I took the monster that is the takumar 300mm F/4 to the wild animal park today for some testing. I couldn't bring a tripod, so all of my shots were handheld with a setup weighing roughly 6 pounds

Here's one of a couple hundred that im going through




let me know what you think!

edit: Another



@ F/5.6 iirc, and a crop from the middle to the right side of the frame cut out.
This one was taken on the san diego zoo's photo caravan

[goddo31]

Looks pretty good Yeatz. That sounds like a monster of a lens!
What's with the pattern in the OOF background, was it raining?

[yeatzee]

Looks pretty good Yeatz. That sounds like a monster of a lens!
What's with the pattern in the OOF background, was it raining?

Yes, artificial rain though (think sprinklers)

The lens and I got wet as well (you kind of zone everything out when trying to stay steady enough for a shot, so I didn't notice until after I finished)

[goddo31]

That second one looks awesome! good work.
Looks like a fine lens. OOF blur is very smooth, and it looks like it's nicely sharp too.

[Tamia]

Well done, Tanner, particularly that you were hand-holding that lens. Sharp, great color, pleasing bokeh. From macro to long telephoto... quite a change, eh?

[yeatzee]

That second one looks awesome! good work.
Looks like a fine lens. OOF blur is very smooth, and it looks like it's nicely sharp too.

Thanks I am quite happy with the IQ of the lens. I bought it on a whim (if nothing else, hey at least it looks professional ) but so far so good It is certainly not an easy lens to use though

Well done, Tanner, particularly that you were hand-holding that lens. Sharp, great color, pleasing bokeh. From macro to long telephoto... quite a change, eh?

Yes, much different though the whole "steadying technique" can be used for either occasion which helped me a lot when i couldn't find something to rest the lens on.

[deadwolfbones]

Looks fantastic to me!

[yeatzee]

Looks fantastic to me!

thanks DWB

Here's another, but in VERY harsh sunlight. This exposure was quite the challenge, balancing the dark background and bright white subject. This was my best compromise.




taken @ or very close to the lenses MFD wide open iirc

edit: and a crop of the above image, with only the default sharpening from LR3 when editing a RAW image im pretty sure.


Not bad for wideopen!

[Frogfish]

I think this is the same lense as I have - it's a heavy beast for sure ! You've done well - the deer shot is excellent.

For the Dodo lookalike a great way to get rid of that OOF is to use the blur tool in Aperture 3 (and I'm sure they'll have a similar tool in LR or PS).

[deadwolfbones]

I personally like the OOF "rain." A lot.

[yeatzee]

I think this is the same lense as I have - it's a heavy beast for sure ! You've done well - the deer shot is excellent.

For the Dodo lookalike a great way to get rid of that OOF is to use the blur tool in Aperture 3 (and I'm sure they'll have a similar tool in LR or PS).

I personally like the OOF "rain." A lot.

^ this

[Heinrich Lohmann]

Tanner, two nice images. The rainy background in the first one doesn't do it any favours but the second one is a gorgeous shot. Thanks for posting them.

[yeatzee]

Tanner, two nice images. The rainy background in the first one doesn't do it any favours but the second one is a gorgeous shot. Thanks for posting them.

To each their own Again, I feel that it gives it texture and character that is different than the millions of other clean sharp smooth bokeh'd shots that populate the internet/magazines/books/etc. Is it an award winning shot? Obviously not

(man that first shot is getting railed a lot more than i expected!)

Thanks for the compliment on the second though!

[yeatzee]

my bird in flight attempt

[yeatzee]

Another @ F/4 handheld. I can't remember exactly, but either this time I used a restaurant chair to help stabilize myself or a random pole in said restaurant since I had to shoot with a 1/200 shutter speed. Handheld with a setup that weighs close to 6 pounds, and is that long for such a short shutter speed? Maybe at the beginning of the day




What I've noticed with this lens is that it possesses a trait no other lens i've tried does. Subtle sharpness Its a sharp lens, but you wont know it 100% until you zoom in. On all of the other lenses I've tried you can immediately tell if its a sharp in focus image from said lens or not, even at small web sizes. I actually really like this trait.... heck I really like this lens