[redpit]

Hi,
I am getting quite frustrated by not being able to get anything like sharp pictures with my 150mm-450mm, either on my K3ii or K1. In a static test I seem to be able to get a sharp picture but often in the real world photographing wildlife, it lets me down. It will seem to be focussed (and i have done static focus tests) but often and especially in good sunlight nothing is sharp. The pictures have a strange look to them where there appear to be bands of un-sharpness running roughly vertically through the image. Please comment on the picture added. It was taken today in good sunlight. K3ii, 150-450mm, F8, 1/2000 and ISO 640. Camera SR was left on and I was balancing the lens on a bean bag. The hares were not running very fast and 1/2000 should have been more than adequate to stop them. Note the un-sharp hares and odd fuzzy banding in the grass with 150-450mm. The second image was taken first with DFA 300mm. Wide open at F4 but much better.

The first picture is a cropped image but not resized. Look at the grass. Parts are sharp but other part completely un-sharp. Not a focussing issue, it appears at all distances within the frame.

Comments or suggestions on the problem or technique welcome.

The second image was taken using the DFA 300mm a few minutes earlier. Although my focus is not perfect on the hares you can see that the gradation from sharp to out of focus is much smoother and the sharp grass is much sharper. This is a smaller crop of the full APSC frame. K3ii & 300mm F4, 1/2000. I switched to the longer lens because they were not coming any closer but wish I had not.

Surely you don’t need SR with so high shutter speeds. It degrades the IQ with no gains. Next thing is the AF settings. I have written all my findings and settings that I’ve found best for aviation photography that mostly apply to your case too. I can tell you 2 things for sure.
1. What you experience is typical of taking a picture while the AF hunts in AF-C mode with priority to shutter release without AF lock.
2. Mind you that the DFA 150-450 is very fast lens. When it locks AF you have to press the shutter release button immediately. If you are delayed then you experience what you describe.

You can see more details here:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/38-photographic-technique/387189-action-...hy-pentax.html

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Last edited by redpit; 03-07-2021 at 11:52 PM.

[Erictator]

Hi,
I am getting quite frustrated by not being able to get anything like sharp pictures with my 150mm-450mm, either on my K3ii or K1. In a static test I seem to be able to get a sharp picture but often in the real world photographing wildlife, it lets me down. It will seem to be focussed (and i have done static focus tests) but often and especially in good sunlight nothing is sharp. The pictures have a strange look to them where there appear to be bands of un-sharpness running roughly vertically through the image. Please comment on the picture added. It was taken today in good sunlight. K3ii, 150-450mm, F8, 1/2000 and ISO 640. Camera SR was left on and I was balancing the lens on a bean bag. The hares were not running very fast and 1/2000 should have been more than adequate to stop them. Note the un-sharp hares and odd fuzzy banding in the grass with 150-450mm. The second image was taken first with DFA 300mm. Wide open at F4 but much better.

The first picture is a cropped image but not resized. Look at the grass. Parts are sharp but other part completely un-sharp. Not a focussing issue, it appears at all distances within the frame.

Comments or suggestions on the problem or technique welcome.

The second image was taken using the DFA 300mm a few minutes earlier. Although my focus is not perfect on the hares you can see that the gradation from sharp to out of focus is much smoother and the sharp grass is much sharper. This is a smaller crop of the full APSC frame. K3ii & 300mm F4, 1/2000. I switched to the longer lens because they were not coming any closer but wish I had not.

Hi Mark - "I think" what we see is a combo of backfocus and some kind of SR related blur... Mine took almost a max setting to compensate focus, but it's held fine since my first adjustment. I tend to use TAV and try to keep this lens at or above F7.1 and always above 1/1500th if possible, and just let the ISO roam... Panning with SR I thought was a known no-no ? At any rate, turn it off if you haven't already and give us a shout back.

One last thing... make sure you fine tune your AF in natural light, not indoors. I use one of those yellow yard sticks leaning against my back fence at a 45 deg angle. I always make sure the plane of focus for my liking is a little more forgiving to use DOF to my advantage to the front a hair if anything, so if I miss focus, it might at least be within the focal plane margin of error and eliminate backfocus, for which there is no margin for error, just more error, heh.

Hope that helps,
Eric

[Weevil]

One last thing... make sure you fine tune your AF in natural light, not indoors.
Eric

This is a question I was often asking myself. but Why ?
because of the lower light and potential higher ISOs ?
What if one uses flashes to compensate indoors?

[derekkite]

K1 II with the 150-450. Lovely light and cooperative subjects.

[simple1]

Hi,
I am getting quite frustrated by not being able to get anything like sharp pictures with my 150mm-450mm, either on my K3ii or K1. In a static test I seem to be able to get a sharp picture but often in the real world photographing wildlife, it lets me down. It will seem to be focussed (and i have done static focus tests) but often and especially in good sunlight nothing is sharp. The pictures have a strange look to them where there appear to be bands of un-sharpness running roughly vertically through the image. Please comment on the picture added. It was taken today in good sunlight. K3ii, 150-450mm, F8, 1/2000 and ISO 640. Camera SR was left on and I was balancing the lens on a bean bag. The hares were not running very fast and 1/2000 should have been more than adequate to stop them. Note the un-sharp hares and odd fuzzy banding in the grass with 150-450mm. The second image was taken first with DFA 300mm. Wide open at F4 but much better.

The first picture is a cropped image but not resized. Look at the grass. Parts are sharp but other part completely un-sharp. Not a focussing issue, it appears at all distances within the frame.

Comments or suggestions on the problem or technique welcome.

The second image was taken using the DFA 300mm a few minutes earlier. Although my focus is not perfect on the hares you can see that the gradation from sharp to out of focus is much smoother and the sharp grass is much sharper. This is a smaller crop of the full APSC frame. K3ii & 300mm F4, 1/2000. I switched to the longer lens because they were not coming any closer but wish I had not.

Don't discount the possibility of a bad copy of the lens. If you can't consistently get good results in a well set up static test, you may have one.
I had a bad copy of the 150-450 and, after numerous hours of testing/frustration, RMAd it. The replacement was perfect out of the box.

[wtlwdwgn]

One of Billings Flying Service's Chinooks. K-3 and D FA 150-450.

[tmlawes]

A difficult subject with difficult lighting.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[markwoodfin]

I don't have this lens but I can definitely see what you mean.

Have you tried SR=OFF with a high shutter speed? Not that it should be necessary, but for troubleshooting purposes.

Yes, others have suggested to me to switch off the SR at such shutter speeds and especially panning.

---------- Post added 03-09-21 at 05:21 PM ----------

Very curious. Certainly should be much better than that. I do have a sense that (both images actually) there is back focus.
Looks like you were shooting jpg's? One thing I notice in the exif is jpg quality is only 85.

Yes there is some back focus. Still trying to tune that out. I was shooting raw and only converted to jpeg and cropped down in order to post on here. I did not resize to avoid resampling adding uncertainty.

[derekkite]

A difficult subject with difficult lighting.

Very nice!

---------- Post added 03-10-21 at 06:13 AM ----------

Yes, others have suggested to me to switch off the SR at such shutter speeds and especially panning.

---------- Post added 03-09-21 at 05:21 PM ----------


Yes there is some back focus. Still trying to tune that out. I was shooting raw and only converted to jpeg and cropped down in order to post on here. I did not resize to avoid resampling adding uncertainty.

That looks like movement blur.

It took me a month or more to get a decent shot out of my 150-450.

If you are getting good results with static shots on a platform of some kind, and not on dynamic shots, it is likely your technique. On the K1 the SR shouldn't get in the way. Technique that works on a 300mm isn't good enough for 450mm.

Practice practice practice. Photoshop has a module that can fix motion blur in an image, and it's analysis will show you how much movement there is. That is where I figured out how much my technique was causing the problem.

[swip]

Hi,

Comments or suggestions on the problem or technique welcome.

What time of day were the pictures taken and what was between you and the subjects? Looking at the nature of the softness in the image, I wonder if this is caused by heat rising off the ground.

[tmlawes]

What time of day were the pictures taken and what was between you and the subjects? Looking at the nature of the softness in the image, I wonder if this is caused by heat rising off the ground.

Looking at those images, I had the same questions. It looks like the issue could possibly be atmospheric interference (i.e. heat waves or humidity).

[cmohr]

To me, I'm wondering if it something to do with the AA filter simulator settings, or what AA simulator setting you are using in post - p , it really has a bit of a crossthatched moire pattern going on in the grass especially.

Also. it could be a preview issue with looking at a really large image at a reduced size onscreen, the computer graphics will have to dumb down the image to view the entire image , that can cause isssues with the render of your hi-res file.

Just a few thoughts

[acoufap]

Hi. I am a female Mergus Merganser (Goosander) ...







KP | APS-C | 630mm (DFA150-450 + DA TC 1.4x)

[Mike L]

It's a very verstatile lens, handy for landscapes



or portraits

[Mike L]

you can use it for architecture too