Originally posted by Sandy Hancock [flame shields up]I don't understand the DA*60-250 as a birding lens. If it's a bird small enough that you need to get close, you may as well shoot with a 135mm prime. If the bird is miles away, 250mm is not nearly long enough.
It's a great option for landscapes and big game though.[/flame shields down]
Norm's the one to answer this, but as I understand it the only knock on 60-250 as a birding lens is the effective magnification, due to focus breathing.
---------- Post added 2017-11-17 at 10:39 ----------
Originally posted by jacamar I wouldn't shoot with my DA*300mm and TC wide open.
Originally posted by normhead Yet on a 16 Mp sensor Photozone suggests the lens is sharpest at ƒ5.6. I guess the TC could change that.
On the Photozone numbers, centre and border sharpness at f4 were only a whisker behind f5.6, and better than f8. No doubt there is copy variation, but you would think it should still be very good wide open with the TC. Before the DFA 150-450 came along, Pentax was promoting the DA*300 + 1.4x TC combination as the premium relatively affordable option for wildlife - something that only makes sense if the results were good at an effective 420mm f5.6 (ie not stopped down). I don't think the problem with Jacamar's shot is about the aperture (or the shutter speed, which as he says should have been adequate). I've had results like that in poor light too with the FA*300 f4.5 on the K-3 whether wide open or stopped down. Maybe the K-1 would be better in these conditions?
Last edited by Des; 11-17-2017 at 01:16 PM.