[redpit]

Hi Guys ,
I have been using the DFA 150-450 paired with the K3II since Aug 2015 . My main passion is bird and general wildlife photography . I live in a small coastal town in Northern New South Wales Australia and travel into the outback of Australia a few times every year on photography trips . I have found the 150-450 an outstanding lens with solid build and after two trips to the desert last year with it there is not one spec of dust visible on any internal glass elements . I nearly always use a solid carbon tripod with a gimbal head but every now and then you quickly jump out of the car and grab some in flight raptor shots that spring up when travelling on the tracks . I have used the Pentax HD 1.4 rear converter with this lens and have had mixed results . Focus lock with the converter is generally no problem but good light is essential for detailed shots and in less than ideal light i do not use the converter and crop and i am usually very happy with the image providing i can keep the ISO reasonably low [1600 ISO and below ] I have been using TAV lately set to max 3200 ISO with good results and find the K3II files clean up quite nicely but you do get some loss of detail and smearing of that detail when trying to clean up the noise from shots taken up to 5200 ISO . The desert light is usually very good and the Camera and lens perform superbly . I use portable hides where possible to get close but often the shots are some distance away and i generally only crop for composition on the larger birds but crop quite heavily for the tiny outback scrub birds . I will show you some shots from my last trip . They are mixed Australian bird photos that i have processed using Lightroom CC 2015 . I had resized them to 1200 pixels and saved to JPEGS but upon uploading here they are sometimes resized further to 1024 pixels and i can notice slight detail loss . Anyway i am not out to sell these shots to anyone , i am just showing these so others may be able to gauge the camera and lens combination for themselves .
Regards Anthony .

Wonderful shots! Congrats!

[Dieseler]

Hi Guys ,
I have been using the DFA 150-450 paired with the K3II since Aug 2015 . My main passion is bird and general wildlife photography . I live in a small coastal town in Northern New South Wales Australia and travel into the outback of Australia a few times every year on photography trips . I have found the 150-450 an outstanding lens with solid build and after two trips to the desert last year with it there is not one spec of dust visible on any internal glass elements . I nearly always use a solid carbon tripod with a gimbal head but every now and then you quickly jump out of the car and grab some in flight raptor shots that spring up when travelling on the tracks . I have used the Pentax HD 1.4 rear converter with this lens and have had mixed results . Focus lock with the converter is generally no problem but good light is essential for detailed shots and in less than ideal light i do not use the converter and crop and i am usually very happy with the image providing i can keep the ISO reasonably low [1600 ISO and below ] I have been using TAV lately set to max 3200 ISO with good results and find the K3II files clean up quite nicely but you do get some loss of detail and smearing of that detail when trying to clean up the noise from shots taken up to 5200 ISO . The desert light is usually very good and the Camera and lens perform superbly . I use portable hides where possible to get close but often the shots are some distance away and i generally only crop for composition on the larger birds but crop quite heavily for the tiny outback scrub birds . I will show you some shots from my last trip . They are mixed Australian bird photos that i have processed using Lightroom CC 2015 . I had resized them to 1200 pixels and saved to JPEGS but upon uploading here they are sometimes resized further to 1024 pixels and i can notice slight detail loss . Anyway i am not out to sell these shots to anyone , i am just showing these so others may be able to gauge the camera and lens combination for themselves .
Regards Anthony .

Terrific shots Anthony and great to see you here sharing them, thank you!

I wish I had the opportunities to go out specifically to take wildlife photos, but work takes a disproportionate amount of my life these days.

[boydbowlin]

Thank you for looking and commenting .
Here are a few more , A pair of Galahas at a dam drinking and a sequence of shots on an early morning territorial dispute between two Red Kangaroos . The Galahas were around sixty meters away and the Kangaroos in excess of one hundred meters . Those Kangaroos were both over two meters tall and were seriously ripping each other apart . This makes Kangaroos one of our most dangerous animals . They stand on their tails and disembowel you with their powerful back legs while holding you with their front arms . I have a very healthy respect for all Kangaroos and get very nervous when i see kids close around them at wildlife parks .
Regards Anthony .

The galah shot was : TAV Mode
ISO 640
F/7.1
1/2000 sec

[boydbowlin]

Very early morning shots .ISO 320
F/6.3
1/320 sec .
@ 450 mm
Regards Anthony .

Attached Images

       

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Last edited by boydbowlin; 01-26-2016 at 11:27 PM.

[boydbowlin]

A couple from the next frames .
Regards Anthony .

[boydbowlin]

I have messed this up a bit the first shot should have been at the start of the series .
Regards Anthony .

[christiandre]

great pictures !

[boydbowlin]

great pictures !

Thanks . The fur was flying and the noise of those strikes was stunning .
Regards Anthony

[redpit]

Thanks . The fur was flying and the noise of those strikes was stunning .
Regards Anthony

Boydbowlin if you like give us some more info. Are those kangaroo shots handheld or on a tripod? And was the VR on or disabled? Thank you in advance!

Great pictures once again!

[boydbowlin]

Boydbowlin if you like give us some more info. Are those kangaroo shots handheld or on a tripod? And was the VR on or disabled? Thank you in advance!

Great pictures once again!

Hi Redpit ,
The camera was tripod supported [ carbon fiber , heavy duty ] Gimbal head , no Shake Reduction , Manual mode , AFC focusing , I use the rear AF button on continuous with shutter button disabled for focus . I also use slow burst rate if needed . One thing though is i remove my thumb from the AF button when i am taking photos of birds on sticks and then quickly AF again while not taking shots then off again . The exception is BIF and tracking a subject . I do this so the camera is not madly trying to focus and introducing potential vibration when you do not really need it such as a bird that is moving but not jumping around . Honestly i have sometimes left Shake Reduction on while on my tripod and have never noticed any negative effects to the image . Hope this helps , i am happy to help with any other queries , but i am not always at home so i will catch up when needed .
Regards Anthony .

[redpit]

Hi Redpit ,
The camera was tripod supported [ carbon fiber , heavy duty ] Gimbal head , no Shake Reduction , TAV mode , AFC focusing , I use the rear AF button on continuous with shutter button disabled for focus . I also use slow burst rate if needed . One thing though is i remove my thumb from the AF button when i am taking photos of birds on sticks and then quickly AF again while not taking shots then off again . The exception is BIF and tracking a subject . I do this so the camera is not madly trying to focus and introducing potential vibration when you do not really need it such as a bird that is moving but not jumping around . Honestly i have sometimes left Shake Reduction on while on my tripod and have never noticed and negative effects to the image . Hope this helps , i am happy to help with any other queries , but i am not always at home so i will catch up when needed .
Regards Anthony .

Thanks Anthony! Your info were comprehensive and really appreciated!

Pete.

[noelpolar]

Three wise ladies on the march.....taken this morning

[colodion]

Congratulations to all the shots

[RobG]

I have been using the DFA 150-450 paired with the K3II since Aug 2015 . My main passion is bird and general wildlife photography

Lovely shots. I especially like the one of the Major Mitchell Cockatoo with his crest up. I've yet to have the chance to photograph one. Presumably the Yellow Robin was a lot closer to home.

[boydbowlin]

Lovely shots. I especially like the one of the Major Mitchell Cockatoo with his crest up. I've yet to have the chance to photograph one. Presumably the Yellow Robin was a lot closer to home.

yes the Robin was taken at Tenterfield on our way back home in September 2015