[wildman]

Agreed, that first one has some special pixie dust on it.

Wildman - so you used a 400mm + 1.4x + 100mm extension? Wow, makes my head spin just thinking about it. Nice work.

No. The scope is at it's native FL -560mm with no TC.

RE:Manfrotto 393.
I've been using mine for sometime and have hung every imaginable kind of glass on it with good results. I find no reason to get anything "better".

A pic with the 393 and the 560 and 1000mm mounted. Also a shot from the 1000mm with a 2x TC giving me 60x. That's equivalent of 2000mm FL. Picture of fledgling cardinal in nest at over 100 feet taken with this setup.

Tom - that Goldfinch shot is perfect.

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Last edited by wildman; 08-27-2010 at 03:17 AM.

[SteveM]

I'm not from the mainland - unless you count 16 km from Alberta - but I will be briefly on Gabriola the September long weekend.

That is a perfect spot to be for the long weekend. I'm in Victoria so if you find yourself around just before or after the long weekend, let me know.

Yep I have the K300, K400, K500 & K1000mm. Any time you are in Vancouver just ask!!

Phil.

I might take you up on that. I grew up in N Van and much of my family is still there. I'll be going over sometime soon.

Steve

[gofour3]

If you want an alternative to a gimbal head for a 1000mm lens, I’m using the Manfrotto 229 3-way head. It has a 12KG/26.4LBS rating, so it will handle most Pentax long telephotos.

I also use the Manfrotto 359 long lens support and the 028 tripod.

Phil.

[dadipentak]

Here is a home-made job I welded up. It works pretty good, but I never came up with a good locking mechanism. I don't really use it anymore because I hate tripods.

I'm impressed Tom--and not a bit of duct tape!
I assume you do stoop to using a monopod from time to time?

[dadipentak]

Wow pure magnificence.
I've been thinking of going this route for some of my longer tele's.
Would you recommend this as a versatile setup over that of an upper end ballhead? And also, how does it perform tracking moving subjects?

I can't imagine using a ballhead with lens that's 30" long and weighs 11.5 lbs.

I'm not very good at tracking BIF but the head is as smooth as silk.

[borno]

I'm impressed Tom--and not a bit of duct tape!
I assume you do stoop to using a monopod from time to time?

I usually have the monopod with me and it really helps, especially waiting on those stupid birds to take off.

[SteveM]

I was going to respond to the original post, but since it is more than a year old, I thought I would mention it here. Looks like that $150K Canon 1200mm sold from the B&H site....

[monochrome]

I was going to respond to the original post, but since it is more than a year old, I thought I would mention it here. Looks like that $150K Canon 1200mm sold from the B&H site....

Makes yours look like an even better deal, doesn't it?

[Spyder]

So I took my K500 out for the first time today. Initial impressions:

• The comments in the lens review section really aren't exaggerating the CA you can get from this lens. Photos with purple fringing in the foreground and green fringing in the background look incredibly odd.
• Aside from that there really isn't anything wrong with it's optical performance.
• CarbonR, how on earth do you manage to use this handheld? The one time I tried I was lucky if I could keep it pointing in vaguely the right direction while trying to focus it, never mind keeping it steady on the thing I was trying to focus on.

This one was kind enough to sit still while I worked out what combination of extension tubes I needed to get it in focus:


Annoyingly when I tried to use my TC with the lens I found that not only will it not lock on the lens (it stops turning a fraction short of the locking pin engaging), but it also made the camera think an A lens was attached which caused the metering to go predictably haywire. Some tape should sort out the contacts, but I guess I'm just going to have to be careful not to twist the camera while using it.

[kacansas03]

I wish there was a thread for those owners like me that do not have the financial resources to buy things like Wimberleys or even the Manfrotto 393. That limit is a big reason that I am trying to figure out how to build a gimbal. Anybody know of that kind of thread??

[CarbonR]

Like this :


Or like this :

[wildman]

I wish there was a thread for those owners like me that do not have the financial resources to buy things like Wimberleys or even the Manfrotto 393. That limit is a big reason that I am trying to figure out how to build a gimbal. Anybody know of that kind of thread??

Don't know if this is much help but It might give you some ideas.
Although for $180 with free shipping from BH that's hard to beat. I paid more than that for mine years ago.

It's from the parts list for the 393

[wildman]

Sat down on the curb yesterday and watched a little small town Americana parade. Beer, brats and over 90 degrees. Why are these parades always during the hottest day of the year?

Most at 300mm I think.

Taken with my 180 buck Sigma 70-300 zoom - you don't always need a $5000 exotic lens to get a picture.

[8540tomg]

Thanks Wildman. You do wonderous things with that rig.

I manged another Goldfinch today. I think it is better than the earlier one. ISO 100 = better results.



This one has a little pop to it.


Tom G

[siva.ss.kumar]

Lovely shot Tom. It sure has a pop to it.