[sheld]

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Anyone who know if u can put a teleconverter on the k-5 with the sigma 150-500 ?

Pleae give me a link :-)

You don't need a teleconverter. Sigma 150-500mm, 500mm F/8, Pentax Kx, remote, 1:1 crops. Sharp+4, Contrast+4, Saturation-2, and sharpened for the web (all photos used irfanview +40 sharp, perhaps oversharpened). Thursday, March 17th, a day and a half before full moon.


Of course, the full moon looks duller, so I did additional post processing curves to bring out the contrast, and turned saturation down to -4, to reduce false colors. Saturday, March19th, full moon. The false color is due to the intense post processing contrast; I should've switched it to black and white.
- Shel


One more from Tuesday March 15th, with sharp+1, contrast+1, nearly four days before full moon. Sharpened+40 by irfanview for the web.

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Last edited by sheld; 03-22-2011 at 03:57 PM.

[Nass]

Sheld: VERY very nice, better than mine. I used K-7, 150-500 but also a TC here for comparison, think I'll have another play without the TC one evening when I get time. Same problems as you re false colour and PP, full moon's arent the greatest to shoot.

[Purusam]

Took this shoot today

[djayvo]

I don't have the 150-500mm but do have the 170-500mm. I find if I back off just a little from 500 say 450mm I pick up a lot of sharpness with most of my pictures even using a 2X converter. I have also read using a polarizer or (ND) filter helps.

[fs999]

A few days ago...

Pentax K-5 • 400 ISO • Sigma 150-500mm f:5-6.3 APO DG HSM
Kenko Teleplus SHQ 1.5x

[sheld]

As stated just above, Kenko SHQ does.

Kenko 1.5X Pz-AF Teleplus SHQ teleconverter for Pentax bei eBay.de: Lenses (endet 25.03.11 02:42:54 MEZ)

Tonight, Pentax K-x, 500mm, F/8, 1/160, ISO200, post processed to add contrast, sharpness

[bkpix]

As a starting point for the full moon, remember the "sunny f/16" rule applies: f/16 at 1/ISO.

So roughly 1/500 at f/16 at ISO 400, for example.

[zapp]

What kind of tripod/head did you use? For this focal length on APS-C you should use a real heavy and stable tripod on stable ground with a very good head.
MLU and remote shutter control will help - a real long shutter speed also helps reducing visible camera shake, but requires a really good tripod.
How did you focus - do not assume that the end of the focus wheel is infinity for your lens.
Did you fine adjust the AF for your lens?

[Gimbal]

Also, when everything is set right, take several pictures because the air is constantly moving so the sharpness will change from picture to picture even if you don't touch the camera.

[sheld]

What kind of tripod/head did you use? For this focal length on APS-C you should use a real heavy and stable tripod on stable ground with a very good head.
MLU and remote shutter control will help - a real long shutter speed also helps reducing visible camera shake, but requires a really good tripod.
How did you focus - do not assume that the end of the focus wheel is infinity for your lens.
Did you fine adjust the AF for your lens?

I didn't spend that much time on this moon photo, and only used a monopod (not tripod) with a swivel head attached, and I used normal autofocus (not live-view autofoucs), and I didn't use a timer or an IR remote. I also leaned against a fence so the camera was pretty steady. The Sigma 150-500mm has its own internal SR, so I turned off the SR in the camera. The autofocus global adjustment on my K-x camera is tuned for my Sigma 30mm, which seems ok for all lenses I have; the K-x only supports one autofocus adjustment via a firmware hack published on the internet.

As a starting point for the full moon, remember the "sunny f/16" rule applies: f/16 at 1/ISO.
So roughly 1/500 at f/16 at ISO 400, for example.

I was shooting at ISO=200, but I shot at F/8, so that would be 1/800th. The shot I posted was 1/160th, or 5x the sunny f/16 rule, but this is a half moon, not a full moon, so the Sun's illumination is from the side. I used manual exposure mode. The first experiment exposure I tried was 1/400 and it seemed too dark so then I took three photos, at 1/160th, 1/200th, and 1/250th, F/8, ISO200, to optimize the exposure. Moreover, it turned out these were from the in camera's jpeg engine, since I had accidentally turned off raw+jpeg earlier, using the default "bright" settings. The image I posted is a 1:1 crop, post processed jpeg to increase contrast by 10%, and sharpened for the web.

Next month when the moon is at Perigee, (closest to Earth, larger angular diameter than last night), it will be a gibbous moon phase. I'll be more careful using liveview focusing and a tripod, and an IR remote, and raw+jpeg.
- Shel

[oneeyedhawk]

Hi Just bought the K5 and I am very happy with the low noise at low light and hi iso. Here is a moon shot I took last night with the da 55-300 lens at 300mm and 800 iso hand held and through my window.
Hank

Been written about before https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/1713974-post11.html

[Tom G]

I did a nice moon shot w/ a 3/4 moon at twilight with the 55-300, but when I tried a few days later at night I couldn't use the live view manual focus because the moon was totally blown out. Is there a way to lower the brightness in the live view? (I tried shooting a flashlight into the lens, but that wasn't fully satisfactory). I got some decent shots but it was by manually micro-adjusting the focus across a range. Not nearly as nice as the live view focus at twilight.

[fs999]

Evening shot