[Franc]

1&3 are slightly cropped for composition, 2 is full pic.

[noelpolar]

DFA 150-450 likes the Beach

[noelpolar]

Dead simple, hahaha. I'll give this a shot tomorrow.

Heres a shot of the focus sheet I made in Excel...... was shiming a focus screen on my K5II today for MF

[Franc]

sparrow hawk in my front yard.

[Greyser]

Hi guys. I had no idea about this club. I'm cross posting this asking for some help from DFA 150-450 community. There are some impressive shots from DFA 150-450 here. Mine does not perform as I expected.

I usually shoot Sigma 500/4.5 on K-3 handheld and K-5IIs as a 2nd body with DA*60-250 or FA*300. Of course, I could not resist and purchased DFA 150-450 and HD 1.4x TC recently not as replacement for my Sigma but as possible convenient travel solution when 500mm prime is too big to take.

First of all I micro adjusted AF to -2. However, the output is very close to the 0.
Then I did quick and dirty shootout against Sigma 500/4.5 and FA*300/4.5+HD 1.4x TC combo, using tripod, remote, MLU, SR off, etc., etc., etc.

That is what I got:

at shorter distances (30 ft.):

• IQ wise DFA 150-450 wide open is approximately equal to FA*300/4.5+HD 1.4X TC combo at f/8 (f/5.6 on the lens)
• at f/8 DFA output is better than combo performance
• At f/6.3-f/7.1 DFA is on par with Sigma 500/4.5 wide open.
• When Sigma is stopped down to f/5.6 the DFA output looks much softer at any aperture.
• Below are two 100% crops:

DFA at f/6.3 and further



Sigma at f/5.6 and further. I do understand that prime is always THE prime. But look at the difference...



At distances close to infinity:
Note: The shots of far neighbor's Satellite dish receiver are boring, but I can provide them by request.

• DFA at f/8 is inferior to the FA*300/4.5+HD 1.4X TC combo at f/8
• DFA at f/8 is better than Sigma wide open
• Sigma at f/5.6-f/6.3 is much cleaner than DFA at f/8 and further

There is also 100% crop from my field trip (medium distance; f/7.1; 1/1250). It looks softer than I'm used to with my Sigma shots.




Now a few questions:

• Do most of you shoot the lens at f/8-f/10 to get best output?
• Longer distances shots looks softer than shorter distances. Is it also your experience?
• From what you see does it look like bad copy or just normal behavior?

My dilemma is: should I replace it with another copy or just return it and forget about this "one night stand"?

Thank you in advance,
SG

[littledrawe]

Heres a shot of the focus sheet I made in Excel...... was shiming a focus screen on my K5II today for MF

I think mine might be a lemon. I had it on +10 to try to correct the back focus. It doesn't seem like I get acceptable sharpness.

[littledrawe]

My dilemma is: should I replace it with another copy or just return it and forget about this "one night stand"?

That is my problem as well!

Here is a progression of focus adjustments from 0 to +10












And one from real shooting that leaves a lot to be desired.

[noelpolar]

Lot's and lots of variables here. I'm not probably going to be much help.... as I don't really pixel peep. I must admit .... getting good shots at 450mm with this lens is 5x more difficult then with my F*300/4.5. Part of this is the longer focal length and part is lens bulk impacting my "steadiness" I reckon.

I was quite perplexed with mine on day one.... but think it's ok now. I did some focus checking today inside again....... set the target up, lens and camera at right angles.....lens centre line levelled with focus target.... camera focus set to +10 (where I determined it needed to be the other day)......this focus chart about 6 meters away. Sort of gives me 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind. I only have a Sirui light travel tripod....so vibration through the viewfinder takes 10 seconds to abate....I use a remote release on 2 second timer.


450mm med focus dist.jpg by Noel Leahy, on Flickr

Went to +9 and decided to go back to +10.

Then checked focus at 150 and 310mm....

Cropped a bit

310mm.jpg by Noel Leahy, on Flickr

Focus seemed to move forward a bit here.....similar at 150....so left things at +10.

Moon shot from this afternoon....1/640/ f6.3. Iso250 @450mm Hand held



F5.6 shot...hand held

[AdrianM]

Lot's and lots of variables here. I was quite perplexed with mine on day one.... but think it's ok now. I did some focus checking today inside ....... set the target up, lens and camera at right angles.....lens centre line levelled with focus target.... camera focus set to +10 (where I determined it needed to be the other day)......this focus chart about 6 meters away. Sort of gives me 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind.

G'day Noel - for a really good focus adjustment check, place the camera and lens on a tripod and focus on a real-world something in good light about 10-15 metres away using Live view. Then close live view and use the standard focus system. If the focus moves, then adjust until it stops moving off the point chosen by Live view. I have found focus charts for long lenses to be somewhat problematic and can give lousy results. My own copy of this lens is a zero adjustment on my K3 and so is the other one that a friend of mine bought (perhaps we have all 3 lenses currently in Oz).

cheers

[noelpolar]

G'day Noel - for a really good focus adjustment check, place the camera and lens on a tripod and focus on a real-world something in good light about 10-15 metres away using Live view. Then close live view and use the standard focus system. If the focus moves, then adjust until it stops moving off the point chosen by Live view. I have found focus charts for long lenses to be somewhat problematic and can give lousy results. My own copy of this lens is a zero adjustment on my K3 and so is the other one that a friend of mine bought (perhaps we have all 3 lenses currently in Oz).

cheers

Thanks Adrian..... I did verify my results with live view ...... just didn't mention it. My lens does require some adjustment on my K3...... (most of my lenses are around +4). Now to start playing with the Rouge Safari flash extender!

I reckon they got a new shipment in last week.... got mine straight form CRK.... whilst Dirt Cheap Cameras were waiting on their stock to arrive (you got a new replacement a week or so ago didn't you?)

[RockvilleBob]

G'day Noel - for a really good focus adjustment check, place the camera and lens on a tripod and focus on a real-world something in good light about 10-15 metres away using Live view. Then close live view and use the standard focus system. If the focus moves, then adjust until it stops moving off the point chosen by Live view. I have found focus charts for long lenses to be somewhat problematic and can give lousy results. My own copy of this lens is a zero adjustment on my K3 and so is the other one that a friend of mine bought (perhaps we have all 3 lenses currently in Oz).

cheers

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried using FocusTune on my long lenses and had difficulty. The problem was when you adjusted the lens between shots so that a refocus was needed the slight change in the setup caused athe focus point to move between shots.

What I did was to focus on a object with a lot of detail and take several shots at each focus adjustment setting and then examine the results to select the best overall focus adjustment value for that lens. Seems to have worked.

I will try your method to see how the results compare.

[AdrianM]

Thanks Adrian..... I did verify my results with live view ...... just didn't mention it. My lens does require some adjustment on my K3...... (most of my lenses are around +4). Now to start playing with the Rouge Safari flash extender!

I reckon they got a new shipment in last week.... got mine straight form CRK.... whilst Dirt Cheap Cameras were waiting on their stock to arrive (you got a new replacement a week or so ago didn't you?)

I got the same lens back. CRK told me that it had gone to Japan but I didn't find anything in the paperwork that confirms that. It was a bit of a pain not to have the lens for so long, but it is back and perfect.

[AdrianM]

A pair of Laughing Kookaburras that are preparing a nest in a knot-hole in a Spotted Gum in my back yard. K-3 and Pentax 150-450, ISO 640, f8, 1/400th, 380mm

[noelpolar]

Got my Monopod today.....Sirui P-326 Carbon Fiber......... much nicer for these type of shots where your watching for a while..... taken this afternoon.....a New Zealand Fur Seal up in the Murray River at Goolwa munching down on a carp it caught..... whist the hanger-onna's scream out for their share......


Fish'n Gulls.jpg by Noel Leahy, on Flickr


Boney.jpg by Noel Leahy, on Flickr

[Mike.P®]