[KatPal]

Hello shutterbugs,

as a fairly new clicker, I was sooo excited to get a new DA*300 last week. I have a K-5 iis, also fairly new. The only telephoto I used before on my camera was rented 150-500 Sigma for a weekend trip in winter, trying to spot snow owl. Of course she decided to not show up, but I walked away with some sweet shots of seaguls and ducks...I felt this lens was magic and really sharp too. Especially, this was my first time with long lens/no training, am fairly confident the pictures came out beautifully.
Link here:
KatPal's Album: FattyDuck & Seagulls Sigma 150-500 - PentaxForums.com
2 ducks examples/sharp/nice below(Sigma), and the 3 bottom images are the new A*300.

When it came time to get my own lens, I chose DA*300 because of it's awesome reviews, especially from people who said it took their wildlife/birds to a next level. That is exactly what I want to capture!

So I got the beauty last week, and did not take it off since..BUT:-( something is up...I even consider returning and getting the 150-500.
I have few meek shots of a bird sitting on a branch, but forget focusing, this lens is all over the place(literally). Basically if I point it on any subject, whether behind branches or against a clear background, this lens takes forever to find the subject...and basically it goes back and forth between complete blur and subject...I took some images of geese, lazing around, very slow and stationary, I attached them-I feel they are not the best.
When I took my favorite and blew it up on screen I feel it is all basically soft...but what strikes me the most is the inability to focus on anything let alone fast.


I milled it over in my head trying to compare what was different with the 150-500Sigma(which I used purely on 500 end). Then it hit me. When I look through Sigma or my DA40, I can see the scene not blury, but like through a looking glass. So I can more or less see what's happening in the scene, whether stationary bird or flighty one. Then I focus on the subject quick and click.

Here is the link:
KatPal's Album: DA*300 - PentaxForums.com

BUT, when I put my eye to my DA*300, it is always 100% blurry in the finder, and then I try and look for my subject, and first of all it is always hard to find(often having to look with my eye to target it several times), and if it is moving I have absolutely no chance of catching it...because of this constant blur...I really thing something is wrong...
I was just pointing at a clearly visible plane in the sky to see what happens and it took 3 back and forths for the lens to even catch it:-( Which with a close flying bird is useless.

Is there something I do wrong? Why is this highly acclaimed lens behaving this way? Maybe some setting? It just seems weird that this great lens would not work at least as good as the Sigma, and maybe I need some special course:-(, since with Sigma I took wonderful images, and these are at best crappy..

Thank you, for any tips...

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[Stavri]

Do a physical inspection of the lens, make sure nothing's loose and out of place, engage the aperture lever in the back. You're first two submitted pics are at f11, the last two at f4 (wide open). Do some tripod tests on f7.1-8.0 on household objects looking at the fine print for clarity and sharpness. After all this, I'd invest in a lens align kit to check for front/back focus issues. Hope it helps

[zzeitg]

It's really hard to say something concerning blurry viewfinder. I have both DA* 300 and Sigma 150-500 but I don't realize any serious difference in this sense.


What is different for sure: focal length. 300 mm is not 500 mm. If there's a faraway bird, you can't expect same result from lenses with so much different focal length. The smaller and the more remote the subject is, the harder it is to focus accurately in order to capture the object clear and sharp.

[Stavri]

Take some Live-view shots with the lens, if the frame looks sharp on the LCD, then you may need to adjust the diopter on the viewfinder.

[zzeitg]

After observing your sample shots... I don't see anything wrong with them, except that it probably was a cloudy day with not so much light?


Some thoughts about camera setting:
- did you set exposure to minus? why?
- have you tried f/5.6 or even f/8 just to check if there will be effect on the sharpness?

[Thomas Cantwell]

That definitely does not sound normal. Are you using a filter at all? If so, remove it. You should never use a uv filter, especially on telephoto lenses where you want to extract maximum detail. A poor quality filter can also hamper af. If you're not using a uv filter, test for back focusing/ front focusing on static objects. I didn't use any software but from testing in the field I found my da* 300 needed +5 af adjustment. If all else fails, look at the inside of the lens to check that it is clean without any fog. If there is fog, return it for another copy.

I've used the 150-500 in the past and while nice, the 300 is definitely sharper. Sharpness isn't everything, though, and the sigma has enough of it anyway. If you don't need the extra light from f4, the sigma may be a better choice. Having trouble finding the bird in the viewfinder is part of using a prime lens. You'll get used to it.

150-500:


DA* 300:

[Shanti]

also the shutter speed is a bit slow..easy to get blur that way,I try to keep at 1/500 or more handheld,and only use F4-8 most of the time. Takes time to get used to this lens I found. If focus test show front/back problems & can't be adjusted in camera,tehn send it in. Mine needed factory adjusting form new!! font focusing

[Dave L]

I too find my DA*300 will miss exact focus on too many occasions when it shouldnt, and I miss shots when it hunts.

On moving objects I switch to AF-C and continuous M or H, which usually ensures that 70% of the shots are sharp... a 1 second burst will usually nail it more than once.

For tricky focussing where other objects near the centre of frame might affect things (and usually do) I sometimes pre-focus on a spot that I know the moving object will soon arrive at, pre-focus on AF-S then quickly switch to manual ready for the shot, or focus-hold.

Superb lens, often annoying, but usually work-aroundable. We need a DA*300 DC with focus limiter!

[Stargeezer]

Katpal,
1- Check your diopter, you might have moved it accidentally.
2- Your depth of field is much shallower with the da*300mm shots. You are shooting f11 with the sigma and f4 and f5 with the pentax.
You will have more difficulty nailing focus at f4 then at f11..
Joe

[KatPal]

Thank you all for the inputs. I have been busy shooting more, and seeing the results..It helps to hear it from people who have used it a while..
I did get more swift in finding the subject..but still focus bounces back and forth a bit too often. I can see that this takes getting used to-why do primes have this getting used to part? What is different?
I am posting two latest clicks(I have lack of wildlife here:-)

Kat

[KatPal]

Hello Fellows:-)
So I have been busy shooting, but often I find myslef trashing almost all but few images. This attached one is the latest bunny- it was pretty bright out there(I did notice later I set ISO to 1000 by mistake), when i examine this image at 100% crop, it does have lot of grain(common issue with this particular lens photographs)...can graininess be ever blamed on lens? I always find all my previous images pretty sharp...at least the ones with the DA40mm....I am still not sure about this lens, but don't want to regret it if I do return it.
I attached the "imo" grainy image...

Thank you,
Kat

[Shanti]

Hello Fellows:-)
So I have been busy shooting, but often I find myslef trashing almost all but few images. This attached one is the latest bunny- it was pretty bright out there(I did notice later I set ISO to 1000 by mistake), when i examine this image at 100% crop, it does have lot of grain(common issue with this particular lens photographs)...can graininess be ever blamed on lens? I always find all my previous images pretty sharp...at least the ones with the DA40mm....I am still not sure about this lens, but don't want to regret it if I do return it.
I attached the "imo" grainy image...

Thank you,
Kat

Try to increase shutter speed- 1/500 sec or more as easy to get motion blur on this lens handheld..SR is not that good I find

[derekkite]

The choppy bokeh and grainy look I take as signs of movement blur. Turn off SR, or if you are using it, slow down and let it settle. If you are having trouble keeping focus, practice technique where you find a way to hold it as still as possible. You may find a monopod useful, handheld technique for long lenses is a hard skill to acquire.

The focus point on the K5 series is quite large, and at any distance at all will have many different items to focus on. The marmot peeking over the stump won't fill the focus point. What you need to do is set up your back AF button to either cancel focus or enable focus so that holding the shutter halfway doesn't continuously try to focus on something else. You can move the lens slightly to acquire focus on what you want, stop the adjustments and take the shot. The DA*300 has a very nice quickshift option where you can manually focus without switching anything, but you need to master cancelling autofocus with the back button.

If your viewfinder is blurry, set up the diopter. On the top of the viewfinder there is a slide with sawtooth edges. Point at a white wall out of focus and adjust it until the lines on the viewfinder are sharp. What I do then is put the camera and lens on a tripod, put a tape measure on the floor with something colorful beside it about 2.5 meters away, point down at the angle, focus on the something colorful, then take a shot with mirror up and delay. Look through the viewfinder to see where it actually focused as well, then look at the shot on your computer. Blow it up and see where the lines on the tape measure are sharp and see if it is right beside the colorful thing, and whether it corresponds to what you saw in the viewfinder. This is a quick check to see if something is out of alignment, how to fix it there are lots of threads.

Shooting long lenses is largely a matter of technique. Any shake is magnified, the depth of field at moderate distance is shallow, focus is tricky. Take lots of shots, expect to throw everything away for a month or so, then you will start seeing what works and what doesn't and get some decent results.

I find the 300mm useful for subjects not much further than 15-20 meters, and something small even closer. To fill the frame with a small bird on a 300mm requires being within 2 meters distance. Anything further than that requires cropping and everything you do wrong will show up clearly.

Welcome to the world I live in where nothing is easy and any mistakes show up and are preserved to perpetuity unless I delete the file. The photo will show exactly what you did right or wrong. This is the challenge and satisfaction of shooting with long lenses; when you get a great shot it is of value. When I see them here I know what people did to get them, and it puts you into the quiet group of those who have mastered the skill. Expect it to take quite a while to get there. It is hard but very satisfying.

This was 1/40 on the K5, very close in very low light.

[audiobomber]

Focus hunting back and forth sounds like what my DA*300 was doing when the SDM failed. If it's a new lens, I'd send it back for warranty service. I have a DA*300 and owned a Sigma 150-500 for a couple of weeks. The Pentax is definitely much sharper. Auto-focus speed seems slightly faster on the prime to me, though I was not able to use both at the same time for a fair comparison. At the very least, AF speed should be comparable.

[KatPal]

The choppy bokeh and grainy look I take as signs of movement blur. Turn off SR, or if you are using it, slow down and let it settle. If you are having trouble keeping focus, practice technique where you find a way to hold it as still as possible. You may find a monopod useful, handheld technique for long lenses is a hard skill to acquire.

The focus point on the K5 series is quite large, and at any distance at all will have many different items to focus on. The marmot peeking over the stump won't fill the focus point. What you need to do is set up your back AF button to either cancel focus or enable focus so that holding the shutter halfway doesn't continuously try to focus on something else. You can move the lens slightly to acquire focus on what you want, stop the adjustments and take the shot. The DA*300 has a very nice quickshift option where you can manually focus without switching anything, but you need to master cancelling autofocus with the back button.

If your viewfinder is blurry, set up the diopter. On the top of the viewfinder there is a slide with sawtooth edges. Point at a white wall out of focus and adjust it until the lines on the viewfinder are sharp. What I do then is put the camera and lens on a tripod, put a tape measure on the floor with something colorful beside it about 2.5 meters away, point down at the angle, focus on the something colorful, then take a shot with mirror up and delay. Look through the viewfinder to see where it actually focused as well, then look at the shot on your computer. Blow it up and see where the lines on the tape measure are sharp and see if it is right beside the colorful thing, and whether it corresponds to what you saw in the viewfinder. This is a quick check to see if something is out of alignment, how to fix it there are lots of threads.

Shooting long lenses is largely a matter of technique. Any shake is magnified, the depth of field at moderate distance is shallow, focus is tricky. Take lots of shots, expect to throw everything away for a month or so, then you will start seeing what works and what doesn't and get some decent results.

I find the 300mm useful for subjects not much further than 15-20 meters, and something small even closer. To fill the frame with a small bird on a 300mm requires being within 2 meters distance. Anything further than that requires cropping and everything you do wrong will show up clearly.

Welcome to the world I live in where nothing is easy and any mistakes show up and are preserved to perpetuity unless I delete the file. The photo will show exactly what you did right or wrong. This is the challenge and satisfaction of shooting with long lenses; when you get a great shot it is of value. When I see them here I know what people did to get them, and it puts you into the quiet group of those who have mastered the skill. Expect it to take quite a while to get there. It is hard but very satisfying.

This was 1/40 on the K5, very close in very low light.

What a beautiful shot and bird!!
Very, very useful advice! Yes, I never used anything to stabilize it. Usualy though I am very close to the ground like with the bunny, so I kind of just do some acrobatics to take the shot.

BUT, what does this mean to set back autofocus or cancel it? Which is the back button and what do I do with it? I thought holding the shutter halfway actually keeps focus on the same thing until I release and re-focus? Oh boy, I can see the teacher's hair raising on their back:-)
"you need to do is set up your back AF button to either cancel focus or enable focus so that holding the shutter halfway doesn't continuously try to focus on something else. You can move the lens slightly to acquire focus on what you want, stop the adjustments and take the shot. you need to master cancelling autofocus with the back button."

Basically, the squirrel- is it too small to be sharp, that's what you mean? Or is it that he is out of the focus field, and I should have moved/selected my red focus point a bit up?

Thank you!!! I will post more cute images.