[hrishi]

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I bought this lens in January, its the only lens greater than the 55mm kit lens that I have....

Recently wrote a review of it on the lens review section of the forum..it made me think that I'm seriously underutilizing the lens, coz I dont take it only for birding/Wildlife tours ..

Since that day, I've decided to carry it everywhere I go (instead of buyin a lens to suit ur lifestyle, y not modify ur lifestyle a bit for such a beautiful lens?..also, carrying it will help me prepare for the 70-200/2.8- the lens which I'll eventually buy sum light years later..)..

here are few of the grab shots I was able to get...I shoot 2nd quality 6MP jepgs.. (I know, I'm underutilizing the K10D too, but I cant buy any good memory card at the moment, use an ancient 1 gb card at the moment..)









But that was the only way to include both of them in the frame!

All of them are totally unedited...straight from the camera..

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Last edited by hrishi; 07-08-2008 at 07:24 PM.

[kjfaust]

great shots!
i really like the 1st one

for me, i am yet to buy a telephoto lens

[hrishi]

Oh, I might as well add that all the shots are handheld..the 300/4 doesnt have a tripod mount..(n anyways I prefer mobility to tripod..would have been great to use a monopod, though, if there were d tripod mount..)

[8540tomg]

Nice shots Hrshi. You are obviously excited about your 300mm as well you should be. I've had mine for quite a while and I enjoy it too. Below is a recent shot with this lens. I had a tripod collar made specifically for this lens. I find it works very well on a monopod or tripod. One needs steadier hands than mine to hand hold this puppy.




I took a few shots of the tripod collar I had made for this lens. I designed it with the help of a machinist friend who made it in his shop. As many have noted this lens is hefty, especially on the front end, and needs a collar. This one works well for me and makes the SMC 300 f4 more versatile. With the collar in place it ballances perfectly on monopod or tripod. The shake reduction of the K10 is just an added bonus.







If you have this lens consider getting a commercially made product or have a tripod collar made.


Cheers

TG

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Last edited by 8540tomg; 06-14-2008 at 01:28 PM.

[hrishi]

Hey thats exactly what I intend to do..thanks for saving me some serious imagination..

Which material did u use to make the mount? Aluminium?

[8540tomg]

Hrishi,

Yes it was made from aluminum. This has worked very well for me. You might go to a camera store and examine collars on the longer telephone lenses. I believe there were some other options in the Lens Database for the K 300 as well. I think you will fiind the collar will make a huge difference in the performance of this lens.

Cheers,

TG

[heatherslightbox]

While looking for 300mm lenses on Fleabay, I found a listing for a collar that's supposed to work on this lens:
Support Collar for SMC Pentax 300 mm 1:4 ,FA 300 1:4.5 - eBay (item 230261061409 end time Jun-21-08 01:39:00 PDT)

The overseas shipping looks to be quite reasonable.

Heather (who's trying to resist the lure of this lens and a TC)

[clawhammer]

Man, every time I see this lens I have to remind myself that I rarely shoot long.... LBA!!!!

I've got one of it's 'younger brothers'- the 200 f/2.5, and if the 300 performs just as well..... and f/4 is relatively fast at this length in this price range.... must resist.... must save money....

[8540tomg]

Clawhammer, Hrishi

Clawhammer - at the moment this lens is a relative bargain and unknown. I don’t think people realize how good it is. I check on EBAY from time to time and this one usually goes from $200 to $400 depending on condition. This is a steal for what you are getting here. In digital a 450mm f4 lens is pretty cheap at these levels. Slap a 2 x on the back and you have a 900mm f8! This opens up whole new worlds of image making. I have the K 200mm f 2.5 too. It is my favourite manual focus lens. If you liked that lens you will like this one as well. Don’t fight the LBA too long as the price will probably be going up!

Bye-the-way Hrishi – if you have a collar made don’t forget to have a channel milled for the white alignment pip. This didn’t show up in my photos.

Cheers

Tom G

[NaClH2O]

But like others have said, quite reasonable price wise. And thanks Hrishi for reminding me to use it more! BTW I have the tripod mount Heather linked and it works great! But the lens can certainly be used handheld!

Taken at the '07 Washington DC kite festival attached to the Pentax DS


NaCl(maybe I'll stick it in my bag today!)H2O

[danielchtong]

Slap a 2 x on the back and you have a 900mm f8! This opens up whole new worlds of image making. I have the K 200mm f 2.5 too. It is my favourite manual focus lens. If you liked that lens you will like this one as well. Don’t fight the LBA too long as the price will probably be going up!

Tom G

For 1.5TC , it won't work not to mention 2X. I do have the lighter/shorter brother- A version of the lens.
For the 200mmF2.5, it is a different story given the speed.
The 300mm/4 is great for tele candid as the background could be easily blurred up as bokeh.




The details of the full image

http://www.pbase.com/danieltong/image/82228222/original.jpg


Daniel

[8540tomg]

Nice capture NaClH2O. Love those bubbles.

Daniel - a very pretty girl and a challenge. I'll slap my 2x rearconverter on the back of my K 300 and see if I can get a decent shot.

Cheers.

Tom G

[hrishi]

8540tomg-

I'm lookin forward for ur TC experiments..

I have tried my Vivitar 2x MC teleconverter on this lens, but have gotten very soft images..I thought maybe the TC is of inferior quality, but I get excellent result by stacking it on my FA 50/1.4 (The 50/1.4+ 2x TC+ 25mm Extension tube make one of the deadliest combo for MACRO!!)..SO I think following things must be considered (by me!)-

1. Perhaps Tripod will show the true capability of the combo..SO I'll have to hurry with the tripod mount..

2. Perhaps the old TC is too old, so buy a 2x Tamron or Kenko TC..It will give me AF on the 70-200/2.8 which I'll buy after few years( U may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one-Lennon! )

3. May be purist are true, only 1.4 TC will give optimum FL for this lens..


Hwblanks-

Thanks for the link, but I'm completely new to the online dealings..dunno whether they will ship it to INdia n whether I'll have to pay any extra tax when it lands on Indian shore..Also, I think I shouldnt spend so much on the mount, i'll try makin one under $20 or so..Coz after the collar, I'll have to buy a good monopod..I have my eyes on the Manfrotto/Bogen 679B, which will cost me around $50..(Damn it!, eventually i'll have to learn the whole anline dealings coz the Manfrotto gears r damn costly in India..)

Clawhammer- As 8540tomg has said, as many people will realise how good n cheap this lens is, its price will definitely shoot up..(May be this thread will be responsible for it!! he he..)
So dont think about the LBA..U r getting a 450/4 OR 630/4.6 OR 900/8 for around $200...n the glass is GREAT..U decide..


NaCl H2O-

I'm delighted to review ur interest in the lens..Same thing had happened to me- I had forgotten this lens for a while, glad that I remembered..

[hrishi]

Actually for a while, I had regretted buying this lens..Especially when I went for a wildlife census n missed those shots my friend captured so easily with the cheapo Sigma 70-300 APO, just because it had AF...

Dat day I wondered why I bought the lens..I refered to the notes I had written before buying..I was very proud of the way I started the whole thing in Jan-
chose the Pentax system (New brand? friends asked me..), bought a film SLR + 300/4 , FA 50/1.4, Instead of buyin another glass bought 2x TC, Extension tube n John Shaw's Closeup on Nature ( My best investment so far). Learnt photography (Had used only my cellphone till then..)...made notes..these helped me a lot...I knew that I didnt need anythng more except a DSLR..bought K10D..SO no more spendings on photography..I had put all my vision n rationality in building this system..

when dat day I came home dissappointed I wondered what went wrong..Felt little stupid 4 thinking sooooo much before buyin the gear as against my friend who went to the camera store with $1500, came out with a Canon 400D + kitlen + sigma 70-300 APO + flash..he didnt even know the full form of DSLR..All he knew was he wanted the latest canon Pro camera on which will enable him to 'Professionally' shoot landscape as well as birds..

It was then I realised I was soon-to-be-victim of LBA..this is exactly how one feels when he looks beyond himself into other person's world n forgets how good his own world is....I recovered..Decided to review my equipment..did so for the 300/4 n posted it..(FA 50/1.4 review will follow soon)..then fully realised how good my 1st judgement was..

May be we all should once in a while list out all the gear we have n write down y we bought them n whether the purpose is being fulfilled or not..may be it will make us better judgmental...Sorry for writting so much, but I'm a compulsive writter..

[8540tomg]

I took Daniel’s challenge and used the following combination of gear: Pentax K10, Pentax Rear Converter K T6-2X, and monopod in conjunction with my K 300mm f 4 lens. The 2x converts the K 300 to roughly a 900mm f8. Depth of field is non- existent with the 2x attached. Focusing is difficult and if you breathe heavily your subject disappears and dances out of the frame. I think my heartbeat knocked it around a bit too. As a result 99% of the shots were trash. I only spent half an hour and if time allowed I might have done better. In any case the three remaining shots were the best I could do today with this rig. The chickadees are a bit out of focus. The red wing blackbird is a little better. I like the bokeh in this shot. Not exactly ready for National Geographic are they Daniel? I’m not ready to concede it is impossible to get a good shot with this combo but it will be difficult. No post processing with any image. This is the way they came out of the K10. I think I might have better luck with the tripod. I’ll give that a go when I get some more time.