First reply to this thread contains three DA* 16-50/2.8 images, sized to 800 pixels wide, about 600Kb each in size.

Second reply contains five DA* 50-135/2.8 images, sized to 800 pixels wide, also about 600Kb each in size.

All images existing light, K10D. Minimal post, resized for web posting. Exposure info precedes each image.

[volosong]

image #1
1/60s, f/2.8, ISO 200, AV, -0.70 EV, CW weighted avg, 50mm focal length


image #2
1/40s, f/8, ISO 1600, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 50mm focal length


image #3
1/25s, f/8, ISO 1600, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 50mm focal length

[volosong]

image #4
1/500s, f/8, ISO 125, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 135mm focal length


image #5
1/320s, f/8, ISO 125, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 135mm focal length


image #6
1/25s, f/8, ISO 125, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 55mm focal length


image #7
1/50s, f/2.8, ISO 1600, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 50mm focal length


image #8
1/400s, f/2.8, ISO 1600, AV, 0.00 EV, CW weighted avg, 135mm focal length

[photo_mom]

Hi Steven!

Congrats on your new lenses. Lovely LBA photos. I particularly like the color and the 'feel' of the 1st photo in the 50-135 set.

[roentarre]

Wow, the amazing shots from the two star zooms. Top quality images. The skin tone coming from the 50-135 is really natural, bokeh being quite smooth as well

[blwnhr]

Great shots, thankyou for making me consider these lenses more!

On a side note I am impressed by the lack of noise in shot 3 of the 16-50 @ ISO1600. Have you used some kind of noise reduction?

Also, shot 7 of the 50-135 series, what is going on with the noise in the background? Is this VPN that some say exists and some don't? Or is there a simple explanation like reflection on glass or something?

[jms698]

Great set of image. I can't quite figure out if the second set of images are real people, or some kind of wax models. I kept coming back to the pictures, changing my mind every few seconds. Well done.

My favorite image is the first one. It has a nice dreamy otherworldly feel to it. How big are the figurines in the first set of images? How close were you with the lens to the subjects? It looks like some pretty impressive macro capability.

[volosong]

Thank you all for your kind comments. You know...I posted this about three hours previously on dpreview...and still have not had a single comment! Even though I've been a member there for almost three years, and a frequent contributer...I think those days are over. Much more friendly here these days. Thanks again.

Several comments...on your comments...

All of the 50-135/2.8 shots were taken this past Friday at Disneyland. The two young ladies were on floats that were part of the parade. I was about 30 something feet away at the time. Both of these shots were cropped from the full-frame image. They are definitely 'real' people. The lady in yellow gave me plenty of time to take pictures of her. I was in a crowd, and this was only one of about four or five images I took of here where it looks like she was looking at me specifically. Couldn't have been, but the images sure look like it.

The dinosaur image was taken from a moving train passing the Grand Canyon diorama in the park. It was extremely dark in the tunnel, and was also at night. The diorama was also behind glass, so that may have contributed to the noise. Taking this shot was really pushing the limits of what the camera can do. Using a flash was not an option...and I very rarely use one anyway. Sure, there is noise, but a film camera wouldn't be able to take the same shot...without flash. At least it is a usable image.

Most of the ISO 1600 shots were run through Neat Image, a noise reduction plug-in for Photoshop (probably similar to Noise Ninja). I let the plug-in determine the noise signature itself instead of using library signatures, and then run a preview on several areas. If I like what I see, I apply the algorithm to the entire image. It introduces a slight amount of softness, but I get the sharpness back by going into Hue/Intensity/Saturation color space, running a 85,1,4 unsharp mask on the Intensity channel only, and converting back to red/green/blue color space.

The figurine in the first image is only about six inches tall (about one decimeter). The head of the 'girl' is about one inch tall (2.5 cm). I was pretty close to the figurine...maybe about a foot (~2 dm) away? Can't remember for sure. Yeah, the close focusing capabilities are pretty good.

Thanks again for the comments. I'll be sure to post more often here on Adam's forum from now on instead of that other one.