[RockvilleBob]

Heron with fish in mouth

Another superb shot Ken

[ChipB]

Another superb shot Ken

+1 - great timing!

[Kath]

Have been out working with the 150-500 lately. These are shots I took while stalking our neighborhood osprey nest for weeks and waiting for them to feed. All were taken on a sturdy tripod (thus no use of in-camera or lens stabilization), no wind, using a remote shutter release, manual focus, with varying f-stops and the occasional change in (high) shutter speed. I experimented with AF and manual and, since the birds mostly weren't moving from the focal plane, manual focus proved best, as is so often the case with birds not-in-flight. I found the lens to be considerably sharper from f11 on up and, of the many shots I took over two days, these were the sharpest.

To give you some idea of the crop, the "attachment" photo below is unprocessed. The rest were cropped and tweaked in Lightroom. Overall, I feel pretty happy with them, and was very pleased to have witnessed this scenario, but was disheartened by the small number of keepers in the shoot. I would have expected most of the photos to be absolutely tack-sharp, given the effort put into my stabilization of the camera and continual confirmation in the viewfinder of the focus. This is not the first shoot with the K50/Sigma 150-500 where this has been the case, though I have produced tack-sharp photos from this lens on occasion.

Has anyone else experienced this frustration with the 150-500? I have several primes that may have spoiled me for image quality and sharpness, but still would expect more from this not-inexpensive lens. Am I being too picky or expecting too much? Or, is there a tweak I'm overlooking? Helpful comments most welcome.

Post Script: I am hours away from pulling the trigger on a K3, to give me more resolution to play with in cropping and (hopefully) improved IQ. It's a lot cheaper than selling my first-born to get a DA560!


All are shot at 500mm:


f6.3 ISO 200 1/800 sec.



f11 ISO800 1/1000 sec.



f11 ISO 1600 1/1000 sec



f11 ISO 1600 1/1000 sec



f11 ISO 1600 1/1000 sec



f11 ISO 1600 1/1000 sec

[Scorpio71GR]

Have been out working with the 150-500 lately.

Has anyone else experienced this frustration with the 150-500? I have several primes that may have spoiled me for image quality and sharpness, but still would expect more from this not-inexpensive lens. Am I being too picky or expecting too much? Or, is there a tweak I'm overlooking? Helpful comments most welcome.

Post Script: I am hours away from pulling the trigger on a K3, to give me more resolution to play with in cropping and (hopefully) improved IQ. It's a lot cheaper than selling my first-born to get a DA560!

I don't have the 150-500 I have the 50-500 and I know your frustration. First I never shoot below F8 at any focal length. F8-f11 seems to be the sweet spot. Anything over f11 starts to suffer diffraction. At 500mm lots of things can play into image quality. Any movement at all including the wind blowing can cause problems. I purchased a tripod bag that hooks inside the legs so I could add weight to stiffen the tripod. Atmospheric conditions can play as well. I try to avoid shooting in the hottest part of the day. Air disturbances can ruin a shot. I have both the K50 and K3. Keep in mind the K3's 24mp sensor will amplify any flaws in the lens. Sometimes more megapixels is not always better. That said I shoot with the 50-500 on my K3. There is a rather large learning curve with the Bigma(50-500) and I am still learning.

You may find more help here in this thread dedicated to Sigma Telephoto Zoom lens.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/122-lens-clubs/279007-sigma-telephoto-zoom-club.html

I hope this helps some. Keep asking around here, there are plenty of people who can help. I really like your series and for cropped shots on a 150-500 you did very well in my opinion.

Michael

[Kath]

I don't have the 150-500 I have the 50-500 and I know your frustration. First I never shoot below F8 at any focal length. F8-f11 seems to be the sweet spot. Anything over f11 starts to suffer diffraction. At 500mm lots of things can play into image quality. Any movement at all including the wind blowing can cause problems. I purchased a tripod bag that hooks inside the legs so I could add weight to stiffen the tripod. Atmospheric conditions can play as well. I try to avoid shooting in the hottest part of the day. Air disturbances can ruin a shot.l

Atmospheric conditions! I totally forgot about that. It was nearly 100 degrees both those days. And, I didn't bring the bean bag, but will next time.

I'll check with the Sigma club, too.

Thanks, Michael.

[derekkite]

Those are lovely shots. Are they cropped quite a bit, or are you that close?

I found that lens really hard to shoot in bright sunlight. It seemed that the harsh light would bounce around and do awful things. I got some very nice shots in diffuse light such as a haze of light cloud cover.

I'm not familiar with the k-50, but I find that at any distance with my 500 mm live view or mirror up gives better results, especially at lower shutter speeds. Dampening such as hanging something from the tripod or draping your arm over the lens helps.

[Kath]

Those are lovely shots. Are they cropped quite a bit, or are you that close?

I found that lens really hard to shoot in bright sunlight. It seemed that the harsh light would bounce around and do awful things. I got some very nice shots in diffuse light such as a haze of light cloud cover.

I'm not familiar with the k-50, but I find that at any distance with my 500 mm live view or mirror up gives better results, especially at lower shutter speeds. Dampening such as hanging something from the tripod or draping your arm over the lens helps.

Thanks, Derek. That's interesting about haze/clouds vs sun.

I haven't been shooting with the mirror up, but I'll give that a try to add to the myriad strategies for minimizing movement. I had hoped the fast speeds I was using (1/800-1000) wouldn't leave enough room for movement, but I guess there's just so much magnification that everything matters. I was draped all over that camera on the tripod but, clearly, that wasn't enough dampening.

Btw, these shots are cropped pretty close. I was several hundred feet away from the nest. The last shot (unprocessed/uncropped) shows the field at 500mm.

[derekkite]

That is quite a ways away. Any slightest thing will make them soft. I find that anything under 1/1600 is subject to blur from vibration or subject movement.

Finding the sweet spot for a lens body combination is a matter of trying anything and everything. I forget how the tripod foot is attached to the lens, a collar near the body? Mine, the 500 f4.5 is near the front of the lens, leaving quite a bit of stuff hanging off. Yesterday I was experimenting with a long arca swiss plate extending back with my hand between it and the lens just forward of the mount, using my fingers to try to spread them to put some tension. I was surprised how much a difference it made on lower shutter speeds, 1/400 or so.

When I shot that lens on the K5 I was surprised how effective the in lens stabilization worked.

The K-3 live view mode has very little slap or vibration and I use it often for far away subjects that are reasonably static.

This is a couple years ago with the K-5 and 150-500 Sigma. The light was perfect that day, slightly diffuse and the subject was magnificent. Probably the best shot I managed to get with that lens. F8, 1/1250 iso 1600.

[Pentaxians]

A cute and innocent look juvenile male Pink-necked green pigeon. Can see the pink feather still developing on its neck..

[normhead]

I've been shooting with the A-400 and 1.4 TC, to give me 560mm... and focusing with small birds means lots of missed images. But with bigger birds like loons and Herring Gulls it's acceptable.

A soft small bird image, during one of the brief periods when he/she actually stayed still. I still didn't nail the focus.


It's easier with bigger birds.

Loon couple.


Immature Herring gull.

[Kath]

That is quite a ways away. Any slightest thing will make them soft. I find that anything under 1/1600 is subject to blur from vibration or subject movement.

Finding the sweet spot for a lens body combination is a matter of trying anything and everything. I forget how the tripod foot is attached to the lens, a collar near the body? Mine, the 500 f4.5 is near the front of the lens, leaving quite a bit of stuff hanging off. Yesterday I was experimenting with a long arca swiss plate extending back with my hand between it and the lens just forward of the mount, using my fingers to try to spread them to put some tension. I was surprised how much a difference it made on lower shutter speeds, 1/400 or so.

When I shot that lens on the K5 I was surprised how effective the in lens stabilization worked.

The K-3 live view mode has very little slap or vibration and I use it often for far away subjects that are reasonably static.

This is a couple years ago with the K-5 and 150-500 Sigma. The light was perfect that day, slightly diffuse and the subject was magnificent. Probably the best shot I managed to get with that lens. F8, 1/1250 iso 1600.

Nice shot!

The 150-500 mount seems pretty balanced. But that mirror could certainly be a culprit. Thanks much for sharing your experiences.

[derekkite]

There was one young bird in the nest this morning; I heard one behind in the trees that I couldn't see, and a second one was in the distance following an adult as it hunted and dove for fish. It left the nest and landed on a post nearby. This isn't cropped, it was close.

[Scorpio71GR]

Atmospheric conditions! I totally forgot about that. It was nearly 100 degrees both those days. And, I didn't bring the bean bag, but will next time.

I'll check with the Sigma club, too.

Thanks, Michael.

Your welcome that is what we are all here for. As was stated earlier I use live view alot with the zoom feature on my K3 for distant subjects. Quick shift focus really helps too. Sometimes I use a cable release or remote to avoid camera shake. I also have a larger Acra plate to help move the lens back a little to better distribute the weight. This was taken at about 350 feet away and is a crop. After 300mm I have found everything changes.




Michael

[marcusBMG]

Acquired a DAL 55-300mm by accident. I just put in a bid for amusement value, and was amused to see that I was the winning bidder by 1p! Then I forgot about it only to see pay now the next morning! Still I can't complain about getting one for comfortably less than a hundred quid.
So today I hotfooted round to the inlet by the castle, the ducks to provide a ready test subject. Good light, fast shutter speeds, bean bag. So does the DAL stand out from the CT300 - not the best adaptall (resizing admittedly averages everything out...)?








I can remark that:

- The DAL was in general quicker and more accurate focusing with AF than my eye and Tenpa vf magnifier with the CT300, but in practice the number of keepers wasn't particularly different.

- Both lenses do better stopped down but the resolution of the DAL is comfortably better than the CT300 wide open, and has better contrast at all f, and less CA.

I took my usual test pics of the castle turrets but the discrepancy between the DAL and CT300 was such that I am guessing I slightly missed focus with the DAL. I'll have to redo, maybe using the NX20, tho' comparing pics from different cameras introduces more confusion..

The DAL got a nice capture of this curlew (lying down, lens on the bean bag).


PS for the record #2 and #6 were DAL55-300. Quack quack.
PPS yes #1 is a rather odd duck.

[xanis]

That is quite a ways away. Any slightest thing will make them soft. I find that anything under 1/1600 is subject to blur from vibration or subject movement.

Finding the sweet spot for a lens body combination is a matter of trying anything and everything. I forget how the tripod foot is attached to the lens, a collar near the body? Mine, the 500 f4.5 is near the front of the lens, leaving quite a bit of stuff hanging off. Yesterday I was experimenting with a long arca swiss plate extending back with my hand between it and the lens just forward of the mount, using my fingers to try to spread them to put some tension. I was surprised how much a difference it made on lower shutter speeds, 1/400 or so.

When I shot that lens on the K5 I was surprised how effective the in lens stabilization worked.

The K-3 live view mode has very little slap or vibration and I use it often for far away subjects that are reasonably static.

This is a couple years ago with the K-5 and 150-500 Sigma. The light was perfect that day, slightly diffuse and the subject was magnificent. Probably the best shot I managed to get with that lens. F8, 1/1250 iso 1600.

What a shot!