[Kevin1961]

I fully agree with ASDF, attaching images does degrade the quality somewhat. I only download from Flickr now and find the quality of the shot is not compromised.

I own the 55-300 myself and am really happy with the results, considering it is really a budget lens. Here is one of my examples :




Personally, I would not be that satisfied with the photos you took. but I would not jump in and take drastic action immediately.
Give it another go, try all that has been suggested above and draw conclusions after you have really put it to the test.
Trust I have been of some assistance.

Hi Bruce. Nice shots. I think as you say i will have to try it out some more. The thing here in spain is that by law you have 14 days to return an item if you are not happy with it, but things like lenses or computers etc they are not happy about changing. My worry was that it was a bad copy, but as you say give it time. I am also jumping from canon back to Pentax and have to re adapt to things. Thanks for your help and posting these photos. All the best. Kevin. PS you must et a lot of Haze in your part of the world?.

Hola Julianactive. Nice shots. Not sure what part of the world you live in but you don't seem to have much haze etc. In Spain with the heat we have some very bad weather conditions for using the 300mm length and as others have said if you can see it the camera will pick it up. I think I will have to pick some clear days. All the best and thanks for posting your photos. Kevin

I live in the mountains of San Diego County California. We get haze too and it makes for great sunsets, but we get fantastically clear days too.
I have yet to use a tripod with my camera. Everything is hand held.
Attached are some pictures from a HS track meet

1st pic
55MM,iso400,F6.7,1/1000

2nd pic
77.5MM,iso400,F6.7,1/1500

3rd pic
300MM, iso400,F5.8,1/2000
This picture had terrible lighting due to the sun being to the hurdlers back.

4th pic
87.5MM,iso400,F5.6,1/2000

5th pic
150MM,iso400,F6.7,1/1000

This was my first time shooting sports with this lens. I noticed that I should have changed my settings to blur the background a little more and I could have lowered my ISO for better quality.
I shot all of these in manual mode.

[Kevin1961]

Hi Julian. Nice shots. As you say sometimes the haze can be a pain. You live where my Family live and they have been here to Inland Spain and say that is feels as if they are at home in San Diego!!. Just put up a few shots of some planes with the 55-300mm. I think I need to work on this lense a bit more. All the best. Kevin

Shots are in gallery

[lesmore49]

[QUOTE=X Man;582309]I'll have to agree with Marc here. It's a consumer zoom with a wide focal range.

You'll notice that it will perform much better, when shooting objects at closer distances, regardless of focal length. This is true with most lenses and especially zooms.

/QUOTE]

I have to disagree. I have a 55-300 Pentax zoom with my K10D and most of the pictures I shoot with it are at 300mm. I shoot mostly pix of wildlife and when the light is right...the pictures are incredibly sharp. I've used it quite a bit since June 2008. I usually use shutter priority and the F stop is usually around F8 or so. I use shutter priority and set at a minimum of 1/640th to cut down on wing or animal blur if they move quickly.

I'm usually at 200 ISO...sometimes 400... and Shake Reduction is always on...as I rarely use a tripod.

[deadwolfbones]

I think he was implying more that very distant objects (like the roof in the test shots, or a mountain range, etc) are harder for lenses to handle than things in the mid- and close-range.

[dylansalt]

at 300mm handheld - no preplanning - just aim and shoot in af-c.

Original



Crop



Not bad for a consumer zoom, wide open at the long end IMHO.

I really like this lens.

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Last edited by julianactive; 05-16-2009 at 11:41 AM.

[Kevin1961]

I think he was implying more that very distant objects (like the roof in the test shots, or a mountain range, etc) are harder for lenses to handle than things in the mid- and close-range.

You hit the nail on the head. OK I am not saying the lens is bad far from it, I have used it more and is good for the money it just lacks at the 300mm end but heh you pay for what you get we all know that, the 16-50 gives fantastic quality from 16 to 50 even on 100% crops which are crisp and clean, so don't get me wrond folks I'm not kicking the lens just making a few observations about the sample I have. All the best. Kevin

[Kevin1961]

at 300mm handheld - no preplanning - just aim and shoot in af-c.

Original



Crop



Not bad for a consumer zoom, wide open at the long end IMHO.

Nice shots and good crops, thanks for posting them up. best Regards. Kevin

[Kevin1961]

I really like this lens.

Nice shots Julian, this lens does give a nice background, I tried some portrait shots outside with mountain backdrops and they do come out nice. Best Regards. Kevin