Hi All,

These have all been taken using a K10D with the CA35 scope adapter and the 80mm ED scope. All photo's are hand held (this combination gives you a focal length of 1530mm with a fixed F12.5):


Large-billed Lark


Red Bishop female


Reed Cormorant


Steppe Buzzard


Kelp Gull

Thanks for looking!
Gordon

[rustynail925]

Wow very nice shots! Cool gear also how much is that worth

[wildman]

Excellent results Gordan.
You must be a lot more steady than I am.

I have the same setup but with 100mm Pentax spotter.

For those who wanted gear shots. This is the same as Gordon's just a bigger spotter...

[GordonZA]

Thanks rustynail925 and wildman,

Current prices for setup would be following three items, PF-CA35, 80mm scope and K-7 from BH US$2600 +- ... plus shipping and import tax to whichever country/state...

Yep, wildman's setup is the same just a larger scope and the focal length is higher at 1910mm ?

Cheers,
Gordon

[netuser]

............

Yep, wildman's setup is the same just a larger scope and the focal length is higher at 1910mm ?

Cheers,
Gordon

But the same aperture at f12,5 ?

[GordonZA]

wildman, that 100mm looks like a heavy beast???

I would not mind upgrading to that scope... what kind of shots do you get from it?

[GordonZA]

Yep,
PF-CA35 : Spotting Scopes : Binoculars / Spotting Scopes : PENTAX

According to the Pentax site this is also F12.5...

[rustynail925]

F12.5 Thats pretty hard to achieve w/out using a tripod. Great handheld shots Gordon.. What time was the buzzard shot taken the background seems getting dark. Whats the exif?

[GordonZA]

F12.5 Thats pretty hard to achieve w/out using a tripod. Great handheld shots Gordon.. What time was the buzzard shot taken the background seems getting dark. Whats the exif?

I will have to dig out the original photo... I remember taking LOTS of shots of this bird until I got one that was clear! :-)

Doing hand held is not as simple as it sounds... you have to learn to become a statue! even when you think you have it right there is still a huge amount of shake!

By the way, I use the shake reduction on the camera and set it to the maximum 800mm focal length setting (the camera detects a manual focus lens when you attach the PF-CA35 which allows you to choose your focal length)
sometimes you can feel the camera literally vibrating violently in your hands! :-)

I have also done some shooting with a friends 500mm Canon and that is much heavier and far harder to hold steady than this setup.

[wildman]

wildman, that 100mm looks like a heavy beast???

I would not mind upgrading to that scope... what kind of shots do you get from it?

Essentials:

80mm:
16" long
3 pounds
30x mag with adapter

100mm:
20" long
6 pounds
38x mag with adapter

Taken at about 300 feet with 100mm

[GordonZA]

Very nice image!

I can see the benefits of using a tripod with that 100mm .. 6 pounds puts it in the league of the 500mm for weight... I used that thing for day hand held in the car in the Kruger National Park and suffered the indignity of having my girlfriend laughing at dinner when I could not hold my knife and fork because of cramps!! :-)

Question, does the K-7 also beep when in focus? (my K10D beeps and flashes that red focus light even though I am manually focusing with the scope)

[wildman]

Very nice image!

I can see the benefits of using a tripod with that 100mm .. 6 pounds puts it in the league of the 500mm for weight... I used that thing for day hand held in the car in the Kruger National Park and suffered the indignity of having my girlfriend laughing at dinner when I could not hold my knife and fork because of cramps!! :-)

For photographic use I'd say stay with the 80mm. A marginal increase in power with a big loss in portability when you go to 100mm.

However for high power visual use the 100mm really comes into it's own. My wife has the 80mm by the way so I can compare them directly. The 80mm starts to come apart at much over about 50x plus. The 100mm is bright and clean at 90x and is usable at 125x.

Which makes sense since a spotter is primarily intended for visual use in the first place.

[GordonZA]

Ideally I would rather use a prime lens to photograph birds but super tele's are thin on the ground second hand and no longer currently available new (subtle hint to Pentax...) which why I resorted to using the scope. I think I might get myself a 100mm at some stage as that extra magnification is invaluable on mud flats with waders!