[stormtech]

nice shots there ST..what is 'catch in focus'? have I missed something.... how far away were you? 200 sec is slow..tripod used? that's a heavy lens...

Catch in focus is where you set the camera to shoot automatically when something comes in focus. I see you have a K-5II - page 117 in the manual. Basically you set catch in focus to "on" in the menu, set the lens for manual focus, and I use a wired remote that has a lock to hold the trigger down. I aim the lens just above a branch where I think the birds will land and pre-focus the lens. Then when a bird lands on the stick, the camera sees something in focus, and fires.

For those pics the setup was ~15' away from the birds.

This of course is done on a tripod. I am getting ready to do the same with our hummingbirds soon, plus going to try to use flash with the setup also. If you need any more details, send me a PM - be glad to help you out.

[disya2]

Hi, just some feedback on what I've chosen.

Four weeks ago I finally decided that versatility provided by zoom lens may suit better my needs and, the final point was the price I was quoted for DA* 200 (which I was leaning to at first) was just $250 less.

Now, after the lens got some use in a week-long mountain trip I feel ready to provide a feedback.

1. Handling
It appeared slightly bigger than I would like but not so heavy as I imagined. It was easily manageable hand-hold, even zoomed at 250mm. All in all, it handles nicely but I have two minor complains.
a) While I found mounting lens hood in normal position an easy process that can be done 'blindly' and quickly I always struggled with reverse mounting it to pack the camera back into the photo bag. Somehow it always tended not to lock in place.
b) I always touched zoom ring while mounting lens on and off the camera: not enough place for my hands to grip it near mount.

2. Build quality.
It is a well-built lens that feels solid and imposes feelings of a thing that could be used daily for many years ahead. No lens creep noticed. Zoom and focusing rings move with adequate amount of resistance. I even prefer manual focusing on that lens to FA 31 which focusing ring feels not enough dumped, though the focusing throw somewhat short to be truly excellent.
The only downside I found is very slight wobbling of inner tube when zoomed at 250mm, though even 16-50 I once had was worse at that, not to mention some superzoom lenses I tried.

3. Image quality
- Absolutely amazing for a zoom lens. Wide open it is extremely sharp at 60mm and very good at 250mm. I didn't hesitate to shoot wide open and stopped down mostly when I needed more DOF or longer exposure. Colors and overlall impression somewhat resembles 16-50 at 50mm (which I really liked) .

My intention for tele lens was to take pictures of distant objects, such as mountains, and the lens hadn't let me down in this respect:






I also found it excellent for close-up photos



Background blur looks like if painted with brushes



and the luminous spots at background become pleasantly-looking circles at f/4



though edges are clearly visible when stopped down



I'm more than satisfied with the lens, though for wildlife (which was also on my check-list) one needs something longer



I'm looking forward to the TC on roadmap. Hope they release it soon. I believe both combined will provide me absolutely everything I need from a tele lens.

[zapp]

Magnification: Assuning that 50mm lens on FF will yield 1x magnification, the 300 mm will yield 6x on APS-C it would be cropped to 9x. Anyway, pixel peeping will bring youto much larger factorials.

For hiking and universal use I would suggest the Pentax zoom! The extends your reach without gap from 77 to 250.

I actually own the A200/300 combo. DA300 for maximum reach and DA200 in case I need a little less reach. A 2.8/300 and TCs are badly missing in pentax land. The DA200 with a 1.4x TC would also make for a nice combo. Ricoh/Pentax thinks differently.

[stormtech]

Hi, just some feedback on what I've chosen.

While you didn't say in your post, I am assuming you chose the 60-250 after reading your comments.

At any rate, glad you are liking it - I love mine and it is my most used lens for sure. Very nice pics also!

[baro-nite]

Now, after the lens got some use in a week-long mountain trip I feel ready to provide a feedback.

Excellent report and photos! You've shown the quality and versatility of this lens, and are making me wish once again that I could have justified keeping mine. Or that I lived closer to big mountains. Or both.

[disya2]

Thanks for kind words just a few more photos (with focusing distance between those above):