One of my absolute favourite! Zero complaints about it. I just love the build quality and buttery-smooth focus rings of "A" lenses. And of course, affordability.

Works very nicely with TAMRON-F AF MC7 2x TC.

A few pics coming in a reply to this thread...

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Photos: Copyright (C) © All Rights Reserved. Protected under copyright law. DO NOT use / repost without the owner's express prior written permission. For contact info, see my profile.
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#1.Song Sparrow.

Camera: PENTAX *ist D
Lens: SMC PENTAX-A* 300mm F4 (MF-only)
Other equipment: TAMRON-F AF MC7 2x TC, Velbon CX-540 tripod
Aperture: F2.2 (Real aperture approx F10. TC messes numbers)
Shutter-speed: 1/160 second
ISO: 400
Focal length: 600mm (35mm equiv = 900mm)
Focus: Manual

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#2. Wild Bunny.

Camera: PENTAX *ist D
Lens: SMC PENTAX-A* 300mm F4 lens (MF-only)
Other equipment: Canon Monopod 100
Aperture: F4.5
Shutter-speed: 1/200 second
ISO: 400
Focal length (optical): 300mm
Focus: Manual-focus

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#3. Heron with breakfast.

Camera: PENTAX *ist D
Lens: SMC PENTAX-A* 300mm F4 lens. (MF-only)
Other equipment: Canon Monopod 100
Aperture: F4
Shutter-speed: 1/1000 second
ISO: 200
Focal length: 300mm (35mm equiv = 450mm)
Focus: Manual

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#4. American Goldfinch.

Camera: PENTAX *ist D
Lens: SMC PENTAX-A* 300mm F4</b> lens (MF-only)
Other equipment: Canon Monopod 100
Shutter-Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: F4
ISO: 800
Focal length: 300mm (35mm equiv = 450mm)
Focus: Manual-focus

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#5. Savannah Sparrow.

Camera: PENTAX *ist D
Lens: SMC PENTAX-A* 300mm F4 (MF-only)
Other equipment: TAMRON AF MC7 2x TC, Velbon CX-540 tripod
Aperture: F2 (Real aperture approx F9.5. TC messes numbers)
Shutter-speed: 1/400 second
ISO: 400
Focal length: 600mm (35mm equiv = 900mm)
Focus: Manual

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Thanks for looking, and feel free to post your own A* 300mm F4 shots.

[imtheguy]

Anytime you can see the detail of the fish in the Heron's mouth you got a nice shot! I like those big bird/small prey pics. Good color too.

Today was Day#1 with a rented DA*300mm and my Tammy-F 1.4x TC. The combo works great as far as SDM and AF. However the first thing I did was some pixel peeping to see if the TC added or subtracted from the overall quality. So far, I get better test results WITHOUT the TC and just resizing the pic 1.4x. I tried f/4 and f/7.1 and the results were similiar. The lens is so sharp that the TC does more harm than good in spite of the increase in magnification. I will rerun the tests tomorrow with a brick wall and with some live subjects before I make up my mind.

My question to you is have you tried any testing either with live of controlled subjects using your A* 300mm lens and TC versus resizing? Thanks.

[8540tomg]

Very nice Alex. Some excellent shots there. Very nice out-of-focus highlights.

Tom G

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Last edited by 8540tomg; 07-16-2009 at 02:26 PM. Reason: typo

Thanks for the comments.

Anytime you can see the detail of the fish in the Heron's mouth you got a nice shot! I like those big bird/small prey pics. Good color too.

Today was Day#1 with a rented DA*300mm and my Tammy-F 1.4x TC. The combo works great as far as SDM and AF. However the first thing I did was some pixel peeping to see if the TC added or subtracted from the overall quality. So far, I get better test results WITHOUT the TC and just resizing the pic 1.4x. I tried f/4 and f/7.1 and the results were similiar. The lens is so sharp that the TC does more harm than good in spite of the increase in magnification. I will rerun the tests tomorrow with a brick wall and with some live subjects before I make up my mind.

My question to you is have you tried any testing either with live of controlled subjects using your A* 300mm lens and TC versus resizing? Thanks.

No, to date I haven't done any *controlled* testing of the lens vs w/TC vs w/o TC.

However, I am pretty sure that the TC does degrade a little, though not too much. I find the 600mm to be quite alot more useful than 300mm. Plus, makes for more accurate manual-focus since the subject is enlarged in the viewfinder.