[nvarner]

Hello! I purchased this lens recently to use for shooting a fundraiser golf tournament. I'm for the most part a Nikon shooter but I've recently fallen in love with the Pentax cameras, also. Because this was outside and it's been raining a lot here, I decided to use my K30 (K30 cheaper to replace than a D7100, though I wouldn't be happy in the least if I had to replace my K30). Anyway the longest lens I own is the 50-200 Pentax and I didn't really won't to spend the money for 55-300.
I took a few shots with the 100-300, prior to the day, of my dogs and it seemed fine for what I needed. However, on yesterday I witnessed some super strange things. It was as if at about 250mm this lens just refused to focus. Pictures would have this strange painterly, motion blur though shutter speeds were up over 1/1000s. Maybe it's me but would someone be willing to look at some pics before I contact the seller about this lens. I'm not sure what to think. I will note that I did not have a lens hood as I ordered it but it has not arrived.I tried manual focus and it wouldn't work either. It was an overcast day. I also played with it a bit yesterday at home with a sports drink bottle and it seemed to be working more as expected and able to autofocus and manual focus at 300mm. I also tried the K30 I purchased for my partner as a Bday gift for my test yesterday and same results as my K30 so it's not the camera.Is there so trick with the lens that I'm missing.
Maybe over the next few days I can do some more testing. I'll take any testing suggestions.

EXIF file 1 1/1000s +1.7 ev 270mm ISO 1250 f6.3
EXIF file 2 1/1600s +1.3 ev 300mm ISO 1250 f5.6
EXIF file 3 1/2000s +.70 ev 155mm ISO 1250 f5.6


Thanks in advance for any feedback

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Last edited by nvarner; 08-17-2013 at 12:32 PM. Reason: attached an incorrect picture

[manntax]

Looks like lens suffered some fall or other damage that has displaced it's internal parts responsible for focusing and/or zooming. I had similar case with one of my sigma lenses that after I accidentally dropped it on a concrete from about 1m of height it's focusing and zooming started to be extremely stiff at certain ranges - later it started to have some rattling parts inside - but focus gears were still ok. Anyway it had similar optical problem with focusing - with part of image being in focus and irregular parts being totally off.

[nvarner]

Looks like lens suffered some fall or other damage that has displaced it's internal parts responsible for focusing and/or zooming. I had similar case with one of my sigma lenses that after I accidentally dropped it on a concrete from about 1m of height it's focusing and zooming started to be extremely stiff at certain ranges - later it started to have some rattling parts inside - but focus gears were still ok. Anyway it had similar optical problem with focusing - with part of image being in focus and irregular parts being totally off.

Thank you I will contact the seller