[normhead]

No.

I was shocked by the picture in Post 3 (which has even been stopped down), but there you, go, it's a different lens.

I urge people to think carefully about giving specific advice on stuff they don't own.

I actually told folks the 1.4 didn't vignette with my Tammy, and sometimes it doesn't. I've never narrowed down the factors as to why it does and why it doesn't. So, you're right, you really have to try it on the lens. All I know is somedays I feel lucky, and I put it on the K-1. Sometimes it vignettes, sometimes it doesn't. I should keep better track of the results.

[TerryL]

You have to manually focus, then the AF adapter, does the final AF.

The range is fairly small, but when you can define the area where your subject will be, it will maintain focus, and in a way it's like having a focus limiter with a very narrow range, so it has really quick AF within it's range. Quite frequently with my small birds I miss shots because the bird has moved before I can lock focus manually.

These little guys are so quick, I depend on having lots of birds and having one land in the area where I've prefocussed, although this little guy stayed long enough I was able to manually focus and then run off 23 frames.



This taken with the Tamron SP AF 300 ED [IF] and F 1.7x AF adapter on a K-3.
This next bird is 4x the size of the above bird and I used the same combo on the K-1.


This is technically a wild bird, because it lives in the wild, but it's so tame it will land on my hand for the right food,) It likes it when I get close because that keeps the Blue Jays from getting in it's face. SO when putting out bird feed, it actually prefers it if I'm about 10 feet away. When it's back in the trees you definitely have to take advantage of the added reach from a K-3.



When I'm missing too many images, I go to the HD DA 1.4 TC on the same lens and the K-3. That gives me really quick AF without the hassle of pre-focusing. The preferred image is the K-1 and the 1.7x for IQ, ( but on these older lenses it's likely you'll be dealing with some purple fringing, especially with the 1.7 attached, it's not going to happen in every image, but it will happen often enough to be mentioned). I'd say 10% of my images (taken with the 1.7x) have purple fringing and in 5% I end up tossing the image because it's too bad to repair in post. but, if you're missing too many shots, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Especially if it's -20 and your hands freeze if you take your mittens off to manually focus.

The burst speed on a K-3 is so much faster you get a lot more viable images with the K-3 (even with "focus hold" set to max.). It really is the preferred system for this type of shot.

Absolutely beautiful work.
Terry

[tduell]

By the sound of it, nobody here has an FA*300 f2.8 and 1.4 TC to answer Tduell's question.

Folks seem to draw an analogy with the DA*300.

Ok, I'll play! The FA*300 f4.5, 1.4TC and K-1 work fine. That's maybe a better indication than a DA TC on a DA lens.

Thanks clackers, that adds to my confidence.
Mind you, I expect I'll mainly use the FA* 300 F2.8 (if I get it!) on the K-3 II, but I'm sure it will be used on the K-1 as well.

Cheers,
Terry