's bulky and uses the reverse zoom direction from the rest of my collection. 

The vivitar 70-150 f/3.8 is light and fast, and it doesn't leave the gap that the 100-x00 lenses create. But of course this stops 50mm short on the long end! But I do have the 1.5x multiplier - but then the lens becomes 105-225mm f/5.3 and the 60-100mm gap returns. Taking off and putting on the multiplier fixes the gap but is twice the work of swapping a single lens, so that's a new problem. So this option has a few too many 'but's.. but when I want a little tele in low light, it's the right choice!

So each lens has its good and difficult points. 

Clearly that means I have everything covered! 😉

* I do have a Minolta 50/2.8 macro for when that's a problem!

the Oct '25 kit

And so we return to a familiar spot.

An S5 with the 20-60mm lens, several adapted primes and telephoto zooms, and a GX7 with a good supply of µ43 lenses.

While I'd prefer an AF long zoom, the 70-150 Vivitar f/3.8 available will do for now* until more suitable native teles are available.

I'm covered at 20 to 300mm/e and 1:1 macro in both formats, and 600mm/e with μ43 gear for when that seems like a good idea.

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The S5 can do things I really like, and several other things I've dreamed of but have not yet achieved (nice 4k videos, composite images, super resolution shots). 

Learning these features will occupy more of my time, rather than presuming that another camera would do a better job. I'd decisively proven that by owning almost everything in the past fifteen years.

* Update -

I found an MC-21 adapter for $80. Now that I know what it can and cannot do, the SA-mount Sigmas (28-300 and 70-300mm) are back in play. No autofocus but focal length does reach the camera for properly stabilized shots, and aperture control is on the dials. That's more than my other lenses can do! 

While much of the time the smaller 70-150 Vivitar will serve nicely, on well-lit days the 28-300 is all I'd need, with the 20-60 and 70-300 also being a good pair (as both take 67mm filters). 

A Samyang 60-180 f/2.8 has been announced, but that's all we know.. that and Samyang's very slow rollout of L lenses.