As is often the case, my photos look wildly different, or at least better, after I give them a healthy does of post-processing
My normal routine is to boost exposure if the picture is too dark, maybe recover blown highlights. Touch up contrast, maybe tap vibrance or saturation up a hair, then Smart Sharpen in CS3 at around 100%, 1.5 pixels (depending on subject).
---
None of these pictures underwent that routine. At most, these have been cropped. The single wasp picture was exposure comped because I fired the flash.
All PEFs exported to JPEG using Lightroom 2.0 64bit beta defauls for K20D.
EXIF data presented for each photo.
These won't win any awards, but maybe add to the growing samples of 55-300 shots.
These were shot under extremely overcast conditions, definitely not the most favorable. I was using a cheap $20 tripod like a monopod with SR on. Any post processing will be mentioned in picture title.
--------------------------------------
Bloom Through Trees: 300mm F/5.8 1/125s ISO1600 Wasp on Leaf: 300mm F/8 1/180s (flash) ISO200 Crop, EV+1 Big Rose: 300mm F/5.8 1/250s ISO800 Cat on Hood: 300mm F/6.7 1/180s ISO800, Crop The One Remaining: 300mm f/6.7 1/250 ISO800, Crop
(
It really is the single remaining bloom on my tree!)
Bird Not Looking: 300mm F/5.8 1/60s ISO1600, Crop
(
This is why we buy Pentax folks!. 300mm shot at F 1/60s. Not the best in the world, but I got the shot. Ka-BLoom!: 300mm F/6.7 1/30s ISO200
(
Needless to say, I wasn't paying attention to camera settings!)
--------------
-------------
Final Verdict?
I absolutely love this lens.
Colors - Outstanding, given these are completely untouched with regards to
any color adjustments (besides that single EV comp photo).
What amazes me even more is the fact these photos were on a very dreary morning, overcast, no sun rays in sight. I don't feel I would need to boost contrast or color at
all unless I was going for a really "POPPY" photo.
I might sharpen them up a bit and/or run through noise Ninja for the really high ISO shots, but otherwise I'm very pleased.
Pixel peepers of course will spot the camera blur, as I was working with A) a horrible tripod and B) very slow shutter speeds, given then focal length.
Taken at "full size" though, I'm proud to say the DA 55-300 is a very nice lens
Highly recommended, even with the price difference between this and the 3rd party 70-300s, though you'll miss macro mode.