Originally posted by boriscleto You've just insulted one of the Holy DA*. I'm sure you'll be told why you are wrong, and that a consumer lens could never be as good.
No, not like this. I like my 60-250 a lot. But if I thought that as combo with 1.4 TC it could be used for birds, I was wrong. That's at least my feeling right now.
Originally posted by derekkite Look for vibrations. I had a tough time getting results from the DA*300 + 1.4 TC because of shutter vibrations. Try higher shutter speeds than you are used to.
Even at f6.3 1/1000 it's not OK. The pics look fine in normal size but all details are lost when I crop the image. I'll try later to stop down even more
Originally posted by woodywesty Nice sparrow shot! And maybe your DA*60-250 needs some focus adjustment?
Thanks! I don't think this is the reason, but maybe I'll try to test it.
Originally posted by normhead For images close to you the extra reach of the 500 will make a difference. The 60-250 is only 250mm at infinity, it's about 135mm at 12-15 feet. Even with the 1.4 it's only 350 at infinity. I would suspect that if you shot the Sigma at 200 and the Pentax at 200mm, the Pentax would be better. And at infinity much better. But for wildlife, I'm just as happy shooting with my Sigma 70-300 or my F 70-210. The 60-250 is a great landscape lens, but it really doesn't have the magnification for small critters that you are close to.
You didn't post any example photos but here is one of mine taken with the DA*60-250 and 1.4 TC, the first crop is 4200 x 3100, the second is detail at 1:1.
Personally I don't see much lack of sharpness. I'd be interested in seeing comparable images from the Sigma 50-500.The top image is about 4 times the size of the bird..
Could be that the magnification is the point. Or there's something I'm doing wrong. Right now my result would be that 60-250 (even with 1.4 TC) is not long enough for small birds. I plan to test the lens alone without TC (and with Hoya UV filter removed).
Another sparrow shot with 150-500:
And a blue tit: